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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has denied suspending issuance of tourist visas to Nigerian passport holders but it failed to clarify if it suspended a certain class of visa as reports had it on Wednesday.
A travels and tours firm, Afric Holidays, announced the suspension on its Instagram page on Wednesday.
The firm said: “Nigerian Passport holders are no longer eligible to three months UAE Tourist Visa.
“Nigerian Passport holders are now restricted to one month, 96 hours and 48 hours UAE Tourist Visas till further notice.”
But in a tweet via @UAEEmbassyNGR, the UAE embassy in Nigeria said: In light of the press reports published today alleging that the UAE has suspended issuing tourist visas to Nigerian nationals, the UAE Embassy in Abuja announces that these news are inaccurate and stresses the importance of sourcing news from its official channel”
The rumoured suspension followed the arrest of five Nigerians for armed robbery in Sharjah, UAE’s third largest city. The suspects were said to have invaded a bureau de change and made away with cash of up to Dh2.3 million (N225.4 million) The police howver said most of the stolen money were recovered followimg the apprehension of the suspects.
Reports on Wednesday said that as a result of the incident involving the Nigerians, UAE had suspended the issuance of three months tourist visa to Nigerian passport holders, and had reduced restricted the longest stay to just one month.