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US Mission to prioritize visa applications by Nigerian students
By Modupe Shodeinde
The United States Mission in Nigeria has made known plans to prioritise visa applications by Nigerians students who aims to resume academic studies in the States by September 2021.
US Mission Country Consular Coordinator, Susan Tuller in a statement issued on Friday, said the Mission would make every effort to assist student visa applicants in a timely fashion while keeping personnel and customers safe.
According to her, efforts are in place to ensure that Nigerians travelling for studies in the next round of school resumption in September, are not stranded regarding their application for visa.
“As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our staff and customers, processing student visas remains a high priority for the US 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 US studies are scheduled to begin this Fall, we encourage you to schedule your appointment as quickly as possible,” Tuller was quoted as saying in the statement.
The consular coordinator explained that all student visa appointments must be booked through the specified US travel website.
She also warned applicants against the use of third-party services, including touts, and fixers who broker visa appointments.
She explained that agents or third parties often seek to benefit by charging a fee for their services and they may not always provide the correct information, which can harm an applicant’s chances of qualifying for the visa.
“Both Nigeria and the United States benefit when Nigerian students study at one of our world-class educational institutions,” she added.
“To prepare for your U.S. educational opportunity, we encourage you to check out EducationUSA Advising Centers at our American Spaces in Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, and Calabar, or at educationUSA.state.gov.”
The statement from the mission explained that Nigeria sends more students to American colleges and universities than any other country in Africa and is the eleventh largest worldwide source of international students to the country.
In the 2019-2020 academic year, a record-breaking number of nearly 14,000 Nigerians were said to have pursued graduate and undergraduate degrees in the US.
