The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Tuesday said that Nigerians in the diaspora with expired passports would no longer require visas to visit home. The Service, however, stated that they must show their expired Nigeria passport to ensure they were truly from Nigeria.
Mr Tony Akuneme, the NIS Public Relations Officer, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. Akuneme was reacting to inquiries about the new visa policy of the Federal Government which said that Nigerians with dual citizenship don’t need visa to visit home.
“The status of the new policy is that Nigerians with dual citizenship are free to come to Nigeria but with their Nigeria passport even if it’s expired. You have to show that you are a Nigerian that is why we say they can come with their expired passport. Dual citizenship means carrying two passports.
“Unlike before that when your passport is expired you will not be allowed to come to the country, now we can allow them to travel in with their expired Nigeria passport”, he said.
Akuneme further explained that although the essence was to allow them to return home, they will be required to renew their passport before returning to their destinations. “The whole essence is that when they arrive, they must renew their Nigeria passport before going back,” the NIS spokesman added.
