Nigeria moved its short-visit visas online in May 2025, and with that the paperwork got simpler but stricter. There is no longer a visa on arrival to fall back on, the airline will want to see your approval before it lets you board, and almost every tourist or business category on the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) list names a return ticket. We quote NIS directly, then mark the Nigerian steps where a held booking earns its place and the ones where it cannot. Indian passport holders are the main example, but the rules on the NIS site apply to every nationality that needs a visa.
Nigeria visa key facts for 2026
| Question | What the official sources say |
|---|---|
| Do Indians need a visa? | Yes, and it must be obtained before travelling. The visa on arrival was discontinued from 1 May 2025.[4][5] |
| How do you apply? | Online at the NIS e-Visa portal for the short-visit classes; some categories still go through an embassy or consulate.[1][2] |
| How long can you stay? | Short visit visas cover stays of no more than 90 days. The Tourism Visa is described as single-entry for 30 days, and e-Visa classes cannot be extended.[1] |
| What does NIS say about flights? | Tourism, Business Single Entry and Visiting visas list a "return ticket". Business Multiple Entry asks for "proof of return travel". Frequent business executives need "confirmed travel".[1] |
| Decision time | The launch announcement promised approval "within 48 hours or less".[4] |
| Passport | Six months of validity left, counted from your arrival day.[5] |
| Health | A yellow fever vaccination certificate is needed to enter Nigeria.[5] India also asks for one when you fly back.[6][7] |
| Before boarding | Foreign visitors fill in an electronic landing card online before they board.[4] |
Who needs a visa for Nigeria?
If you hold an Indian passport, you do. The same goes for UK, US, EU and most Asian passports. GOV.UK puts it bluntly: get your visa before you travel, because the arrival option has gone.[5] Citizens of ECOWAS member states are the main exception. Their 1979 protocol allows visa-free visits of up to 90 days between member states, with a valid travel document and a health certificate in hand.[8] NIS deals with them in a separate ECOWAS section.[3]
Most Indian visitors fall into three groups: business travellers meeting suppliers or clients in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt; people visiting family who work in Nigeria; and a smaller number of tourists. Each group lands in a different NIS class, and the flight wording is slightly different in each. Pick the class first, then build the flight evidence around it.
What changed when the e-Visa launched?
From 1 May 2025 the Federal Ministry of Interior and NIS switched the short-visit classes to a fully online system and switched off the visa on arrival. Visas already issued on arrival stayed usable only until 30 May 2025. At the same time a digital landing and exit card replaced the paper forms.[4]
Three practical results follow for anyone booking flights:
- No approval, no boarding. With no arrival desk to sort things out, airlines check for an approved visa at the departure airport.
- Dates matter more. The approval is tied to a single entry and cannot be extended, so your arrival date and length of stay need to be right first time.[1]
- Overstays are expensive. The announcement set a daily fine for overstaying from September 2025, with entry bans for long overstays.[4] Your return date should sit comfortably inside the permitted stay.
What does NIS actually say about flight tickets?
The NIS visa page describes each class in a short paragraph. Here is what each one says about travel, quoted from that page:[1]
- Tourism Visa: applicants "must have a valid passport, return ticket, evidence of accommodation and bank statement to show sufficient funds".
- Business, Single Entry: a valid passport, an invitation from a Nigerian company with its CAC certificate, "proof of accommodation, and a return ticket".
- Visiting Visa, Single Entry: an invitation from your host, the host's passport or residence permit, proof of funds, "and a valid return ticket".
- Business, Multiple Entry: offered on a reciprocal basis, and it "requires proof of return travel".
- Frequently Travelled Business Executives: the list ends with "confirmed travel".
- Transit Without Visa: for travellers who stay airside for under 48 hours; "it requires an onward ticket".
Notice that none of these entries uses the words "reservation" or "itinerary". That is the honest starting point for the next question.
Is a held flight reservation enough for a Nigeria e-Visa?
The NIS wording is "return ticket", and a reservation is not a ticket. A held booking proves the seats and dates exist under your name. It does not prove payment, and the airline has issued nothing. NIS does not publish how its officers treat an itinerary uploaded in that slot, so we will not tell you it is accepted.
What we can say is how we would handle it at our own desk:
- Frequently Travelled Business Executives: "confirmed travel" reads as a paid, confirmed booking. Buy the ticket, ideally a refundable or changeable fare.
- Tourism, Visiting, Business Single Entry: the cautious route is a refundable return fare. Many travellers prefer not to commit money before a decision, and the decision is quick, so a reasonable middle path is to keep your dates firm, upload a verifiable reservation, and buy the real ticket the moment the approval arrives. You carry the risk that an officer asks for more.
- Company-sponsored trips: if your Nigerian host's travel desk is booking a corporate fare anyway, simply upload that.
Our view: because the decision is promised within about two days, the cost of waiting to buy is small. Do not buy a non-refundable fare before approval. Do describe whatever you upload accurately: call a reservation a reservation, never a ticket.
For the general difference between the three options, our page on flight reservations for visas covers it, and reservation versus refundable ticket works through the costs.
Reservation, refundable fare or paid ticket: which fits each stage?
| Stage | Held reservation (live PNR) | Refundable fare | Non-refundable ticket |
|---|---|---|---|
| e-Visa upload, Tourism / Visiting / Business single | Shows the route and dates; does not literally meet "return ticket" | Meets the wording; money tied up until refunded | Meets the wording; lost if refused |
| Frequent executive visa ("confirmed travel") | Not a good fit | Best fit | Fits, with risk |
| Check-in in India | Cannot be used to fly | Needed for travel | Needed for travel |
| Arrival desk in Lagos or Abuja | May have lapsed by then; not proof of a paid return | Good proof of departure | Good proof of departure |
| Transit Without Visa (airside, under 48 hours) | Not suitable; "onward ticket" required | Suitable | Suitable |
How to apply for the e-Visa, step by step
- Choose the class. Read the short description of each class on the NIS visa page and pick the one that matches your purpose.[1]
- Collect the host documents first. Business and visiting classes need an invitation letter; for business, the company's CAC certificate too. These take longer to arrive than any flight document.
- Fix your dates. Pick an arrival date and a return date within the class's permitted stay. Work back from the meeting or event, not from the cheapest fare.
- Prepare the flight evidence. A refundable return fare, or a reservation if you have decided to accept that risk, in your name exactly as printed in the passport.
- Apply on the official portal only, at evisa.immigration.gov.ng, and pay the fee shown.[2]
- Watch your email. Approval comes by email with a QR code.[4]
- Buy or confirm your real ticket, then complete the online landing card before you fly.[4]
- ECOWAS, Protocol A/P.1/5/79 relating to free movement of persons, residence and establishment (PDF), Articles 3 and 4.
Avoid this: applying through look-alike sites. Use the links on immigration.gov.ng itself, which lists the e-Visa portal and the status checker side by side.[3]
What should your flight document show?
Whether you upload a refundable fare or a reservation, the content is what an officer reads. Get these right:
- Every name spelt as the passport prints it, with the surname box holding the surname.
- Arrival into Nigeria on the date you enter in the form, and a departure inside the permitted stay.
- Airports that make sense for the trip: Lagos for most commercial visits, Abuja for government or Federal Capital Territory work.
- Dates that match the hotel booking or the host's invitation letter. If the letter says a conference runs 10 to 12 March, do not show a return on 25 March without a reason.
- A booking reference that opens under "Manage booking" on that carrier's website.
Say your Lagos supplier has invited you for a factory visit on 14 November. A sensible plan is arrival on 12 November, return on 18 November, a hotel for six nights, and an invitation that mentions the same week. That reads as one coherent trip.
What will the airline check when you leave India?
Expect the check-in agent to look for four things: a passport with at least six months left after arrival, the approved e-Visa, the yellow fever certificate, and some sign that you will leave Nigeria again.[5] Airlines carry the cost of flying back a passenger who is refused entry, so they tend to apply the destination's rules literally.
On departure day your outbound seat is paid for, obviously. Our honest advice is to hold a real return or onward ticket too. The reservation behind your e-Visa upload has probably expired: a Nigeria-file hold lives for up to 2 weeks, and the carrier picks the precise cut-off. A lapsed PNR proves nothing at a counter.
The landing card and arrival in Nigeria
The automated landing and exit card is completed online. NAN's report of the launch says inbound foreigners complete it before boarding, and outbound passengers fill in the exit card before leaving.[4] The form asks for your flight, so do it once your real booking is fixed, not when you first apply.
At the arrival desk the officer can ask about the purpose of the visit, where you are staying and when you leave. Keep the invitation letter, hotel booking and your return ticket in one folder, printed and on your phone. Short, consistent answers backed by matching paper are what get people through quickly.
Routes from India and transit stops on the way
Most Indian travellers reach Lagos or Abuja with one stop, commonly through the Gulf (Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi) or through East Africa (Addis Ababa or Nairobi). Each hub has its own transit rules, and these depend on your nationality, whether you change airports, and how long the connection is. Airside connections on a single booking are the simplest case.
One point people miss: transiting Addis Ababa or Nairobi counts for India's yellow fever check on your way home. India's list of yellow fever endemic countries includes Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya.[6] Our guide to transit and layover rules covers connection planning, and the Ethiopian Airlines and Emirates guides explain how each airline's booking lookup works.
Coming home: India's yellow fever rule
This catches Indian travellers more often than the Nigerian side does. India applies yellow fever entry rules under the International Health Regulations. If you are older than nine months and land from an endemic country, you must show a certificate. It only counts from day 10 after the jab, and missing or premature cards mean quarantine of up to six days.[7] Nigeria is on the Health Ministry's list.[6]
So get vaccinated at an authorised centre well before you apply, and carry the original certificate both ways. Nigeria wants it on entry, and India wants it when you return.[5]
Mistakes that slow down Nigeria applications
- Wrong class. Visiting family on a business visa, or attending meetings on a tourism visa, creates a mismatch with the invitation letter.
- A return date beyond the permitted stay. A tourist class described as 30 days with a 40-day trip on the booking will raise questions.
- Name order swapped. Many Indian passports carry a single given name or no surname. Enter it exactly as the passport shows.
- An unverifiable PDF. A "ticket" made in a generator with an invented PNR fails the first lookup. Never use one.
- Forgetting the landing card, or filling it with the wrong flight.
- No yellow fever certificate, which can stop you at check-in and again on the way home.
If you are Nigerian rather than visiting Nigeria
This page is about visiting Nigeria. If you hold a Nigerian passport and need flight evidence for a Schengen, UK, Canadian or US application, the rules come from those countries, not from NIS. Read our guide for Nigerian travellers, the Schengen visa guide and the UK visa guide. Neighbouring West African trips are covered in our Ghana visa guide.
Getting a verifiable reservation, and what it costs
Decided a reservation suits your stage? We set one up under your passport name, on the Lagos or Abuja route and dates you give us. Open it yourself on the carrier's "Manage booking" page. Remember that nobody can board with it, because nothing has been paid for.
One traveller costs the same for a single or a return route; longer Lagos-plus-elsewhere loops add a charge for each extra pair of legs. Pay with UPI, a card or netbanking via Razorpay; for most Nigeria orders the PDF follows inside ten minutes or so. Validity runs up to 2 weeks, with the exact length set by the airline, so order it a day or two before the upload. See the price page for every currency and the tracking page for order status. If your host is not providing accommodation, we also offer a hotel booking for visa files.
Need a reservation for your Nigeria plans?
Checkable PNR for your Nigeria e-Visa file. ₹699 / $9 per passenger.
Before you upload anything, run through our check on how to verify a reservation. For where else reservations are and are not enough, see requirements by country and the onward ticket page, or go back to the home page.
Nigeria visa and flight FAQ
Can Indians get a visa on arrival in Nigeria?
No. Nigeria discontinued its visa on arrival from 1 May 2025, and visas already issued that way were honoured only until 30 May 2025. Indian visitors now apply on the NIS e-Visa portal for short-visit classes, or through a Nigerian mission for categories that the portal does not cover. Airlines check for the approval before boarding, so apply before you buy anything non-refundable.
Does the Nigeria e-Visa need a return ticket?
The NIS descriptions of the Tourism, Visiting and Business Single Entry visas all list a return ticket. Business Multiple Entry asks for proof of return travel, and the frequent executive class asks for confirmed travel. A held reservation is not a ticket, so if you want to meet the wording exactly, use a refundable return fare. A reservation shows your plan but does not literally satisfy it.
How long does the Nigeria e-Visa take?
When the system launched, the Ministry of Interior and NIS said approvals would come within 48 hours or less, sent by email with a QR code. Treat that as the usual case, not a promise. Missing invitation letters or mismatched details can slow things down, so we would still apply at least a week or two before your planned travel date.
Can I extend a Nigeria e-Visa if my trip runs long?
The NIS visa page states that the short-visit classes on the e-Visa system are not extendable. Plan your return inside the permitted stay from the start. Overstaying attracts a daily fine under rules announced with the e-Visa, and long overstays can lead to an entry ban, so a return date with a few days of slack is sensible.
Do I need a yellow fever certificate for Nigeria?
Yes. GOV.UK says you must have a yellow fever certificate to enter Nigeria, with limited age exemptions. Indian travellers also need it on the way home, because Nigeria is on India's endemic list and the certificate becomes valid only 10 days after vaccination. Without a valid one, you can be quarantined in India for up to six days.
What is the Nigeria landing card and when do I fill it in?
It is an online form that replaced the paper arrival and departure cards in May 2025. Foreign visitors complete the landing card before boarding a flight to Nigeria and the exit card before departure. It asks for flight details, so complete it once your real ticket is booked, not when you first apply for the visa.
Which airline should my reservation show?
Any airline that genuinely flies the route works, as long as the dates and airports fit your trip. From India that usually means a one-stop routing through a Gulf or East African hub. What matters more is that the booking can be looked up with its PNR and your surname, and that it matches your form, hotel and invitation.
I am a Ghanaian citizen. Do I need a Nigeria e-Visa?
No visa in the normal case. Ghana belongs to ECOWAS, whose 1979 protocol lets citizens make visa-free visits of up to 90 days to fellow members, travel document and health card in hand. Officers can still refuse inadmissible travellers, so carry your yellow fever card and be ready to explain your trip.
Sources
All sources last checked: October 2026.
- Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria visa classes: short stay, temporary residence and permanent residence visas.
- Nigeria Immigration Service, e-Visa application portal.
- Nigeria Immigration Service, Official website: e-Visa, status check, ECOWAS and Landing and Exit Card links.
- News Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria introduces e-Visa, digital entry system (Ministry of Interior and NIS announcement, May 2025).
- GOV.UK, Nigeria travel advice: entry requirements.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India, International Health Ports of Entry, Yellow fever vaccination and endemic countries.
- High Commission of India, Accra, Important notice for travellers: yellow fever entry requirements (PDF).
- ECOWAS, Protocol A/P.1/5/79 relating to free movement of persons, residence and establishment (PDF), Articles 3 and 4.
Related: flight reservation for visa · dummy ticket price · requirements by country · how to verify a PNR.