Nigeria: Stricter Guidelines, Online Processes and Inspections Implemented for Immigration-Related Processes

February 2, 2022

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Country / Territory

At a Glance

  • The Federal Ministry of Interior in Nigeria announced new guidelines for immigration-related processes, including requiring companies with Expatriate Quota positions in the ‘Permanent Until Reviewed’ immigration status to submit letters of approval before February 28, 2022; requiring companies to submit their monthly returns online; and implementing inspections by the Federal Ministry of Interior.  
  • Companies should ensure that they comply with the new guidelines or they may face fines or the cancelation of their employees’ immigration status.
  • The new guidelines will allow the government to better regulate immigration processes.

The situation

The Federal Ministry of Interior (FMI) in Nigeria announced new guidelines for immigration-related processes, including requiring companies with Expatriate Quota positions in the ‘Permanent Until Reviewed’ immigration status to submit letters of approval; requiring companies to submit their monthly returns online; and implementing inspections by the Federal Ministry of Interior.

Details on the new guidelines and applicable fees are described below:

Change Details Impact
Resubmission of Letter of Approvals for ‘Permanent Until Reviewed’ (PUR) status positions under Expatriate Quota
    • Companies that have been granted Expatriate Quota positions for PUR status must re-submit received copies of letters of approval by February 28, 2022, to the office of the Deputy Director in the Citizenship and Business Department.
    • This allows the FMI to assess how long each foreign national has held PUR status and to verify the eligibility of the foreign national.
    • Only companies granted Expatriate Quota positions for PUR status are subject to this requirement. 
 Companies should review their human resources files and re-submit letters of approval prior to February 28, 2022. Companies who fail to do so will have the work authorization of their foreign nationals in PUR status canceled and these foreign nationals will have to leave Nigeria to avoid irregular immigration status.
Online submission of monthly returns
    • Companies must submit monthly returns via an online portal.
    • Previously, monthly returns were submitted in paper form to the appropriate offices at the FMI and Nigerian Immigration Service.
    • Monthly returns are reports regarding a company’s use of the Expatriate Quota. They include information such as the foreign national’s nationality and their entry and departure records.
    • Companies should also ensure that their Expatriate and Nigeria Understudies (Nigerians who receive training by foreign nationals in order to transfer skills to the local population) obtain National Identification Numbers, which are now required in the monthly return filings.

 

 The new online system is expected to make the monthly return process both more efficient and accurate. Companies that do not comply with filing their monthly returns will be fined as under the previous paper-based process.
FMI inspections

The FMI is beginning to conduct inspections to ensure that companies comply with immigration laws. Companies will have to pay fees to cover these inspections depending on their location:

    • Inspection of organizations that are located outside Federal Capital Territory (FCT): NGN 150,000 (approximately USD 360.87)
    • Inspection of organizations in FCT or out of state: NGN 80,000 (approximately USD 192.46)
    • Inspection of organizations located in FCT and neighboring states: NGN 45,000 (approximately USD 108.26)

The inspection fees must be paid to the FMI every two years. Additional inspection fees can be found here.

 Companies should ensure that their human resources files are up-to-date and be aware that they will be required to pay inspection fees every two years.

The FMI is issuing new guidelines to allow the government to better regulate immigration processes to conform with international best practices, including digitalization.

 

Although the guidelines took effect on January 24, 2022, some of the provisions have not been fully implemented. Fragomen will continue to report on updates as the guidelines are implemented.  

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].

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