Before you start

An employer with an approved expatriate quota position matching your job title
A letter from that employer accepting immigration responsibility for you
Degree certificates and a CV evidencing that you fill the quota position
A passport valid at least six months, with blank pages
A yellow fever vaccination certificate

Step-by-step

1
Let the employer secure the quota position first
The Federal Ministry of Interior grants expatriate quota positions to companies, by job title, with an understudy requirement attached — the company is expected to train Nigerian counterparts into the role. Nothing on your side can start until this exists. Ask to see the quota approval letter before you resign anywhere.
Via employerWho: Your employerWeeks to months
2
Apply for the pre-arrival permit — and ask the mission which one applies
This is the step in transition, so treat the label as the thing to confirm rather than assume. Historically it was the STR (Subject To Regularisation) visa, class R2A: applied for through the e-Visa system, collected at a Nigerian embassy or high commission, valid 90 days and not extendable, regularised into CERPAC after landing. The 2025 reforms introduced a pre-arrival e-CERPAC — an entry permit valid 30 days — meant to replace it, and the NIS's visa listing no longer shows an STR class, though the NIS still publishes the R2A page. The supporting documents are the same either way: quota approval, the employer's letter of immigration responsibility, your contract and your credentials.
OnlineWho: YouWeeks
3
Complete the electronic landing card before you fly
Since May 2025 all inbound non-Nigerian passengers must complete an online landing card before boarding, and outbound passengers an exit card before departure. Do it in the 72 hours before the flight. It is short, it is free, and airlines check it.
OnlineWho: YouBefore departure
4
Start CERPAC registration immediately on arrival
Register on the e-CERPAC portal, pay the fee and attend biometric capture. The published fee is USD 2,000 for an employed foreign national, USD 600 for a student, and free for the spouse of a Nigerian citizen. Employers normally pay it. Do not let this drift: on an STR visa the 90-day window is the whole clock, and on a pre-arrival e-CERPAC the entry permit runs only 30 days.
OnlineWho: Your employer, then youWithin 30–90 days of arrival, depending on the route
5
Collect the card and keep the receipt in the meantime
The Nigeria Immigration Service states CERPAC is issued for one year and above, subject to renewal; two years is common for employed expatriates. Between application and issue, the acknowledgement and payment receipt are what you show if asked. Carry a copy; keep the original passport and card secure.
In personWho: YouWeeks after biometrics
6
Get a NIN once you cross two years of residence
The National Identity Management Commission registers foreigners who are legally resident for two years or more. Beyond that point a NIN is required to obtain or renew a long-term residence permit, so it stops being optional exactly when your first CERPAC renewal comes round.
In personWho: YouFrom 2 years of residence

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the entry visa or the pre-arrival e-CERPAC approval
Expatriate quota approval letter
Employer's letter accepting immigration responsibility
Employment contract and acceptance letter
Degree certificates and CV
Yellow fever vaccination certificate
Passport photographs to Nigerian specification

Things most newcomers don’t know

A business visa cannot be converted into a residence permit, and this is the most expensive mistake made in Nigeria.

The employment route — whether it runs through an STR visa or a pre-arrival e-CERPAC — exists precisely to produce a residence permit; a business visitor visa does not have that property, and no reorganisation of the visa classes has changed that. Employers in a hurry sometimes fly a new hire in on a business visa intending to 'sort it out here', and there is no sorting it out — the person has to leave Nigeria, apply properly at a mission abroad and fly back. That is weeks of lost time and a substantial bill, and it happens every year.

Source: Nigeria Immigration Service

The quota position belongs to your employer, so a job change is a fresh immigration process.

Nigeria licenses foreign employment at the company level. Your CERPAC exists because a specific company holds a specific quota slot for a specific job title. Moving employer is not a transfer of your permit; it is a new quota position at the new employer and a new permit, and if the new employer has no free slot the offer simply cannot be executed. Ask about quota availability during interviews, not after.

Source: Federal Ministry of Interior

Visa-on-arrival was discontinued in May 2025, and older advice still recommends it.

The e-Visa system launched on 1 May 2025 and phased out visa-on-arrival at the same time, along with introducing mandatory electronic landing and exit cards. Behind it sits the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025, in force from 8 May 2025, which regrouped the visa classes into three families — Short Visit, Temporary Residence and Permanent Residence — in place of the six types under the 2020 policy. If a guide dates itself to the 2020 policy or still describes visa-on-arrival as a route for business travellers, that is the tell that it predates all of this. Turning up expecting visa-on-arrival is a boarding-gate problem, not an arrival-hall one.

Source: Nigeria Immigration Service

Your NIN only becomes compulsory after two years, and then it gates your permit renewal.

The NIMC Act makes registration compulsory for foreigners legally resident for two years or more and exempts shorter stays. That sounds like a reprieve, but the same two-year point is when your first CERPAC renewal falls due — and a NIN is required for the renewal. Enrol before you need it rather than discovering the dependency with a permit expiring.

Source: National Identity Management Commission

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving on a business visa for a job and discovering it cannot be regularised.
Letting the entry window run down — 90 days on an STR visa, 30 on a pre-arrival e-CERPAC — while CERPAC biometrics are unbooked.
Accepting an offer from a company with no free expatriate quota position.
Skipping the electronic landing card and being refused boarding.
Leaving NIN enrolment until the CERPAC renewal is already in progress.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.