The United Kingdom has temporarily suspended its Flexi Appointment service, aka the walk-in service, for visa applicants in Nigeria.
The service allows the submission of applications during the opening hours of the visa application centre (VAC) or before and after the applicant’s scheduled appointment date.
The UK said the decision to suspend the service is for the safety of customers.
The statement reads: “To protect the safety of customers waiting outside of our Visa Application Centres, the Flexi Appointment (walk-in) service has been temporarily suspended. You will not be able to book one of these appointments online or by turning up at the VAC.
“If you have already paid for this service (before 10 January) then you can still benefit from this.
“Visa customers who turn up at the VAC significantly before their appointment will be asked to leave and return at the correct date and time.
“Where there are extremely compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example, medical emergency), UKVI may consider expediting specific cases.
“If you have not yet been contacted by TLS, this means your application is still being processed by the UKVI team and the VAC will not be able to assist you.
“The staff in the VACs are not involved in the processing of UK visa decisions and are unable to provide updates on your application.”
The UK added that it was working on scheduling more appointments in order to address a large number of applications on student visas.
“We are aware that large numbers of prospective students are queuing outside of the Visa Application Centre (VAC) to try and secure a visa appointment,” the statement reads.
