US Embassy may restore drop box visa renewal in Nigeria

By Samuel Adegoke

The United States Embassy in Nigeria is considering lifting suspension on the drop box visa renewal for Nigerians.

Newspeakonline gathered from reliable sources that the embassy has already reached an advanced stage in the consideration of drop box renewal service as of January 25, 2022.

A drop box visa renewal service is a system that allows visa applicants to have their non-immigrant visa renewed by submitting their passports to designated centres after filling the DS-160 form. Only those whose visas expired within 12 months to the time of application are qualified for drop box renewal system.

With this system, applicants will not need to appear for physical interview either at its Abuja or Lagos consulate. The visa is renewed and sent back to the applicant through courier companies.

Drop box system was suspended by the embassy in 2019.

But the embassy has opened discussions on it again in view of the extreme difficulty being faced by Nigerians who want to renew their non-immigrant visa.

Thousands of applicants have been facing renewal woes as appointment dates have become very scarce due to large number of applications for fresh visa issuance and renewal.

The situation has been complicated by COVID-19 pandemic, whose protocols disallow crowd gathering either at public places.

But the sources said the embassy may soon announce commencement of drop box visa renewal system again in Nigeria.