Mr. David Greene, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, revealed that the embassy has conducted interviews with more than 150,000 Nigerians, with an additional 30,000 interviews specifically for students this year. Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Greene emphasized the embassy’s efforts to address the significant backlog caused by COVID-19.
He highlighted the progress made, including the introduction of a five-year term for U.S. visas instituted in March. While acknowledging challenges related to visas, Greene assured visa applicants that the mission is committed to resolving such issues. He encouraged individuals planning to travel to the U.S. to apply early and ensure that their visa requests are associated with specific events.
Greene underscored the embassy’s dedication to overcoming challenges and expressed optimism that visa-related issues would soon be a thing of the past. He emphasized the importance of early applications and aligning visa requests with planned events, acknowledging the existing backlog and assuring that efforts are being made to accommodate those in need of U.S. visas.
He said, “What folks do not know is that this year we have interviewed more than 150,000 people.
“This is in addition to 30,000 students. Hundreds of thousands of students have had the opportunity to seek visas from the U.S. We are doing the best we can to get proper ways for all the categories after having an enormous backlog as a result of COVID-19, and all that.”
“We have made great progress though. In March we instituted a five-year term for visas to the U.S.,” he added.
“Folks that are seeking visas should apply early, make sure that the plan is for an event as they can. This is because we do acknowledge that there is a backlog and we will do what we can to make sure people that need a warrant visa to the U.S., can get them,” he said.
Ada Peter
