Graviton2:

100+ likes.

Preparation is key. This is the reason I changed my mind about travelling this year. Don't travel except you are certain everything is in place.

Feexo: Ojap, Imperiouxx and everybody, I am in a very difficult situation and I need advice from everyone. I applied to a school as a graduate student in political science- I plan to lecture ultimately- and I got my visa. My mom was meant to sponsor me but she died in an auto crash last December. I had been speaking with a professor who indicated an interest in us working together on- International Peace-Keeping and Conflict Resolution in sub-Saharan Africa. I could not qualify for funding because I was 1.8 point short of the threshold. However, he said I would be considered for GA in my second semester if I maintain a GP of 3.0, and 'if' there were funds left. But, he was emphatic on my getting a GA in my second year. The school accepts a payment plan, and I am thinking of raising some money from some of my friends- I have less than $2k as I am typing this- to complete the first semester, and see how it pans out.
My mind is running wild... I have been staying with a female friend here in NY who is a citizen since Sunday. A friend who has a green card in Texas using a green-card said I should go to school, try and get my SSN and come to Texas. Another friend said I should just hop on the next plane and come over to Arizona, and work on getting my papers...

I am terrified of not going to school and falling out of status; my greatest ambition is getting a doctorate and lecturing

Should I send an email to the prof first?

Should I contact the appropriate person in school and ask for the least I can pay on a monthly basis for the first semester?

I don't want to stay in NY for too long. I don't wanna make a mistake and ruin the good relationship we have out of sheer desperation.

What do you guys think?

bigfrancis21: In more ways than one, coming here as a master's student is better than as an undergraduate.

1) The associated cost of a 4-year B.sc degree as compared to 1 or 2 years for masters. It is way much cheaper and better to complete your UG in Nigeria and come here for master's instead.

2) As an international student seeking work employment (H1B work visa) after graduation, the ease of getting jobs with a master's degree or having a company file for you if you have a master's degree. For those who are just hearing H1B work visa for the first time, the H1B work visa is a work visa valid for 6 years that enables you as an international student to work for a company after graduation from school. You don't file for it though, your hiring company files for it on your behaf. It is one of the routes to getting the green card, as some people may think the marriage route is the only route to green card. However, this route tends to take longer time, be competitive and favourable towards those really good in their field.

3) Additional 20,000 H1B work visas allocated to Master's applicants only, in addition to the 65,000 H1B work visas allocated to all B.sc, Master's and PhD students. Due to the enormous number of H1B visa applications received each year, up to twice the number available, the USCIS carries out a lottery that selects the final 65,000 of all applications submitted. Now for the master's category, if all master's applications exceed 20,000 in number for that year, all applications in the pool received are tried in the lottery and 20,000 winners are selected. The remaining unselected number in the master's category are then transferred to the 65,000 cateogory for a lottery along with other categories of applicants thus giving master's applicants second chance to be selected, compared to one-chance for undergraduates.

4) More funding/scholarship opportunities from the school and Nigerian oil companies available to master's students compared to undergraduates where you have to rely solely on home/personal funds or hustling.

Coming here as a master's student tends to favour you more than B.sc.

richard4ssky: have been there they only write tofel and not gre. We tofel be ok for embassy sake

ridimic1: prospective student,,,u can also try dis site...quora dot com...questions ranging from admision to gre n so many things are answered there

thanks.

stevecrun: I dey tell you..make your ministry move to the permanent site..

temi4fash: yes oo brodaly... So that u don't get their and u get hanged cos of finances and u call ur sponsor and u hear siituation very critical at home... So man must plan for contingency... Just incase no body prays for it but it happens...

siegfried99:

Bro I have HND in computer science.. what would I need to apply for masters in Canada or US?

castrotroy80: Just granted my US visa about 25 mins ago
Not by power or by might, its just the grace of God
No be man Na Baba God do am.

Me. good morning
Vo. goodmorning
vo. what are you going to do in Us?
me. to study master of criminal justice and law enforcement
vo. which skul?
me. boston uni
vo. is that the only skul u applied
me. no sir, i applied 3 skuls
vo. name them pls
me. kaplan uni, boston uni and phoenix uni
vo. why boston?
ME. according to my own research, boston uni has detailed plan of study, they offer excellent research opportunities, they have oustanding faculty, and according to usnews, they are rated at 41 among the best 100 uni in us.
vo. what do u do now?
me. i work as registra at the federal ministry of justice
vo. what will you do after studies
me. i will return back to resume my job at the federal ministry of justice and to my lovely family who will be waiting for my return
Vo. so you are married
me. yeah am married, flashed the chinco my wedding ring
vo. you got kids and how many and how old, and why are you not going with them?
me. i have 2 lovely boys, the 1st is 13yrs old and the 2nd is 1yr 6 months, this is a collective decision btw us that i should go and study and they remain here as my wife is gainfully emplyed by the nigerian police and my kids are studying here.
vo. thank you, your visa has been approved, you can pick it up from vi bla bla bla

Thats it o, na God o no be me
i wish all nairalander going for interview favour, mercy and grace of God. we will all have testimony in Jesus name

castrotroy80: Just granted my US visa about 25 mins ago
Not by power or by might, its just the grace of God
No be man Na Baba God do am.

Me. good morning
Vo. goodmorning
vo. what are you going to do in Us?
me. to study master of criminal justice and law enforcement
vo. which skul?
me. boston uni
vo. is that the only skul u applied
me. no sir, i applied 3 skuls
vo. name them pls
me. kaplan uni, boston uni and phoenix uni
vo. why boston?
ME. according to my own research, boston uni has detailed plan of study, they offer excellent research opportunities, they have oustanding faculty, and according to usnews, they are rated at 41 among the best 100 uni in us.
vo. what do u do now?
me. i work as registra at the federal ministry of justice
vo. what will you do after studies
me. i will return back to resume my job at the federal ministry of justice and to my lovely family who will be waiting for my return
Vo. so you are married
me. yeah am married, flashed the chinco my wedding ring
vo. you got kids and how many and how old, and why are you not going with them?
me. i have 2 lovely boys, the 1st is 13yrs old and the 2nd is 1yr 6 months, this is a collective decision btw us that i should go and study and they remain here as my wife is gainfully emplyed by the nigerian police and my kids are studying here.
vo. thank you, your visa has been approved, you can pick it up from vi bla bla bla

Thats it o, na God o no be me
i wish all nairalander going for interview favour, mercy and grace of God. we will all have testimony in Jesus name

Graviton2: Congratulations, Castrotroy.
That was Nicholas Cage's character in Face-off. Love that movie!

PedigreeCity: Amen! IJN. Congrats bro

oghenegano: I got denied on saturday based on bank statement....the VO spent over 10min checkin my acct and she went inside to discus it with other VOs b4 she came out and spoke one long sentence....i have my dad as sponsor....i would like to knw if the VO do run an instant check with banks on acct details...moreso...mine was on a saturday...so i dont knw wat could have happened.
I wanna go back there again cos my admission is Fall buh am tryin to differ it to spring...pls someone shud advice.

JabinodelaRatta: congrats bro

PedigreeCity: Amen! IJN. Congrats bro

Theflint1: Oh! was speaking based on info gotten from their commercials. TOEFL is okay, but if it won't be much of a hassle, I would advice u went for GRE.

Anonymous1900: Hello Folks,

I have never contributed to any blog before however i have read quite a few and would like to contribute/help based on my own personal experience or the various myths out there about VO (and how they are perceived as demi gods).

It is important to note that their ultimate function is to help (which means if your denied or approved, the vo gets paid hence there is no vested interest in denying you)

My personal experience stems from the following so if any of the statements highlighted below applies to you, i might be able to help answer some of your questions.

NB. I AM NOT A VISA OFFICER NOR AM I REQUESTING ANY KIND OF PAYMENT FOR ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE

1. if you have ever been rejected a us visa and want to apply again (visa denied)
2. if you have had an I-130 visa petition submitted on your behalf and want to apply for a us visa (visiting) (visa approved)
3. if you have had an I-130 visa approved and you want to apply for a us visa (visiting) (visa approved)
4. if you have had an i-130 visa approved and want to apply for an F1 student visa (visa approved)

essentially all four statements apply to me and while i cant explain all in details without specific questions due to time and energy, i will touch on my most recent application (f1 visa)

I am a strong advocate of honesty as that has always been the case with all my applications.
For the record i was denied a us visa in 2000/2001 and the reason the vo gave as i recall was that my father had sufficient funds for us not to return (i applied together with my 3 siblings at the same time and the vo approved only 1 visa for my sister and denied the rest of us boys), not exactly sure which year now and i never applied for a us visa again till 2011 when i had a conference (OTC)

Jumping forward a bit to my recent application
The VO did not ask for any of my documents, GRE, certificate, sponsorship documents etc

Transcript of the Interview
Me: Good Morning
Vo: Good Morning

Vo:why did you choose .....uni
Me: offered best return on investment for grad study

Vo: you already have a postgraduate degree, so why another
Me: its a process to a phd as my original postgraduate was a 1yr program which was not being considered favorably
by my intended schools in the usa

vo: who is sponsoring you
me: my brother

vo: what does he do and where does he work
me: he is an engr with ...... company

vo: who filed an I-130 petition for you and whats the status
me: my father back in 2011 and it was approved in 2013, waiting for a priority date on that (in retrospect i would not have said that, guess it was nerves)

vo: who sponsored your initial postgraduate
me: my father

vo: thanks, your visa has been approved, pick it up on monday preferrably and make sure you travel with your student visa and not your visiting visa (i have a current 2yr visiting visa on my passport)
me: thanks, have a good day

entire interview was about 5mins though it felt like 15

PS: the 4 cases i mentioned above have all occurred to me and i believe the statements are self explanatory however, please ask whatever questions that require clarification and i would do my best to answer.

regards and best of luck to everyone

oghenegano: I got denied on saturday based on bank statement....the VO spent over 10min checkin my acct and she went inside to discus it with other VOs b4 she came out and spoke one long sentence....i have my dad as sponsor....i would like to knw if the VO do run an instant check with banks on acct details...moreso...mine was on a saturday...so i dont knw wat could have happened.
I wanna go back there again cos my admission is Fall buh am tryin to differ it to spring...pls someone shud advice.

Theflint1: Hw far Americancy, I dey find babe o! and tuition also, u fit hook ur nigga up with any rich kid, I'm a caring guy and I get sweet voice like Teddy.

oghenegano:

I got denied on saturday based on bank statement....the VO spent over 10min checkin my acct and she went inside to discus it with other VOs b4 she came out and spoke one long sentence....i have my dad as sponsor....i would like to knw if the VO do run an instant check with banks on acct details...moreso...mine was on a saturday...so i dont knw wat could have happened.
I wanna go back there again cos my admission is Fall buh am tryin to differ it to spring...pls someone shud advice.

castrotroy80: Just granted my US visa about 25 mins ago
Not by power or by might, its just the grace of God
No be man Na Baba God do am.

Me. good morning
Vo. goodmorning
vo. what are you going to do in Us?
me. to study master of criminal justice and law enforcement
vo. which skul?
me. boston uni
vo. is that the only skul u applied
me. no sir, i applied 3 skuls
vo. name them pls
me. kaplan uni, boston uni and phoenix uni
vo. why boston?
ME. according to my own research, boston uni has detailed plan of study, they offer excellent research opportunities, they have oustanding faculty, and according to usnews, they are rated at 41 among the best 100 uni in us.
vo. what do u do now?
me. i work as registra at the federal ministry of justice
vo. what will you do after studies
me. i will return back to resume my job at the federal ministry of justice and to my lovely family who will be waiting for my return
Vo. so you are married
me. yeah am married, flashed the chinco my wedding ring
vo. you got kids and how many and how old, and why are you not going with them?
me. i have 2 lovely boys, the 1st is 13yrs old and the 2nd is 1yr 6 months, this is a collective decision btw us that i should go and study and they remain here as my wife is gainfully emplyed by the nigerian police and my kids are studying here.
vo. thank you, your visa has been approved, you can pick it up from vi bla bla bla

Thats it o, na God o no be me
i wish all nairalander going for interview favour, mercy and grace of God. we will all have testimony in Jesus name

PedigreeCity: Less dan 5k per night

Joenice: Look for a community college and save yourself from heart attack .

teddyrain: I already have a cc i20 with me. But I'm deffering till spring. So now my question is if I move into the states next year and I go straight to my cc which is in california , I hope my college in Illinois will transfer my sevis records to that cc? My college in Illinois is a private school while the cc in California is a public school.

Joenice: Yes, they'll. Teddy, you've got no problems. I know your college pretty well. That school is very nice. But unfortunately it's quite expensive.

richard4ssky: man this exam is giving me sleepless night, well may be I have to come to lagos to write the gre exam so what is the exam price I head 35k