Reports emerged Thursday that Nigerian visa applicants to the Republic of Turkey have been barred from accessing the e-visa provision and have instead been advised to apply through any Turkish Consulate.
The reports attribute the ban to Tuesday’s Kuje jailbreak by members of the ISWAP terrorist group that freed 879 inmates.
“Just in case you are planning to Japa (travel abroad) just know that the Kuje prison break has made the chances for you getting visa slim. Nigerians are no longer allowed to get e-visa to Turkey,” a twitter post claimed.
Similar posts shared on facebook and Instagram attracted a lot of comments, with many saying that President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent trip to Istanbul had not helped to strengthen bilateral relations between both countries.
HOW TRUE IS THIS CLAIM?
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) investigations show that in recent years, many governments have outsourced their visa processing to external partners.
This has helped them to manage the increasing demand for visas in the age of booming international travel.
As such, one of such partners in charge of processing Turkey visas is iVisa, an online application website that provides customers with a simple, fast, and reliable way to get travel documentation for their journey.
This newspaper can confirm that the company is currently unable to process visa applications from Nigeria and other African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana. However, these countries appear on the search list of nationalities.
Applicants from the above named countries receive the following feedback message: “Travel Document Required. Currently, we cannot help you process this travel document. You will need to contact the embassy nearest you to get more information.”
There has been no official announcement from Turkey on a revised e-visa requirement for Africans and applications through other visa processing partners do not face the same challenge.
VERDICT
MISLEADING: The claim that Turkey has delisted Nigeria from countries eligible for e-visa following the Kuje jailbreak is therefore false and should be disregarded by the public.