Breaking: US discloses only way to reverse Nigeria visa ban

The United States of America ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard has given the only condition the visa ban placed on Nigeria will be lifted.

The United States had placed a new ban on Nigeria and other countries for not complying with its established identity-management and criteria for information-sharing.

The Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, said the new immigration restrictions were designed to “address security concerns in the way the banned countries track their own citizens, share information with the U.S. and cooperate on immigration matters”.

However, this will take effect on February 22, 2020.

Other countries said to be affected by the new ban are Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan, making it 13 countries on the restricted travel list.

Speaking during a visit to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, in Abuja, on Tuesday, Leonard explained that the US wants Nigeria to sort out problems with information sharing.

“I need to clarify something for you here. The immigrant visa ban does not affect people who are currently resident in the United States. It does not cancel the status of anyone who currently lives in the United States.

“What Secretary Pompey said was that it was meant to be temporary. And it is about problems with information sharing which are investigable, achievable and resolvable and we look forward to Nigeria in a very short time being able to meet those information sharing goal so that the decision can be reviewed,” said Mary Beth Leonard.