By Kola Alhassan
The United Kingdom Embassy in Nigeria has temporarily suspended study, work and family visa applications in the country.
This is to prioritise applications made under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
In a statement posted on its official Twitter page on Tuesday, the embassy announced that the Ukraine Family Scheme was launched because of the crisis rocking Ukraine.
The statement was entitled: ‘Temporary suspension of priority visas for student, work and family applications’.
It reads: “As a result, UKVI has temporarily suspended priority and super-priority services for new study, work, and family applications. Customers with standard applications in study, work, and family routes may experience some delays in the processing of their application.
“We are still currently unable to offer PV for visitor applications in Nigeria. Standard visitor visa applications are currently taking an average of six weeks to process.
“Applicants will be contacted by the Visa Application Centre (VAC) when their passport is ready for collection. They should not attend the VAC until they have been invited to do so.
“Where there are extremely compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example, a medical emergency), UKVI may consider expediting specific cases. However, the bar for this is high and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
“If a request is exceptionally urgent, applicants can contact UK Visas and Immigration for help. Please note that this is a chargeable service for overseas customers. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
