gantic:


Tons of countries started contracting their visa services over a decade ago (guess UK started with VFS in india). In Nigeria - UK, all EU countries, Canada, Australia, South Africa etc etc all use visa agencies.

Reading through the posts and seeing the number of comments berating Nigeria for doing this as an isolated evil finally convince me that online commenters in Nigeria are generally ignorant and criticise because "we should always criticise Nigeria" not because the chain of thot is logical.

Oga the thing tire me most NLs are ignorant of simple facts yet ran amok thinking they know it all. I pity the future of this country

Just because other countries are doing it doesn't mean that it's the right thing for us.

With our rife unemployment, this could be an excellent opportunity to give employment to Nigerians.

Having a picture on the visa makes sense to me.

OP, you made some valid points except the interview part. The nearest Nigerian embassy to me in Los Angeles is Atlanta and not convenient.

Thanks OP.

Amoto94:
Oga the thing tire me most NLs are ignorant of simple facts yet ran amok thinking they know it all. I pity the future of this country

It's pathetic, everyone seems to know it all yet don't know shit. I applied for Turkish visa with US passport, I paid $20 and printed it instantly online myself. People wey neva go anywhere go dey form World traveler.

yhemster:

@OP, please next time do a proper research b4 making negative comment abt Nigeria.
**You claimed you've not heard of other countries that contract the visa application. Well, I ask you the simple question.... how many visa applications to other countries have you done? The simple truth is, lots of countries contract their visa/passport applications.
**You also claimed ur visa doesn't carry ur pic. I'll ask again how many visa applications to other countries have you done? Lots of countries issue visa without interview and applicant's pic.
I know lots of issues are wrong with our country, but don't use the excuse to criticise everything in the country.
God bless Nigeria.

Thank you very much Sir!
You just said my mind.
There are many things wrong with this country but the diatribe the OP just spewed is arrant nonsense.

That is corruption for you at the highest level.

EgunMogaji:
Just because other countries are doing it doesn't mean that it's the right thing for us.

With our rife unemployment, this could be an excellent opportunity to give employment to Nigerians.

Having a picture on the visa makes sense to me.

OP, you made some valid points except the interview part. The nearest Nigerian embassy to me in Los Angeles is Atlanta and not convenient.

Thanks OP.

**The contractor handling this payment is a Nigerian company based in CT and fully staffed by Nigerians.

**Oga you can't expect Nigeria to have embassy in all states of the US. The country has 3-4 embassies around the US, in my opinion they don try. You choose to live in LA biko, go ask the Nigerians in Canada where the only embassy is in Ottawa.

gantic:


Tons of countries started contracting their visa services over a decade ago (guess UK started with VFS in india). In Nigeria - UK, all EU countries, Canada, Australia, South Africa etc etc all use visa agencies.

Reading through the posts and seeing the number of comments berating Nigeria for doing this as an isolated evil finally convince me that online commenters in Nigeria are generally ignorant and criticise because "we should always criticise Nigeria" not because the chain of thot is logical.

Great comment!

mosegifted:
HOW TO CROSS ROAD NOW IN NAIJA Look left and right for motor, keke and bike. Look up for Niger Delta Avenger's Missiles. Look down for bombs Look back for kidnappers Hold your bag tight and watch the person beside you. Then walk zig zag to avoid stray bullet. OK bye! But this is a serious issue......




(VIP)

Lol, U no go kill pesin

I hope you are coming to Nigeria with your anti malaria drugs... because the kind mosquito dey full Nigeria most especially ijebu side don graduate welcome to hell fire on earth

Locals are too prejudiced...... you most likely would not be treated fairly by a local because of status.... of tribe...religion... politics.... the foreigner most likely wouldn't know nor care about any of that. If locals are in charge.... a big boy steps in.... do you really think he will join the line?...or the local will order him to go join the line? Think about the way celebrities behave high and mighty at MMA...and how differently they behave when the flight lands abroad.

Nigeria embassy in Uk is the worst. I can't tell u my experience there. Even to get Nigeria passport in conjunction with your British passport is hell. They don't care wether you travelled afar off to London for the passport. Even the embassy website is confusing.

This OP is biased and naive... Do you know hownmany countries outsource visa applications?..smh

napoleon77:


Great comment!

All other embassy you mentioned don't charge you extra fees once you pay your application fee which is specified on their website.
Have you ever tried to apply for Nigeria passport in any of the embassy before. If not try it. For the past three months now my sister applied for Nigeria passport for herself and her son to compliment their Uk passport, they have not received it. They will refer you to their website to know the turn around.

yhemster:

**The contractor handling this payment is a Nigerian company based in CT and fully staffed by Nigerians.

**Oga you can't expect Nigeria to have embassy in all states of the US. The country has 3-4 embassies around the US, in my opinion they don try. You choose to live in LA biko, go ask the Nigerians in Canada where the only embassy is in Ottawa.

I disagreed with you. they are not fully staffed Nigerians. I have calls to the embassy on many occasions, All the people I talked to are not Nigerian. Pakistan, Indians, mostly Asians. So get your fact right.

Moyinoluwa35:
u are beautiful i swear,i almost formatted by brain cos of u ;Du are beautiful i swear,i almost formatted by brain cos of u

lol,,lwkmd,,thanks joor

nicegal76:
lol,,lwkmd,,thanks joor

ehn u heard story of couples gettin married on social media, with just sayin hi,let me stop here by sayin hi to you

INNOVATIVE SOURCE 1 is a company platforms hat collect fees on behalf of Nigeria Immigration Service aboard. they harmonized this initiative to monitor and trace visa fees collectively

This much is clear. The question the op has is, why can’t the Nigerian immigration do this themselves.
It is very a simple process; all they need do is, link their website to some back-end payment platform (The telecom companies in Nigeria have been doing this for years, where you buy credit to your phone via your bank site) and then audit the amount of visas issued against the revenue from visa fees periodically i.e. quarterly, bi-annually or annually. All the visas issued have reference numbers, so it should not be that difficult to reconcile. No, they won’t do that. They will make every simple process a draconian task in order to create loop holes for corruption.

Robber sported

Can the zoological contraption ever get anything right?

belindar:


All other embassy you mentioned don't charge you extra fees once you pay your application fee which is specified on their website.
Have you ever tried to apply for Nigeria passport in any of the embassy before. If not try it. For the past three months now my sister applied for Nigeria passport for herself and her son to compliment their Uk passport, they have not received it. They will refer you to their website to know the turn around.

I am in the UK and have applied for a Nigerian passport from London in the past. I can confirm that there has been a serious scarcity of passports at the High Commission but the initial post was about outsourcing immigration (and visa) services and like I earlier wrote many countries use a similar operating model

This is not a Nigerian thing o. Most developed countries outsource their visa application process. See how the majority of people on this thread attacked Nigeria. Shows how enlightened they're on immigration issues.

SirJeffry:
I recently secured a Nigerian visa and I was led to apply through one INNOVATE 1 SERVICES who ended up taking $20 as a processing fee after paying $160 visa fees. At the end of the day, I still paid another $30 processing fee to Nigeria embassy Washington. I'm not much worried about the fees but why establish and fund Nigeria immigration services when they can't take care of their business such as this? I've never heard or seen this practice done in other countries. I don't even want to talk about the shabby Nigeria visa with no passport photograph included, no visa interview, unlike other countries who grill intending travelers at interviews.

Any immigration officer here to clarify these?

At OP, if I read you correctly, you're in the United States and you're talking about a third party payment and contractor... I am really disappointed in you. If truly you've travelled like you claimed, you will know it's nothing new. Atleast you've filed taxes in the US , let's assumes you always get a tax refund and you have never owed any back taxes to irs, I am sure you have friend who has at one time or the other owed Irs, ..IRS in the United States doesn't process your payment money, it has to go through a third party which will attract a processing fee of atleast $107 (as at this year 2016 tax that's the least filling fee which comes out of your bank acct). Sometimes I come here to read some wannabe who always use Nigeria to gain some cheap publicity... This procedure happens virtually in all countries... when you're paying with visa or MasterCard for visa processing you don't complain or is mastercard a US government entity? .


Smh.


Pardon my sentence construction.. I am just angry at how people see Nigeria as the worse country ever.

TBut I heard that Nigeria visa is hard to get

IpobExposed:
Biafra must fail stupid people

Your mates are thinking of ways to build the next big thing, you are here CEO biafra

owenseddies:
TBut I heard that Nigeria visa is hard to get

Hard, make I hear.
Money for hand, back for ground

banmee:


Don't take my word for it. Just go and see it for yourself.

Its the same everywhere. My sister almost went crazy trying to get her passport renewed. WTF. we see the stories here nah. Some Nigerians in Senegal were so disgusted they wrecked the embassy

yhemster:

**The contractor handling this payment is a Nigerian company based in CT and fully staffed by Nigerians.

**Oga you can't expect Nigeria to have embassy in all states of the US. The country has 3-4 embassies around the US, in my opinion they don try. You choose to live in LA biko, go ask the Nigerians in Canada where the only embassy is in Ottawa.

1) Nigerians in Nigeria are the ones that I'm concerned about when I think of unemployment.

2) Where did I ask Nigeria to have an embassy in all states of the US?

3) I'll pass on interviewing Nigerians in Canada, they are not in my demographics.

I'm not your Biko and where I choose to live is my prerogative.

It happened to me, it a SHAME that the Nigerian Government would allow INDIANS to transact government business with Nigerians.
Why cant the Nigerian Government seek advice from the US Embassy to know how they run their business? I am sure the US Embassy would be glad to render such assistance.

Another absurd thing is you are asked to come with 2 passport photographs. You make every effort to make sure you are looking good to take the passports, but when you take it to the embassy, they retake you with a very stupid Grey colored background. I cannot even see my face in the passport.

The International Passports done in Nigeria is better than the ones done in the USA. When I did my passport in Nigeria in the year 2000, the passport background was white. My face was well lit and you could tell every feature of my face but the one they do in the USA, it's like NEPA took light and the passport guys cannot even use Adobe Lightroom to expose the picture.

Nigeria is such a SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

babyfaceafrica:
This OP is biased and naive... Do you know hownmany countries outsource visa applications?..smh

I am not sure this is about bias... It is the way the system runs that is disturbing and wrong.

I paid close to £250 for a visa to go to Nigeria; in fact those in the US have reduced rate on multiple visas and cost less than UK.

$160 plus $20+ fees, plus £20 postal order and £70 to Nja immigration, £72 to OIS (or Innovative...) and then postal fees etc

It was just too expensive but I got it quickly than applying for a Nja passport. That took me more than 3 months in Nja to get it...

Worst still - I found out that the bastard immigration only stamped 1 month on my passport; whereas I paid for 6 months VISA.

Outsourcing is not the issue here but a failed country.