The Nigeria Immigration Service has announced that visa applicants in the United States will now submit their applications directly to Nigerian diplomatic missions following the immediate disengagement of Online Integrated Solutions Services from the country’s visa application process.
The directive, which takes immediate effect, means prospective travellers and Nigerians resident in the United States seeking visas to enter Nigeria will no longer process their applications through OIS Services.
In a public notice issued on Thursday and signed by the Service Public Relations Officer, DCI Akinsola Akinlabi, the NIS instructed applicants to submit visa requests directly to the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C., or the Nigerian Consulates in New York and Atlanta pending further directives.
The Service stated that OIS Services, which previously managed Nigeria’s Visa Application and Submission Centres in the United States, had officially ceased collecting and submitting visa applications on behalf of Nigerian missions.
It, however, assured applicants that necessary arrangements had been put in place at the embassy and consulates to ensure uninterrupted submission, processing and issuance of visas despite the transition.
The NIS also urged prospective applicants to rely on its official communication channels and those of Nigerian diplomatic missions in the United States for updates on visa application procedures.
The Consulate General of Nigeria in New York similarly confirmed the development on its official platform, notifying visa applicants that OIS Services had stopped handling visa submissions on its behalf.
Before the termination of the arrangement, OIS Services coordinated Nigeria’s outsourced visa application process in several US cities, including Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New Jersey, where it handled biometric enrolment and document submission for applicants.
Neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor Nigerian diplomatic missions in the United States disclosed the reason for ending the partnership with OIS Services.
