This study investigated the asymmetric impact of oil price on remittances in oil‐exporting and ‐importing nations in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). The study adopted the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) technique for 22 SSA countries. The study found that in oil‐importing countries, positive shocks in oil prices boost the influx of remittances, whereas a fall in oil prices reduces remittances. For oil‐exporting nations, the result indicates that the influence of a positive shock in oil price on remittances, in the long‐run, is sensitive to the measure of oil price (Brent and West Texas Intermediate). However, in the short‐run, adverse oil price shocks decrease the inflow of oil‐importing nations' remittances while it enhances the inflow of remittances into oil‐exporting nations. Based on these findings, the study recommends that oil‐importing nations use the increase in remittances to promote economic activities to lessen the adverse effect of an upsurge in international oil prices. By contrast, oil‐exporting nations need to use the rise in oil revenue to cushion the decrease in remittances due to oil price shock.