The South African Government has granted 10 years visas to Nigerian business people.
This was disclosed by the Consul-General, Bobby Moroe during the South Africa-Nigeria Trade and Investment Roundtable in Lagos.
He said the visas vary as some people would get up to 10 years’ visas, and others would get three, four, five and more.
However, he added that visa applicants must prove that they are legitimate business people before their applications would be evaluated and adjudicated.
“If they qualify, they will get 10 years’visa or they get seven depending on the nature or the credibility of their application, but there are people who are going to get 10 years’ visa they are people who have been to South Africa quite a number of times, who also help small investments in South Africa in the business sector, in the film industry, in the academic sector and so on.
“So, we help quite a number of them who have shown interest and it’s in our best interest that we facilitate that to the fullest because it also benefits our own country South Africa, besides benefiting the relations of the two countries,” he added.
The Consul-General also added that all the criteria are listed in the Victor France Shanghai (VFS) website and urged those interested to check the requirements, they must also classify their applications.
He explained that the criteria differ from one person to the other, even when applying for a business visa.
“So when somebody gets a six months visa, it means the credibility of the information that he has given qualifies him/her for a six months visa, so a decision that the immigration officer takes is based on the credibility of the application itself, it’s not arbitrary, the immigration officer is guided by the application to determine how many years the applicant must get,” he said.
Moroe assured that the process is a normal one and whoever qualified will get the visa. The only difference is that now the number of years of validity of the business has been increased in order to make doing business easy for the two countries, and it’s the first of its kind.

Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.