Why Nigerians face stricter visa requirements — US Government speaks

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has provided the justification behind the tough visa policies regarding the application of Nigerians.

It is claimed that the credentials of Nigerians are not credible because of the forgery and corruption involved.

The claim has been made by Angelica Alfonso-Royals who is the Deputy Director of USCIS at the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

The official had come forward to justify the agency’s stance of putting the applications of Nigerians and 38 other nationalities on hold, after being banned from entering the country due to terrorism and safety threats.

The officials found it essential to put adjudicative hold on all the pending applications of aliens from the 38 high-risk countries following the proclamations of President Donald Trump in December 2025 and January 2026.

“Nigerian documents also have limited credibility due to corruption.

“In Nigeria, it is common for government officials to falsify records. Furthermore, Nigerian birth and death registrations rarely happen at the time of the event and often only occur when needed, which can be years later

“Many Nigerian marriage and divorce events are not recorded in formal government databases. When they are, record-keeping is poor to non-existent,” Alfonso-Royals said.