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How to Apply for a Nigerian Visa (2026) — Inbound and Outbound Routes

Two distinct application routes for two distinct audiences. Inbound foreign nationals route through the e-Visa portal or the embassy. Outbound Nigerians applying for non-ECOWAS visas route through the destination-country embassy in Nigeria. The article walks each route separately.

Written by NigeriaHowTo Editorial TeamEdited by Nikita Bystrykh, Founder & PublisherChecked against official sourcesUpdated September 2026Last reviewed 21 September 202611 min read

Two distinct routes for two distinct audiences

The phrase 'how to apply for a Nigerian visa' covers two structurally different applications depending on who is asking. The inbound foreign national applying to visit, work in, or settle in Nigeria routes through the Nigeria Immigration Service portal architecture and the Nigerian embassies abroad. The outbound Nigerian applying for a visa to travel to a non-ECOWAS destination routes through the destination country's embassy or high commission in Nigeria. Different agencies, different portals, different fee currencies, different documentary stacks from the first step.

This article signposts which audience each section applies to and walks each route distinctly. The inbound route is the main focus because it is the one NIS owns directly; the outbound route is named at the end with the cross-direction signposting a Nigerian traveller needs.

The first decision before any portal is opened is which of the two audiences the applicant belongs to. The taxonomy of visa types under the Nigerian visa types reference covers the category-by-category breakdown; this walkthrough covers the procedural mechanics of getting the application from start to issued visa. The sponsor leg of the architecture differs by visa type and by audience and naming the right counterpart at the application step (employer for STR, host for tourist, destination embassy for outbound) is what produces the correct documentary bundle the first time round.

Three actors govern Nigerian immigration and the actor that holds a given record depends on the audience and the document. The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS, the federal agency under the Ministry of Interior; headquartered at Umar Musa Yar'Adua Express Way, Airport Road, Sauka, Abuja) is the issuing authority — it operates the main agency portal at immigration.gov.ng, the e-Visa portal at evisa.immigration.gov.ng, the landing-and-exit card portal at lecard.immigration.gov.ng, the e-CERPAC portal at cerpac.immigration.gov.ng, the network of NIS state commands across the 36 states and the FCT, and the international airport NIS desks at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA). The Applicant is the doer and the audience is mixed — an inbound foreign national applying for a visa, residence, or CERPAC; an outbound Nigerian travelling under the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol on an ECOWAS travel certificate; a foreign business owner or foreign employee whose CERPAC sits inside an expatriate-quota framework. The Sponsor-or-host or destination-country counterpart is the third actor and the identity depends on the visa type — a Nigerian host for a tourist visa, a Nigerian employer for a Temporary Work Permit or CERPAC application under the Subject To Regularisation route, an ECOWAS member state for an outbound Nigerian travelling on an ECOWAS travel certificate, the destination-country embassy in Nigeria for an outbound Nigerian visa application. Naming which counterpart applies per case is the first diagnostic before any portal route is chosen.

Inbound route — the e-Visa for short-stay travel

For inbound foreign nationals on short-stay travel (tourism, business visit, transit, study tour, sports, creative arts, cultural exchange, emergency relief work, and similar purposes up to 90 days), the e-Visa portal at evisa.immigration.gov.ng is the canonical route. What the applicant works inside at the portal — the visa categories the form exposes, the documentary stack each category demands, the published 48-hour service standard, the digital landing card co-requirement at lecard.immigration.gov.ng — is the procedural surface of the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 framework.

The Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 (NVP 2025) took effect on 1 May 2025 and revised the visa-categories schedule and the visa-application route. Three substantive changes bear on every applicant. First, visa-on-arrival was abolished on 1 May 2025 — the Minister of Interior cited national-security concerns in the February 2025 announcement; visa-on-arrival approvals issued before 1 May 2025 remained valid through 30 May 2025 and no fresh approvals have been issued since. Second, the e-Visa system replaced visa-on-arrival as the route for short-stay travellers from countries that previously qualified for visa-on-arrival; applications are submitted online at evisa.immigration.gov.ng and approvals are issued by email within 48 hours under the published service standard. Third, the visa categories were restructured into a three-tier framework: Short Visit Visa (with sub-categories including business single and multiple entry, tourist, transit, study tour, sports, creative arts, academic exchange, cultural exchange, emergency relief work, and visitor visas) for stays up to 90 days; Temporary Residence Visa (with sub-categories including Subject To Regularisation / STR for employees taking up long-term employment, Temporary Work Permit / TWP for short-term assignments, student visa, retiree visa, and several others) for stays up to two years; and Permanent Residence Visa for highly-skilled foreign nationals, investors, retirees, and their dependants. The NVP 2025 also introduced the digital landing-and-exit card requirement at lecard.immigration.gov.ng — every non-Nigerian visitor and dual-national citizen completes the landing card up to 72 hours before arrival.

The five operational steps for the inbound e-Visa application:

  1. 1
    Confirm the e-Visa category fits the purpose of travelOpen evisa.immigration.gov.ng and review the 18 Short Visit Visa sub-categories. Pick the one that matches the trip purpose — Business Single Entry, Business Multiple Entry, Tourist, Visitor, Transit, Sports, Creative Arts, Study Tour, Academic Exchange, Cultural Exchange, Emergency Relief Work, or the relevant specialist category. Misreading the category is the most common upstream cause of refusal at the NIS officer review step.
  2. 2
    Create the application and supply the documentary bundleRegister on the portal with the international passport's biographic page, the visit details (inbound flight, address in Nigeria, duration of stay), the host or invitation letter (where the category requires one), and the recent passport-style photograph. Upload each document at the specified portal step; the bundle differs by category and by nationality.
  3. 3
    Pay the fee through Remita on the portalThe portal generates a Remita Retrieval Reference (RRR) against the published fee for the category and nationality. e-Visa fees are USD-denominated and vary by country of origin. Pay by card on the portal for the fastest reconciliation; bank-counter payments via the RRR take longer through the bank's clearing cycle. Card payments typically reconcile within an hour; bank-counter payments can take 24 to 48 hours.
  4. 4
    Wait for NIS approval and the e-Visa emailThe published service standard is 48 hours from a clean application. The NIS officer reviews the application against the documentary bundle and the published eligibility criteria. Outcomes: Approved (the e-Visa PDF is sent to the applicant's email), Queried (NIS asks for clarification or additional documents; respond through the portal), or Refused (the [visa application rejected](/immigration/visa-application-rejected/) walkthrough covers the recovery routes). Conservative discipline: submit at least 14 days before the planned travel date.
  5. 5
    Complete the digital landing card and arriveUp to 72 hours before arrival, complete the digital landing card at lecard.immigration.gov.ng with the inbound flight details, the address in Nigeria, and the purpose of visit. Print the e-Visa PDF and carry it alongside the international passport, the yellow card where the country of origin requires one, and the printed landing-card confirmation. The international airport NIS desk at MMIA Lagos, NAIA Abuja, PHIA Port Harcourt, or MAKIA Kano reads the bundle on arrival and issues the entry stamp.

The published 48-hour processing window is the service standard, not a guarantee.

The Nigeria Immigration Service publishes a 48-hour processing window for e-Visa applications submitted through evisa.immigration.gov.ng. The application is submitted online, the fee is paid against the published schedule, and approval is delivered to the applicant's email with the e-Visa attached as a PDF for printing. The 48-hour window is the published service standard, not a guarantee — applications submitted on a weekend, on a Nigerian public holiday, or against an incomplete documentary bundle commonly run beyond the window. The honest position: target submission at least 14 days before the planned travel date to allow for documentary queries from the NIS officer reviewing the file and for the 48-hour window to run twice in the event of a query-and-resubmit cycle. The e-Visa carries 30-day or 90-day validity from issuance and the applicant must enter Nigeria inside that window; a non-used e-Visa lapses and a fresh application is required. The e-Visa is the document the applicant prints and carries to the boarding gate and the international airport NIS desk on arrival; the NIS officer at the airport reads the e-Visa against the international passport and the landing card.

Where the e-Visa application is queried by the NIS officer, the portal notifies the applicant by email and the response is submitted through the portal's documentary-upload surface. A clean response typically clears the query within a further 48-hour window; an applicant whose response is itself queried may run beyond the original travel date, which is why the 14-day-before-travel submission discipline is the conservative norm.

Inbound route — STR and TWP through the Nigerian embassy abroad

For inbound foreign nationals taking up long-term employment (STR) or short-term assignment work (TWP), the e-Visa portal is not the route. STR and TWP applications go through the Nigerian embassy or high commission in the applicant's country of residence; the Nigerian employer or host company holds the sponsorship documentation that the embassy reads at the visa-application step.

The STR procedural shape:

  • The Nigerian employer obtains expatriate quota approval from the Federal Ministry of Interior. The expatriate quota is the slot under which the foreign worker is permitted to work in Nigeria; the employer's quota is the upstream documentary basis for the STR visa.
  • The employer issues an invitation letter naming the foreign worker, the role, the duration of employment, and the quota slot. The invitation letter is the binding sponsor document at the embassy.
  • The foreign worker submits the STR application at the Nigerian embassy in the country of residence with the invitation letter, expatriate quota approval, CV, educational and professional credentials, and supporting documents per the embassy's published list. The embassy issues the STR visa as a single-entry visa to enter Nigeria.
  • The foreign worker enters Nigeria on the STR visa and proceeds to apply for CERPAC at cerpac.immigration.gov.ng within 90 days of arrival. The CERPAC application converts the STR entry into one-year-renewable residence; the CERPAC walkthrough covers the post-arrival flow in detail.

The TWP procedural shape is shorter — the Nigerian host company applies to NIS Headquarters for TWP approval against the invitation letter; on approval, the foreign technician collects the TWP at the Nigerian embassy overseas (or, under the e-Visa framework where the TWP category is available online, receives it electronically). TWP is for the specific assignment without conversion to residence; CERPAC does not follow.

The cross-link to the Nigerian visa types reference covers the category-by-category audience map; this walkthrough covers the procedural mechanics.

ECOWAS citizens skip the visa-application step entirely

For inbound foreign nationals who are citizens of an ECOWAS member state, there is no visa application. The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons of 29 May 1979 and its supplementary protocols supply the legal basis for visa-free entry to Nigeria for up to 90 days against a valid national passport or an ECOWAS travel certificate.

Every Nigerian visa decision starts with one binary — is the applicant from an ECOWAS member state or not. Under the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons of 29 May 1979 and its supplementary protocols, citizens of the fifteen ECOWAS member states enter Nigeria visa-free for up to 90 days against a valid national passport or an ECOWAS travel certificate; no visa, no fee, no prior approval is required and the entry stamp is issued at the international airport NIS desk on landing. The fifteen member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger formally withdrew in January 2025 but transitional arrangements maintain free-movement standing in practice). A stay beyond 90 days under the Protocol requires an ECOWAS Residence Card under the supplementary protocol of 1990. Non-ECOWAS nationals route entirely through the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 framework — the e-Visa portal at evisa.immigration.gov.ng for short-stay visas, the embassy or high commission for longer-term and resident visas, and the e-CERPAC route for residence. A limited group of non-ECOWAS countries hold visa-abolition or reciprocity-waiver agreements that grant similar 90-day visa-free entry; these are listed on the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 schedule and remain a narrow exception to the general rule that non-ECOWAS travellers apply through the e-Visa portal in advance.

The procedural shape for the ECOWAS citizen arriving in Nigeria:

  • Carry a valid national passport (or, for Nigerians outbound returning, an ECOWAS travel certificate) — the document the NIS desk reads on arrival.
  • Complete the digital landing card at lecard.immigration.gov.ng up to 72 hours before arrival. The landing card is mandatory for non-Nigerian visitors; an ECOWAS citizen falls in this group and completes the card on the same basis as any other inbound traveller.
  • Carry the yellow card if the country of departure is on the yellow-fever-transmission list; the Port Health desk at the international airport reads the WHO-format ICVP card alongside the NIS desk's read of the passport.
  • Present the documentary bundle at the international airport NIS desk — MMIA Lagos, NAIA Abuja, PHIA Port Harcourt, or MAKIA Kano. The NIS officer issues the entry stamp under the ECOWAS Free Movement framework.

For a stay beyond 90 days, the ECOWAS Residence Card under the supplementary protocol of 1990 is the route; the application is submitted at the relevant NIS state command and the documentary stack is shorter than the CERPAC stack because the regulatory basis is the regional protocol rather than the federal visa schedule.

The yellow card is a co-requisite for inbound entry from many countries

The visa-application step and the yellow-card step run on different tracks within the same airport-arrival bundle. The e-Visa application portal does not check yellow-card status at the application step, and the Port Health desk at the international airport reads the card independently of the NIS desk that reads the e-Visa. That track-separation is what produces denied entry for a traveller who arrives with a clean e-Visa but no valid yellow card — the e-Visa application's silence on the yellow card does not waive the WHO International Health Regulations 2005 requirement that Nigeria implements at every international airport.

The World Health Organization International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR 2005) Annex 7 names yellow fever as the only disease for which an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) may be required as a condition of entry to a country. The yellow card, in WHO-approved Carte Jaune format, is the document that evidences the vaccination and is recognised globally under the IHR 2005 framework. On 11 July 2016 an amendment to Annex 7 (adopted under World Health Assembly resolution WHA67.13 in May 2014, following the recommendation of WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization that a single dose of yellow fever vaccine confers lifelong protection) took effect for all States Parties: the period of protection from a WHO-approved yellow fever vaccination and the validity of the related certificate became lifelong rather than the previous ten years. The amendment applies automatically to certificates issued after 11 July 2016 and to certificates already issued before that date; under the IHR 2005 a valid certificate presented by an arriving traveller cannot be rejected on the grounds that more than ten years have passed since the vaccination became effective, and boosters or revaccination cannot be required. The vaccine takes effect ten days after administration — the 'valid from' date on the certificate is the date ten days after the vaccination date, and a traveller departing inside that ten-day window does not yet carry a valid certificate under the IHR 2005 framework.

The Port Health desk at the international airport reads the WHO-format ICVP card; the NIS desk reads the e-Visa or visa stamp and the landing card. A missing yellow card produces a stop at the Port Health desk regardless of how clean the e-Visa file is. The yellow card for international travel walkthrough covers the WHO IHR 2005 framework and the country-of-origin-specific requirement in detail; the 10-day-before-travel rule is the binding constraint.

Outbound route — Nigerian travellers applying for non-ECOWAS visas

A Nigerian applicant for a visa to a non-ECOWAS destination routes through the destination country's embassy or high commission in Nigeria, not through NIS or the e-Visa portal. The procedural mechanics are destination-country-specific and sit outside this cluster's scope; the cross-direction signposting names the route a Nigerian outbound applicant needs and the upstream Nigerian-side prerequisites that the destination embassy will check.

The Nigerian-side prerequisites:

  • A current Nigerian passport. The destination embassy reads the passport's biographic page and the validity window; the standard requirement is at least 6 months of validity beyond the planned travel date. A Nigerian passport approaching expiry is renewed through the NIS passport portal first.
  • The harmonised enhanced e-Passport. Since July 2025, NIS issues only the harmonised enhanced e-Passport; the older Machine-Readable Passport is no longer issued and destination embassies accept only the e-Passport for visa applications. The passport application walkthrough covers fresh issuance; the passport renewal walkthrough covers renewal.
Effective July 2025, the dual passport system was scrapped. All NIS passport offices issue only the harmonised enhanced e-Passport; the older Machine-Readable Passport is no longer issued.

The destination-country routes a Nigerian outbound applicant most commonly encounters (illustrative — confirm each on the destination embassy's published page on the day):

  • United Kingdom: UK Visas and Immigration through the TLScontact UK Visa Application Centres in Lagos and Abuja; gov.uk visa application portal.
  • United States: US Embassy Abuja and US Consulate Lagos through ustraveldocs; nonimmigrant visa appointment booking and interview at the embassy or consulate.
  • Canada: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through the VFS Global Canada Visa Application Centres in Lagos and Abuja.
  • Schengen-area countries: the relevant member-state embassy or its outsourced visa-application centre (TLScontact, VFS Global, or the embassy's own consular section).
  • United Arab Emirates: the UAE Embassy in Abuja and the UAE Consulate in Lagos; online channels through GDRFA where applicable.
  • South Africa: South African High Commission in Abuja and the Consulate-General in Lagos via VFS Global.

Each destination operates its own application portal, fee schedule, documentary requirements (visa-medical examination through a destination-designated panel physician for some long-term visas, financial-status documents, host invitation, travel itinerary), and processing window. The destination embassy's published page is the canonical source for the procedural detail on the day; this cluster's scope is the Nigerian-side context rather than the destination-side procedure.

What goes wrong, and how to avoid it

Three patterns produce the bulk of avoidable refusals and delays across both the inbound and outbound routes.

  • Submitting the e-Visa application less than 48 hours before the planned travel date. The published service standard is 48 hours and that window is not a guarantee; weekend, public-holiday, and queried-application cases run beyond. The conservative discipline is 14 days before travel.
  • Picking the wrong e-Visa category for the purpose of travel. A traveller applying for a Business Single Entry visa for a trip that is genuinely tourism, or vice versa, faces refusal at the NIS officer review step. The category that matches the purpose is the one to pick.
  • Travelling without the yellow card where the country of origin is on the yellow-fever-transmission list. The e-Visa portal does not check yellow-card status at application; the Port Health desk at the airport reads the WHO-format ICVP card on arrival. A missing card produces denied entry regardless of how clean the e-Visa file is.
  • Skipping the digital landing card at lecard.immigration.gov.ng. The card is mandatory for every non-Nigerian visitor and is completed up to 72 hours before arrival; a missing card produces a stop at the NIS desk on arrival.
  • For outbound Nigerian applicants: applying at the destination embassy with a passport that has under 6 months of validity. Destination embassies routinely refuse on this single ground; renew the [Nigerian passport](/passport/how-to-renew-nigerian-passport/) first.

The discipline that keeps the application clean is the four-step pre-application check: identify the audience, name the visa category, confirm the sponsor or host, check the supporting-document framework (passport validity, yellow card status, financial evidence where required). Each of the four steps front-loads a question that the NIS officer or the destination embassy will ask at the review step.

Application submitted — what next?

The 48-hour window starts at submission. The status-check walkthrough covers the four states an e-Visa application sits in and the recovery route for each.

Read how to check visa status →

Frequently asked questions

How long before my flight should I apply for the Nigeria e-Visa?

The NIS published service standard for the e-Visa is 48 hours from a clean application. The conservative discipline is to submit at least 14 days before the planned travel date — the window allows the published 48-hour cycle to run twice in the event of a documentary query from the NIS officer reviewing the file, and accommodates weekend or public-holiday submissions that may run beyond the 48-hour window. Same-day or last-minute submission is operationally possible inside the service standard but exposes the traveller to denied boarding if the application is queried.

I am from an ECOWAS country. Do I need to apply for a Nigerian visa?

No for stays up to 90 days. Under the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons of 29 May 1979, citizens of the fifteen ECOWAS member states enter Nigeria visa-free against a valid national passport or an ECOWAS travel certificate. No application, no fee, no advance approval. The entry stamp is issued at the international airport NIS desk on landing. A stay beyond 90 days under the Protocol requires an ECOWAS Residence Card under the supplementary protocol of 1990.

I am Nigerian. How do I apply for a visa to another country?

Through the destination country's embassy or high commission in Nigeria — not through NIS or the e-Visa portal, which are for inbound travellers to Nigeria. The Nigerian outbound applicant for a visa to the United Kingdom routes through the UK Visa Application Centre at TLScontact (Lagos and Abuja); for the United States, through the US Embassy in Abuja or the Consulate in Lagos via ustraveldocs; for Canada, through VFS Global on behalf of IRCC; for Schengen-area destinations, through the relevant member-state embassy or its outsourced visa-application centre. Each destination has its own application portal, fee schedule, documentary requirements, and processing window. The Nigerian-side prerequisite is a current [Nigerian passport](/passport/how-to-apply-for-nigerian-passport/) — the harmonised enhanced e-Passport is the only document the destination embassy accepts after the dual-system was scrapped in July 2025.

What is the STR visa and when do I need it?

Subject To Regularisation (STR) is the long-term-employment entry visa for foreign nationals taking up employment in Nigeria under a Nigerian employer's expatriate-quota slot. The applicant applies at the Nigerian embassy or high commission in the country of residence with the employer's invitation letter, expatriate quota approval, and supporting documents. The STR visa permits entry to Nigeria with the explicit understanding that the residence status will be regularised through a CERPAC application within 90 days of arrival — the regularisation is what the 'Subject To' refers to. The audience is the foreign employee; the Nigerian employer is the binding sponsor through both steps.

Can I apply for a Nigerian visa from inside Nigeria?

No for the visa itself. A foreign national already in Nigeria on a valid entry visa or under ECOWAS visa-free standing who wishes to take up long-term residence does not apply for a fresh visa; they apply for CERPAC at the e-CERPAC portal under the existing legal-stay basis. A foreign national whose entry visa has expired and who has not regularised through CERPAC sits in overstay status under the Immigration Act 2015; the route back to lawful stay is through the NIS state command or the CERPAC processing centre at Sauka Abuja, with overstay penalties attaching as published in the Act. For inbound visa applications, the application must be lodged outside Nigeria — at the e-Visa portal for e-Visa-eligible categories or at the embassy in the country of residence for STR, TWP, and similar categories.

What is the digital landing card and when do I complete it?

The digital landing card is the electronic arrival declaration that the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 introduced at lecard.immigration.gov.ng. Every non-Nigerian visitor and dual-national citizen completes the landing card up to 72 hours before arrival in Nigeria. The card captures passport data, biographic information, the inbound flight number, the address in Nigeria, and the purpose of visit; the NIS airport desk reads the card alongside the e-Visa or visa stamp on arrival. The exit card runs on the same portal for departure. The card is free; completion is mandatory. A traveller who arrives without having completed the landing card may complete it at the airport on arrival but the standing rule is the 72-hour pre-arrival window.

My passport has fewer than 6 months left — can I still apply for a Nigerian visa?

Most destination-country visa frameworks require at least 6 months of passport validity beyond the planned travel date; Nigeria operates the same baseline for inbound visas. A Nigerian passport with under 6 months of validity at the time of the visa application is likely to be refused at the e-Visa portal or at the destination embassy reviewing the file. For an outbound Nigerian, the route is to renew the Nigerian passport first through the NIS passport portal — the harmonised enhanced e-Passport is the only document the NIS issues since the dual-system was scrapped in July 2025 — and then submit the destination-country visa application against the fresh passport. The [passport renewal walkthrough](/passport/how-to-renew-nigerian-passport/) covers the route.

Sources

Independent guide, not affiliated with any government agency. The facts, fees and steps above are checked against the primary sources below — government, regulator and agency material first, reputable press second.

  1. 1.Nigeria Immigration Service main portal
  2. 2.Nigeria Immigration Service e-Visa portal
  3. 3.Nigeria Immigration Service Landing and Exit Card portal
  4. 4.Aluko & Oyebode on the Nigeria e-Visa and Automated Entry System rollout
  5. 5.Fragomen on Nigeria visa-on-arrival cancellation and e-Visa rollout
  6. 6.International Bar Association on the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025
  7. 7.Envoy Global on the Nigeria e-Visa system and digital entry cards
  8. 8.NIS Contact-Us page

Facts verified against the NigeriaHowTo facts registry.

About the author

NigeriaHowTo Editorial Team

Editorial Research Team

The NigeriaHowTo Editorial Team researches and maintains practical guides about Nigerian documents, online portals, government-related procedures, and everyday administrative services. The team focuses on plain-English explanations, clear structure, official-source references, practical checklists, and user safety. The team is not a government authority, legal adviser, immigration practitioner, banking professional, tax expert, education official, or medical professional — independent subject-matter review is added separately when qualified reviewers are engaged.

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