United States new visa application procedure becomes opperational worldwide today. This was disclosed at a press briefing in lagos on Tuesday by the. Head of consular section at the U.S. embassy, Debra Helen.
She said the new procedure involves moving away from the current two finger-print process to 10 finger- print process. This is aimed at fully protecting and ebsuring the security of visa applicants, to aoid mistaken identity and mismatch.
The new procedure is simple, more efficient and would not waste time, she stressed, adding that the 10 finger-print process would not give those with criminal history the opportunity to attempt to secure American Visa. The consular office will not allow those with criminal history to enter the U.S, but visa applicants under the age of 14 and those above 70 years would be exempted from the 10-finger- print process.
Helen appealed to visa applcants to ensure that they follow all instructions concerning visa applications to ensure speedy processing of their appluications. She said arrengements have been concluded yo ensure the success of the new visa application procedure in Nigeria, as well as in other parts of the world.
Hellen advised applicants not to approach touts, as officials of the consular office have been deloyed to attend to the needs of visa applicants.She disclosed that on the average in four months, between 300 and 400 applicants are processed daily while during summer, about 200 applicants are processed daily. She said since the september 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York, 45,000 applicants have been processed annually for non-immigrants, 10,000 applications for immigrants request.