Nigerians Groan, Protest Exorbitant US Visa Processing Fees

The United States visa applicants, especially those renewing through Drop-box processes, are lamenting extortion by a newly appointed service provider, OIS Services.

Many of the applicants at the Idowu Taylor, Lagos, office of the visa processing firm are piqued by the introduction of a submission fee of N48,000 for passport and documents and another charge of N48,000 for collection, totalling N96,000.

Some of the applicants who spoke to Aviation Metric said the alleged disorganization and lack of coordination should make the United States take a second look at the cumbersome nature of Drop-box processes or renewal for frequent travellers to the US

An applicant who spoke to our correspondent said he applied through the OIS office in Abuja but requested that his passport be picked up in Lagos at an exact date, but expressed shock when he was told that his passport had not arrived more than two weeks after he was given a date for a pick-up.

Another who spoke said there are options for payment if after two weeks the applicant fails to pick up his passport. The new visa charges have astronomically raised the US visa cost to N401,000 for BI, B2 visa, including taxes.

While the official US visa is N305,000, the taxes of N96,000 from the OIS translates to N401,000. To worsen the situation, many of them said the extra payment both for submission and collection is not expressly stated as they are not given prior notice of payment, which they said is not only outrageous but one they described as ‘extortion’.

An applicant, who simply gave his name as Charles, said: “There is massive extortion of visa applicants which is going on at the newly appointed United States Visa processing office in Victoria Island here at the OIS services.

“It is not clear if the United States Consulate is aware of these obnoxious charges or if it is authorised by the embassy. However, the activities of this newly-appointed United States Visa processing centre have to be exposed to put a stop to this massive extortion.”

In the past, US visa renewal or the Drop-box system was done through a popular logistics company without charges aside from the visa fee paid at the bank.

Aviation Metric could not reach officials of OIS for comments as the gates of the visa processing centre were heavily manned by security personnel.

A source at the United States Consulate in Lagos said he was not competent to speak on the matter.

Wole Shadare