The United States Mission has announced it would give priority to student visa applicants and ensure Nigerian students who are resuming this fall get visa interview appointments before their program’s start date.
This announcement was recently made by Susan Tuller, the U.S. Mission country consular coordinator. While making the announcement, Tuller said the embassy in Abuja and the consulate general in Lagos would make every effort to support student visa applicants in a timely fashion while safeguarding personnel and customers.
She said: “As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our staff and customers, processing student visas remains a high priority for the U.S. Mission in Nigeria.
“We will increase the number of student visa appointments in May and June to ensure that we can offer appointments to as many students as possible. If your U.S. studies are scheduled to begin this Fall, we encourage you to schedule your appointment as quickly as possible.”
Tuller explained that every student visa appointment must be booked through the United States Travel Docs website at www.ustraveldocs.com/ng/. She however warned applicants against using third-party services like touts, and fixers who broker visa appointments.
According to the Consular Coordinator, agents or third parties normally seek to gain by charging a fee for their services and they may not provide the correct information always, which can jeopardise an applicant’s chances of qualifying for the visa.
She said: “Both Nigeria and the United States benefit when Nigerian students study at one of our world-class educational institutions.
“To prepare for your U.S. educational opportunity, we encourage you to check out education USA advising Centers at our American spaces in Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, and Calabar, or at educationUSA.state.gov.”
