Nigerians face new US visitor visa restrictions – DW – 07/09/2025
The US State Department has announced new visa rules for Nigerians wishing to travel to the US in the non-immigrant and non-diplomat categories.
The US embassy in Nigeria posted to its website on July 8 that the US would issue single-entry visas with a three-month validity period.
That rolls back the previous five-year multiple-entry visas that Nigerians enjoyed when it came to traveling to the US.
US President Donald Trump has signed a directive banning the citizens of 12 countries, seven in Africa, from entering the US.
A State Department memo from June indicated the US was considering a travel ban on 36 other countries, including Nigeria. That proposed, expanded, ban has not yet been officially announced.
"We wish to underscore that as is standard globally, visa reciprocity is a continuous process and is subject to review and change at any time, such as increasing or decreasing permitted entries and duration of validity," the statement said.
A Nigerian foreign ministry official told local media that Nigeria had no similar policy toward US citizens, according to Reuters news agency.
Nigeria received nearly one-fifth of the non-immigrant visas issued by the US government in 2024 in Africa, according to the State Department.
Meanwhile, President Trump is also hosting the leaders of five African nations — Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal — to discuss commercial opportunities.
Trump will host the leaders for a White House lunch, with closed-door meetings to follow through Friday.
The Nigerian foreign minister last month warned that travel bans and tariffs could get in the way of potential trade deal with West Africa, particularly in the sectors of rare earth mineral and energy. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Germany
34 minutes ago
- Local Germany
German Chancellor urges Trump to 'stay with us' Europeans on Ukraine
At an international conference in Rome, Merz offered a message "to Washington DC and to President Donald Trump: stay with us and stay with the Europeans, we are on the same page and we are looking for a stable political order in this world". He added a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: "We will not give up." Merz was speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, a two-day gathering intended to mobilise political and private sector support for Ukraine's reconstruction, even as the war with Russia rages. US support for Kyiv has come into question since Trump took office in January, as the president made overtures to Moscow in an attempt to strike a peace deal. However, this week Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was talking "a lot of bullshit" on Ukraine. Trump's criticism came a day after he said he would send more weapons to Ukraine, in a reversal of Washington's announcement last week that it was halting some arms shipments. READ ALSO: German chancellor 'cautiously optimistic' on EU-US tariff deal Advertisement Merz said the EU's support for Kyiv was "unwavering", and noted it was preparing a new package of sanctions against Russia. "There is only one member state missing to agree on that. I urgently ask Slovakia and its prime minister to give up the resistance," he said. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is known for his pro-Russian stance and was the only EU leader to attend Moscow's World War II commemorations in May, where he met Putin at the Kremlin.
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Rubio Meets Russia's Lavrov At ASEAN Talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart in Malaysia on Thursday, bringing the war in Ukraine to the sidelines of ASEAN talks focused on Washington's tariff drive. Rubio's first visit to Asia as secretary of state also comes as US President Donald Trump ramps up his trade war, threatening more than 20 countries with punitive tariffs. The top US diplomat met Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur. Their meeting got underway hours after Russia hammered Ukraine's capital Kyiv early Thursday with its second large-scale drone and missile barrage in as many nights, killing at least two people, authorities said. It follows Donald Trump's recent expletive-filled comments about Vladimir Putin -- reflecting the US president's growing frustration with the Russian leader over the grinding war. Trump accused Putin of talking "bullshit" about Ukraine, saying that the United States would send Kyiv more weapons to defend itself. Rubio and Lavrov last met in February in Saudi Arabia, following a rapprochement between Trump and Putin. The two diplomats have also spoken multiple times by phone. After Malaysia, Lavrov will visit North Korea this weekend, the latest in a series of high-profile visits by top Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military ties. Pyongyang has emerged as one of the Kremlin's main allies during its Ukraine invasion, sending thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk region to oust Kyiv's forces and providing the Russian army with artillery shells and missiles. US officials said ahead of Rubio's trip that Washington was "prioritising" its commitment to East Asia and Southeast Asia. Speaking in Malaysia, Rubio said the United States has "no intention of abandoning" the region. But his visit comes after Trump threatened more than 20 countries, many in Asia, with tariffs ranging from 20 to 50 percent, and announced a 50 percent toll on copper imports and a possible 200 percent duty on pharmaceuticals. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned Asia's top diplomats on Wednesday of a new era when tariffs are among the "sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry". Trump said Monday that duties he had suspended in April would snap back -- even more steeply -- on August 1. Among those targeted were top trade partners Japan and South Korea, which each face 25 percent tariffs. Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Myanmar -- all members of ASEAN -- face duties ranging from 20 percent to 40 percent if they do not strike deals with Washington by Trump's new deadline. The levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some rates were notably lower this time. Vietnam, which is also an ASEAN member, is one of only two countries -- Britain being the other -- to have reached a tentative agreement with Trump. In Malaysia, Rubio will attend a post-ministerial conference and a meeting by East Asian foreign ministers -- which will also see Japan, South Korea and China participating. He will also meet with Anwar and hold trilateral talks with the Philippines and Japan. Rubio's Chinese counterpart Wang Yi is also at ASEAN, but details of any meeting between the pair have not been announced. The superpowers remain locked in a range of disputes on issues from trade and fentanyl, to Taiwan and cutting-edge technology. Without mentioning the United States, Wang on Thursday called for a "fairer and more reasonable" international order. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre AFP
DW
2 hours ago
- DW
$4 trillion: Nvidia breaks market value record – DW – 07/10/2025
The silicon valley chip maker briefly reached a record-breaking $4 trillion valuation. Nvidia has seen a consistent rise over the past 2 years, as enthusiam in AI increases. Shortly after the stock market opened on Wednesday morning, Nvidia's stock price surged to $164.42. This pushed it briefly to a valuation of $4 trillion, a market value greater than the GDP of France, the UK, or India. The success at the Californian chip company has been helping the wider stock market recover after a downturn earlier in the year, partly prompted by US President Donald Trump announcing widespread tariffs in early April. Trump's ongoing trade war sent global markets plummeting. Nvidia, led by Taiwan-born Jensen Huang, has seen a consistent rise over the past 2 years as this enthusiasm over AI has boomed. Many big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta, have also joined the multi-billion dollar AI race. "The market has an incredible certainty that AI is the future," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers told AFP. "Nvidia is certainly the company most positioned to benefit from that gold rush." In early 2025, Nvidia and generative AI such as OpenAI were challenged by the arrival of China-based DeepSeek. DeepSeek disrupted the AI world with a low-cost, high-performance model. Nvidia lost some $600 billion in market valuation in a single session at this time. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video After Trump's tariffs hit the tech sector hard in April, Nvidia has quickly bounced back. In the most recent quarter, Nvidia reported earnings of nearly $19 billion despite a $4.5 billion hit from US government export controls which limit chip sales to China. In May, the company reached a deal to build AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, during a Trump state visit. "We've seen the administration using Nvidia chips as a bargaining chip," Angelo Zino, technology analyst at CFRA Research. Even as Trump has announced new tariffs in recent days, US stocks have remained high, with the tech-centered Nasdaq closing at a new record on Wednesday. Shares in Nvidia closed on Wednesday with a market value of $3.972 trillion.
