The government of the United Arab Emirates, UAE has imposed a visa ban on Nigerians.
The restriction was communicated in a notice sent on Friday, to the UAE trade partners in Nigeria, including travel agencies.
The ban was not explained.
However, The Vanguard learned that the visa denials represent the most recent decision reached by UAE immigration authorities about their engagement with Nigerians.
Image: The Punch.
A notice sighted by Vanguard reads: “All Dubai applications submitted are now rejected. The rejections will be sent in batches.
All Nigerians are subject to the rejections, and approvals are currently on hold. Applications that are rejected will not be refunded.
"All Dubai applications submitted are now rejected. It is general for Nigerians and approvals are on hold at the moment.
“Kindly advise your clients to resubmit C2=A0 applications when the issue is resolved between both governments,”
the notice declared.
According to The Punch, a source from Wakanow confirmed the development saying, “It is true, it was issued yesterday. The Dubai immigration did not state when the ban would be lifted but for now, everything is on hold.”
FG is yet to react to the UAE visa ban.
The federal aviation and foreign affairs ministries have not yet responded to the latest notice of visa ban on Nigerians by the UAE.
However, the Federal Government announced in August of this year that the UAE no longer issues tourist visas to people under the age of 40, except those applying for a family visa.
A statement signed by Francisca Omayuli the spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs read in part," the general public is invited to note and be guided that the government of the UAE has introduced a new visa regime and has stopped issuing tourist visas to persons under the age of 40 years, except for those applying for family visas.”
About 500 Nigerians are to be evacuated from the UAE.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is expected to evacuate about 500 Nigerians who were stranded in Dubai, and they would arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA would meet the returnees in the Hajj facility of the General Aviation Terminal private wing, NAIA, according to The Punch.
NIDCOM wants South Africa to investigate the killing of a Nigerian.
In a similar event, the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM has requested that the South African authorities look into the killing of one Nwankwo Gabriel.
Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the NIDCOM spokesperson, told The Punch in an interview on Saturday that the organization lacked the authority to look into such matters and would allow the South African government to take up the matter.
He said, “Investigation will resume but we are not the one to do the investigation, we will only urge the South African authorities to do the necessary investigation and unravel the issue.”
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