The United States Embassy in Lagos has stated that visas granted by the country are a privilege, not a right, following public reactions to the revocation of the travel visa of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Responding via email, the Public Diplomacy Officer at the US Consulate General in Lagos, Julia McKay, said the Consulate could not discuss the details of Soyinka’s case due to confidentiality laws but emphasized that the issuance and revocation of visas remain at the discretion of the US government.
“Under U.S. law, visa records are generally confidential. We will not discuss the details of this individual visa case,” McKay said.
She added, “Visas are a privilege, not a right. Every country, including the United States, can determine who enters its borders. Visas may be revoked at any time, at the discretion of the U.S. government, whenever circumstances warrant.”
Soyinka had earlier announced the development during a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, where he disclosed that he received a letter dated October 23, 2025, notifying him that his visa had been revoked under U.S. Department of State regulation 22 CFR 41.122.
The 91-year-old writer and playwright said the decision caught him by surprise, adding that he had not been informed of any wrongdoing that could have prompted the action.
“I have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States. And if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” Soyinka told journalists at Freedom Park, Lagos, during an event titled “Unending Saga: Idi Amin in Whiteface.”
Reflecting on his decades-long travel history, Soyinka said he could only recall two minor incidents in the US: one involving an undeclared handful of green chilies at a Chicago airport, and another a confrontation with a police officer at an Atlanta hotel in the 1970s.
He dismissed both as insignificant and unlikely to have influenced the revocation decision.
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According to the letter issued by the US Consulate, Soyinka’s non-immigrant visa “has been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in the U.S. Department of State regulations and is no longer valid for entry into the United States.”
The notice also directed the Nobel laureate to return the visa for physical cancellation, a request Soyinka humorously declined, asking if anyone would volunteer to deliver it on his behalf.
The Consulate added that he would need to reapply if he wished to travel to the United States again.
Soyinka, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, has long-standing academic and cultural ties with the US, where he has taught in several universities.