Omicron: UK Promises To Process Student, Work Visa Applications

Despite the travel ban placed on Nigeria, the United Kingdom has said it will continue to process visa applications for persons who wish to study, work or live permanently in the country.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the UK Government had announced the suspension of the processing of visitor visa applications from Nigeria and countries placed on the travel ban.

This development came after it banned all flights from Nigeria following the three cases of the Omicron Variant detected in the country.

But on Monday, the British Government released a new update on the processing of visa applications for countries placed on a travel ban.

According to the new update, student, work and residency visa applications will be processed despite the travel restrictions.

The statement reads: “To support the UK Government’s aim to protect public health from COVID 19 and associated variants of concern (VOC), UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) have paused making decisions on visitor visa applications in all red list countries until travel restrictions are lifted.

“Applications in other categories (student/work/live permanently in the UK) will continue to be processed.

“If you have been in a red list country in the 10 days before you arrive in England, once you arrive you must quarantine for 10 full days in a managed quarantine hotel (the day you arrive in England is day 0).”

The UK also asked travellers who wants to collect their passport after they had made a visitor visa application before the travel restriction to contact the Visa Application Centre (VAC).

The statement added: “If you had already made a visit visa application before the travel restrictions in Nigeria started and wish to get your passport back whilst your visit visa application is paused, you can contact the VAC where you submitted your application and request return of your passport.

“Once you have contacted the VAC to request the return of your passport, you will need to either collect in person for free at the VAC or request a courier service for your passport to be returned to you.

“If you have yet to apply for a visit visa from a red list country and decide to go ahead with your application, when you attend your Visa Application Centre (VAC) appointment you can either: submit your passport with your application or pay the ‘keep my passport’ fee to retain your passport whilst the pause is in place.

“If you decide to submit your passport when making your application and later require it back, you will need to pay the ‘keep my passport’ fee and either collect in person at the VAC or pay for a courier service for your passport to be returned to you.”