US companies spent billions on Nigerian worker visas
American companies have spent billions of naira sponsoring Nigerian professionals for H-1B specialty worker visas. Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services highlights the significant costs involved for both employers and applicants. Nigeria leads African countries in the number of H-1B visas issued, though it represents a small fraction of the global total. The process involves several mandatory fees and steps for both US employers and Nigerian applicants.
What we know
- American firms spent at least N3.23bn to sponsor 880 Nigerian professionals for H-1B visas in the 2024 fiscal year.
- Employers are required to pay most of the H-1B sponsorship costs, including filing, training, fraud prevention, and asylum programme fees.
- Nigerian applicants paid approximately $167,200 (about N233m) in visa fees alone, excluding other expenses.
- Nigeria accounted for 880 of the approximately 3,300 H-1B visas issued to Africans, leading the continent.
- Globally, Nigerian recipients made up just 0.4 per cent of the 219,813 H-1B visas issued in FY 2024.
