Travel Outside Nigeria ▷ 10 New Ways to Freely Migrate Overseas

Despite Nigeria being a great country richly blessed with human and natural resources, and does not suffer from natural disasters as is always the case with some of the western worlds, a lot of youths regularly dream of how they can travel out of Nigeria fast to work, study, for business or as tourists because of the poor economic situation of the country.

Are you one of them? If YES, relax, you’re not alone.

This article is only what you need to read today to enlighten you on the right steps to take to travel out of Nigeria for free, even without having enough money.

Let’s get started.

Requirements to Travel Abroad from Nigeria

Here are the requirements to travel out of Nigeria:

1. Get an International Passport

If you intend travelling out of Nigeria, the first thing you should get is an international passport.

That’s if you don’t have one already.

With a Nigerian passport, your identity and citizenship can be ascertained.

So, visit the office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) closest to you to apply for one.

Remember to go with your Government issued I.D card, Local Government of Origin Certificate and a Birth Certificate or Sworn Affidavit at the Federal High Court declaring your age.

If you have a passport already, ensure that it would remain valid for at least 6 months from your intended travel date.

2. Have a Good Travel Purpose

A lot of Nigerians suffer when they travel abroad because they did not define the purpose of traveling out of the country before they left.

Yes, Nigeria may not be a friendly place to live for some persons, hence their quest to travel out with no clear vision and purpose in their minds.

Before you start your visa application, it is important to know why you want to travel in order to know the category of visa to apply for.

You can choose to travel for tourism, business, education, medical reasons, conjugal reasons, or a visit to a family or a friend.

Before relocating, ask yourself and give sincere answers to these questions:

• Why am I traveling out of my fatherland?
• What will I be doing there?
• Where will I live when I get there?
• Who will I stay with?
• For how long will I stay there?

If you can’t answer these above questions, then I’d advise you not to bother traveling, else you might just be selling yourself into slavery.

3. Choose a Travel Destination

Having known your reason for traveling abroad from Nigeria, the next step is to decide on the country you wish to go.

It is always advisable to carry out a little research about that country to know how hospitable they are to Nigerians (Africans), opportunities available, the laws implemented, and the nature of the government they operate.

If the country appears good to you, then you can make your travel arrangements.

Also, there are some visa-free countries for Nigerians.

These countries don’t require a Nigerian passport holder to get a visa before migrating to their country.

4. Get Money for Your Trip

Traveling out of Nigeria is not cheap hence, funding is an essential requirement.

You should know the minimum Basic Travel Allowance of the country you intend to travel to.

Some countries place their BTA as high as ₦5 million, while others put theirs as low as ₦500,000.

Without presenting this BTA, you cannot be allowed into that country, even after meeting every other criterion.

The purpose of the BTA is so you can have the required amount to book a hotel reservation, pay your transportation bills, and other miscellaneous upon your arrival in the desired country.

5. Apply for a Visa

The high number of people trying to jet out of the country has made it quite difficult for people to secure visas.

When you have the needed funds, you can now begin getting a visa.

To get your visa, simply visit the official website of the country you intend to travel to, read their visa requirements, and book an appointment with the embassy.

On the day of the appointment, simply go there with all the required documents and present.

If the interview goes well, within one to three weeks, you should have your visa ready.

Finally, once you have secured a visa, you are free to appear at the airport on the day you have scheduled to travel.

You would be checked thoroughly at immigrations and customs officials both in Nigeria and the country you would be visiting.

Do not be found with goods that are against the laws of both countries and respect your visa terms and conditions.

6. Book a Flight Ticket

After you have gotten your visa ready, you would also need to book a flight ticket if you want to travel out of Nigeria, as you cannot travel to any American, Asian, or European countries by road.

Flight tickets can range from ₦200,000 to ₦1,000,000 depending on the country you are traveling to, and the class of flight (executive class, business class, and economy class).

Economy class is less expensive.

If you cannot comfortably afford higher class flight tickets, stick with the economy class.

Some embassies would require you to have a return ticket as one requirement for applying for a visa.

Some other countries do not require you to do this, so ensure that you visit the embassy’s official website to find out what documents are needed to apply for a visa.

7. Book a Hotel

Unless you have someone you are going to stay with, you would need to book a hotel for accommodation as the Nigerian Immigration Service and visa officers would ask you about that.

Your bookings tickets and receipts will serve as a proof to the immigration service.

10 Best Ways to Travel Out of Nigeria [Abroad]

Here are the best ways to travel out of Nigeria (abroad):

1. Gain Admission to Study Abroad

This is one of the best ways of leaving the shores of Nigeria.

It’s easier to get accepted to study in a foreign country than to get accepted as a resident.

Countries such as France, Germany, Norway, Canada offer free/cheap education and student visa for undergraduates.

Academic scholarships are available for lots of countries as you can search online based on course, country, and fees.

If you have your Secondary School Education with WAEC or GCE, you can easily secure an admission with any higher institution in any part of the world (especially with English support) and you won’t have to wait for JAMB to enter school.

If your GPA is at least 2.1, you can get an admission for a master’s program.

Just prove that you or your sponsor is financially okay and your visa will be issued.

2. Get a Job Overseas

If you know someone living overseas, he or she can easily help you secure a good job there.

It is normally easier to go through someone you know very well and trust to avoid getting into the hands of human traffickers, who might force you into prostitution and other things you normally won’t like to do.

Some common job opportunities Nigerians do when they travel abroad include house-sitting job, bartender, cook, tour guide, hostel worker, factory worker and farmworker.

Also, if you study abroad, getting a job won’t be a hard task, especially in the developed parts of the world.

3. Become an English Instructor Abroad

There is a high and increasing demand for English instructors in countries like China, Japan, Thailand and India.

Getting the job is quite easy, so far you can perfectly read, write and speak English.

You just need to be confident in your English language skills and you can rake in thousands monthly.

4. Get Married to Someone Abroad

This is one of the surest ways of getting a visa to any country in the world.

It doesn’t matter if the marriage is arranged or real, you just have to get the documents.

There are many dating sites you can sign-up to connect with interested and ‘singles’ that are ready to ‘mingle’.

Shine your eyes to avoid getting scammed and don’t break someone’s heart just because you want to travel abroad because it will come back and hunt you.

5. Attend Conferences

You can also travel outside Nigeria by attending events and conferences.

Thousands of conferences take place yearly in countries like Canada, Japan, Australia, USA and UK.

Lots of folks have travelled out through conferences.

If you are a security or IT professional, you can apply online to get out.

6. Represent Nigeria Officially

Want to travel abroad easily? Why not prove yourself the best in your country?

That way you get to travel to various countries to represent your country in international events.

When you finally arrive in that country, please do not overstay your visa, because doing so will not only affect your chances of renewing your visa, but will also affect others seeking to get a visa into that country.

7. Leave Nigeria as an Investor

You can leave Nigeria legally by getting an investor visa which allows you to live or get citizenship in countries like UK, US, UAE, St Kitts and Nevis, Cyprus, Maldives, Malta, if you invest a certain amount of money in business (usually $50k and above).

You can also buy properties in these countries to get a permanent residency status.

8. Travel as a Tourist

Visa application differs with countries, and Nigerians can apply to every single country in the world.

You can plan to visit a country first as a tourist before deciding to move temporarily or permanently.

Please do not work on a tourist visa.

Every country has its process of converting from a tourist to a work visa, so research the specific country you are interested in.

9. Leave Nigeria as a Professional

Work visa allows one to work as a non-immigrant, based on experience, age, education, job offers, fields of work (IT, Healthcare, Arts).

Think of any country and search for jobs in your field of work on sites such as Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor.

• If you’re a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional, you can get a Tier 2 (Health and Care) visa with a job offer from the NHS or related organization.
• You can also get a domestic employee visa if your employer is migrating to a foreign country like the US, UK, UAE.
• If you are a pastor/missionary, you can get a temporary religious worker visa for countries such United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Netherlands.
• Get non-immigrant visa as an individual with extraordinary ability or achievement, individual or team athlete, or member of an entertainment group (with international recognition of sustained performance).

10. Apply for Permanent Residence

You can leave Nigeria by applying to become a permanent resident of a country if your qualifications and experience meet the labour demands of that country.

The UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are the four countries where you can do this.

You don’t really need a sponsor to immigrate to Canada. If you have a degree and a good job, you can apply on your own. It takes 18 months.

• File for residency by getting engaged and planning to marry, or better still, already married to a citizen of another country.
• Get a refugee or humanitarian visa (asylum) if you are subject to persecution in your home country or you face substantial discrimination or human rights abuses.
• Get a family visa as a spouse, parent or child of a person who is a citizen or has a visa in some countries such as the US, Canada, UK.
• Apply for a Global Talent visa to live or work in the UK if you’re a leader or potential leader in one of the following fields: academia or research, arts and culture, digital technology and the apply for permanent residency after.

How to Travel Out of Nigeria for Free?

The only way you can travel out of Nigeria for free is if someone sponsors you or through visa lottery, which isn’t common today. Other means require funds.

Which Country is Easy to Travel from Nigeria?

United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Sweden and Cyprus are the easiest countries to travel from Nigeria.

Final Words

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