US-Nigerian travels dip amidst visa ban, entry restrictions

The US–Nigerian air travel has been negatively impacted by increasingly restrictive US visa and immigration rules, which include curtailed visa validity, stricter entry requirements, and outright suspensions on certain categories of Nigerian travellers, Daily Trust can report.

President Donald Trump had imposed stricter visa rules and outright visa ban on Nigerians visiting the US with effect from January 1, 2026.

The development has drastically slowed down passenger movement between Nigeria and the United State with stakeholders in the travel industry saying the worst is yet to happen.

The latest development is coming after the recent passenger boom on the Nigeria-US route with American Airlines increasing their frequencies.

Daily Trust reports that the US embassy in Nigeria had last year announced the suspension of visa issuance for Nigerians with effect from January 1, 2026.

This followed the recent US Department of State’s announcement that effective January 1, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. EST, it will partially suspend the issuance of visas for nationals of 19 countries, including Nigeria, Angola, Cuba, Venezuela, and several others.

Effective January 1, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. EST, in line with Presidential Proclamation 10998 on “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States,” the Department of State had announced that is partially suspending visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries – Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – for nonimmigrant B-1/B-2 visitor visas and F, M, J student and exchange visitor visas, and all immigrant visas.

While imposing the restriction, the US exempted immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran; dual nationals applying with a passport of a nationality not subject to a suspension; special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for U.S. government employees under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D); participants in certain major sporting events and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs).”

Daily Trust reports that the Nigeria-US route is one of the busiest international routes operated by foreign airlines.

Currently, two US-based carriers – Delta and United – operate direct flights between Nigeria and the US while other foreign airlines like Ethiopian Airlines, Egypt Air, British Airways, Kenya Airways, among others also fly to the US through their various hubs.

In 2024, the Open Sky agreement between Nigeria and the US formally came into effect 20 years after the agreement was signed with Nigerian airlines missing out of the US-Nigeria boom.

The US Embassy in Nigeria on May 17, 2024 announced that the “U.S.-Nigeria Air Transport Agreement, which has been provisionally applied since 2000, entered into force on May 13, 2024.”

According to the statement, “This bilateral agreement establishes a modern civil aviation relationship with Nigeria consistent with U.S. Open Skies international aviation policy and with commitments to high standards of aviation safety and security.”

“The agreement includes provisions that allow for unrestricted capacity and frequency of services, open route rights, a liberal charter regime, and open code-sharing opportunities.

“This agreement with Nigeria is a step forward in liberalizing the international civil aviation sector in Africa and further expands our strong economic and commercial partnership, promotes people-to-people ties, and creates new opportunities for airlines, travel companies, and customers.

“With this agreement, air carriers can provide more affordable, convenient, and efficient air services to travelers and shippers, which in turn promotes tourism and commerce.”

The agreement implies that Nigerian airlines can have unfettered access to the US airspace, flying to any country in America and forging partnerships with US carriers.

Our correspondent reports that Nigerian airlines including Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines have been designated to fly to the United States.

While Nigerian Airlines are yet to reciprocate on the route, the US-Nigeria market is still considered one of the viable routes with passengers trooping for businesses, education and leisure.

However, this has changed in recent times thanks to the recent Trump’s immigration policies which have restricted entry to Nigerians and other African nationals to the effect that immigrants living in the US are considering a return.

It would be recalled that the President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mr. Yinka Folami had described the recent visa ban as a setback.

“The visa ban would definitely have an effect on traffic and traffic would have a consequent effect on the patronage of American airlines or travel to America.

According to him, “what America is basically telling us is that we should go where we are wanted and that has always been my position as a Nigerian. We should always go where we are welcome.”

True to his prediction, travel agents who spoke with our correspondent said the ban has already started taking its toll on US-Nigerian flight.

For years, Nigerians could secure multiple-entry US visas valid for several years, allowing them flexibility to travel for business, education, tourism and family visits.

But policy changes began reducing visa durations and tightening entry conditions before the outright visa ban was implemented.

Additional proposed requirements like visa bonds of up to $15,000 for some Nigerian travellers have worsened the process for prospective travellers to the US.

A travel agent who spoke with our correspondent said, “So far we have seen a drastic reduction in demand for US bookings and the American airlines flying directly to the US are recording reduced load factors. Nigerians are now looking elsewhere.

For instance, a recent report indicated that Delta, one of the American airlines flying to Nigeria, has been recording extremely low load factors on Nigerian routes.

The report by simpleflying.com described the New York JFK to Lagos route – at 56.7% load factor – as the second lowest route for Delta in its entire network.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Director of Research, Zenith Travels, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo stated that the current development would also not encourage Nigerian airlines planning to start the US-Nigerian route on the basis of reciprocity to commence operations.

In the same vein, he said the American carriers would find it difficult to expand with the reduced passenger number.

This, he stated, would also have a direct impact on Nigeria’s process of attaining its Category 1 status which enables Nigerian Airlines to fly to the US.

He said, “Those that would feel the impact more are not US airlines but airlines that use their hub to ferry passengers between Nigeria and US. It is those airlines that would lose more passengers.

“With the reduction in passengers, you expect that the fare on that route would drop and direct flight would be favoured by passengers rather than going through a third country since there is low demand.

“So those that would feel the impact more are those operating connecting flights. For the American airlines, they would still remain on the route but they might not be able to expand or increase their frequencies. They would continue to manage what they have or change the aircraft to a smaller one that would reduce the impact.”

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