Vreporters

Month: February 2022

  • How To Apply For U.S ‘No Interview’ Visa Renewal

    How To Apply For U.S ‘No Interview’ Visa Renewal

    Punch Newspaper

    The United States Mission has announced the expansion of its visa services to assist non-immigrant visa applicants in Nigeria who qualify to renew their visa.

    “The number of qualified applicants who can apply using the new procedures will be limited initially,” the mission said in a statement on Tuesday.

    How to apply for the no-interview visa renewal

    You may be eligible for a visa renewal without an interview if your application is for a B1/B2, F, M, J (academic only), H, L or C1/D (combined only) visa, AND you meet each of the following criteria:
    · Your previous visa was issued in Nigeria;
    · Your previous visa is in the same classification as your current application;
    · Your previous visa was a full validity, multiple entry visa;
    · Your previous visa expired within the last 24 months or will expire in the next 3 months from the date of application;
    · You have all your passports covering the entire period since receiving the previous visa and the passport with the most recent visa;
    · You have never been arrested or convicted of any crime or offense in the United States, even if you later received a waiver or pardon; and
    · You have never worked without authorization or remained beyond your permitted time in the United States.

    To start application
    If you are qualified based on the above criteria, visit the official portal to start your application.

    Please note that processing times for the program are expected to be up to two months and you will not be able to retrieve your passport during that time.

    Each applicant must individually meet the criteria; minors can apply without an interview only if they meet the eligibility criteria on their own.

    Emergency Appointments
    If you have a life-or-death emergency, you may request an expedited, in-person interview, however, to accommodate No-Interview Visa Renewals, appointments will be very limited.


    Business travel, conferences, weddings, and graduations are not considered emergencies. If you have an emergency and need to travel immediately, please follow the guidance provided at the official website or +234-1-227-8955 to request an emergency appointment.

    Special Note
    Third parties unaffiliated with U.S. Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos may seek to take advantage of various visa services to target visa applicants with fraudulent offers or claims.

    Applicants should fill out their own forms and make their appointments themselves via the official websites.


    As future opportunities for Interview Waiver appointments become available, they will be communicated via the website.

  • ASUU Strike Won’t Affect Academic Calendar, OAU Assures Students, Parents

    Authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile Ife, have revealed that the industrial action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, won’t affect the academic calendar of the institution.

    Recall that the local chapter of ASUU declared an indefinite strike following the non-payment of Earned Academic Allowance to its members on Monday.

    The lecturers complained that all political and diplomatic means to resolve the imbroglio failed.

    Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, OAU’s spokesperson, Abiodun Olarewaju, in a statement said efforts are made to ensure that the strike won’t affect academic activities .

    The statement read, “The attention of the Management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, has been drawn to a circular issued by a section of the academic staff, ASUU, calling on its members to go on strike, beginning from Monday, 31st January 2022.

    “The University Management is using this medium to inform the general public, particularly our students, their parents or guardians, that overwhelming majority of the academic staff in OAU are not on strike neither do they have the intention of going on any strike action. In actual fact, lectures are ongoing and students are being attended to by lecturers in their respective departments.

    “In view of this, parents, guardians, alumni, and friends of the University are assured of uninterrupted academic calendar, as our students are advised to go about their normal academic activities because there is no cause for concern or alarm.

    “In addition, the University Management wishes to appreciate the majority of our lecturers who have the interest of the students at heart, and have been teaching and attending to students.”

  • U.S. Embassy Begins Visa Interview Waiver For Nigerian Applicants

    The United States Embassy in Nigeria announced plan to assist qualified nonimmigrant visa applicants.

    It stated that it commenced a visa interview waiver programme with the pilot project commencing at the US Consulate in Lagos for applicants.

    Speaking during a press conference on Tuesday at the US Consulate in Lagos, the US Mission Country Consular Coordinator, Susan Tuller, noted that the project was no-interview visa renewals.

    Tuller stated that it would be limited initially and applied only to applicants for academic exchange, work, study and tourist visas seeking renewal.

    According to her, every eligible applicant must have a previous visa that expired within the last 24 months or will expire in the next three months from the date of application.

    She stated, “This is not a non-immigrant visa interview waiver process known as the ‘dropbox.’

    The new application procedure will begin in February at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos and will be extended shortly thereafter to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja. The number of qualified applicants who can apply using the new procedures will be limited initially.

    Applicants who meet the criteria may apply in Lagos until the service is extended to Abuja. ”
    She said the ‘drop box’ system didn’t achieve its intended goals because it was fraught with “fraud, high overstay rates” whereas the consular unit aimed at strengthening “border security, productivity and customer service.”
    On Tuesday, May 14, 2019, the embassy indefinitely suspended interview waivers for renewals, otherwise known as the ‘Dropbox’ process.

    It insisted then that applicants in Nigeria seeking a non-immigrant visa to the US must apply online and would be required to appear in person at the US Embassy in Abuja or US Consulate General in Lagos to submit their application for review.
    In March 2021 when reports were rife that the suspension had been lifted, the embassy faulted the news, adding that the suspension stood.

  • WAEC Releases Withheld WASSCE Results, Cancels Results of Candidates Caught Cheating

    The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has announced the immediate release of withheld results of West African Senior School Certificate Examination 2020 and 2021 candidates.

    In a communique at the end of the 72nd meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee, WAEC said only results of candidates exonerated of exam malpractices are released.

    The examination body also authorised the cancellation of results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases.

    Part of the communique signed by WAEC’s Acting Head, Moyosola Adeyegbe, on behalf of Head of National Office read in part, “At the 72nd Meeting, the Committee received reports on irregularity, special and clemency cases arising from the conduct of WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2020 – Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021- First Series earlier considered at the 71st Meeting of the Committee.

    “In the course of considering the various reported cases of malpractice, the committee, after diligent deliberations, approved appropriate sanctions in all established cases of malpractice, as prescribed by the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the Council’s examinations.

    “It authorised that the entire results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Entire Results be cancelled, while subject results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Subject Results (CSR) be similarly cancelled.

    “Furthermore, some candidates will also suffer other sanctions such as being barred from sitting for the Council’s examinations for two years. Some schools will be de-recognised for a specified number of years or have their recognition completely withdrawn.

    “Some Supervisors that were found wanting in the discharge of their examination duties will be formally reported to their employers and blacklisted while some invigilators will also be reported to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary action.

    “The resolutions of the Committee will be implemented without delay and the affected candidates and schools duly informed by the council. However, the results of candidates who were exonerated by the Committee will be released without further delay.”

  • AFCON: Refree Who Blew Against Mali Narrates Horrible Experience on Pitch

    AFCON: Refree Who Blew Against Mali Narrates Horrible Experience on Pitch

    The referee who blew for full-time early in an Africa Cup of Nations match claims he could have died of heatstroke.


    Zambian Janny Sikazwe ended Tunisia’s game against Mali 13 seconds before the 90 minutes were up, having previously blown for full-time five minutes early, before checking the timing and restarting the game.

    “I have seen people going for duties outside the country and come back in a casket,” he said.

    “I was very close to coming back like that.
    “I was lucky I didn’t go into a coma. It would have been a very different story.

    “The doctors told me my body was not cooling down. It would have been just a little time before [I would have gone] into a coma, and that would have been the end.

    The Group F match in Limbe on Wednesday, 12 January concluded in controversy as coaching staff from Tunisia, who were trailing 1-0 and playing against 10 men, ran onto the pitch to confront Sikazwe and his assistants about the early finish.

    However, Sikazwe stood by his decision and needed security staff to escort him off the pitch.


    Speaking to Zambian media on his arrival back in the country, Sikazwe said the impact of the weather in Limbe was the reason for his erratic performance in the second half.

    “The weather was so hot, and the humidity was about 85 per cent,” he said.

    “After the warm-up I felt the [conditions] were something else. We were trying to drink water but you could not feel the water quenching you – nothing.

    “But we [match officials] believe we are soldiers and we go and fight.

    “Everything I was putting on was hot. Even the communication equipment, I wanted to throw it away. It was so hot.”

    The second half saw several stoppages including two video assistant referee (VAR) reviews, a drinks break and five windows for substitutions, and at least five minutes of injury time would have been expected to have been added on.

    However, Sikazwe said he was not able to communicate with the rest of his officiating team.

    “I started getting confused. I could not hear anybody,” he said.

  • OAU Management Moves To Stop Strike, Summons All Academic Staff

    OAU Management Moves To Stop Strike, Summons All Academic Staff

    Following the declaration of indefinite strike by members of Academic Staff Union of university,ASUU, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU chapter, the management of the institution has summoned the all the academic staff of ASUU to a meeting billed to hold today, Tuesday to resolve the lingering issues.

    Recall that, ASUU at an emergency meeting yesterday, Monday announced the commencement of a “total and comprehensive strike” due to the non-disbursement of its members’ share of the earned academic allowance (EAA).

    The union accused the university’s vice-chancellor, Eyitope Ogunbodede, a professor, of “unnecessarily delaying the payment;” an allegation he has vehemently denied.

    Reacting to the development, the management heaped the the disagreement between ASUU leadership and that of its factional group- Congress of Nigerian Universities’ Academics (CONUA), over the modalities to be deployed in sharing the fund for the members.


    The management in an internal memorandum issued on Monday signed by an acting director in the office of the vice-chancellor, Isaac Adejuwon, noted that the meeting between the vice-chancellor and all the academic staff of the institution would hold at the Oduduwa Hall on the campus by 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

    The memorandum, which states the meeting’s agenda as the disbursement of earned academic allowance, further read in part: “I write, at the instance of the Vice-Chancellor, to invite all academic members of staff of the university to an emergency meeting with the university management holding on Tuesday, 1st February, 2022.”

    ASUU had ,on Saturday, in a memorandum , titled “Update on disbursement of EAA” told its members that the union has received a nod from the national body to embark on the strike.

    Parts of the statement read: “The Comrade National President and Zonal Coordinator had been communicated. The President has given the permission to the branch to hold a congress to conclude and begin the action we asked for. The President will be awaiting the resolution of the congress as soon as we rise from the meeting. Comrades, notice of congress shall be out very soon. Let us remain resolute and strong.