US applies more stringent rules for Nigeria visa applicants

America Independence

US applies more stringent rules for Nigeria visa applicants

America Independence
Nigeria and United States flags

The United States Department of State has enforced more stringent rules for visa applicants from Nigeria, reinforcing its earlier visa restriction of single entry for Nigerians.

This time, the US has mandated that every Nigerian visa applicant provide a five-year social media history as part of the requirements for them to be considered eligible for visa.

In an X update on Monday, the US Mission in Nigeria said applicants who fail to disclose their five-year social media history risked visa denial.

The Mission wrote: “Visa applicants are required to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last 5 years on the DS-160 visa application form.

“Applicants certify that the information in their visa application is true and correct before they sign and submit.

“Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas,” the statement read.

This has added to a trove of visa restriction rules for Nigerians and other nationalities by the Donald Trump administration.

In July, the US limited non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria to a single-entry with a three-month validity period.

The Mission said the move was in tandem with the Trump administration’s reciprocal non-immigrant visa policy, which affected  several countries, including Nigeria.

Nigeria authorities had assured citizens that they were working on the situation to convince the US to rescind the decision.