The United States of America on Tuesday announced changes in its non immigrant visa procedure in Nigeria November 8, 2014.
Consular Chief, Stacie Hankins journalists in Abuja that henceforth, document and distribution partnership had been expanded to include a new location in Port Harcourt, while applicants can now collect their visas from any of the three locations -Abuja, Lagos or Port Harcourt. She noted that qualified applicants for the drop box renewal can also submit their passports and applications to the Port Harcourt DHL collection centre, while the processing time for Port Harcourt will take one additional day as against that of Abuja and Lagos which takes two days.
She also announced that all potential non-immigrant visa applicants must henceforth include the correct confirmation number from their DS-160 online application form as part of the required information to schedule interview; stating that effective from December 1, 2014 applicants who fail to abide by this new instruction will not be interviewed.
The US Mission to Nigeria also revealed that the number of Nigerians applying for non- immigrant visas to the United States had increased over the years.
According to Hankins between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, the US Embassy in Abuja and the Consulate in Lagos received more than 220,000 applications, which is above the 182,000 non-immigrant visa applications, received between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013.
She added that majority of the visa applications were approved, stressing that the US- Nigeria partnership remained strong as the Bureau of Consular Affairs and consular officers in Lagos and Abuja supported the partnership by facilitating legitimate travel to the US.
