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US STRINGENT VISA RULE FOR NIGERIANS: WE WILL RETALIATE – FG
The U.S government has mandated Nigerian visa applicants to disclose their social media
profiles and activities in the last five years, warning that failure to comply with the requirement could potentially result in visa denial.
But the Federal Government in a swift reaction, said it will reciprocate the new US visa policy with equal measures.
The US Mission in Nigeria issued the warning yesterday via a tweet on its official X handle, saying defaulters could also be denied future entry into the United States.
The Mission explained that the regulation is part of efforts by the Trump administration to “ensure national security” in the ongoing immigration tightening measures.
As part of the new rule, visa applicants are now required to provide information on their User ID, including the email address, Username, handle, and telephone number on all the platforms and applications they have used in the last five years.
Applicants who have also used more than one platform or more than one username, handle or telephone number on a single platform within the same period, are also mandated to list them in the DS-160 form.
“Visa applicants are required to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last five 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 on your application could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future U.S visas.
“Enter information associated with your online presence, including the types of online providers\platforms, applications and websites that you use to collaborate, share information and interact with others. List the username, handle, screen name and other identifiers associated with your social media profile,” the Mission said.
In a similar development, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, has started tightening citizenship rules with the introduction of a ‘Good Moral Character’ policy.
The ‘Good Moral Character’ policy, which introduces stricter guidelines for naturalisation applicants, requires immigration officers to go beyond checks of criminal records to conducting holistic evaluations of an applicant’s behaviour, societal contribution and adherence to community norms.
According to the updated USCIS notice, immigration officers are now expected to look at how someone lives day-to-day, how they contribute to their community, and whether they follow US social and legal norms, which may include volunteering or community involvement, finishing school or continuing education, holding a steady job with legal income, and paying taxes on time, among others.
US revokes 6,000 students’ visas
Meanwhile, the US State Department has revoked 6,000 student visas since Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, took office seven months ago.
According to the State Department, Rubio, to the delight of President Donald Trump’s right-wing base, has proudly moved against students using an obscure law that allowed him to rescind visas for people deemed to counter US foreign policy interests.
The Trump administration has also more broadly sought mass deportations of people in the United States illegally.
“The State Department has revoked over 6,000 student visas for overstays and law violations, the vast majority being assault, DUI, burglary and support for terrorism,” a State Department official said.
The official said about 4,000 of the visas were for violations of the law.
Though the State Department did not break down the visas by nationality, Rubio has vowed to be aggressive in targeting students from China.
The top US diplomat in March told reporters that he was revoking visas daily, saying of activist students: “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.”
He has particularly pointed to students who have protested against Israel, and accused activists of anti-Semitism, charges they deny.
The administration has faced setbacks in two of the highest-profile cases.
Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, was freed in June by a judge.
Khalil, whose son was born while he was in detention, has since sued the Trump administration, saying it sought to “terrorize” him.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University who wrote a piece in a campus newspaper critical of Israel, was freed by a judge in May pending arguments. She had been taken away off a Massachusetts street by masked plainclothes agents.
Rubio has argued that the administration has the right to issue and revoke visas without judicial review and that non-US citizens do not enjoy the US constitutional right to free speech.
We’ll reciprocate the measures — FG
Reacting to the new US visa rules, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the Ministry is aware of the development, having been informed ahead of the announcement by the US Mission in Nigeria.
He, however, said the Federal Government will carry out reciprocal action, stressing that US citizens intending to visit Nigeria will be subjected to the same measures.
“We are aware of the development. I think it’s part of the new measures they informed us before now that they will implement. Well, they mentioned those issues before.
“So, on things of this nature, the best we can do is to carry out reciprocal action. Some people from the US might want to apply for a visa, and we will adopt the same measures.
‘’I think that’s what the government might do because anything visa is reciprocal. What you are mandating our nationals to do, we will also mandate your citizens applying for our visa to do,’’ he said.
Continuing, he said the Federal Government will convene an inter-agency meeting to agree on the best way to respond to the new visa regulation.
Inter-agency meeting’ll decide our response —FG
Ebienfa said further: “The government will have an inclusive meeting that will involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and also our National Intelligence Agency, NIA.
“So, the stakeholders that are involved will have a meeting and agree on our best way to respond to it holistically.”
Recall that yesterday’s announcement followed a series of travel restrictions and visa curbs affecting Nigerians by the US recently, as part of an ongoing immigration crackdown under President Trump’s administration aimed at reducing even legal migration.
Only recently, the US limited most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria to single-entry visas with a three-month validity period, citing reciprocity policy and visa overstay as major concerns.
The Mission had, in a statement, emphasised that the move was part of the US Department of State’s global visa reciprocity process, which the embassy described as “a continuous process and is subject to review and change at any time, such as increasing or decreasing permitted entries and duration of validity.”
It explained the rationale behind the policy update, noting that “US visa criteria and standards are designed to protect the integrity of US immigration systems.”
The US government had since taken other measures to restrict visa to Nigerians, including threatening visa denial and permanent re-entry denial for visa overstay.
