BROAD OVERVIEW

It is important to understand the reason why people leave their home land and go to a strange
country. Leaving behind their relations, friends and loved ones. This is just a result of the struggle
to survive and the search for greener pastures.

In Nigeria today, the population is growing faster than the government or the organized
private sector can provide jobs for them. Every year, less than 10% of the legible for employment
are employed. For this reason, people head abroad in droves in search for economic
emancipation. Most Nigerians go to UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and until (September
11, 2001) USA. The main thing about going abroad is packaging.

Packaging is arranging your documents to meet the visa officers or embassy staff of
the country you want to go to. Nigeria and Nigerians are regarded as poor, corrupt and as a result
highly migrant. This means that given the opportunity, they will leave their home country for
another. So many Nigerians have entered Europe in the last 10 years that the various embassies
in Nigeria are wary of giving visas to Nigerians. For this reason, you have to go the extra mile to
convince them that you will return to Nigeria after you visit to their country.

In the last 10 years, more than 6,000 medical doctors have immigrated to USA.
Indeed, they have an association of Nigerian doctors in the USA, which have 4,000 duly
registered members. Most people who travel to Europe, earn better than their counterparts in
Nigeria. For example, the minimum wage in UK is 5 pounds per hour. This is equivalent to N1,
250. This is what the least paid person in England earns. In Nigeria, it is N50 per hour, N7500 per
month. It is for these reasons that people travel abroad, as anywhere is better than her (Nigeria).
A list of minimum wages per hour in the world’s most developed countries can be found at
www.worldfactsandfigures.com.

However, if you have a good job in Nigeria in which you earn up to a N100,000 a
month, then you do not have any reason to travel abroad. In Nigeria, the people are friendly, the
weather is nice most parts of the year and when you earn money, people respect you. In Europe
and the rest of the world when you earn money, people don’t accord that respect that is due to
you, the weather is harsh and cold most times of the year. Besides, what most Nigerians in
Diaspora complain is that they miss Nigeria, they miss home, their village, their friends, their
families and even phone calls are not able to totally remedy this.

Be it as it may, before one decides to go abroad, he would have carefully thought

over the matter before proceeding with his plans. There is no doubt that when you find yourself
abroad, you will earn more money than you are earning in Nigeria. But you should consider the
fact that the standard of living in these places is higher than it is in Nigeria. In England, a bottle of
beer is 4 pounds, which is N1000 as against a bottle of beer that is N150 in Nigeria. The
cheapest meal in UK is 1 pound, which is N250 while the cheapest meal in Nigeria is N50. For
this reason, the living, the living cost in Europe is higher than in Nigeria, so this should be taken
into consideration when calculating the net income of somebody in Europe.

Indeed, some travel to Europe to get a good job and send money home and to come
back after some time, others go to Europe to raise money to come back to Nigeria to invest their
capital.

Others go to Europe, and after some time may become importers, shuttling between
Nigeria and one European or Asian country. These groups of people are the ones who come
back to Nigeria 4 times a year. There is the last group who go to Europe or America and never
come back. There are always reasons, he may be in jail or her may have married a foreign wife
for real, and as such has settled into the way of life of the people of the country he finds himself in
and forgets about Nigeria.

There are a lot of well-developed countries that are not in Europe which have a fair share of
Nigerian immigrants and are still liberal to Nigerians in giving visas. These include Australia, New
Zealand, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia. These countries are among the most developed in the
world and are nice to immigrants from Africa, particularly if the immigrants from Africa, particularly
is the immigrant belongs to the skilled labor class. It is time for Nigerians who want to travel
abroad to face these countries and divert there attention from countries like Spain, Germany,
France, UK, USA, Holland, Belgium and Austria which have received a fair share of Nigeria
immigrants and are wary about giving Nigerians visa. So it is becoming increasingly difficult to get
visa into these countries.

SELECTING A COUMNTRY TO TRAVEL TO

When one is selecting a country to travel to he should take the following into consideration

1- Ease of getting visa

2- where you know or have people

3- the type of work you Want to do

4- the type of business you want to do

5- the social atmosphere of the country

6- the minimum wage of the country

1- EASE OF GETTING VISA

Some embassies of some countries are used to having Nigerians applying for visa and as a result
at the slightest suspicion of your motives, they deny you visa. Examples of these countries
include, Switzerland Luxembourg, Germany, USA, and France among others.There are some
others who do not see Nigerians everyday and as a result are more liberal with their visa to
Nigerians. However, their generosity should not be misunderstood. They have not seen Nigerians
queuing up in their embassies looking for a short 1-month visa, when in fact they want to
immigrate to the country for good. They are only liberal because Nigerians have not begun to
flock to their embassies in Lagos and Abuja .examples of these countries includes Australia, New
Zealand, Malta, Cyprus, Brazil, the Caribean, Indonesia and Malaysia. Getting the visa of these
countries is easier than that of most western European countries.
3-THE TYPE OF JOB YOU WANT TO DO

If you are a skilled worker, if you have university degree or any post-secondary diploma or
qualification, then it is better for you to go those countries that have a great need of professionals
or skilled workers. The following countries have acute labor shortage and are seriously looking for
immigrant skilled workers. these are Australia , new Zealand ,south Africa
,Canada,Ireland,Sweden,Denmark,and Germany .if you just have a secondary school
cerfiticate,then only two types of jobs is open to you-unskilled labor and hustling. Unskilled labor
jobs are jobs that require manual and not use of brains and intelligence. For example, washing of
plates, picking of fruits, working as a security man, working as a waiter or barman etc. hustling
means doing anything that is barely legal. you can find out more about what this means from
people .most people in South Africa, Spain, France, Malta, Holland, Belgium, and Austria are into
hustling, .however, that is not to say that people do not work in these countries in the unskilled
labor group .the problem is that those in hustling make more money than those in unskilled labor
occupations. However those in hustling are the ones who came back to Nigeria every Christmas;
but they are also the people who came back dead from South Africa, or end up in the numerous
European jails. It is always better and safer to go to Europe with some kind of qualification. Some
countries accept unskilled workers as immigrant or seasonal workers examples are Sweden,
Finland and Ireland. However were, most European countries will accept immigrants who have
manage to enter their country as visitors to work as unskilled workers

UK ha a holiday makers scheme, in which they allow citizens of most common wealth countries
including Nigeria to enter their country and work with a work permit for a period of 1 year while on
holiday: but recently because of the high volume of applicants, UK has banned holidaymaker
from Nigeria from entering the country if they are between 18-30years.

Other countries have holidaymakers’ scheme but for most of them, Nigeria are not eligible.

4-WHERE YOU KNOW OR HAVE PEOPLE.

Nobody in Nigeria today can say he does no know anybody abroad. Indeed, some have
brothers, uncles, and cousins, close friends or relations who are abroad. Sometimes, these
people help their relations or friends they want to help cross over .these people, if they really want
to help [sometimes they may not], they will arrange a letter of invitation to the country for a short
visit from a legitimate citizen or permanent resident of that country. They can also help in sending
the money for ticket. They can arrange a lady you can marry on contract basis, to acquire your
papers in the new country to avoid problem with police and immigration. They can also arrange
employment for you waiting on your arrival. They can provide a place for to staying the few
weeks. They can also provide specialized advice on the immigration and police of the particular
country. These two particularly are the worse enemies of any immigrant to a new country. is
going to a country where you already have or know people is an added advantage but not
necessarily a guarantee that you will be given visa and that you will not run into problems. It will
only make it settling down easy.

5- THE BUSINESS YOU WANT TO DO

there are some Nigerians who move to Europe not necessarily because they don’t have job or
because their business is not lucrative, they move to Europe because they are not satisfy with
their job, income or their business earnings. There have been a lot of bankers who earn over
N90, 000, who resigned and went to Europe simply because they know they will be richer than
they were in Nigeria.

There have been the cases of businessmen who make over N50, 000 in profit who sold up their
stock or put somebody in charge and migrated to Europe and America .this is just as a result of
search of greener pastures .it is an urge to earn more money.

These groups of people normally go to Europe with more than N700, 000 in liquid cash or capital.
Normally when they get there, they engage in business enterprises normally they don’t engage in
normal work. example are people who go to brazil and import coffee to Nigeria, who go to UK and
import used books from England, who go to Germany and import used cars and machinery, who
go to Spain and import wine, tiles and marble, who go to china and import electronics, who go to
France and export African arts works from Nigeria, who go to Australia and export African trinkets
and local jewelry from Africa. The type of market that exists for the commodity you want to import
or export will determine the country you want to settle in.

there are a lot of Africans in London ; that means there is a market for African dishes .some go
there and set up very lucrative restaurants for Africans in UK . Some just export bitter leaf and
melon to UK, France, Germany, USA and all other places that have a sizeable population of
African immigrants.

Most countries encourage people to come and establish these kinds of business in their country.
Indeed, is easier to get visa than most other type of visas. So kind of business you want to
engage in will determine the kind of country you want to go to.

6- THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHRERE OF THE COUNTRY

Some countries have better atmosphere than others do. By social atmosphere, we mean the
attitude of the local people [the natives] to foreigners, the attitude of the police and immigration to
foreigners in general and blacks in particular .the attitude of the government towards immigration,
the number of black people in the country: the ratio of immigrants to local population.
 Germany is known to be a very racist country with bad attitude towards foreigners’ is common
in Germany and in Austria to be walking in the streets and the police will ask for your papers. If
they are not upto date you will be deported instantly without being allowed to take personal effect
from your house.

England is getting jittery and immigration has become an issue in elections. This is because
the foreigners in England are increasing everyday.

France is clamping down on immigration; this is because 40% of their total populations are
immigrants and descendants

The Scandinavian countries [Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland] are nice to foreigners; and
immigrants who are able to get into those countries are generally comforted,

Indonesia, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, WE overseas territories and British
dependencies do not really mind immigration from Nigeria. This is because Nigerian has not
really begun to go there like they go to Western Europe.

Central Europe as receptive to Nigerians, the countries in central Europe is Czech, Estonia,
Croatia, Poland, and Greece.

Nigerians have not really started going to Eastern Europe and their people are now member of
the EU and their economies have started to boom and they accept Nigerian degrees for
employment. Countries in Eastern Europe are: Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary and turkey.

The social atmosphere is important because it will determine whether you will be comfortable in
the country like UK or you will be living like a fugitive like in Germany.

7 THE ECONOMIC WEALTH OF THE COUNTRY

Some countries are richer than others, just like Nigeria, in spite of all its problems and poverty is
richer than Cameroon, Niger or Togo. Just like Nigeria is poorer than South Africa, Egypt or
Tunisia. A medical doctor in Nigeria earns more than a medical doctor in Togo but less than a
doctor in South Africa.

A nurse in USA earns more than a nurse in France. A measure of the wealth of most nations is
the GDP Per capital income per head .it can be found at www.worldfactand figures.com. It is what
the average worker in that country earns in a years, although it fluctuates, it shows roughly which
countries are richer than other the others. What it all means is that if you can find yourself in USA,
instead of Spain, you will make more money than you would have made in Spain. If you find
yourself in Portugal instead of UK you will make less money than you would have made in UK.
However, this affects only workers and not business people or hustlers.
 8—THE MINIMUM WAGE OF THE COUNTRY

The minimum wage of any country is the amount which will be paid to the least worker for an
hour of work done. here, it is stipulated in hours normally the least paid are unskilled laborers and
normally these unskilled laborers in most countries earn more than medical doctor and professors
in Nigeria .for example, the minimum wage in England is 5pounds per hour .if this is multiply by
10 hours of work for 30days it totals up to 1500pound, which is N375, 000 per month. A list of the
minimum wage of the countries can be found in www.worldfactand figures.com.

The list of the minimum wage of the country wills invariable affect the amount you will earn in the
country. A country with a low minimum wage will pay low wage; a country with high wage will pay
a high wage.

THE VERY FIRST STEP

When you make up your mind that you are traveling abroad. When you have decided that you will
go to another country to earn money, there is only one step you can make.

The very step is to go and obtain your Nigerian passport. This is easily obtainable these days at
any state headquarters of the Nigerian immigration service. Their offices are found in every state
capital and they can process your passport there as they all have the machines and materials.
The official price is something close to N6, 000 but what they ask you to pay fluctuates from N8,
000 to N10, 000, or unto N20, 000. Rarely can you obtain a Nigerian passport at the normal price.

before you go for the passport, you may need a letter of identification from your local chairman,
though not in all cases .this letter of identification can be obtained in most cases, if you can get
your traditional ruler to attest to knowing you, or the president of your town union or by submitting
a letter from a clergy man stating that the facts written on your baptismal card which contains
your town of origin as true. You can also go to the hospital; why\ere you were born to get a letter
from them. All these you can take to your local government of origin for a letter of identification.
Even if you can’t provide any of these just go to the local government secretariat, there is a way
things work in Nigeria. You can sort it out. The next is the Yellow Card. This card is a WHO
issued card, which states that you have been inoculated against all preventable diseases. This is
a preventive measure the health body has put in place to make sure nobody transmit disease
across the border.

However, some countries may insist that you surrender to a health check up upon arriving or at
designated hospital here before traveling. From here, what you decide to do next depends on
what type of visa you want to apply for. For student visa, you have start getting your academic
documents together.

The business visa, you have started assembling your bank statements, correspondents with
business clients etc.

Tourist visa you have started assembling proof of employment letter income tax clearance , proof
of employment letter of appointment and other proof s that you have strong ties to Nigeria.

For skilled workers visa, you need a letter of appointment by an overseas employer. All steps to
follow in each individual case will be treated extensively in another section.

TYPES OF VISA