Nigeria entry requirements, by passport
Nigeria visa requirements at a glance: 18 of the 198 passports VisaRadar tracks can enter Nigeria without arranging a visa beforehand: visa-free, with a visa on arrival, or with an electronic travel authorisation. The other 180 must obtain a visa before they travel.
Which passport do you hold?
We'll take you straight to the entry requirements for Nigeria for your nationality.
What we've verified for Nigeria
Beyond the yes/no matrix, we've checked these against an official primary source (last checked 22 August 2026). The specifics depend on your nationality: open your passport's row in the table for the detail that applies to you.
- Typical processing time
- Required documents (4)
- Required vaccinations
- Health-insurance rules
- Customs limits (cash, alcohol, tobacco)
- Overstay penalties
- Stay and transit rules
Sources: immigration.gov.ng (Nigeria Immigration Service: official Tourism Visa F5A page, with 90-day validity and a 30-day single-entry stay; notice of the e-Landing/Exit Card system, mandatory since 1 May 2025, and the end of visa on arrival since 4 August 2025; press release of 5 July 2025 on the amnesty for expired visas); evisa.immigration.gov.ng (official e-Visa portal, with the warning about unauthorised third parties collecting the fee; it does not show the price without starting an application, and the fee appears in no official source we checked, so no figure is given); von.gov.ng (Voice of Nigeria, the public broadcaster, 1 October 2025: Immigration Service statement signed by its spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, with the overstay sanctions in force since the amnesty ended); customs.gov.ng (Nigeria Customs Service "Passenger's Concessions" page, web.archive.org copy of 31 July 2023: alcohol and tobacco allowances); Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 (USD 10,000 declaration threshold) (checked 29 September 2026). Passport validity: immigration.gov.ng (e-Visa FAQ, required documents), checked 31 October 2026.
Nigeria sets its entry regime by nationality, with a fully digital e-Visa system covering 13 different categories, from tourism to transit, with a decision in about 48 hours. The Nigeria Immigration Service warns that no third parties are authorized to collect the e-Visa fee: it must only be processed at evisa.immigration.gov.ng.
This table summarises the exact entry mechanism for every passport we track. The difference between entering visa-free, with an electronic authorisation, with an e-Visa, or with a traditional visa is explained in visa, e-Visa, and electronic authorisation: what's the difference. How we verify every row before publishing it is on methodology.
Base entry rules refreshed 2 November 2026. Published: 22 August 2026.
| Passport | Requirement | Max. stay |
|---|---|---|
| Visa-free | ||
| Benin | Visa-free | — |
| Burkina Faso | Visa-free | — |
| Cameroon | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Cape Verde | Visa-free | — |
| Chad | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Gambia | Visa-free | — |
| Ghana | Visa-free | — |
| Guinea | Visa-free | — |
| Guinea-Bissau | Visa-free | — |
| Ivory Coast | Visa-free | — |
| Liberia | Visa-free | — |
| Mali | Visa-free | — |
| Niger | Visa-free | — |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Senegal | Visa-free | — |
| Seychelles | Visa-free | 90 days |
| Sierra Leone | Visa-free | — |
| Togo | Visa-free | — |
| Visa required | ||
| Afghanistan | e-Visa | — |
| Albania | e-Visa | — |
| Algeria | e-Visa | — |
| Andorra | e-Visa | — |
| Angola | e-Visa | — |
| Antigua and Barbuda | e-Visa | — |
| Argentina | e-Visa | — |
| Armenia | e-Visa | — |
| Australia | e-Visa | — |
| Austria | e-Visa | — |
| Azerbaijan | e-Visa | — |
| Bahamas | e-Visa | — |
| Bahrain | e-Visa | — |
| Bangladesh | e-Visa | — |
| Barbados | e-Visa | — |
| Belarus | e-Visa | — |
| Belgium | e-Visa | — |
| Belize | e-Visa | — |
| Bhutan | e-Visa | — |
| Bolivia | e-Visa | — |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | e-Visa | — |
| Botswana | e-Visa | — |
| Brazil | e-Visa | — |
| Brunei | e-Visa | — |
| Bulgaria | e-Visa | — |
| Burundi | e-Visa | — |
| Cambodia | e-Visa | — |
| Canada | e-Visa | — |
| Central African Republic | e-Visa | — |
| Chile | e-Visa | — |
| China | e-Visa | — |
| Colombia | e-Visa | — |
| Comoros | e-Visa | — |
| Costa Rica | e-Visa | — |
| Croatia | e-Visa | — |
| Cuba | e-Visa | — |
| Cyprus | e-Visa | — |
| Czech Republic | e-Visa | — |
| Denmark | e-Visa | — |
| Djibouti | e-Visa | — |
| Dominica | e-Visa | — |
| Dominican Republic | e-Visa | — |
| DR Congo | e-Visa | — |
| Ecuador | e-Visa | — |
| Egypt | e-Visa | — |
| El Salvador | e-Visa | — |
| Equatorial Guinea | e-Visa | — |
| Eritrea | e-Visa | — |
| Estonia | e-Visa | — |
| Eswatini | e-Visa | — |
| Ethiopia | e-Visa | — |
| Fiji | e-Visa | — |
| Finland | e-Visa | — |
| France | e-Visa | — |
| Gabon | e-Visa | — |
| Georgia | e-Visa | — |
| Germany | e-Visa | — |
| Greece | e-Visa | — |
| Grenada | e-Visa | — |
| Guatemala | e-Visa | — |
| Guyana | e-Visa | — |
| Haiti | e-Visa | — |
| Honduras | e-Visa | — |
| Hong Kong | e-Visa | — |
| Hungary | e-Visa | — |
| Iceland | e-Visa | — |
| India | e-Visa | — |
| Indonesia | e-Visa | — |
| Iran | e-Visa | — |
| Iraq | e-Visa | — |
| Ireland | e-Visa | — |
| Israel | e-Visa | — |
| Italy | e-Visa | — |
| Jamaica | e-Visa | — |
| Japan | e-Visa | — |
| Jordan | e-Visa | — |
| Kazakhstan | e-Visa | — |
| Kenya | e-Visa | — |
| Kiribati | e-Visa | — |
| Kosovo | e-Visa | — |
| Kuwait | e-Visa | — |
| Kyrgyzstan | e-Visa | — |
| Laos | e-Visa | — |
| Latvia | e-Visa | — |
| Lebanon | e-Visa | — |
| Lesotho | e-Visa | — |
| Libya | e-Visa | — |
| Liechtenstein | e-Visa | — |
| Lithuania | e-Visa | — |
| Luxembourg | e-Visa | — |
| Macao | e-Visa | — |
| Madagascar | e-Visa | — |
| Malawi | e-Visa | — |
| Malaysia | e-Visa | — |
| Maldives | e-Visa | — |
| Malta | e-Visa | — |
| Marshall Islands | e-Visa | — |
| Mauritania | e-Visa | — |
| Mauritius | e-Visa | — |
| Mexico | e-Visa | — |
| Micronesia | e-Visa | — |
| Moldova | e-Visa | — |
| Monaco | e-Visa | — |
| Mongolia | e-Visa | — |
| Montenegro | e-Visa | — |
| Morocco | e-Visa | — |
| Mozambique | e-Visa | — |
| Myanmar | e-Visa | — |
| Namibia | e-Visa | — |
| Nauru | e-Visa | — |
| Nepal | e-Visa | — |
| Netherlands | e-Visa | — |
| New Zealand | e-Visa | — |
| Nicaragua | e-Visa | — |
| North Korea | e-Visa | — |
| North Macedonia | e-Visa | — |
| Norway | e-Visa | — |
| Oman | e-Visa | — |
| Pakistan | e-Visa | — |
| Palau | e-Visa | — |
| Palestine | e-Visa | — |
| Panama | e-Visa | — |
| Papua New Guinea | e-Visa | — |
| Paraguay | e-Visa | — |
| Peru | e-Visa | — |
| Philippines | e-Visa | — |
| Poland | e-Visa | — |
| Portugal | e-Visa | — |
| Qatar | e-Visa | — |
| Republic of the Congo | e-Visa | — |
| Romania | e-Visa | — |
| Russia | e-Visa | — |
| Rwanda | e-Visa | — |
| Saint Lucia | e-Visa | — |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | e-Visa | — |
| Samoa | e-Visa | — |
| San Marino | e-Visa | — |
| Sao Tome and Principe | e-Visa | — |
| Saudi Arabia | e-Visa | — |
| Serbia | e-Visa | — |
| Singapore | e-Visa | — |
| Slovakia | e-Visa | — |
| Slovenia | e-Visa | — |
| Solomon Islands | e-Visa | — |
| Somalia | e-Visa | — |
| South Africa | e-Visa | — |
| South Korea | e-Visa | — |
| South Sudan | e-Visa | — |
| Spain | e-Visa | — |
| Sri Lanka | e-Visa | — |
| Sudan | e-Visa | — |
| Suriname | e-Visa | — |
| Sweden | e-Visa | — |
| Switzerland | e-Visa | — |
| Syria | e-Visa | — |
| Taiwan | e-Visa | — |
| Tajikistan | e-Visa | — |
| Tanzania | e-Visa | — |
| Thailand | e-Visa | — |
| Timor-Leste | e-Visa | — |
| Tonga | e-Visa | — |
| Trinidad and Tobago | e-Visa | — |
| Tunisia | e-Visa | — |
| Turkey | e-Visa | — |
| Turkmenistan | e-Visa | — |
| Tuvalu | e-Visa | — |
| Uganda | e-Visa | — |
| Ukraine | e-Visa | — |
| United Arab Emirates | e-Visa | — |
| United Kingdom | e-Visa | — |
| United States | e-Visa | — |
| Uruguay | e-Visa | — |
| Uzbekistan | e-Visa | — |
| Vanuatu | e-Visa | — |
| Vatican | e-Visa | — |
| Venezuela | e-Visa | — |
| Vietnam | e-Visa | — |
| Yemen | e-Visa | — |
| Zambia | e-Visa | — |
| Zimbabwe | e-Visa | — |
Nigeria rules for every passport
Vaccinations, customs limits and penalties are the same for every traveller. Grounds for refusal depend on how you enter.
Vaccinations
- Yellow fever, mandatory for every traveller over 9 months of age.
Customs limits
- Cash
- Declare to the Nigeria Customs Service if carrying more than USD 10,000 (or the equivalent) in cash or negotiable instruments, under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022; failing to declare it is a criminal offence and can lead to seizure and prosecution.
- Alcohol
- One 1-litre bottle of spirits and one 1-litre bottle of wine, duty-free.
- Tobacco
- Up to 200 grams of tobacco in total, of any kind (200 cigarettes count as 200 grams), duty-free.
Overstay penalties
Since 1 October 2025, when the amnesty for people with expired visas ended, the Immigration Service applies these sanctions depending on the length of the overstay: under 3 months, removal, a fine of USD 15 for each extra day or, as an alternative, a 2-year entry ban; from 3 months to 1 year, removal, a fine of USD 15 a day or a 5-year entry ban; one year or more, removal and a 10-year or permanent entry ban.
Grounds for refusal
Apply to: Visa-free
- Failing to meet the pre-processing requirements (Landing and Exit Cards among them): the source itself warns that this leads to refusal of entry or departure at immigration checkpoints.
Apply to: e-Visa
- Failing to meet the pre-processing requirements (Landing and Exit Cards among them): the source itself warns that this leads to refusal of entry or departure at immigration checkpoints.
- Filing the e-Visa application with missing documents or without showing sufficient funds: these are the two grounds the service cites when explaining what to do if you are refused.
Do you need a different visa for Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt?
No. Nigeria sets the requirements, so entering through Lagos asks for the same as entering through Abuja or Port Harcourt. If you're arriving overland or through a small border post, check that separately: some countries apply their own rules to specific crossings.
What does change is where you file the application when a visa is needed, and that depends on the country you live in rather than the city you're travelling to.
What draws travellers to Nigeria
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and a cultural giant: the birthplace of Afrobeats and Nollywood: but it is not a conventional tourist destination today. Lagos, the megacity, concentrates the music scene, the galleries and the beaches of Victoria Island. The main World Heritage site is the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, in the Yoruba south-west, a sanctuary of the goddess Osun with a huge festival in early August; the other is the Sukur cultural landscape. Nigeria has 2 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Important note: in 2026 the U.S. State Department places Nigeria at Level 3 ("Reconsider Travel") overall, with numerous states at Level 4 ("Do Not Travel") for terrorism, kidnapping and crime, mostly in the north and the south-east; the U.S. Embassy drew down staff in April 2026. Travel requires security advice and a local operator.
Sources for this section: tourism.gov.ng (Nigeria Federal Ministry of Tourism); UNESCO World Heritage List (whc.unesco.org, 2 sites in Nigeria); U.S. Department of State travel advisory (travel.state.gov, Level 3) and UK FCDO travel advice. Accessed 31 August 2026.
Where can Nigeria passport holders travel visa-free? →
Informational only. Always verify requirements with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.