In a bid to enhance access to UK visa services across Northern Nigeria, VFS Global, in partnership with UK Visas and Immigration...
In a bid to enhance access to UK visa services across Northern Nigeria, VFS Global, in partnership with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), has officially launched a new Premium Application Centre in Kano.
Situated at the Bristol Palace Hotel, 54–56 Guda Abdullahi Road, the newly inaugurated centre offers residents of Kano and the broader northern region a convenient facility to submit UK visa applications and complete biometric enrolment—particularly ahead of the busy summer travel season.
Mrs. Gill Lever, Chargée d’Affaires at the British High Commission in Abuja, expressed satisfaction with the expansion of visa services in Nigeria.
“I am pleased to confirm the further expansion of UK visa services across Nigeria with the launch of VFS’s new Premium Application Centre in Kano,” she said. “Kano and the wider northern region are important to the UK–Nigeria partnership, and this new centre will help ensure more people can access our world-class visa services closer to home.”
She highlighted that Nigeria remains one of the top African sources of visitors to the UK, ranking among the top four nationalities globally for UK visit visas and accounting for approximately six percent of global visa applications.
The Kano centre is the third Premium Application Centre opened by VFS Global in Nigeria in recent months, following successful rollouts in Enugu and Port Harcourt. These new locations complement the existing Visa Application Centres in Abuja and Lagos (Ikeja and Victoria Island), which have been operational since November 2024.
Mr. Alok Singhal, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at VFS Global, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to improving customer experience.
“We are pleased to expand our network of conveniently located touchpoints for UK visa customers in Nigeria with the launch of the new Premium Application Centre in Kano,” he said. “With growing demand for travel to the UK, our goal is to provide the same comfort, convenience, and best-in-class service at our new locations as we do at our established centres in Abuja and Lagos.”
The Kano centre offers a suite of value-added services, including document upload assistance, real-time application status updates, and courier return of documents. Applicants can also opt for the ‘Keep My Passport While Applying’ service, which allows them to retain their passports after biometric enrolment and submit them only once a decision is made.
VFS Global has been a trusted partner of UK Visas and Immigration since 2003, initially providing visa services in 58 countries. In 2023, the company was awarded a new contract to deliver UK visa services in 142 countries, reaffirming its global reputation for reliability and service excellence.
Appointments at the Kano Premium Application Centre can be scheduled online via the official VFS Global portal at https://visa.vfsglobal.com/nga/en/gbr/.
For residents of Kano and the broader northern region, the new centre represents a major improvement in access, comfort, and efficiency—strengthening the longstanding ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom in trade, tourism, education, and cultural exchange.
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