Country guide · Nigeria

Getting a job in Nigeria, 2026

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Nigeria's official unemployment rate is 4.3 per cent, which is neither a typo nor good news: the National Bureau of Statistics moved to the international definition, under which one hour of paid work a week makes you employed, and 93 per cent of Nigerian jobs are informal. If you are moving here to work, the gate is not the visa, it is the Expatriate Quota your employer holds from the Ministry of Interior, and the position it covers has a seven year localisation clock on it. Inside: quota mechanics and fees, the USD 2,000 CERPAC, exactly where the Expatriate Employment Levy stands, the tax acts that took effect in January 2026, pension and NYSC, and whether state of origin belongs on a CV.

Country guidePublished 20 September 2026·Every figure checked 20 September 2026·19 min read

4.3%

Official unemployment rate, Q2 2024, the newest labour force survey NBS has published

NBS, Labour Force Survey Q2 2024

93%

Share of all Nigerian employment that is informal, Q2 2024

NBS, Labour Force Survey Q2 2024

USD 2,000

CERPAC residence permit, per expatriate per year, billed in dollars not naira

NIS and Ministry of Interior, 20 Sep 2026

NGN 800,000

Annual income now taxed at nil from 1 January 2026

Nigeria Tax Act 2025, PwC summary

Read this before the visa section

Step one is not the visa. Step one is the interview call.

Everything in this guide about permits, thresholds and documents only comes into play after an employer in Nigeria has chosen you. Nobody applies for a work permit without an offer letter, and nobody gets an offer letter without an interview. The order is fixed:

Step 1 · what EDZER does
A strong résumé, a strong LinkedIn, and a job search strategy
Step 2
Interview calls from employers in Nigeria
Step 3
An offer, and the eligibility checks that come with it
Step 4
Only now: the visa, the permit and the documents below

The gate is the employer's Expatriate Quota rather than the visa, so only companies holding a quota can hire you, and those roles are few and contested. Step one is the whole game, and it is the part almost everyone under-invests in.

How a résumé is expected to look in Nigeria

Nigerian convention: two pages, photograph optional, English.

Where people actually apply

LinkedIn · Jobberman · MyJobMag · Indeed Nigeria

What EDZER does for step one

Your résumé, rewritten for the country. In the format its recruiters expect, by a human writer, with a 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed
Your LinkedIn profile, rebuilt. Every section written so recruiters searching there find you and read on
Profiles on that country's job portals. Set up and optimised to match, so every application reads the same
A job search strategy document. Which roles, which employers, which portals, in what order, for your profile
An interview prep kit. For the roles you are targeting, so the calls turn into offers
Guidance on where and how to apply for jobs. From our team, so you are not guessing which door to knock on

What EDZER does not do

Visa or work permit applications, or immigration advice of any kind
Document attestation or credential evaluation
Placing you in a job or promising an offer: the recruiter decides selection, on your profile

Our job is to make sure you are presented in the strongest way possible, so that the interview calls come. What happens in the interview is yours.

59,000+ clients across 24+ countries 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed Delivered in 4 to 6 working days 48-hour review window for changes

Start step one for NigeriaRésumé, LinkedIn and the interview kit is the Premium plan. With the job portals, Premium Plus. Pick a plan and pay on the next page; the writer starts the same day.

Have a question first? Ask on WhatsApp. For starting the work, the button above is faster.

Section 01

The quota is the gate, and 4.3 per cent is not what it looks like

Free

This guide is written for two readers at once: someone moving to Nigeria to work, usually into oil and gas, telecoms, banking or a development agency, and a Nigerian looking for work at home in a market whose official unemployment rate is 4.3 per cent and where almost nobody believes that number.

Those two people need different things, so this guide says which is which as it goes. If you are coming in, the thing that decides whether you can work at all is not your visa. It is the Expatriate Quota your employer holds from the Ministry of Interior. If you are Nigerian, the rules that decide your take home pay changed more between 2024 and 2026 than in the twenty years before, and most of that change landed on 1 January 2026.

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The thing worth knowing before anything else

An Expatriate Quota is granted to the company, not to you, and it is granted against a named position, not a named person. The Ministry of Interior describes it as approval "that allows a company operating in Nigeria to employ a specified number of foreign professionals" where qualified Nigerians are not available. Each position carries a clock: after seven years the Ministry expects the position to be localised to a Nigerian, and a company that cannot do that must apply for De-tagging with justification. Ministry of Interior, Citizenship and Business Department FAQ, checked 20 Sep 2026

So the question to ask at offer stage is not "will I get a visa". It is "does this company hold a live quota slot for this exact position, how many years of its seven year clock are already gone, and who is my named understudy". An employer who cannot answer that in one sentence has not started your paperwork.

How the quota actually works, and what it costs the company

Quota action	What it is	Duration, per the Ministry	Fee
Establishment Grant	First approval for a newly registered company	About 3 years	NGN 1,000,000
Additional Quota	Extra positions when the business expands	About 2 years	NGN 500,000
Renewal	Extends existing positions past the grant	First renewal follows the 3 year grant, second adds 2 years	NGN 500,000
Re-designation	Changes the title or function of an approved position	·	NGN 500,000
Project tagged quota	Positions tied to one named project	Extension priced separately	NGN 500,000
Upgrade to PUR	Permanent Until Review, for a CEO, MD or Technical Director role	Reviewed, not time limited	NGN 20,000,000
Appeal	Where the Ministry approved only part of what was asked	·	NGN 400,000

Ministry of Interior, Citizenship and Business Department, published service fees and FAQ pages, both checked 20 September 2026. Durations are described in the Ministry's own FAQ as approximate, not as guarantees. PUR re-designation is NGN 10,000,000, downgrading NGN 5,000,000, and revalidation after ten years is USD 10,000.

Section 02

Permits, the levy, and what it actually costs

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Section 03

Pay, professions, the CV, and what changed

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Free ATS check for Nigeria

Not ready to start yet? Get your résumé scored free, and we will tell you exactly what Nigeria recruiters would change.

Takes a minute. Your score comes back on this page. A writer from EDZER reviews the file and follows up on WhatsApp about the résumé and LinkedIn work, nothing else.

Your name

WhatsApp number

Where you live now

Where you want to work (up to 5)

Target role or roles

Experience

Highest qualification

Current designation and employer (if working)

When do you plan to apply?

Your current résumé

Used to score your résumé and for our writers to contact you about the résumé and LinkedIn work for Nigeria. We do not handle visas or immigration. Never sold or shared. Privacy.

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