Visa Overstay: US suspends use of Dropbox in Nigeria
The American embassy in Nigeria has suspended the use of Dropbox by applicants seeking to acquire visa to the United States.
The embassy said through a circular today that by this suspension, “Applicants are to appear at the location they specified when applying for the visa renewal.”
The suspension of the waiver Drop Box application process takes effect from today (May 14th, 2019), according to the circular, demanding that “all applicants are required to schedule regular appointments until further notice.”
The noticed stated that applicants that have previously applied via the Drop Box (waiver) and are unable to schedule with their MRV receipt number should contact the embassy’s call center by email with attached copy of MRV receipt and passport data page.
It also added that “Those who have already submitted their passports via ‘Dropbox’ to DHL for processing either at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, or the Consulate General in Lagos, will not be impacted by this change.”
TW gathered that the suspension of the Drop box waiver may be a ripple effect connected with the directive issued by President Donald Trump to Homeland Security to sanction countries that have overstay rate in the United States.
Trump had issued a presidential memo recently, declaring that visa overstay rates are “unacceptably high,” calling it a “widespread problem.”
He had instructed federal agencies to consider action against countries that have business and tourism travelers – using the popular B1 and B2 visas – overstay at a rate higher than 10%, based on a new Homeland Security report.
Twenty countries have overstay rates higher than 10%, according to the Homeland Security report. Except for Syria and Nigeria, these countries accounted for fewer than 1,000 overstayers each.
Trump gave the State Department four months to consult with Homeland Security officials and Attorney General William Barr to recommend sanctions, which he said could include suspending or limiting visas for those countries.
What is not clear is why Nigeria is now a target, given the fact that the country has lower overstay rate compared to other African countries.
