Bringing your parents to the US from Nigeria, or caring for them at home.

The question every Nigerian family in America asks

Your parents are getting older. Maybe Dad had a fall, or Mum's blood pressure is harder to control, or the sibling who used to check on them has moved away. You're thousands of miles away with a job, children and a mortgage, and the obvious answer seems to be: bring them here, where you can look after them yourself.

For a long time that meant a green card petition or a visitor visa. In 2026 the picture has changed, and even when the route was open, it was rarely as simple as it sounded. This page explains the rules as they stand, what they cost, and the other option: care for their parents in their own home in Lagos, run by nurses, with proof every day that it happened.

How to bring your parents to the US from Nigeria: the rules in 2026

The travel restrictions

On 16 December 2025 the President signed Proclamation 10998, which took effect on 1 January 2026. Nigeria is on its list of countries with partial restrictions. For Nigerian nationals it suspends entry as immigrants, which covers parents applying for a green card, and entry on B-1, B-2 and B-1/B-2 visitor visas, as well as student and exchange visas.

The suspension does not apply to:

• parents who already hold a US green card;
• parents who already held a valid US visa before 1 January 2026;
• parents travelling on a passport from a country that isn't restricted;
• rare case-by-case waivers where entry serves the US national interest.

The proclamation has no end date. The Secretary of State reviews it every 180 days. If your parent has a valid visa today, speak to an immigration attorney before relying on it, because entry is always at the border officer's discretion.

The green card route: Form I-130 for parents

Only a US citizen aged 21 or over can petition for a parent. Green card holders can't. Parents of US citizens are “immediate relatives”, so there's no annual limit or long queue for a visa number. The I-130 fee is $625 if you file online or $675 on paper, and there's no fee waiver. After the petition is approved, the parent normally applies for an immigrant visa at the US Embassy, with more fees, a medical exam and your financial sponsorship.

While the suspension lasts, a Nigerian parent can't be issued that immigrant visa, so an approved petition doesn't yet get them here. Some families file now so they're ready if the rules change. That's a decision to take with an immigration attorney.

Visitor visas for parents

Many families used to bring parents over for long visits on a B-2 visa, often for months at a time. New B-1/B-2 visas for Nigerians are now suspended. A parent with a visitor visa issued before 1 January 2026 is outside the suspension, but a visit is still a visit: a visitor can't get Medicare, and travel insurance for an older person with health conditions is costly and may exclude the very conditions you're worried about.

Health cover, even if the door reopens

A new permanent resident aged 65 or over generally has to live in the US for five continuous years before they can enrol in Medicare. Until then, families pay privately for doctors, hospitals and medicines. For a parent with high blood pressure, diabetes or a past stroke, that can run to far more than care at home in Nigeria.

What your parent gives up by moving

Even when moving is possible, it isn't always what a parent wants. In America they would leave their house, their church, their friends, their language and the independence of going out on their own. Many older parents spend most of the day indoors while the family is at work or school, and a US winter keeps them inside for months. Parents often tell their children, gently, that they'd rather stay home.

And for you, moving them often means becoming their full-time carer on top of a full-time job. Families who've done it describe the strain honestly: caring for an elderly mother or father can take over your whole life. That isn't a failure of love. It's a sign that care is work, and it's easier to do well when trained people share it.

Bringing them over or care at home in Lagos: side by side

How care at home in Lagos works from the US

Home Care Nigeria is a nurse-led home care agency in Lagos. We look after your parent the way you would if you lived around the corner: someone they know, at the same time every day, who notices when something isn't right.

1. You enquire from the US. Tell us about your parent on the enquiry form. It takes a few minutes.
2. A registered nurse visits your parent at home. They meet your parent and anyone living with them, read the medical notes, and agree safe ranges for readings like blood pressure and sugar. You can join by video call.
3. Within 48 hours you get a written care plan and a monthly quote.
4. Care starts. A trained caregiver visits daily or lives in. They check in at the home on our app and record the visit as it happens.
5. The nurse signs every report before you see it, and you read it on the family portal, with readings, medicines given or refused, meals, mood and anything that worried the caregiver. Urgent concerns reach the nurse and you straight away.

Time zones: the report is there when you wake up

Lagos is on West Africa Time, UTC+1, with no daylight saving. In winter it's 6 hours ahead of New York, 7 ahead of Houston and Chicago, and 9 ahead of Los Angeles. In summer it's an hour less. A morning visit in Lagos is usually reported and signed by the time you wake up on the East Coast, and you can message the nurse from your lunch break, which is late afternoon in Lagos.

Paying from the US

You pay us directly, by card or bank transfer, and every invoice appears on the family portal next to the visit reports, so you can see what you paid for. Paying the agency directly also means the money for care doesn't pass through a relative. If you send money home for other costs, note that since 1 May 2026 transfers through licensed money transfer operators are paid out in naira, and the rate you get depends on the operator. Our guide to making sure money sent home is spent on care explains how families keep it safe.

When you visit

When you fly home, meet the nurse and the caregiver in person. Many families plan the assessment around a trip, but you don't have to: the nurse can do it with you on a video call.

Example: a daughter in Houston and her mother in Surulere

This is an illustration of how care works, not a real client. Names and details are invented.

Ngozi is a pharmacist in Houston. Her mother, 77, lives alone in Surulere. After a minor stroke last year, Ngozi wanted to bring her to Texas, but her mother didn't want to leave her church and her neighbours, and in 2026 the visa route closed anyway.

Ngozi filled in the enquiry form on a Sunday evening. On Tuesday a nurse visited her mother at home, with Ngozi on a video call, read the hospital discharge letter, and set safe ranges for her blood pressure. On Thursday Ngozi had a written plan for a caregiver every morning, with help washing, breakfast, her tablets, a short walk and a blood pressure check.

Now Ngozi reads the report over coffee before work. One morning the report shows her mother's blood pressure above the safe range. By the time Ngozi reads it, the nurse has already rechecked it, called her mother's doctor, and left a note explaining the plan. Ngozi still calls her mother every evening, but now they talk about the grandchildren instead of whether she took her medicine.

Questions to ask any agency in Lagos

• Is a registered nurse responsible for my parent, and can I speak to them?
• Will I get a written report after every visit, or only a phone call?
• What checks have the caregivers had: ID, guarantor, references?
• What happens if the caregiver is sick, late or leaves?
• Who acts at night if something goes wrong, and how will I hear about it?

Our guides to finding a trusted caregiver in Lagos, hospitals in Lagos for older parents and old people's homes in Lagos go into more detail. See also how care is priced, and our pages for families in the UK and Canada.