worry359:
It is very likely that you were banned at the time.
Were there any codes (numbers and letters) on your rejection?
Remember what ever happened to your documents the Visa office still have their records.

So you must be very honest in anything you say.

aaa33:



Yes there were Numbers. But can I still apply?

aaa33:

Hello VisaOfficer I need an advice/views about what am about to post here. I applied for American student visa in 2002. Before then I had attend and written a SAT exams in Lagos. Its a company that we paid to then to write the exams . On the day of my interview in Abuja. I was asked every document which I presented until the lady asked me if I wrote SAT I said yes. She demanded for it and I presented it to her. After a close look at it she flared up that its fake and showed a colleague of hers and he confirmed its fake. She said she ain't gonna allow me enter her country and stamped my passport after inputting some stuff to her computer. Its been years since that happened. I already finished my bsc here in Nigeria and my Msc is in view presently. I have a paid employment and am relatively doing well. The issue now is was I banned? If I go to apply for a visa again will the last incidence crop up? I lost the last passport to fire and intend to go do anothe. Pls what's your candid take on this. Kind regards.

abujaniv:


We cannot comment on a specific case in this forum. The only way to know if you are permanently ineligible is to apply again and ask the consular officer at your interview. You should be as straightforward as you can during your interview about your past refusal if you are asked about it.
This is a good reminder to all of the younger readers on Nairaland that what happens at one visa interview can have a long impact. Make sure that you always bring valid documents to your visa interviews because while in your current circumstances you might not qualify for a visa, you might be qualified in the future and will not want to be found ineligible based on something that happened in your youth.

19naia:
Its been ten years or more since the last application in 2002.. That is the standard ban time for deliberate immgration violations if it was not a permanent ban... Having a fake SAT report could be that you were duped into paying to sit a fake test and you were gullible and inexperienced to discern a fake situation after all your honest effort... That is common in Nigeria and the US immigration services knows that about Nigeria. But they will not waste time with you until you figure out and sort out the issue on your own time and effort... Its not their job to show you how to get authentic documents.. That is your responsibility...

No worry about going to apply.. Just go and be honest about all questions asked, even if you must declare that the fake SAT was because you were duped and had no experience to know what a real report looked like...
Get your new passport and make no attempt to obscure the old one on record.. If they ask about the old one, tell them what you know.. If they dont ask about it, then let it be forgotten...
Better to be rejected with an honest input and surmountable obstacles, rather than a ban and a record of deception..

You have waited 10 years or more, now its ok to go and apply and find out once and for all if you had a permanent ban... I doubt a permanent ban was given if you are honest about what you recounted in the OP.. There may have no ban ever given...