The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria has quietly removed the drop box visa processing option for Nigerian applicants, marking a significant shift in the visa renewal process.
With the new drop box feature policy, Nigerians applying for US visas will now revert to full in-person interviews, adding to the already extended wait times for visa appointments.
This may significantly impact business travelers, students, and frequent visitors who previously relied on the drop box system for faster renewals.
Specifically, prospective visa applicants have not been able to access the platform lately, suggesting that it may have been removed as a result of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump to curtail migration to the United States (U.S.).
In 2018, during Donald Trump’s first administration, the US government removed the option, citing concerns over visa overstays by Nigerian travellers. At the time, the US mission mandated in-person interviews for all applicants, leading to longer processing times and delays in securing visa appointments.
But in August 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Department of State expanded eligibility, allowing those whose visas expired within 48 months to apply through the drop box system.
Generally, the drop box service was was initially introduced to ease the visa renewal process.
The drop box (Interview Waiver) program in Nigeria was initially introduced to ease the visa renewal process by allowing certain applicants to submit their documents without attending an in-person interview at the US Embassy or Consulate.
To qualify, applicants had to meet specific criteria, including:
- Having a prior US visa that expired within the last 24 months.
- The previous visa must have been issued in Nigeria as a full-validity, multiple-entry visa.
- Applying for the same visa classification as the prior approved visa.
- No record of overstaying, working without authorization, or having criminal convictions in the US.
With the complete removal of the drop box feature, all applicants will now have to go through in-person interviews, returning to the process that was in place before August 2020.
This policy shift may exacerbate the already extended wait times for visa appointments, which have been reported to be as long as a year.
Already, with backlog of visa applications, many applicants have been waiting months to secure drop box appointments before this removal.
- Some even reported waiting nearly a year to get a physical appointment, adding to the frustration of an already tedious process.
- This change comes at a time when many applicants had already been struggling with long wait times—some as long as a year—to secure an in-person visa appointment.
- As of January, dropbox appointment slots were unavailable in Lagos, pushing many applicants to seek alternatives in Abuja.
Written with additional reports from Nairametrics