UAE opens visa office in Lagos with a target of processing applications within six minutes

UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) immigration officials have opened a visa application and document attestation centre at the office of their Lagos consulate to help speed up the processing of travel documentation.

Dubai, the UAE province remains a favourite holiday destination for Nigerians and as a result, thousands of people flock there on a daily basis. To help ease some of the bottlenecks that have been building up the UAE has decided to expand the amount of facilities it offers at its Lagos consulate.

Yesterday, the inauguration was led by the consul-general Dr Abdulla Al Mandoos and was attended by the special adviser to the Lagos State government on sustainable development goals and investment, Solape Hammond. Other dignitaries present included the comptroller-general of immigration for Lagos State Ahmed Aliyu, the country manager of Emirates Airlines Paulos Legesse, the vice president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gbenga Ismail and Abdulla Alqahtani the head of the UAE Visa Centre.

Dr Mandoos said: “The vision to establish a visa and attestation office in the Centre of Excellence has been in the works for a while now. Lagos being the economic capital of Nigeria with over 20m in population, the centre aims to put to ease the bilateral business processes between both countries.

“The best equipment has been installed to ensure the process remains fast and convenient with a target of six minutes to complete the entire process from the walk-in. With this new development, we anticipate that the people of Lagos and neighbouring states no longer feel compelled to travel to Abuja to process visas and attest their documents as they can now achieve all that in Lagos State.”