David Parradang the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service has reminded expatriates living in Nigeria that they have until the 30th April 2014 to get the new Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC). If they fail to do so they will be considered to be illegal residents and subject to repatriation from Nigeria.
CERPAC have a 2 year validity and all expatriates are expected to get one except for those in exempted categories. These exempted categories are diplomats, foreign government officials, foreign workers in Free Zones and wives of Nigerian men and foreign workers in Non Governmental Organization (NGO’s).
He stated: “We are working vigorously to remove illegal aliens in the country and we are creating a database of all foreigners in the country. Everyone that is not a Nigerian must be on our database and will be given a machine read-able card which they must have with them at all times.
“At the end of April, Nigeria Immigration Service will be able to tell you how many non-Nigerians are in Calabar or Uyo, how many Mai-ruwa from Niger are in Abeokuta. Every alien must have the new CERPAC card because any expatriate not having the card will be treated as persons not legally resident in Nigeria and is liable to be removed from the country.”
