Nigeria Visa and Entry Requirements

The short version

You must have a visa to enter Nigeria as a visitor, and you must get it before you fly. Visa on arrival is no longer available. You will also be asked for a yellow fever vaccination certificate at the border, and for two online forms that are easy to miss because neither is called a visa.

The visa

Every application now goes through the Nigeria Immigration Service online portal before travel. There is no counter at the airport that will fix this for you, and the withdrawal of visa on arrival is recent enough that a good deal of older advice online still describes a process that has been closed. If you hold a valid Nigerian residence permit, a CERPAC or a Green Card, you do not need one. Everyone else should apply for a visa well before departure and travel with the approval in hand.

Your passport

It must have an expiry date at least six months after the date you arrive. That is counted from arrival, not from the day you booked, and it is the single most common reason a traveler is stopped before they ever reach immigration. A passport reported lost or stolen will be refused even if you are holding it.

Yellow fever, and who is exempt

This is a requirement rather than a recommendation. To enter Nigeria you must carry a certificate proving you have had the yellow fever vaccination. Two groups are exempt: infants aged eight months or younger, and adults aged 61 or older. Everyone else needs the certificate, and a yellow fever vaccination takes time to become valid, so this belongs at the start of your planning rather than the end of it.

The two forms

The first is the Nigeria Health Declaration Form, completed online before you enter. It applies to transit passengers as well. You may then be asked to take part in thermal screening and a travel history check on arrival, which is Nigerian government policy rather than anything about you.

The second is the landing and departure card, also completed through an online portal, which you may be asked for at the airport or at any other border point. Additional screening for Ebola has been announced and may be in place, with enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving from East and Central Africa.

What you may not carry

Nigeria's customs rules are stricter than most and they catch ordinary things. It is illegal to import beer, mineral water, soft drinks, sparkling wine, fruit, vegetables, cereals, eggs, textile fabrics, jewelry or precious metals. In the other direction it is illegal to export African art, and antiques in particular, without written authorization from the Department of Antiquities. That last one matters on a trip that includes a market.

Before you book

Read this alongside the travel safety guide, because the advisory decides where a visa is worth having, and the best time to visit, because the vaccination lead time usually sets the earliest date you can realistically go.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Nigeria entry requirements: a visa obtained before travel, the withdrawal of visa on arrival, six months of passport validity, the yellow fever certificate and the online health declaration. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Nigeria travel advice: the FCDO advises against all travel to parts of Nigeria and against all but essential travel to further parts. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Travelers’ Health, Nigeria: the vaccines and medicines recommended before travel. Accessed 14 September 2026.