So for those Nigerians who are used to renewing their visas via drop box, where you send your Passport via mail and collect it via mail, and don’t have to do any interviews again after you’ve been given a US Visa, that has stopped under Donald Trump’s administration. Whether you’ve visited the US one million times before or not, under this new immigration policy, once your visa expires, you have to go do an interview at the embassy again. Read the report below…
In an executive order signed on (Jan. 27), US president Donald Trump instructed the State Department to immediately suspend the US’s Visa Interview Waiver Program.
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It’s an interesting action by a president who has made trade a central tenet of his policy platform, since it could, in the short term, inconvenience many frequent visitors to the US (and even dissuade them from visiting) by forcing them to have a face-to-face interview with a US consular officer every time their visa expires rather than simply dropping off their passport at a consulate.
Suspending the program could wreak havoc on US consular operations around the world that handle frequent visits from travelers seeking short term visas. The Visa Interview Waiver Program allows travelers to renew travel authorizations without an in-person interview.
The action is not expected to have any effect on the widely popular Visa Waiver Program, familiar to many by its front-line system, ESTA. That program allows nationals of 38 countries—including much of Europe—to enter the US without securing a visa at a consulate first.
A State department spokesman could not immediately confirm the precise effects of suspending this program, but said that it would announce any changes affecting travelers to the US as soon as possible.