stdammis:
A reminder that this world is vanity. I wished we were immortals. Just like everyone that won the dv, josemaria never knew the 24th of July 2014 was the last day he saw he's parents, neither was he aware that he was never going to return to his father land... we got to America the same day last year, and we've been in touch since then, but then life happened and everyone grew farther apart. I found out yesterday that josemaria had passed on.....the pictures are on his timeline on Facebook. The most painful part of it is that, he died sometimes around December last year and nobody knew. I hope you are in a better place now, somewhere far beautiful and better than chicago. RIP pal. I pray that the rest of us won't lose our life in this struggle. Amen

skidmarkz:
Hi, any idea whats the secret of winning DV Lottery?
I have been applying this since 2002 and have never got one.

Iam from Indonesia

select500:

There is no secret to winning. The winners are all chosen at random with the use of computer software. So just keep trying and pray that you win!

worry359:


You do realise that the DV lottery is closed to Nigerians.

AdenijiPupa:


Adeboy I need to be your friend in this foreign land but dont know how to go about it.

Librakid:
How can I be on the bbm chat plz?
Need help somebody

doctorp76:
Abeg how can I join the group on bbm....

Adeboy007:
ok,u can send me a pm

Trezeget:
Pls what is the website to check if your visa have been print ed

tosinjoe:
please how can I b added to the bbm group?

Nytcrawler001:
yh..wld like to knw as well

tosinjoe:
please how can I b added to the bbm group?

Nytcrawler001:
yh..wld like to knw as well

felixfelix:
Adeboy I salute sir!

Dekonjay: Where is everyone? I guess BB has taken over miss this bubbly group. I don't have a BB. I'm on iPhone. Anyway to be in touch with you all? Wish everyone a great day!

kingcass: Gud morning my fellow forumate,pls does the "Yellow fever" vaccine needed for dv visa holders when travel to the states?
I thaught with the medicals we did before interview we are gud to go oooo,pls experience people of this forum should try and answer me cos am confused,thnx

tosinjoe: Please o is this yellow card compulsory, from d way its being talkd about, I really don't understand

Dekonjay: Good evening everyone. Been away for sometime busy preparing for our trip. Arrived Dallas safely last night after 15hours trip from Europe (where We were based). Thank God the journey was stress free.
For anyone arriving Dallas/Fort Worth international airport please be prepared to spend about two hours to cross Custom and Border security. We spent three hours in all at the airport. It's a long and lengthy process for the paper works. After we got off the plane we walked to the custom check point and joined the queue for NON US CITIZENS on a visa. The queue was very long. 90% of the people were Asians and South Americans as our flight arrived at the same time with that of Qatar airways. It took about an hour for it to get to our turn. When we got to the custom officer we handed him our passports and sealed envelopes. He asked us if we are immigrating today, we said yes. He asked us to confirm our address where we will be residing which we did. Then he took our digital prints and pictures and then accompanied us to a waiting room where he asked us to wait until we were called.
We waited for about two hours before we were called. Our finger prints were taken again, this time the old fashioned way, by ink. Then we asked to sign a form writing our full names. We waited another 10 mins and then we were called again and handed our passports.
We were totally exhausted. I was even more worried for our luggage. Luckily they were all intact and waiting for us.
Please always check your passports have been stamped when the custom officers hands you your passports. We found out our passports weren't stamped on entry after we picked up our luggage at the last security post.
That's it all for now. Will try to keep up as time goes on.

VisaOfficer:

Congratulations on the visa issuance!

You should pay the USCIS fee before you travel. You won't be denied entry if you haven't paid it, but they won't produce and send the Legal Permanent Resident cards until you do.

shaddy78: Hey Adeboy. Landed safely In Baltimore. I will connect to d group as soon as I connect.

marymary14: Hi Adeboy007, just found out there's a BBM group chat. How do I get the pin?

jejelady: I am thinking of opening a thread on the travel section: "Let's talk about job and accomodation in the USA here". The objective of this thread is to post jobs and apartments vacancies; we never can tell maybe someone among us need a roomie, a job that fits thw experience,etc. This will not only benefit the DV section nairalanders but any nairalander in the USA. We never could tell how much it would help. since i have a lot of ppl asking for roomies, i can post it here and if you have accomodation or job posting/ issues, then u can also post it on this thread. If welcome, i will do my part, i will do my best to visit and update the thread at least once a day. Please what r ur opinions? I don't want to open the thread and it gets moved or deleted... So Justwise, please approve.

jejelady:

from experience, chicken noodles get trashed at the point of entry.

Is anyone (single) or a family of three heading to dallas and needs accomodation? There is a 1 br/1ba affordable and suitable for a 3- member family available by sept 30th. Can't keep it after that. And a space is available for a single guy in another apartment. Will be sharing the apartment with another guy. Please PM asap. Adeboy, please can u help convey this message on the BBM group too?

marymary14: SPTC Is stop over paid by carrier. It usually comes to play if you have a stopover ranging from 8hours and above and also there's no connecting flight for about 8 hours.. it's usually free but done at the airline's discretion.. your welfare is usually catered for most of the time though...

Ndeedee:

@Adeboy007

Just popped in to check on you man. Congrats on the Visa and the opportunity to pursue a new chapter in your life.
You sabi tell story well well....Yours was one of the most detailed experiences.... See as emotions dey hold me while I was reading your story even though I knew the outcome already.... I was LMBO @ the part where you said you made a gesture that you were searching for the pic and said you didn't bring it with you.

You should think about the prospects of writing novels in future...

Once again congrats bro.

marymary14: For those travelling with Qatar airways, I will recommend you ask for SPTC at you point of booking... make sure you do it 72 hours prior to the departure time. With the SPTC, You'll be taken care of in Doha irrespective of your flight class, with the 8 hours stopover. Hope this helps.

cute2014: Also to the preceeding lists,u may want to add:

Bottled groundnuts,Semolina,pap,snail(fried),hair attachments like Expressions,and Medicines like antimalarials and broad spectrum antibiotics.Also Robb and/or Aboniki balm.

For those with kids:Their backpack should contain cereals(dried),powdered milk,bread(toast) with a spread,bowl,apples,cookies (u'll get hot water in the plane)and a jacket.This is necessary if the airline serves an unfamiliar food.I can just imagine the twins when they eat,whatever they've eaten and no matter how late they must still step down with Golden morn cereal.Lol!

Also; u may want to do both ur natioanl drivers' licence and the int'l driver's licence as it depends on the state u are going to.LEARN HOW TO DRIVE BEFORE TRAVELLING!!!

As for graduate school;u need to do ur transcripts,some did via WES,don't av much details as it does not apply to me.

For women; Learn how to make hair.I am taking 1-2hrs on days I'm not on call to do this as my almost 6years' old girl is so fashion conscious when it comes to hair so I nd to be able to keep up wt her and also save money.

Also don't run down ur electronic gadgets' battery down,sm1 mentioned ds but do not know why.


Yes,ur passports AND medicals MUST be in ur handbag!!!

Most impt advice I got was to save and never try to borrow,except for Mortgage as an example.Live within your budget!!!

marymary14: Due to recent threat in terrorism,the United States has put up some measures to curb it, thus they'll require every traveller to power up electronic devices eg: phones,laptops and all other devices they require.. failure to do so will result in confiscation of gadgets or deportation... as for the medication @cute2014 do we not require some form of prescription?

Opoku3jan: Please am new here...i just need an answer to this ques. I want to know if english and maths are compulsory in the dv rules... I had B.B.B.B.C.C.C.D AND maths happento be the D... Pls help me here am a 2015 selectee

Dekonjay: @ Felixfelix, I'm glad you like the idea. From what I have been able to gather you are allowed to carry foodstuff as long as they are dried. For example:


Egusi, ogbonor, Local Crayfish, Okporoko, Mangara, Dried fish, Ukazi, Oha, Ugwu ,Kuli Kuli, Fufu, Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, Egusi, Garri, Pepper – soup condiments, Beans, Atanla (red hot chilli pepper) and many more

Make sure your Egusi is well blended dried and well wrapped.
Do not travel with wet food items. Usually, wet food stuff can contain organisms not native to the US. Chicken is prohibited because of Bird Flu and beef because of Mad Cow disease.
Palm oil is allowed but only in small quantity and should be in branded packages if possible.
Dried/smoked fish should be properly wrapped also in order to avoid unpleasant odours.

Personally, I won't be carrying any of those items as you can easily get them to buy over there ( even though they may be quite expensive or not as fresh as you may want) and luckily for me my host ( who is my aunty) says she has enough of those. Will be getting her some other gift item though.
We booked our tickets this morning. We will be flying BA next Thursday.

Dekonjay: Anyone in the house heading to Dallas, Texas? For everyone that has had their visa issued, how are preparations going? As for me, I'm finding it hard to make up my mind on what to take along with me and what to leave behind. When you have to take only 60kg from all your personal belongings it gets really hard.
I would also like to suggest we keep this forum alive by posting our preparation and travel experience here since we lost the other thread. What do you all think about the idea?

felixfelix: Wow! My Doc, I salute with honour! u are going to be missed here o! Already missing u sha. @Adeboy if u search with Detroit wayne county airport where I will eventually land it is cheaper than what we've been seeing. With this Qatar air ways gives u like $950-$1,400 depending on d date. Thus, wd be booking by next wk.Tanks 4 d assistance.More favours ahead.

cute2014:

This sounds like family based IV application.I personally don't know much about the requirements but I think most have to be gotten by the petitioner from the US agencies.But if some are needed from the applicant in Nigeria,then the ffg may help;

I.Insurance policies/deeds/income tax returns/social security records/census records/family bible entries:I don't think this is popular in this part of our world.

2.Govt id papers: U can go for the National ID card.

3.Passports: U can get this easily

4.Tax card:I think u can go to internal revenue to get a e-tax card if employed.

5.Records of family records: Pictures can help in this regard and also for residence.

I hope this helps a bit.

felixfelix: Tank u so much, ur response was highly professional. I thought as much that most of d requirements are not peculiar to us but the petitioner herself. I've taken note of ur directions. I shall forward it to the concerened person. Hope u've done ur own interview? God bless.

StSteven:
I rily do not •̸№ why they delayed us like that. We were just told t̶̲̥̅̊ø̲̣̣̥‎​ do finger print and wait. We waited all day until we were told t̶̲̥̅̊ø̲̣̣̥‎​ come back thursday. I didn't notice U̶̲̥̅̊ I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ the hall... I was wearing A̶̲̥̅ white shirt and ♍Ɣ wife A̶̲̥̅ short blue gown

Dekonjay: First of all I want to thank everyone here in this forum for their support. I want to thank God, cos he has filled my heart with joy.

It all started May 1st 2013 when I logged on the dv website and found my future husband had been selected. I was overjoyed at the result as it was the best wedding present ever. We got married May 2013. We had both played the dv lottery in October 2012 as singles even though we were engaged.


THE CHAT:
Co: Good morning Mr and Mrs Dekonjay
Us: Good morning to you Sir.
Co: You both have to raise your right hands up and answer YES or NO to the following questions.
Us: Did as we were told and took our oaths.
Co: (Addressing my husband who is the PA) Mr Dekonjay I see you moved your interview from the UK to your current country? Why is that and What did you do there?
My hubby: Explained.
Co: So tell me where and how did you meet your wife?
My Hubby: In 2010 bla bla bla.
Co: Have you ever met your wife's family? Tell me something about them?
My Hubby: talked away...
Co: (Addressing me - all the while I stood quietly at my husbands side while he answered the questions). And you Mrs Dekonjay have you ever met your husband's family? What do you know about them?
Me: Answered.
Co: do you like your mother in law?
Me: Of course , I do! ( we both laughed)
Co: I see you have both been married for a little over a year. Have you got any kids?
Us: hopefully one is on its way as we speak.
( more laughter as the Co joked about our response)
Co: Well, Mr and Mrs Dekonjay it seems everything is ok here. I have to say your visas have been approved. At that point I was already in seventh heaven and I wasn't listening anymore...

All in all the interview took less than 15mins. I just couldn't believe how smoothly it all went. The Co was nice, friendly and with a good sense of humour which made us feel at ease during our chat with him. It was a beautiful experience.

Dekonjay: This is the day that The Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. My family's interview was a success today! USA here I come!!

Dekonjay:

Hello Dear, we are doing very well. Thanks for checking on us. Hope everyone is well at your end? How are preparations going? Our Interview is coming up on Tuesday, I pray that God fills that day with laughter and joy for my family and I as well as for st Stevens family as well.

VisaOfficer:

Taking the passport back is a good sign -- it means the officer thought he or she would be issuing the visa soon. If you send an e-mail to LagosIV@state.gov with your case number and mention Nairaland, I'll check up on your administrative processing.

Note to other people: This does NOT mean you should all start mentioning Nairaland in your e-mails. They don't get forwarded to me; what happens is I'm going to keep an eye out for this particular e-mail until it shows up, and then I'll stop monitoring our e-mail account again, because that's someone else's job.