The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued a three week ultimatum to Nigerians with expired visas to vacate the country.
Authorities in the gulf country issued a statement saying Nigerian nationals with expired visas who fail to leave the country on or before August 17, 2020 would face the full wrath of the law.
See Also: “Our Pilots Are Not On Strike”- Air Peace Management
Consequentially, the Nigerian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE advised its affected citizens living in the country to leave with the arranged evacuation flights before the expiration of the period of grace.
The July 21 statement issued by the Nigerian embassy in the UAE urged affected Nigerians to submit their papers for immediate processing for emigration.
Excerpts from the statement read;
“The Embassy wishes to inform that the government of the United Arab Emirates has granted waivers on fines/penalties on visas that expired before 1st March 2020 to leave the country on or before 17th of August 2020.
“Consequently, the Embassy is urging fellow Nigerians living in the UAE to avail themselves of this opportunity to return home with the impending Air Peace evacuation flight scheduled for 1st August 2020, and or subsequent Emirates evacuation flights before the expiration of the grace period.”
“Accordingly, affected Nigerian nationals who are willing to return home are kindly requested to submit their names and passport numbers to the Embassy and or the Consulate for onward transmission to the UAE authorities in order to obtain the necessary clearance.”
The new announcements have come against the growing policies against Nigerians by authorities in the UAE.
There are speculations that the negative treatment of Nigerians by the gulf country is connected with the recent arrest of instagram celebrity, Abass Ramon also known as Hushpuppi for wire fraud.
The country recently banned airlines from Nigeria from flying into the emirates while a Nigerian aircraft was seized last week for allegedly flouting safety rules.