Nigeria Special Immigrant Status
Nigeria
Residency
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- Type
- Family residence
- Relationship fit
- Non-Nigerian spouse of a Nigerian citizen
- Core requirements
- Five-year marriage, spouse citizenship proof, records, and admissibility
- What to know
- This is residence for spouses who do not want Nigerian citizenship
Summary
Nigeria's Special Immigrant Status is a residence route for non-Nigerian spouses of Nigerian citizens who do not want to acquire Nigerian citizenship. The constitutional basis is Section 32, which allows regulations granting special immigrant status with full residential rights to qualifying non-Nigerian spouses.
Who qualifies
The strongest case usually involves:
- A non-Nigerian applicant
- A Nigerian-citizen spouse
- A marriage lasting at least five years, based on the Ministry of Interior service description
- Records proving the marriage and the spouse's Nigerian citizenship
- Ordinary good-character and admissibility evidence
How it differs from citizenship by marriage
This is a residence status, not citizenship. It is useful where the spouse wants full residential rights in Nigeria but does not want to become a Nigerian citizen.
Records to gather
Expect to gather:
- Marriage certificate
- Proof of the Nigerian spouse's citizenship
- Identity and civil-status records
- Police-clearance or good-character documents
- Any Ministry of Interior application forms and supporting evidence