The US Mission in Nigeria announced on Friday that its decision to reduce visa validity for Nigerians was not a consequence of any recent action by the Nigerian government.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, the US embassy had declared that it was cutting the visa validity period for non-immigrant Nigerian applicants from five years down to three months. Although the embassy initially cited “reciprocity” as the reason for its action, it has now clarified that it was not a reciprocal measure. According to the embassy, the reduction is also unrelated to Nigeria’s stance on accepting deportees from Venezuela, the recent introduction of e-visa policies, or its affiliations with BRICS.
Instead, the US Mission stated that it is “a part of an ongoing global review of the use of US visas by other countries using technical and security benchmarks to safeguard US immigration systems.” The embassy conveyed on X, “We value our longstanding partnership with Nigeria and remain committed to working closely with the Nigerian public and government officials to help them meet those criteria and benchmarks, thereby ensuring safe, lawful, and mutually beneficial travel between our nations.”
Nigeria had previously criticized the US action, with officials suggesting various reasons but maintaining that the US decision was unjustified. The presidency had earlier issued a statement noting that the claim of reciprocity as the reason for the recent visa policy did not accurately reflect the reality of Nigeria’s current visa policy toward US citizens.
