Stakeholders and operators in the downstream sector of the aviation industry expressed shock yesterday over the review of visa application requirements for visitors to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city.
The newly updated requirements ended the 96-hour window for transit passengers from Nigerians.
The latest directives were communicated to travel agents on Tuesday, Daily Trust learnt.
In a major development that is expected to reduce traffic from Nigeria to Dubai, UAE foremost destination for businesses and tourism, any Nigerian aged between 18 and 45 is also restricted from getting tourist visa unless accompanied.
This is coming just about a year after the UAE and Nigeria resolved a two-year visa ban placed on Nigerians by the UAE authorities.
But the lifting of the ban still came with several stringent conditions which restricted the number of Nigerians traveling to the UAE.
However, travel agents told our correspondent that it is about getting worse in the coming days following the review of the visa process for Nigerians.
According to the new directives from Dubai immigration communicated to the travel agents on Tuesday, there would be no more Transit Visa applications.
The notification added, “For Nigeria nationals, please bear in mind that an applicant aged 18 to 45 years travelling alone is not eligible for TOURIST VISA CATEGORY.
“An applicant who is 45yrs or above must provide a Single Nigerian personal bank statement for a period of last six months, with each month’s end balance reflecting a minimum ending balance of USD 10,000 or its naira equivalent.
“Kindly note that the above points must be taken into consideration before sending your applications with other existing documents such as hotel reservation, data page, etc.”
There had been a mild diplomatic strain between the UAE and Nigeria for over two years with travel restricted between both countries.
This followed a visa ban imposed on Nigerians by the UAE authorities.
Daily Trust reports that the strained relationship between Nigeria and the UAE dated back to the COVID-19 pandemic era when both countries disagreed over the COVID-19 travel requirements.
The federal government in 2021 suspended Emirates Airlines and in retaliation, the UAE barred Nigerian travelers from visiting Dubai.
After this was resolved, there was another issue between Emirates and Air Peace, Nigeria’s sole carrier flying to the UAE.
In December 2021, Nigeria reduced Emirates’ 21 weekly flights to Nigeria to one for refusing to grant the three slots requested by Air Peace flying to Sharjah.
The UAE later backtracked and granted Air Peace seven frequencies to Dubai, the UAE’s prime airport.
But after the strained diplomatic relationship, which characterised the post-pandemic travel resumption, the unresolved issues around the Emirates’ trapped funds thereafter worsened the lingering crisis as Emirates suspended all flights to Nigeria in October 2022, citing $85 million trapped funds as the reason.
The authorities also followed with a visa ban on Nigerians and other African countries including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Burundi, Republic of Guinea, Gambia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, among others.
But while the ban was lifted on the other countries almost immediately, Nigerian passport holders were still restricted from accessing the UAE visa.
The development left many frequent visitors to Dubai in limbo, especially those who go on regular business trips with many of them going through the neighbouring countries.
Our correspondent reports that apart from businesses, airlines operating between Nigeria and UAE also suffered revenue losses ditto travel agents who serve as the go-between between the passengers and the airlines.
Daily Trust in an earlier report in February 2024 estimated that over 3000 passengers were recorded weekly on the Lagos-Dubai routes as people frequent the country for businesses and leisures with the passengers of Emirates, Air Peace, Ethiopians, Qatar, Royal Air Maroc, Kenya Airways, among others combined.
This implies an estimated loss of $300,000 (N450m at N1500/$) weekly in passenger service charge (PSC) for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) alone and billions in ticket sale charge and cargo sale charge (TSC/CSC) for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority of Nigeria (NCAA).
Our correspondent reports that Nigeria and UAE have a trade relation worth over $750m as of 2022 according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) tracking trade data among countries.
It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2023 visited his UAE counterpart in a diplomatic shuttle to straighten the relationship between the two countries.
Months after, the diplomatic shuttle yielded fruits as the UAE main carrier, Emirates, announced resumption of flight to Nigeria from October last year.
Implication of new policy
Travel agents who spoke with our correspondent expressed shock with the new policy, saying it would further shrink passengers going to the UAE for business or leisure.
Before now, passengers transiting through the UAE were given a 96-hour window to spend in Dubai before continuing on their journey.
Some tourists and businessmen took advantage of this window to bypass the stringent requirements of obtaining a Dubai visa especially due to the $10,000 requirement.
However, with the new policy, this window has effectively closed amidst apprehension and uncertainty by travel agents.
The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) expressed disbelief and shock over the reviewed visa policy, saying the UAE authorities had made the requirements to enter Dubai more stringent.
President of the association, Yinka Folami in a chat with Daily Trust said the 96-hour window was a concession given to transit passengers which has now been removed.
He said, “They have removed the concession that they had before and they’ve made it more stringent in the sense that you are now subject to apply as if you are applying for a proper visa when you have to submit your statement of account, etc.
“And now, the $10,000 minimum balance in your account for six months applies. So, it just made it more stringent. The 96-hour transit has been withdrawn.”
According to him, the travel agents don’t have any explanation yet as to why the UAE authorities tinkered with the requirements.
“Everything is just so speculative. There is no explanation yet and it is causing a lot of headache for us in arranging flights for our customers,” he added.
Folami stated that the development would reduce traffic to the UAE.
He called on the government to engage with the UAE authorities at a country-to-country level to find an amicable resolution to this.
Only Emirates Airline will lose – Expert
Aviation analyst and Director of Research at Zenith Travels, Olumide Ohunayo in a chat with our correspondent said only Emirates would lose as the sole airline on the route. Every Nigerian airline abandoned the route for them and that is why they cannot return to their two daily flights because they have restricted the visa,” he said.
Ohunayo stated that despite the purported agreement with the Nigerian government, the UAE visa application policy has not been easy.
“Even when they purportedly said they have signed an agreement with Nigeria and they have relaxed the restriction it was not properly relaxed. What they are just saying now is what has been happening over time. It’s not new, it has been happening beneath. They just came out openly now,” he added.
The expert said he has no problem with the UAE authorities, adding that it is a challenge for Nigeria to develop its tourism and the economy.
Ohunayo added, “For me, I have no problem with their policy. It makes us look inwards, it makes us begin to realise our potential and stop spending so much money on Dubai just for class. What they have just said now is that they only need the rich people in their country, not even the middle class.”
He was corroborated by a former Rector of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt. Samuel Caulcrick who said the UAE is only interested in visitors who are high net-worth individuals.
He stated that the design of the country is for high net-worth people.
“Africa generally, we have mismanaged the privilege given to us and the place is saturated by ordinary people and what they are doing is to filter it which is what they are doing now,” he added.
On her part, a former President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye said the new conditions effectively canceled the 96-hour window given to those going beyond Dubai.
Akporiaye said Nigerians should stop stressing themselves about going to Dubai.
She urged the Nigerian government to engage the UAE authorities over the matter.
‘Countries no longer taking Nigeria seriously’
peaking about the UAE’s new visa policy for Nigerians, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, the President and founder of Pan African Institute of Global Affairs and Strategy (PAIGAS), Abuja, expressed dismay about the way Nigerians were being treated by countries of the world.
He blamed the federal government for the disrespect Nigerians were facing, saying, “You will be addressed the way you dress.”
The former envoy expressed worries over the federal government’s inability to appoint ambassadors for over two years, saying Nigeria won’t be taken seriously by any country.
“I can’t have an ambassador in your country, and you have none in mine, and you expect me to take you seriously,” he said.
Ambassador Uhomoibhi, who is a former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, noted that when a country is not treating its citizens well, it should not expect other countries to treat them better.
Ambassador Uhomoibhi said that until those in power return to the drawing board to tweak the country’s foreign policy outlook, no country would take Nigeria seriously.
He urged the Nigerian government to reciprocate the new visa policy of the UAE, saying “it is in the spirit of reciprocity”.
On his part, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, told our correspondent on phone that there was nothing different in the latest communication by the government of the UAE.
He said the rules were the same as those issued in October, 2024.
“The same rule of regulation they set up in October, that is what is there. Maybe they just tried to re-emphasize,” Ebienfa said.
A senior officer at the Ministry, who pleaded anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told Daily Trust that UAE introduced the new rules because of the bad attitude of young Nigerians in the Arabian country.
