Japa: US suspends visa dropbox service in Nigeria

The United States has suspended its visa dropbox service in Nigeria, a move that now requires all visitor visa applicants to attend in-person interviews for renewals.

The dropbox system previously allowed eligible applicants, particularly those with a recent US travel history, to submit their passports without attending interviews, significantly reducing wait times.

This policy change has raised concerns over increased delays, as visa interview dates in Nigeria are already stretched over a year in some cases. Many Nigerians, including students and business travelers, may now face disruptions in their travel plans.

While the US Embassy in Nigeria is yet to release an official statement on the change, sources have confirmed that the dropbox feature has been quietly removed from the appointment booking system. Applicants attempting to schedule visa renewals have found that the option is no longer available.

With the dropbox feature no longer available, applicants must now go through full in-person interviews, adding to the already extended wait times for visa appointments. This change comes at a time when many applicants had already been struggling with long wait times—some as long as a year—to secure an in-person visa appointment.

As of January, dropbox appointment slots were already unavailable in Lagos, forcing many applicants to seek alternatives in Abuja. Now, with the complete removal of the dropbox feature, the visa renewal process will revert to the system in place before 2020, further exacerbating backlogs.

Reports have it that some applicants had been unable to access the appointment booking platform, suggesting that the feature may have been removed in response to a series of executive orders initiated by Donald Trump that continue to influence immigration policies.

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