Traveling to Lagos Advice

Appendix

Nigeria Visa Guide 2025

If you’re coming for less than 30 days, getting an “e-Visa” is the way to go. To get an e-Visa, you’ll need to submit a:

• Scan of your passport
• Passport photo
• Copy of your round trip flight booking
• Accommodation information
• Invitation and introduction letter from a local company (here is a template) along with that local company’s corporate registration (CAC) certificate. If you don’t have a local contact to help with the invitation letter or company registration certificate, ask your hotel or airbnb if they can help.

As an American, this costs $160 and you can pay and submit these documents yourself via the Nigerian Immigration Service website.

Theoretically the e-visa should be processed within 72 hours but if you have any issues with this, you can contact a local visa consultant (e.g. Putovati Consulting or Travel Range). They can also help with the invitation letter + company registration certificate if you're struggling with those steps above.

Alternatively, if you’re American and live in Atlanta, Houston, Washington DC, or NYC you can also get a tourist or business visa from one of the consulate-affiliated visa processing centers by scheduling an appointment and visiting them in-person (OIS or VFS depending on the city). I do not recommend this route because it’s much more hassle than the e-visa process. Trust me! Do the e-Visa process outlined above!

Airport Arrival

While Lagos can be a wonderful place, the old international airport is not. If you’re lucky, you might arrive at the new international terminal which is very nice. Otherwise, you’ll be arriving at the old terminal which was recently upgraded but is still rough around the edges.

Before arriving I recommend filing out a digital landing / arrival card. You'll receive a QR code by email which you may be asked to show at immigration. You'll need to do the same on departure.

After you get off the plane you usually pass through health screening. You need a yellow fever vaccine and corresponding yellow card to enter the country.

After the health checkpoint you’ll pass through immigration. This might be quick or take an hour depending on how many people are ahead of you.

You’ll queue through two immigration desks. The first (with a non-uniformed officer) is just checking whether your name shows up in an Interpol database. The second (uniformed) officer is the actual immigration official.

After immigration you’ll pick up your bags. Next is customs. Customs officials commonly ask for “tips”. Just smile and say “no thanks”. It’s definitely not necessary.

Keep your baggage tags handy. After passing through customs and leaving the arrival hall you’ll be asked to show them.

To get into the city from the airport, I’ve always had a good experience using Uber, Bolt, or Indrive. Meeting up with a ride app driver is a bit tricky as they’re not supposed to come around the pickup loop. I usually meet them in the “multi-level car park on the ground floor by the cash point”. This is a parking garage around the corner from the terminal. Just ask anyone to direct your towards the “car park” and they’ll lead the way. You can also try and meet them in the main arrival loop but I'd be a bit discreet about it being uber.

If you’re arriving super late a night, it can be helpful to arrange a driver to pick you up beforehand as bolt / uber / indrive may be less active. But if you have any issues getting a car, or are just willing to pay more for convenience, there are plenty of drivers hanging around.

The moment you leave the terminal you will undoubtedly have multiple people ask if you need a ride. I’ve never had an unsafe experience with these drivers, you’ll just pay 2x the cost of an Uber (maybe 25k-35k Naira) which is still quite affordable by international standards.