The Federal Government has announced plans to introduce reciprocal visa measures following a new United States policy requiring Nigerian applicants to disclose their social media handles and activities from the past five years.
The US Mission in Nigeria confirmed that all non-immigrant visa applicants must now provide a comprehensive list of social media usernames on the DS-160 visa application form. It warned that failure to disclose accurate information could lead to visa denial or ineligibility for future applications.
“Visa applicants are required to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used in the last five years,” the Mission said, noting that applicants must certify the information before submission.
Reacting on Monday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said Nigeria will respond in kind. He stressed that US citizens seeking Nigerian visas will be subjected to the same requirements.
“We are aware of the development. They informed us before implementation. On issues of this nature, the best we can do is to carry out reciprocal action. So, some people from the US might want to apply for a visa, and we will adopt the same measures,” Ebienfa stated.
He added that the Federal Government will convene an inter-agency meeting involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, and the National Intelligence Agency to agree on a coordinated response.
The move underscores Nigeria’s long-standing position that visa policies are reciprocal, with officials reiterating that “what you are mandating our nationals to do, we will also mandate your citizens applying for our visa to do.”
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