1.34 million Nigerians denied UK visas in 21 years

Over a 21-year span, the United Kingdom denied entry to at least 1,344,595 Nigerian applicants, according to official Home Office data. This figure positions Nigeria second worldwide for total visa rejections, trailing only India and surpassing nations like Pakistan and China. During this period, Nigerians accounted for a substantial 44.4 percent of all UK visa rejections across the African continent.

Despite the high number of refusals, the UK also granted 2,723,558 visas to Nigerians between 2005 and the first quarter of 2026. This volume makes Nigeria the third-highest recipient of UK visas globally, behind India and China. Within Africa, Nigeria was the largest single recipient of UK entry clearance visas, significantly ahead of South Africa and Egypt.

The data, sourced from the UK Home Office's entry clearance visa outcomes datasets, reveals a cumulative refusal rate for Nigeria of 33.1 percent over the two decades. This rate is more than double the UK's global average refusal rate of 14.8 percent. Visitor visas were the most common category for both approved and rejected applications, representing 83.8 percent of Nigerian refusals.