From Thursday, October 8, 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence visa issuance to Nigerians as the government of both countries have resolved their reciprocity issues.
Nigeria’s aviation minister, Hadi Sirika made the announcement through his Twitter handle late Tuesday.
“UAE confirmed that they will begin issuance of Visas from 8th of October, 2020,” Sirika tweeted by 10:48 pm WAT.
As part of the new requirements for obtaining the UAE visa, the aviation minister said: “travelers to UAE must have a return ticket, hotel booking, negative PCR result and Health insurance (similar to Schengen requirement).” He, however, explained that health insurance can be paid through travel agents or airline.
The decision by the UAE to commence visa issuance to Nigerians is coming after the Nigerian government barred Emirates Airlines from operating in Africa’s largest economy.
On September 30, 2020, Sirika announced that Nigeria had decided to allow Emirates to fly into the country after the UAE informed the government that it has agreed to issue visas to Nigerians.
This comes following the Federal Government resolve two months ago to enforce the principle of reciprocity in granting permission to airlines to resume operations.
Before the resumption of international flights in the country, the Federal Government had announced that Air France, KLM, Etihad, RwandAir, Air Namibia, Royal Air Maroc, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines were not approved to commence flight operations.
Cabo Verde and South African airlines were also denied approval as international flights had yet to resume in their countries.