Kano, Nigeria – In a move aimed at enhancing access to UK visa services for travellers across Northern Nigeria, VFS Global, in partnership with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), has officially opened its new Premium Application Centre in Kano.
Located at Bristol Palace Hotel, 54–56 Guda Abdullahi Road, the new centre offers customers in Kano and the wider northern region a convenient facility to submit their visa applications and enrol biometrics ahead of the busy summer travel season.
Mrs. Gill Lever, Chargée d’Affaires at the British High Commission Abuja, expressed satisfaction with the expanded access to visa services.
“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 that more people can access our world-class visa services closer to their homes.”
She noted that Nigeria remains one of the top sources of visitors to the UK in Africa, ranking among the top four nationalities by volume for UK visit visas and accounting for approximately six percent of global totals.
This new Kano facility is the third Premium Application Centre opened by VFS Global in Nigeria in recent months, following successful launches in Enugu and Port Harcourt. These centres complement 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 for VFS Global, emphasized the organisation’s commitment to customer convenience during his remarks at the event.
“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. “This is the third Premium Application Centre we have opened in Nigeria in recent months. With growing demand for travel to the UK, our goal is to deliver the same comfort, convenience, and best-in-class services at these new locations as at our established centres in Abuja and Lagos.”
The Kano Premium Application Centre offers several value-added services for visa applicants, including document upload assistance, real-time notifications on application status, and courier return of documents. Customers can also book the popular ‘Keep My Passport While Applying’ service, which allows them to retain their passport after biometrics enrolment, only needing to resubmit it once a decision is made.
VFS Global, which has been a trusted partner to UK Visas and Immigration since 2003, provided visa services in 58 countries under its previous contract. In 2023, it was awarded the mandate to deliver UK visa services in 142 countries worldwide, underscoring its reputation for quality and reliability.
Appointments at the new Kano Premium Application Centre can be booked online via the official VFS Global portal at https://visa.vfsglobal.com/nga/en/gbr/.
For Kano residents and travellers across Northern Nigeria, the new facility represents a significant improvement in access, comfort, and speed of service, helping strengthen the longstanding ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom in trade, tourism, education, and cultural exchange.
