Nigeria · Visa required
Emigrating to Nigeria
With Nigeria, who you are decides your route. If you're Nigerian, also with a Dutch passport alongside, you return without a visa. If you're married to a Nigerian, you get a permanent residence visa. Whoever goes to work comes with an STR visa through their employer's expatriate quota. From 65 there's the retirement visa, and an investor can get an investors visa from 250,000 dollars. Whoever is younger and only wants to live on a pension has no route. Read the travel advice first: it's red for large parts of the north and the south-east, and orange for the rest. On the Dutch side the tax treaty helps, but there's no treaty for the AOW and healthcare.
€ 399 one-off · 38 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Five routes: back as a Nigerian, as the spouse of a Nigerian (N1A), with work (STR visa and CERPAC), from 65 with the retirement visa, or as an investor from 250,000 dollars
- The clock
- A residence visa is valid for 90 days from issue; after arrival you arrange your CERPAC and your NIN
- Note
- The travel advice is red for large parts of the north and the south-east, orange for the rest. Only the AOW for married people goes along. No CAK, and no apostille
Last updated: 17 October 2026
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Five phases, from the travel advice to your CERPAC
This journey starts with two questions: who are you, and where can you live safely? A Nigerian needs no visa. A spouse of a Nigerian, an employee, a retiree from 65 and an investor each have their own visa. The 1991 tax treaty leaves your AOW and a government pension with the Netherlands, and your occupational pension from a pension fund with Nigeria. What the brochure doesn't say: there's no treaty for the AOW, so whoever goes alone gets the AOW for married people. There's no CAK. And your papers are legalised, because Nigeria isn't a party to the apostille convention.
- Orientation
Your route, the travel advice and your Dutch nationality
In this phase you see which route suits you and where you can live. Nigerian, spouse, employee, retiree from 65 or investor: each has their own way. The NederlandWereldwijd travel advice is red for large parts of the north and the south-east, and orange for the rest of the country. The 1991 tax treaty puts your AOW and your government pension with the Netherlands and your occupational pension with Nigeria. And if you have or get two nationalities, you first read what that does to your Dutch nationality.Read more
- Your visa
A passport, a permanent residence visa or an STR visa, and legalisation
In this phase you arrange your ground to live in Nigeria. As a Nigerian you put your passport and your NIN in order. As the spouse of a Nigerian you apply for the N1A visa, with a free CERPAC. Whoever goes to work gets an STR visa through their employer's expatriate quota. From 65 there's the N5B retirement visa, without work, and an investor applies for the investors visa. Your papers are legalised: at the court or the Consular Service Centre, and often also at the Nigerian embassy.Read more
- Closing down the Netherlands
The AOW for married people, the 1991 treaty, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list. Your AOW and a government pension stay taxed in the Netherlands, your occupational pension from a pension fund is taxed by Nigeria. There's no social security treaty: the AOW goes along up to the rate for married people, an AOW supplement stops and so does child benefit. There's no CAK, and in Nigeria health insurance is mandatory. So arrange your policy before you deregister. Whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
The customs rules beforehand, and the blood test for the pet
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. For the household goods and the car the rules of the Nigeria Customs Service apply: request them beforehand, because we couldn't open that site. You don't get the bpm back. For the pet there's an import permit, and you do the rabies blood test in the Netherlands: Nigeria isn't on the EU list, and whoever has that test done outside the EU waits 90 days for the return journey. On the travel day you have the papers of your route in your hand luggage.Read more
- Arrival in Nigeria
Your CERPAC, your NIN, mandatory health insurance and your state
In this phase you arrange your papers after landing. Whoever isn't Nigerian collects their CERPAC, the residence permit and residence card. Then your NIN at the NIMC, which is mandatory for every resident. Then follow your health insurance, your tax with the state where you live, your bank with your BVN, your driving licence and your house. And if you have two nationalities, put the thirteen years of your Dutch passport in your diary.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Nigeria journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 1.3 of your plan
Your Dutch nationality: what a second nationality does
- Lead time
- an evening of reading; a question to the IND takes weeks
- Costs
- none
In this step you see what your route does to your nationality. With Nigeria two laws play a part: the Dutch Nationality Act and chapter III of the Nigerian Constitution.
Are you a Nigerian by birth, and also Dutch?
- Nigeria lets you keep that second nationality. Section 28 of the Constitution only takes Nigerian citizenship away from whoever isn't a Nigerian by birth.
- The Netherlands asked for renunciation when you naturalised. That's the renunciation requirement of article 9. There are exceptions, among them if you're married to a Dutch national, or were born in the Netherlands and live here.
- The thirteen years. If you live with both nationalities for thirteen years in a row outside the EU, you lose your Dutch nationality. Unless in that time you get a new Dutch passport, an identity card or a declaration of Dutch nationality. See step 5.8.
Did you renounce Nigerian citizenship when you naturalised? Then you're no longer Nigerian. Renunciation goes through the Federal Ministry of Interior, and the President has the declaration registered (section 29). A way back to citizenship isn't in the Constitution. But the Immigration Act lets the Minister give a permanent residence permit to a Nigerian by birth who renounced (section 37, subsection 12).
Are you Dutch and becoming Nigerian? That's possible by registration or by naturalisation.
- Registration is open under section 26 to "any woman who is or has been married to a citizen of Nigeria": a woman who is or was married to a Nigerian. For a man that route isn't there.
- Naturalisation requires among other things fifteen years of living in Nigeria (section 27).
- Your Dutch nationality. Under the Nationality Act you lose it if you voluntarily acquire another nationality. Unless you're married to someone who holds Nigerian nationality (article 15, paragraph 2). That exception only applies if your spouse is already Nigerian. If you naturalise together, on the same day, you both lose it.
- The Nigerian condition. Nigeria requires on registration and naturalisation that you give up your other nationality. Unless you hold it by birth (section 28, subsection 2). So whoever is Dutch by birth doesn't have to.
Your children. A child born outside Nigeria with a Nigerian parent is a Nigerian by birth (section 25).
The IND can't say in advance whether you'll lose your nationality. On the NederlandWereldwijd site there's a questionnaire that goes through your situation.
What this step rests on
- Dutch Nationality Act, article 15 — loss through voluntarily acquiring another nationality, the exceptions in paragraph 2, and the thirteen years outside the EU
- Dutch Nationality Act, article 9 — the renunciation requirement on naturalisation, with the exceptions in paragraph 3
- Guide to the Dutch Nationality Act 2003, article 15, section 8.2 — the exception for partners does not apply if two Dutch spouses acquire another nationality on the same day
- IND — losing Dutch nationality: the three exceptions and the thirteen years
- NederlandWereldwijd — when do I lose my Dutch nationality
- Constitution of Nigeria 1999, chapter III — citizenship by birth (25), registration (26), naturalisation (27), dual citizenship (28) and renunciation (29)
- Embassy of Nigeria in The Hague — renouncing Nigerian citizenship, through the Federal Ministry of Interior
- Immigration Act 2015, section 37, subsection 12 — a permanent residence permit for a Nigerian by birth who renounced
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Nigeria.
This is step 1.3 of 38. The other 37 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 38 steps for NigeriaEvery step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Nigeria: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Nigeria change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
What will your move to Nigeria cost? Work it out →Also want to know whether your departure date is feasible? Take the departure scan: seven questions, and you see your whole plan in miniature →
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Nigeria? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Nigeria starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
In December we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Nigeria
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in Nigeria: compulsory insurance, and no CAKSince the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022, everyone living in Nigeria must have health insurance. An employee pays 5 percent of their basic salary, the employer 10. You take nothing with you from the Netherlands: Nigeria is not a treaty country for the CAK, so your Dutch healthcare stops when you leave.
- The routes to living in Nigeria: Nigerian, spouse or employeeWhether you may live in Nigeria depends on who you are. A Nigerian needs no visa. The spouse of a Nigerian gets a residence permit for four years, an employee comes in on the expatriate quota of his employer. There is a route for people aged 65 and over and for investors, but without a tie to the country the travel advice is the first question.
- Working in Nigeria: expatriate quota, STR visa and CERPACAs a foreigner you only work in Nigeria with written consent from the immigration service. For a permanent job your employer first applies for an expatriate quota at the Ministry of Interior; you then get a work visa and a CERPAC of USD 2,000. For assignments of up to six months there is the Temporary Work Permit.
- State pension, pension and tax in Nigeria: what the 1991 treaty arrangesThe Netherlands and Nigeria have had a tax treaty since 1993. The Netherlands taxes your AOW and a government pension, Nigeria an ordinary company pension. There is no social security treaty: a single person gets the AOW for married people in Nigeria, and the supplement, the Anw and child benefit don't come along.
- Dual nationality and Nigeria: what happens to your Dutch nationalityUnder the Constitution, a Nigerian by birth does not lose Nigerian nationality on becoming Dutch, but the Netherlands usually asks for renunciation on naturalisation. A Dutch national who becomes Nigerian loses Dutch nationality, unless married to a Nigerian. Children of a Nigerian parent are Nigerians by birth, also in the Netherlands.
- Car and driving licence in Nigeria: three months on your Dutch licenceWith your Dutch driving licence and an international driving permit you may drive in Nigeria for three months; after that you need a Nigerian licence. Taking a car along is a gamble: we could not read the import rules of the Nigerian customs at the source, and you don't get bpm back when exporting to Nigeria.
All 14 articles about Nigeria
- Household goods to Nigeria: what you arrange in the Netherlands, and what to ask
- Your pet to Nigeria: import permit, and the blood test for the way back
- Banking and payments in Nigeria: an account with BVN, NIN and Tax ID
- The first weeks in Nigeria: residence, numbers, bank and a safe address
- Buying a house in Nigeria: what the Constitution says, and what to check first
- Renting in Nigeria: what the Lagos tenancy law covers, and what it doesn't
- Registration and numbers in Nigeria: NIN, CERPAC, BVN and Tax ID
- School in Nigeria: nine years of basic education, free and compulsory
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Nigeria: 38 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.