Posted by By EMMA EMEOZOR on
No fewer than 25,000 Nigerians applied for British visa monthly, making Nigeria Britain's biggest visa market.
No fewer than 25,000 Nigerians applied for British visa monthly, making Nigeria Britain's biggest visa market.
This was disclosed by the British High Commissioner, Richard Grozny at a press conference held in Lagos on Wednesday to announce new visa service in Nigeria and the formal lifting of the temporary suspension of visa services to first time Nigerian visitors aged 18 to 30 with effect from Friday March 17.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had during his visit to Nigeria in Febuary hinted that London was set to lift the ban on visa services to certain category of Nigerians.
Grozny announced series of improvement to the commission's visa services in Nigeria, saying: "our aim is to provide the most efficient and modern visa service we can for our valued Nigerian customers." He said the introduction of the on-line visa application service: www.ukvac-ng.com is to enable customers to lodge their applications from their homes or offices.
The envoy explained that with effect from Friday, March 17, dedicated visa application centers will become operational. The centers will be operated by VFS, a UK-based visa service company. By the arrangement, the dedicated visa service will take off in Abuja on Friday March 17 and in Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos (Ikeja and Victoria Island) on Thurday March 30.
"These centers will also provide the full range of application assistance services for customers, and will forward applications to the High Commission in Abuja and the Deputy High Commission in Lagos depending on where an applicant which to apply," Grozny said. Aready, the Commission has employed 140 staff ensure that the visa section attend adequately to customers.
Explaining further how the remodelled system operates, Grozny said trained staff of VFS company "will take the visa fees, accept the applications and explain the latest visa rules.
However, existing application service, operated by UPS and DHL, will continue to operate in Warri, Benin City, Enugu, Kaduna and Kano till further notice.
Applicants wishing to apply on-line are required to pay their visa fee to GT bank and obtain a password with which to log-in the website. Also, applicants are required to chose time and date to log-in.