The UK issued some 132,000 visas to Nigerians in the first half of the year, said Jonny Baxter, Britain’s deputy high commissioner in Lagos. Nigerian News Agency (YAYA).
He revealed the figure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday.
Baxter, however, was unable to provide the total number of applications received from Nigerians during the period.
“In the first half of the year we granted approximately 132,000 visas, and they are of all kinds, including visit, work and study visas.
“In the previous year, we issued around 324,000. That year, the UK issued around three million visas, and of those three million visas, 324,000 were issued to Nigerians, representing around 10 per cent.
“If you think about the population of Nigeria, relative to the world, there is actually a higher proportion of Nigerians applying for those visas and coming to the UK, which I think is a good thing.
“The UK has a large number of Nigerian students in the country and in terms of foreign students in the UK, Nigeria is second only to India.
“We welcome and value the many Nigerians who come to the UK to study or settle, as long as they arrive via legal routes, and it is important that the country’s rules are followed and respected,” he said.
Baxter reiterated that the change in the rules for students bringing dependents was a necessity based on an international challenge.
“In 2019, Nigerian students traveling to the UK brought 1,500 dependents. By 2022/2023, that number had risen to 52,000 dependents; that’s a massive increase.
“Nigeria is not a unique case, as has been the case with many other countries, and in fact, this change in dependent persons is an international challenge.
“It is not surprising that a country, Great Britain in this case, that is faced with that kind of change in the number of people coming into the country, wants to review the policy and wants to change and amend its policy.
“It’s definitely not about saying we don’t want students to come; We definitely want students to keep coming back, and the new policy would go into effect in January 2024.”
He explained that the UK government regularly reviews visa fees and noted that increases are taken when it becomes a necessity.
“What the UK government has decided to do is review the fees all the time and they have decided that because of the cost of processing visas, the costs that people applying for visas have to pay should also increase.
“The other thing that I think is probably not often recognized is that for some of the people who go to the UK and are in limited circumstances, they will access services when they are in the UK, and those services cost money. .
“So some of the money that comes from the fees in the visa process will be to pay for those services that, in certain circumstances, some people may need to access when they are there. So to me, that’s a completely justifiable thing.
“But I fully understand that it’s important for us to explain it so that people understand the reasons for the increase,” he said.
He advised the public to always apply for a visa well in advance of their scheduled trips, noting that there are processes and deadlines for the granting of visas.
(YAYA)