When the United States rolled out a new visa policy for Nigerians on July 8, 2025, limiting most non-immigrant visas to a single entry and a three-month validity, many Nigerians were caught off guard.
Non-immigrant visas are for individuals travelling to the United States temporarily for tourism, business, education, medical treatment, temporary work, or cultural programmes. These visas do not grant permanent residency.
Framed as a ‘reciprocity measure’ by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, which it blamed on broader immigration concerns, the move sparked criticisms from policy analysts and immigration experts, who argued that it disproportionately restricts the mobility of Nigerian students, professionals, and business travellers.
Meanwhile, with the promise of American opportunity now further out of reach, questions are mounting over what reciprocity means and whether Nigeria is being unfairly targeted under the guise of policy alignment.
According to the Organisation of American States, the principle of reciprocity involves permitting the application of the legal effects of specific relationships in law when these same effects are accepted equally by foreign countries.
In the words of the Dominican Ambassador to Egypt, Manuel Lama, “The principle of reciprocity in international relations refers to the idea that states respond to each other’s actions with similar actions, whether cooperative or retaliatory, to maintain balance and predictability in their interactions.”
The Nigerian government, in a protest statement, faulted the US reciprocity claim as the basis for the new visa rule.
The President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, faulted the claim that the President cancelled the issuance of five-year multiple-entry visas for US citizens, which allegedly necessitated the policy, describing such claims as misinformation and fake news.
“We want to reiterate that the US government’s claim of reciprocity as the reason for its current visa policy towards Nigeria does not accurately reflect the actual situation,” Onanuga said in a statement.
Furthermore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, hinted that the visa restrictions and the recent 10 percent tariff imposed on Nigeria by Donald Trump’s administration might be linked to Nigeria’s unwillingness to accept US’ plan to send Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria.
Reflecting on the cost of such rules on Nigerians, the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, cautioned that the newly introduced 10 per cent tariff on key export categories could weaken Nigeria’s competitiveness in the U.S. market and threaten non-oil exports that have benefited from the African Growth and Opportunity Act exemptions.
The minister noted that for businesses in the non-oil sector, these measures present destabilising challenges to price competitiveness and market access, especially in emerging and value-added sectors vital to the country’s diversification agenda.
“Small and medium-scale enterprises building their business models around AGOA exemptions will face the pressures of rising costs and uncertain buyer commitments,” Oduwole said.
The minister said over the past two years, Nigeria’s annual exports to the US have steadily remained between $5bn and $6bn, adding that crude petroleum, mineral fuels, oils, and gas-related products make up more than 90 per cent of the exports.
Reacting further, former President of the Organised Private Sector, Dele Oye, said the new changes have several impacts on Nigeria and Nigerians, suggesting further engagement with the US with the hope of relaxing the policy.
He acknowledged the fact that businesses will suffer under this regime, which will reduce the country’s exports to the US and Nigeria’s imports from the US. He said not to do business with the US, and vice versa, is a risk.
“This has to do with non-immigrant visas. For businesses, it has a major issue because it impacts the ability of Nigerians to send more goods to the country. It will reduce our economic activities and opportunities, and the economy will be affected.
“For the students, it has a major impact because the students do have an F1 visa, which allows them to stay longer, but if before November they are already in the US, after November they can’t come back for Christmas. It will lead to increased cost, stress, and denied academic exchange for both countries,” he said.
Oye added that while Nigeria tries to engage the US for the possible reversal of the policy, it is important that Nigeria looks other ways of diversifying its economy, especially as the bilateral trade relations between Nigeria and China are thriving, though not as much as the Nigeria-US relations.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s trade relations with the United States hit a combined value of N31.05tn between 2015 and 2024.
The NBS analysis shows that within the 10 years, Nigeria imported American goods worth N14.71tn, while exports to the US stood at N16.34tn.
The report said the African giant recorded a trade surplus of N1.63tn, indicating that Nigeria exported more to the US than it imported, despite yearly fluctuations. This shows that the country ran deficits in some years, particularly in 2015 and 2020.
In 2024 alone, according to the NBS, Nigeria’s exports to the US climbed to an all-time high of N5.52tn, up from N2.61tn in 2023 and N334.55bn in 2015.
However, experts warned that this promising bilateral trade relationship may plummet if nothing is done to engage the US on this stifling visa restrictions policy.
Former Nigerian ambassador to the US, Joe Keshi, said the United States’ decision to reduce visa validity for Nigerian nationals from five years to just three months is set to deliver a major blow to Nigeria’s economy, its tech ecosystem, students, and international businesses.
The former Nigerian Consul in Atlanta said the decision was a diplomatic setback with far-reaching consequences for frequent travellers, particularly business people, students, and professionals in the tech and innovation sectors.
“This policy will increase corruption in the process. No embassy, particularly in Nigeria, will tell you there’s no corruption in visa issuance. With this new system, Nigerians will pay more, more frequently, and likely be forced into using middlemen. It will frustrate legitimate travellers,” he said.
He described the new regime as punitive, saying that it reflected Nigeria’s weak diplomatic leverage and failure to build genuinely strategic relationships with the United States over the years.
“For too long, we have deceived ourselves with the idea that Nigeria has a strategic relationship with the US. We do not. How can we compare Nigeria’s importance to the US with that of Israel or Egypt? Those countries have deep-rooted bilateral engagements.
“Nigeria, on the other hand, has no real foundation for negotiation. This is not just a matter of inconvenience, it is about access, cost, credibility, and the shrinking opportunities for young Nigerians in the global space,” he emphasised.
Akelicious reports that this development could discourage US investment in Nigeria, which is already limited compared to countries like South Africa. While South Africa reportedly hosts over 6,000 US companies, Nigeria struggles to attract and retain large-scale American firms due to insecurity, bureaucratic hurdles, and inconsistent policy environments.
Keshi advised the Nigerian government to swiftly reopen the negotiations channel and fix what he described as a ‘failed implementation’ of an earlier agreement between the two countries for a five-year visa system.
“It’s not enough to sign agreements and not implement them. The US began theirs immediately. Nigeria delayed. We must take responsibility and re-evaluate our entire visa framework, not just with the US, but with the UK and other Western nations charging exorbitant fees for access that Nigerians are struggling to afford,” he said.
He criticised Nigeria’s foreign policy posture, saying that Nigeria should stop overstating its diplomatic clout and instead focus on trade productivity, particularly in manufacturing and technology.
“Our currency is weak because our economy is not productive. We import too much and export too little. We don’t offer strategic value in trade relationships. That’s why we get slapped with these kinds of policies,” he added.
