The United Arab Emirates has authorised the renewal of existing residency visas to Nigerians, Peoples Gazette understands.

The development was confirmed by multiple travel agencies in the UAE to The Gazette on Thursday. 

However, they emphasised that Nigeria and many other African countries are still subject to the standard visa ban.

All citizens of Nigeria, Ghana, and at least 17 other African nations—including Ghana, Liberia, The Gambia, Togo, and so on—were slammed with a visa ban by the UAE as of October 2022.

Emirati authorities have repeatedly claimed Nigerians and other Africans are constituting security threats in their country. Some Nigerians have been arrested for involvement in cultism, theft in the country, and homicide rates were also said to be high and linked to Nigerians and Cameroonians.

So far, there has been no official communication regarding when the ban will be rescinded. 

It also remains unclear whether the Nigerian government was making any effort to address the ban, which has affected thousands of Nigerians.

Nigeria’s non-oil bilateral trade is over $2 billion with the UAE, while thousands of Nigerians have in recent years turned to the country as a major destination for real estate investment.