From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

The United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has temporarily suspended priority visas for students, work and family applications.

It, however, said in extremely compassionate or compelling circumstances, such as in medical emergency, it may consider expediting specific cases.

This was disclosed by the British High Commission Abuja, in a message on its Facebook page, yesterday.

It disclosed that it was prioritising applications made under the Ukraine Family Scheme, following its launch and in response to the humanitarian crisis arising from the invasion of that country by Russia.

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It also said customers with standard applications in study, work, and family routes may experience some delays in the processing of their application.

“As a result, UKVI have temporarily suspended priority and super priority services for new study, work, and family applications.We are still currently unable to offer PV for visitor applications in Nigeria. Standard visitor visa applications are currently taking an average of six weeks to process. Applicants will be contacted by the Visa Application Centre (VAC) when their passport is ready for collection. They should not attend the VAC until they have been invited to do so.

“Where there are extremely compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example, a medical emergency), UKVI may consider expediting specific cases. However, the bar for this is high and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. If a request is exceptionally urgent, applicants can contact UK Visas and Immigration for help.

“Please note that this is a chargeable service for overseas customers. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,” the UKVI also said.