The Trump administration has announced a ban suspending the issuance of Visa’s that could lead to permanent residency for a number of countries.
The ban takes effect as of February 21st, 2020.
Countries banned include Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Nigerians will not be able to apply for the Visa track that could lead to citizineship/permanent residency.
Tanzanian and Sudanese nationals will not be able to apply for the green card lottery.
The US says it has suspended said countries due to their poor security standards including passport technology and identity-verification.
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They added that the suspended countries refused to share information on criminals and suspected terrorists.
US adds that Nigeria poses a risk of harboring terrorists such as Boko Haram militants.
Nigeria is one of Africa’s most populous countries, and has been touted as Africa’s unofficial tech capital in recent times with its vibrant tech scene.
Citizens of these countries will still be able to visit the US on temporary tourist/non-immigrant visas.
In 2018, Nigerian nationals collectively received 8000 US Visas.
