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Nigerians between 18 and 30 years of age who have never visited the UK would not get visas until 2006, the Deputy British High Commissioner, Mr David Wyatt said in Lagos today.
Nigerians between 18 and 30 years of age who have never visited the UK would not get visas until 2006, the Deputy British High Commissioner, Mr David Wyatt said in Lagos today.
Addressing a news conference, Wyatt said that the temporary measure was to allow the commission to restructure its consular office in Lagos.
He said that the age bracket was chosen because they constitute 80 per cent of those whose visa applications are rejected annually and that dealing with applications of those within the age bracket usully take up a large amount of time.
"We regret having to introduce the measure but it is essential because demand for UK visas in Nigeria has grown to unprecedented levels," he said.
A statement said 230,000 applications were treated between April last year and this year.
He said that Lagos was currently the busiest UK visa operation in the world with about 17,000 applications processed every month.
Wyatt said the commission lacked the capacity and resources to cope with the number of requests and that the alternative would have been to return to the bad old days of long queues, saying, "We are taking the least bad option."
He said the restriction was not a measure to reduce the number of visas to be issued and that it did not apply to journalists going to the UK for assignment or to work and to those who have already submitted their applications before April 11, the implementation date.
He said the restriction did not cover older children aged between 18-30 of those who have travelled before but that they have to qualify in their own right.
"Applications from those who need to travel to the UK in a genuine emergency or an urgent compassionate grounds will still be accepted," the statement, made available to newsmen said.
Wyatt explained that in the course of 2005, the High Commission intended to put in place an infrastructure to deal with more applications and that a full visa service would be restored in 2006.