Non-immigrant Visa Operations Of US Embassy Suspended

Accra April 22, GNA - The Embassy of the United States of America in Accra on Friday announced that non-immigrant visa operations would be suspended from April 25 to April 29 due to serious problems with the integrity of the visa appointment system caused by fraud.

A statement from the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy said all existing appointments would be frozen, saying, "no changes can be made", however, people with cases of genuine emergency travel for medical attention could request emergency appointment by e-mailing the Consulate.

"If you have an appointment for the week of April 25 - 29, please come exactly two weeks later" it said.

Changes were being made on the online system to ensure that fraud would not hinder the application of genuine travellers and cautioned visa applicants not to pay anyone for an early appointment, as they had no authority to grant visas and the appointment could be cancelled at anytime without the applicants' knowledge.

Only appointments already in the system as at Friday April 22 would be interviewed until new appointments are opened in the repaired system and stated no changes would be possible to any existing appointment for any reason.

The Embassy apologized for the inconvenience to legitimate visa applicants.