Nigerians seeking to travel to South Africa have a new hurdle to surmount. They have to be physically present to secure an appointment date, which can be anywhere from one week, before they can submit their visa application, BusinessDay has learnt.
The rule introduced last week without prior notification to intending applicants, according to one senior official at the Lagos office of VFS Global, an outsourcing service for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, is to deal with the huge volumes of applications for South African visa from Nigeria.
However, many applicants expressed frustration with the sudden imposition of the rule, saying they were not given prior notice which could have helped in planning their visa applications. One applicant said her business trip to South Africa had been ruined as she was banking on six working days required to process the application, but now it would take 12 working days.
“I came all the way from Ikorodu only to get one week appointment date,” complained Chinedu Okezie, a visa applicant. “They should place a notice on their website to inform people or make it possible to book appointments online. Why do we have to be physically present to get an appointment?”
Some applicants were issued appointment dates so close to their intended travel date that it seems almost impossible for their visas to be ready at the proposed time of their travel. It takes anywhere between three weeks and a month to be issued a visa to South Africa, even though VFS Global claims it takes six working days. In addition, VFS Global has abolished cash payments for visa processing at its office.
“There is nothing I can do about it,” said a VFS Global Nigerian staff attending to a prospective applicant who complained that his appointment date was only days to his intended travel date. “Perhaps you can contact the event organisers in South Africa; there is nothing we can do from here.”
But this is not really of any help because the event organisers are given the email address of VFS Global to correspond with the South African Embassy. Even when applicants visit the embassy to make their case, they are directed to the VFS Global which tells them it has no power to intervene.
Visa application process for Nigerians, a country with Africa’s largest population and with the most number of poor people in the world, continues to get tougher every year. Last year, many applicants missed important appointments waiting for visas from South Africa and this year, the United States Embassy has abolished the use of the Drop-Box, a process that eases application.
Travelling to South Africa has particularly proven challenging in recent times due to the imposition of administrative rules that seem designed to cut down on applications from Nigeria. Even when visas are issued, oftentimes they are only for the number of days applicants plan to spend in the country. One Nigerian journalist required four visas to visit the country on official assignments within three months last year.
This has led to the accusation that the South African Embassy and VFS Global are profiteering from the visa application process. The cost of obtaining a South African Visa is N7,071 but VFS Global demands from Nigerians N25,200 as service charge, creating a weird situation where the service charge is more expensive than the service.
Meanwhile, some embassy officials who didn’t want to be identified said some Nigerians complicate the process for others by overstaying their visas and lying on their applications. This fuels distrust and further adds scrutiny to applications from Nigeria. They also said the Nigerian Embassy in South Africa also has similar poor administrative processes.
Generally across Africa, it is difficult to get travel visas within the continent. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, once said that he needed over 30 visas to visit countries where he has his investments. It is even easier to get visas into European countries than in most African countries.
ISAAC ANYAOGU
