The British High Commission (BHC) in Nigeria has explained that while its visa fees are denominated in dollars, the payment can be made in naira. It further added that the introduction of the new policy and subsequent announcement were purely an accounting measure.
The clarification followed the notice by the federal government that it will no longer tolerate the demand by some foreign missions in Nigeria that visa and other consular payment be de-nominated in foreign currencies.
A statement by the British Deputy High Commission (Lagos) Communication Manager, Mr. Wale Adebajo, said there was no need for a visa applicant to have a dollar account.
Earlier this month, the UK introduced compulsory online payments for visas and announced that the cost of those visas would be denominated in US dollars. This is purely an accounting measure. As before, Nigerians with a naira credit or debit card can pay for visas using their naira account. Although the visa fee will be denominated in dollars, the payment will be deducted from their account in naira. There is no need for anyone to have a dollar account.
So basically, all they are saying is that Visa fees will still be denominated in dollars whilst you pay in Naira using a debit card. The UK Consulate has basically benchmarked its Visa income against the dollar meaning that visa fees will always be subject to the exchange rate (particularly the Interbank rate).
