US to Prioritise Student Visa Applicants

The United States Mission has said it will prioritize student visa applicants and ensure Nigerian students resuming this Fall get visa interview appointments well in advance of their program start date.

In a statement on Friday US Mission Country Consular Coordinator Susan Tuller said the Embassy in Abuja and Consulate General in Lagos would make every effort to assist student visa applicants in a timely fashion while keeping personnel and customers safe.

“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,” Country Consular Coordinator Tuller said.

She added: “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.”

Warning applicants against the use of third-party services, including touts, and fixers who broker visa appointments, Tuller said all student visa appointments must be booked through the U.S. Travel Docs website at www.ustraveldocs.com/ng/.

According to her, 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. 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,” she added.

The statement further noted that Nigeria sends more students to American colleges and universities than any other country in Africa and is the eleventh largest source worldwide of international students to the United States.

It added that in academic year 2019-2020, a record-breaking number of nearly 14,000 Nigerians pursued graduate and undergraduate degrees in the United States.

Noting that over the last 21 years, the EducationUSA Advising Centers in Nigeria have directly contributed to an increase in the number of highly qualified Nigerian applicants to U.S. institutions, it said in 2020, advisees of EducationUSA services received scholarships worth $28 million.