lobus:


Congrats! You need not apologise for the long post. It is an experience for others to draw wisdom, knowledge and encouragement from.

funtolash:
Oh I forgot to mention my Forex struggle. I tried all my long leg but none worked. Spoke to one of the MD'S Of the company that we service and he offered to give me $2k at N350. (If you have people that you know can spare you a few dollars at a discounted rate. Please approach them, i consider it an alternative to not getting pta from the banks) On the day of travel, I tried travelex and my miracle working God surprised me. I got a bit above 2k at N356. I was blown away. The lady even said if I want up to 8k (4k pta for me and 4k pta for my daughter) she would sell to me. The unfortunate thing come be say, they don't accept POS and since I didn't even plan this, I didn't have cash to fund it. So what I did was to do transfers into all the cards available on me and DH. rushed to the ATM and we withdrew the cash. But daily limit sef mess us up a bit. So we were only able to get cash that cld buy a bit above 2k at 356. So if you are travelling you might want to check out travelex patticylarly if you are travelling during the day becos i want to guess they dont work 24hrs. Their shop is just one of the last you will see just when you are about to go the the immigration part of departure. They only require you to present your boarding pass and passport to sell to you.

Also anyone travelling with qatar and you are above 30wks will be asked to go to the port health office to get certificate of fit to fly even though you have submitted all the mediform and fit to fly to qatar days before travel . Port health go come ask you to sign undertaking that they will not be responsible for anything that happen to you on the plane ( the lady said they only do this for qatar because of some issues they had with them in the past. Sorry for the long story gis. Just wanted to cover as much as happened during my trip.

Tyrah1:
Congrats on ur smooth POE, are u using st mary hospital?

MPhil:
Part 3
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I thank all who have contributed to this thread. You have helped my wife and I in making our dream come true...
Because I drank to my fill from this spring of knowledge; and to ensure that this spring does not run dry so that others can drink too, I am contributing in my own little way or ‘giving back’.
.
.
To those who have been delayed one way or the other; whether delay in fruit of the womb, miscarriage, visa delays etc don’t lose hope. Keep the dream alive.
.
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Knowledge is Power and Prayer with Persistence is the key! God Bless!!!

DrOBD:
To God be the glory, wiffy has been cleared and stamped in for 6 months.

She flew Etihad at 36+ weeks, her POE was Abu Dhabi. I was scared initially because of the negative reviews I read about that POE. It wasn't bad at all. She didn't spend up to 15 mins in all (plus secondary inspection).

I'm too excited and tired to go into the transcript right now. But it wasn't more than what they usually ask, previous travel, evidence of payment or ability to pay and accommodation.
She was advised to keep her receipt as usual.

Awaiting DD's arrival.

Thanks to all regular contributors here, may God bless you all, amen.

ifyadajesus:
. Pls how do I reach him want to get myself prepared before baby comes lol

feddy27:
Pls who has flown air peace recently? Are they preggy friendly? Just read on dia website dat dia policy for preggies is 28wks and i'm past the limit

Didn't know all this while! I don't want wat happened btw I and aero last year to happen again o!

TripleKMama:
Congrats dear! Dis sounds like me. Pls how long was d road trip from JFK to NJ cos dats my route & wanna know my options. Thanks

ladyAy:
Hi Trishxx. Thanks so much for sharing your JFK POE experience and Amen to your prayers. I'm coming in through JFK in about 2 weeks too.
Can you Pls shed more light on the questions asked on the self assessment machine that you think might warrant the X mark and secondary inspection. Could it be food only? My mum is joining me 2 weeks after so I can leave her to come with food. I have a connecting flight few hours after landing JFK so any Info to avoid secondary inspection will be highly appreciated.
Thanks so much and I wish you a pleasant stay and awesome delivery experience.

quote author=trishxx post=48668215]Hi all. Got to the US through JFK (New York) yesterday. In summary, I used the self assessment machine and it printed a slip without an "x" across it. I think those who had the "x" were sent for secondary, at least they were separated. Spent 2 minutes or less with the immigration officer, gisting half the time.

I wish you all a smooth experience as I had. Cheers.

herrik066:
Dear People, Abeg, how much is Stanbic online dollar rate? Anyone done online transaction recently?

Imo007:
Need a medical report past 28weeks. They did not let me fly till I got it.

funtolash:
@Tyrah1, yes am using St. Mary's hospital. Although I hear Dr. D also uses Clara Maas Hospital.

LadyGuinivere:


Congrats Funtolash . I'm happy for your happy ending and Safe trip and entry.
Please how much is your expected total package? Thanks a lot

temmyo:
@LadyAy I passed through jfk recently and was marked x at the self service kiosk. I think the x is for people with food. I spent a little over 5 mins with the cbp and was not sent for secondary inspection

nefertitiram:


Well, I'm not a doctor, but I majored in parasitology and after reading that article, a few things jumped out at me.
Pseudomonas: harmless parasite It's a bacterium, just like staphylococcus. It exists in our day to day life [s]but it could be terrible for people with low immunity, eg cancer patients,hiv patients, preterm[/s] (harmful to all when present) or sick (NICU) babies. [s]For healthy babies, it won't affect them, like your baby[/s] (have you heard of Nosocomial infection it's one of the many few that causes it. It's simply an hospital acquired infection and it's very resistant)

[s]The bug was found in water, people wash their hands before handling anything, thinking it's making a difference but only making things worse.[/s] (it's everywhere not necessarily water, most water in the hospital are well treated but you can't treat the tap regularly as it could be on it)

so the solution to this PG problem is using only sterile water in NICU.

[s]They are trying to build a defense, that it wasn't the pseudomonas that killed those babies[/s] It's not building a defence but rather trying to find the cause of what is the problem but their conditions. Wetin dem go talk b4?

MzYemie:
It's 380 to a dollar. You can confirm current rates on their website anytime

funtolash:
Unfortunately I didn't notice whether there was any "x" on my own print out receipt. But what I noticed for sure was that:
1. I was the only pregnant woman on the queue (and also on the flight from Lagos to JFK). To be honest for whatever weird reason, i seriously prayed that I shld be the only preggy one there at the time of my entry.
2. It was a Sunday morning when I got in (around 9:30am) so airport was relatively light (not like I know what it's like during the week, but I can almost bet it will be a lot busier. This is for the discerning mind.

Not that am saying the above have anything direct to do with how my poe experience went but it might have contributed to it.

Nnystc:
Hello house,
Just to thank you all for the wonderful information passing through this thread. I have benefitted a great deal.

And so in the spirit of giving back in the spirit of paying it forward , here goes:

Greetings from sunny Los Angeles again!
I arrived on AirFrance today August 19th.

I was unable to get PTA after all the promises from my various account officers. I also followed the lead on First Bank, and didn't get. So my ever loving DH (my own personal blessing!) bought me 5k from the BM at 396/$
The man was always baffled why i was chasing every banker around town for cheap PTA. Even when i told him i'm trying to save him at least N300k, he said theres no such thing, and that this journey must happen... And that we should just pray for life and health and the grace to always be ahead of this Nigerian economy.

I was fuming at the extra cost but thankful for the privilege of being able to afford it even at the cutthroat price.
Let's say a prayer for these great men in our lives. They give us strength and encouragement per second.

But i digress...! Back to the matter...

AF asked for fit to fly, which i provided. They didn't even glance at it, but added it to my docs.


NDLEA stopped me for questioning, asking me where i was going and for what. Childbirth of course in the US. Stop me if you can!

Currency control also stopped me for questioning. Where to and for what? I dey go America to born eeehhh! Abi dem send una?
How much are you carrying? I told them up to the last dollar.
Where do you work? I told them. They joked about my stomach being so big and that they believed i will come back with triplets! Na true.

And we were off!

Plane was okay. Service was a bit crappy, but hey! I didnt come to live on the plane did i? Paris transit okay, journey to LAX was also uneventful.

LAX:
For the first time i booked a wheelchair, just in case.
I was transported from plane door to immigration hall. But told to wait another 30mins for a wheelchair to take me to CBP.
So i told the lady that i could manage if i could be expedited on foot to the self service kiosk and to CBP.

They obliged. Finished at self service kiosk and then got expedited to front of the line for CBP

My transcript:
CBP: hello (skinny preppy and boyish looking guy of Asian descent with nerd glasses, with a stern face!. I'm like, "Dear Holy Spirit, i know say your mind dey here. Oya do your thing!)
Me: Hi
CBP: what are you here for?
Me: Childbirth
CBP: How long will you be staying?
Me: 9 weeks
CBP: Why so long?
Me: because of the childbirth.
CBP: huh? (Apparently didn't hear the first time i said it!!)
Me: Childbirth, childbirth, as in having my baby.
CBP: Oh! How much do you have on you?
Me: about $5k and bank cards to support me.
Proceeded to look through my passport and all the visas and stamps therein. Caught sight of the entry stamp from May where i was stamped in till November, rubbed his finger over it and then:

CBP: How long did you stay on your last visit?
Me: 2 weeks, that was in May this year.
CBP: Do you have family here?
Me: No, just friends, who i will be staying with.
CBP: keeps looking through the passport, drops it, picks it up again. I could sense him hesitating. Me i'm like "Dear Holy Spirit, e be like say the cellotape wey you take cover this guy mouth need reinforcement oh. Abeg nack am anoda layer.

CBP: shrugs his shoulder, picks up his stamp and stamps me in till February 2017 (my visa expires January 2017)
Time spent with him: about 3-4minutes.

Off to pick my bags. All came out in good condition.
Next was the one they call exit control (that would be Customs, in Nigeria)

CBP: you got food?
Me: yes. Dried fish, crayfish, stockfish, gala, leaves such as utazi, uziza & nchanwu, ukwa, akidi, cashews, peanuts. All been declared on the form.
CBP: scans through the form then says. Grreat! Thats okay, you're good to go.
Me: Thanks, and have a nice day! And i walked out.

My heavy dossier of "burden of proof" was chilling in my bag and wasn't needed.

Got home, took a long shower, ate, and jumped into bed to sleep it all off.

My apologies for the long post.

For those who are coming behind me, (Veleta? And others) May our Almighty God who has the keys to all the countries of this world send his angels to encamp around you as you pass. You will Never be turned back but be stamped in without hassles. Smooth sailing all the way in Jesus mighty name! Amen.

Zpearlz1:
@BeckyU

good evng, thanks for your response. I paid for the visa fee today, i will get the doctors report tomorrow. I am about filling the ds160 form, i dont know what to write on that why were you denied. Like i earlier said i didnt disclose that i lost my job on my last application but now i want to put unemployed. How do i answer the question if its comes up during the interview.

Expecting y'all kind response. Thanks everyone

feddy27:


Thanks dear. U got the report from ur hospital or port health?