Procuring The US Visa

THE Embassy of the United States of America’s latest defence of the home government’s statutory rules on visa issuance in Nigeria should, to some extent, assuage the feelings of aggrieved applicants who allege deliberate official policy to delay, restrict or block access to the U.S. However, from all indications, there is need for mutual respect regarding the positions of both the Consulate and applicants generally, especially the elite and government officials. Essentially, consular officials need to be more accommodating, painstaking, fair and just in the assessment of travel requests without compromising standards while applicants, no matter the status, have to show more discipline in approach.

U.S Consular chief in Nigeria, Stephen Frahm, at a briefing on the department’s activities, had cited the law of demand and supply as well as poor planning by many applicants as being largely responsible for visa delays. Increasing demand, rather than deliberate attempt to shut out genuine applicants, he explained, put pressure on official capacity to handle the traffic daily.

Specifically, he touched on the ignorance of some government officials or individuals who hold the view that the cover of a diplomatic Note Verbale is a guarantee for instant visa. Such persons should understand that the document in support of an application must still be subjected to U.S immigration laws. Frahm is right that “a note verbale does not change those requirements.” In response to insinuations that some visa holders were being embarrassingly turned back, he said “a visa is not a permission to be in the U.S but to go to the U.S.”

Frahm’s arguments can hardly be faulted. There are rules and norms in diplomatic circles governing the issuance of entry permit to foreign nationals into a country. The U.S is not an exception. An applicant is therefore obliged to obey the rules, or conform to acceptable norms.

Applicants are often the problem. They are their own worst enemies while filing papers for assessment on their eligibility. It is a fact that desperation to relocate from the shores of the country due to one reason or the other has, time and again, prompted many citizens to supply false information to the embassy, which data are subsequently used to disqualify them from obtaining visas.

As in many areas of national life, the discipline needed to file required information and data is often missing. For instance, stories abound of abuse of diplomatic passports that ought to be the exclusive preserve of diplomats accredited abroad. Too many official passports are in wrong hands. Nowadays, unauthorised persons get access to the travel document by questionable means. Such persons thereby constitute danger and embarrassment to the country, besides putting its image at risk in the international community.

It is curious that a diplomatic note verbale, which is supposed to be issued by only the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has become so easy a document to source. This peddling and racketeering of the official paper is deplorable. Government officials in charge of issuance must be more pain staking to ensure that only accredited or worthy citizens have access to the document.

The level to which the image of the country has sunk in the international community in the past couple of years is bad enough. Every citizen should be a partaker in the new project to shore up the image, in the interest of the country and the travelling public.

However, these shortcomings should not warrant the hardship and undignified treatment many applicants are subjected to whenever they request for visas. Aside of the dishonest few, majority of Nigerians are law abiding, and deserve prompt attention and good service within reasonable time.

The consular chief’s claim of demand outstripping supply should not arise. With its enormous technological resources, the U.S. cannot regard 600 applications the consular deals with per day as overwhelming. The department can take more applications, by reviewing its operations to cope with the excess demand in the circumstance. After all, Nigeria’s population is not as high as that of some other countries whose nationals are being served without complaints.

Nigerians should be circumspect too. Applicants are required to be truthful in their presentations to enhance the success chances of their applications. Besides emergency cases, consular officials deserve enough processing time, to avoid congestion and unnecessary pressure on them.

Respect should be reciprocal for either party – applicants and embassy officials. The elite and other citizens seeking visas should always exhibit self-respect, in deference to immigration laws.

The country must put its house in order if it wants its citizens to command respect from embassy officials, no matter how difficult a few of them may prove. It is important for government to control issuance of classified documents governed by international laws.

Additionally, Nigerian leaders at every level need to consciously address the seeming exodus of her nationals to other countries. Obviously, the desire to migrate away from the country would not be so high if internal conditions are more tolerable. Good governance is the answer. Leaders should work hard towards making life more bearable for the teeming population, failing which Nigerians will remain inclined to find solace elsewhere in the world.


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