The United States Embassy in Abuja says Nigerians with valid visa have no reason to postpone or cancel their trip to the US.
This is coming after the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, advised Nigerians to postpone their US travel plans except for urgent reason.
The presidential aide said the warning became imperative because she had received a few cases of Nigerians with valid multiple-entry US visas being denied entry and sent back to Nigeria.
However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, had said that Nigerians who have United States valid travel documents are free to embark on their trips.
He maintained that no Nigerian with valid visa was denied entry to the U.S.
The US Embassy, in a statement on Wednesday, said there is no prohibition against Nigerian with a valid visa or other U.S. government authorization from entering the United States.
It said Nigeria is not among the countries named in the new Executive Order on Immigration issued on Monday.
The statement said, “The U.S. Embassy in Abuja wishes to clarify that there is no reason for Nigerians with valid visas to postpone or cancel their travel to the United States.
“Nigeria is not named in the Executive Order on Immigration issued on March 6, and there is no prohibition against Nigerian lawful permanent residents or persons with a valid visa or other U.S. government authorization from entering the United States.”
US president Donald Trump had on Monday signed a new executive order placing a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations.
Iraq – which was covered in the previous seven-nation order – was removed from the new one after agreeing additional visa vetting measures.
The directive, which includes a 120-day ban on all refugees, takes effect on 16 March to limit travel disruption.
Citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the other six countries on the original list, will once more be subject to a 90-day travel ban.
The new order says refugees already approved by the State Department can enter the US; it limits the number allowed in to 50,000 for the year.
The directive also lifts an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.
