Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Canadian Embassy in Nigeria says 'ICANN 45th meeting not legitimate'


The Canadian Embassy in Lagos, has described the 45th public meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as illegitimate, denies Nigerian official delegation entry visa.

According to a document made available to DigitalSENSE Business News, dated October 9, 2012, an officer, Citizenship and Immigration Canada at the Deputy High Commission of Canada, Visa Section in Lagos, said that following the examination of some Nigerians visa application for the forthcoming ICANN in Toronto, Canada between October 14 and 19, this year.

“Following an examination of your application, I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of the Act and the Regulations for the reasons explained below. I am therefore refusing your application,” part of the document revealed.

DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that the officer claimed that one of the reasons for granting only four out of the 11-man Nigerian official delegation to ICANN 45 entry visa, include not satisfying that the applicants, who have various American, United Kingdom, Shengen Visa, “would leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident in reaching this decision, I considered several factors.”

Some of the factors, the officer gave include as marked, “Your travel history” and “That you have a legitimate business purpose in Canada.”

These reasons were viewed by industry observers as apart from an insult on the face of Nigeria and its official delegation to the ICANN 45 drawn from the leadership of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) amounts to disrespect to body and the country hereby represented.

This was in spite of the fact that a note of introduction from the Foreign Affairs Ministry was attached on every application dated September 17, 2012 with reference KIM 638. Yet, these applications were denied in the face of frivolous excuses.

Industry observers further called the Minister of Foreign Affairs to call the Canadian Embassy to order.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that just a few weeks ago, the embassy was summoned by the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs over elongated duration for visa application for upward of 45 working days.

Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope that this rift between the two parties come to an end soon and both yield hard answers. This essentially puts a strain to their bi-lateral tier 5 youth mobility scheme visa.