United Kingdom resumes visitors visa processing for Nigerians

The British High Commission has started issuing visitor’s visas to citizens of countries previously on the United Kingdom red list, including Nigeria, Top Naija reports.

The UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) announced this in a statement on Wednesday, December 15, 2021.

“From 4:00 am on 15th December, all countries currently on the red list will be removed. In line with the lifting of red list restrictions, UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) will lift the pause on processing visitor visas in all countries previously on the red list,” the statement reads.

The UK government had on December 6 in a statement, announced the suspension of visitor visa applications from all red list countries.

It had said, “To support the UK Government’s aim to protect public health from COVID-19 and associated variants of concern (VOC), UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) will pause making decisions on visitor visa applications in all red list countries, including Nigeria until travel restrictions are lifted.”

“Visit visas cover travel to the UK for tourism, visiting family and friends, undertaking short-term business activities (for example, attending meetings), undertaking short-term studies (under 6 months), taking part in research or exchange programmes as an academic, medical reasons (for example, receiving private medical treatment).

The UK visitor visa which is also known as the Standard Visitor Visa is a UK short stay visa that allows its holder to stay in the UK for up to 6 months. However, the embassy has the right to issue visas for a shorter period of time.