The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has suddenly cut ties with Online Integrated Solution (OIS Services), the contractor that has long run Nigeria’s visa application centers in the US, leaving thousands of applicants facing a process now in flux.
The disengagement was confirmed in a public notice issued Thursday by the service’s public relations officer, DCI Akinsola Akinlabi, on behalf of NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
The notice stated that OIS Services, as operator of Nigeria’s Visa Application and Submission Centers in the United States, has officially been disengaged from the collection and submission of visa applications on behalf of the Nigerian Mission, effective immediately.
The NIS specifically flagged that the decision affects prospective travelers and Nigerians residing in the United States who require visas to enter Nigeria, a population that spans business travelers, returning diaspora members, and family visitors alike.
With OIS out of the picture, the Service has moved swiftly to plug the gap. All applicants seeking Nigerian visas are now required to submit their applications directly at the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C., or at the Consulates of Nigeria in New York and Atlanta, until further notice.
The NIS was careful to frame this as a controlled handover rather than a service disruption, assuring the public that the embassy and the consulates have put adequate measures in place to ensure seamless submission, processing, and issuance of visas.
The Consulate General of Nigeria in New York moved quickly to echo the directive on its own channels, confirming to the public, including Nigerians in the Diaspora, that OIS, the operator of Nigeria’s Visa Application Centers in the United States, has discontinued the collection and submission of visa applications on behalf of the Consulate.
For now, the arrangement is being described as an interim measure. Applicants are advised to monitor the official communication channels of the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigerian Mission in the United States for updates on visa application procedures, with the service appreciating the understanding and cooperation of all applicants and remaining committed to providing efficient service delivery.
The timing of the announcement is notable. It lands against a backdrop of sweeping American visa restrictions that have reshaped how Nigerians and Africans more broadly engage with the U.S. immigration system.
Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department restructured its visa-processing footprint across Africa, cutting the number of embassies and consulates handling full visa services from nearly 50 down to just 20 designated hub cities, with Lagos retaining its place among them.
Applicants from countries without a designated hub now have to travel to one of these approved centers to complete processing, a consolidation Washington has defended as necessary to strengthen security screening while stretching thinner diplomatic resources further.
That reshuffling followed a string of tightening measures on the American side. The Department of State paused all immigrant visa issuances in January to nationals of countries, including Nigeria among them, that it says have high rates of public-assistance dependency among immigrants and separately suspended visa issuance to diversity-visa applicants entirely.
A presidential proclamation restricting entry from dozens of countries, including Nigeria, also took effect at the start of the year.
Whether the NIS’s split from OIS is a response to these shifting American conditions, a dispute over service quality, or a routine contract change has not been detailed in the notice.
What is clear is that Nigerian applicants in the U.S. now face a narrower, more centralized set of options: the Washington embassy and the New York and Atlanta consulates, at precisely the moment when the broader visa landscape for Nigerians traveling in either direction has grown markedly more restrictive.
The NIS has not indicated when, or whether, a new third-party operator will be named to replace OIS Services, leaving open the question of how the missions will absorb what was previously outsourced application volume in the interim.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The NIS has cut ties with OIS Services effective immediately. Nigerian visa applicants in the US can no longer use the outsourced application centers. Until a new provider is named, all applications must go directly to the Embassy in Washington, D.C., or the Consulates in New York and Atlanta.
This shift comes as the US is simultaneously tightening its own visa rules, making the overall process tougher on both ends. Applicants should watch official NIS and Mission channels for further updates before submitting.
