Kano businessmen travelling to Turkey have lamented unlawful extortion while seeking visa by a company engaged for outsourcing visa services on behalf of the Turkey embassy.
It was gathered that the said company, MZ Visa, situated in Abuja, also works as an intermediary institution between the travellers and the embassy.
Speaking on behalf of the affected intending business travellers, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, revealed that the visa firm charges nonrefundable fees of $135 equivalent to about N75, 000, adding that after the payment and fulfilling all the visa documentation required for application, the firm would deny the visa and ask them to reapply.
It was gathered that the concern of most travellers is the firm’s inability to state categorically the reason behind the visa denial even when they asked.
“This is huge money and the problem is that most of us were being denied the visa severally without telling us any reason behind the denial. Many of us that reapplied again were denied again while others were given without explanation to the discrimination in the award of the visa. We are preparing to officially write directly to the embassy on the matter,” one of the aggrieved travellers who does not want his name in print said.
When contacted on phone, Mr Cem Tasgim of MZ Visa said the Turkish embassy was the only office that could answer any question regarding visa application as the company was only a visa application centre operator.
