Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and its functions are listed in this article. We hope you find it helpful and informative.

Nigeria Immigration Service

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Anything about migration management in Nigeria is always channeled to the Nigeria Immigration Service.

The Nigerian Immigration Service is a government agency that is charged with the primary duty of looking into issues that have to do with migration within the country.

In 1958, after a lot of deliberation, there was an extraction of a department from the Nigerian Police force, and the extracted department is what is known generally as the Nigerian Immigration Service before the formation of the Nigerian Integrated Service as a body of its own, the NIS was entrusted with the important immigration duties under the leadership of the Chief Federal Immigration Officer (CFIO) which was the first person to sit on the seat in the person of Mr. EH Harrison.

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At the inception of the department, it took over the immigration ordinance of 1958 to use in carrying out its operations.

At the beginning of the service, they decided to take up a low profile and narrow their operational scope and a simple approach to attaining the desired goals and objectives of the government. At those times, it was just the visa and Business sections that were set up.

Functions of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)

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In line with the establishment of the Act, the Functions of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) include the following:

1. Control the movement of persons entering or leaving Nigeria

2. Issue travel documents to interested persons including the Nigerian passport to citizens that are in and outside the country.

3. Issue permits of residence to foreigners in the country.

4. Surveillance and patrol the border.

5. To enforce laws and regulations with which is their primary duty or directly charged.

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6. To perform some paramilitary duties within or outside the country as may be expected of them in accordance with the powers of this Act or any other enactment.

7. Carry out any other duty assigned to them by the Federal Government.