The search for greener pastures in foreign countries is not
an easy one, many Nigerians have passed through unpleasant experinces in search
of visas to travel to either the United Kingdom or America. Blessing Ukemena
and Kehinde Ajobiewe writes;
The desire to go abroad is quite high among Nigerians. It is
looked on as a thing of pride to be able to go to other counties of the world
especially the United States and the United Kingdom. Reasons for going abroad
vary from holiday purposes, to educational, career or even medical purposes.
Each year foreign embassies are flooded with visa applications to travel, many
of which are turned down but this rejection does not deter Nigerians. Many of
them go through very unpleasant experiences just to go abroad, some have even
been known to travel by land through many countries just to get out of the
country. There are however, a few lucky ones who get their visas easily.
According to Miss Juliet Amunta, she had applied for a six
months visa to the UK and within three weeks she had gotten it. “I believed
that it is those who do not have genuine reasons to go abroad that have it
difficult to get a UK visa. I was given an invitation for a conference from a
foreign organisation who had to send me their invitation with their company
letter-head. I showed all the necessary documents, paid my visa fee and when it
was ready, I was asked to come and collect it. It took me about three weeks”.
James Isaiah is a business man who travels frequently to the
United States and the UK. He stated that it took him just about three weeks to
get the UK visa but that for some people, it takes a longer time. “If your
documents are incomplete or the officer in charge is not convinced on why you
are going abroad then you will not be granted a visa. In the past, certain
middle men would go and get interview dates from the embassy but end up selling
their dates for a higher price. Now, it is no more like that because a lot of
things have been changed in the processing,” he noted.
Others are not so lucky; Mike Ugochukwu who resides in Kano
had a very bad experience. He told his story to LEADERSHIP Sunday that “I was
desperate to go abroad; so, I sold all I had in 2010 and had to go through hell
applying for the visa and getting an appointment. At the end, I was not given a
visa so I decided to go by land. We started from Benin, to Libya, then to
Egypt. We finally got to Italy after much hassles. We were three who embarked
on the journey and when we landed in Italy celebrating the victory of finally
getting to Europe, the next day, the police raided and deported my friends and
I back to Nigeria. I had to start from the scratch with nothing. It was not
easy for me at all to survive even till now.
Narrating his experience at the United States’ embassy, one
Mr Jerry Ukogwu told LEADERSHIP Sunday that he had applied for the US visa
three times and was denied on all the occasions. According to him, “I have
appeared three times for the interview and still I have not gotten the visa. I
have all my documents, the purpose of my trip is stated, I have a letter of
support from foreign affairs ministry, I have a letter of introduction from my
office. The school I’m going to over there has sent the evidence of payment of
fees, the evidence of payment of service fee is there, I even went ahead to pay
for my flight. So, there are evidences that I’m going there to return. Nobody
can predict the embassy, it’s at the discretion of the consular who interviews
you to determine whether you qualify for a non-immigrant visa or not.”
Speaking further on the procedures for application, Jerry
said what is needed is to fill the form online based on the type of visa you
want, adding that the non-immigrant is the common visa that most people often
apply for. And once the form has been filled and submitted, the applicant must
book for an appointment after paying the usual US visa processing fee of N26,
400.
“I don’t know why it is sometimes difficult to obtain a US
visa, but I think they have their reasons. They assess people based on your
purpose for the trip and most likely they want to see why you are going there
and they want to be sure that you have a strong tie with your country in terms
of professional job, a family you can come back to when you go there and you
must have sufficient fund in your account that can keep you when you are away,”
he added.
A young man who does not want his name in print said that
since he has been applying for the UK Visa, he had never been denied, adding
that his friend was recently denied visa on the ground that she does not have
enough commitment in Nigeria.
“The last time I applied for the visa was not my first
attempt and I have never been denied, maybe I’m among the lucky ones. But I
have a friend that was just denied and according to her, the excuse they gave
was that she does not have enough commitment in Nigeria because she is not
married. I see no reason why they denied that my friend, it’s not her first
time and it’s not like she did not have enough money to go and spend over
there.”
Also describing the process one has to go through to obtain
a UK Visa, he said, the application is electronic; it’s basically just to fill
an online form. “I think the only part they can improve upon is the submission
because after you fill the online form, you have to take it to a VFS centre and
submit and for me, the time taken to submit is usually too long. Like my last
experience took me almost three hours to submit. I see no reason why it should
take that long to submit. After submission, I waited for three weeks due to the
category I applied for and then get your passport back.”
However, unlike the US visa application, no formal interview
is required for the UK’s except where the person is required to be present for
some clarifications.
If people put in the same effort to go to heaven the way
they put it in to travel out, God will be happy with our land.
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