AmeliaT's Posts
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3. Oh wow. So you used personal accounts and not a business account? Hmmm. I’m honestly not sure about this. @hunee please shed some more light. I’m not sure it shows you to be a legitimate business owner who pays himself a salary. I would honestly prefer you clean up the accounts and come back in three months to avoid the taint in your record. Or are you going for something urgent? 5. Awesome! 8. Well done! You’re most welcome! Arry110: |
1. Well done. Fix the CAC issue urgently. 2. You can worry about tax later. CAC is the most pressing concern. 3. I noted that you did include an explanation for large deposits. I hope you included your own personal account and not just business. If it was just business, I seriously advise that you get your personal account statement, Explain any discrepancies and upload. You can’t float with just a business account. Many times, they have rejected people for this and say “while we note that your business account has a balance of 10m, we do not believe that these funds are accessible to you for personal use. If you can’t submit your personal account because it’s not fit, I advise you immediately withdraw, postpone your ticket and get your personal account in order and reapply in March. Or what do you think @hunee and @giselle? 4. Okay. Evidence of your relationship with your siblings, any property, the impact your business makes, charities, Church etc. 8. Nice itinerary. Well done. I however think it needs to be more realistic. There’s no time accounted for shopping, meeting up or visiting markets, meeting people? No lie-ins ? I also trust that you verified the prices of these tours you included and these aren’t old? Did you also check that they’re all open the time of the year you want to visit ? Some activities are closed over winter and many of them not frequented during winter due to the harsh weather conditions. Be mindful of that. Arry110: |
Hiya, There is no passport control when you leave the UK. Instead, the airlines send Advanced Passenger Information (API) to the Home Office. API is given to airlines by customers when booking their flights and/or checking in. The airline also sends the final manifesto to the Home Office and it’s noted in your records. That’s what matters. The stamp is immaterial. The US doesn’t even stamp passengers in anymore. Your electronic footprint is more important. jimcykhan: |
Hiya, Looks like you’re doing well for yourself but to have a Straightforward application, I’d like to advise the following: 1. Register your business if you haven’t already. 2. Open a business account and use this for all your business transactions. Make sure they’re clearly documented, you pay tax etc. 3. Maintain a clean and separate personal account where you will pay yourself a standard monthly salary from the business. Make sure there are no other deposits into this personal account. From this personal account, make your personal expenditure and make sure you’re saving an amount monthly, let’s assume 30%. You can leave the 50% in the account monthly or transfer to a savings account. So, imagine you pay yourself 1m a month and you spend 500 monthly and the other 500k is left there, then after 6 months, you’ll have 3m. 4. Provide a strong cover letter explaining the nature of your business and the transactions, how much you pay yourself, your family ties etc. 5. Add all your supporting evidence for the business. 6. Add evidence of ties to Nigeria. 7. To increase your chances, you may want to travel somewhere else first. E.g. Kenya, Morocco, South Africa etc 8. For this First time trip, don’t plan to stay more than 2 weeks. Because this impacts the budget you need to take. I’m not sure why people plan/declare long stays. I’ve lived in Nigeria for 10 years and have never been out of the country for more than 4 weeks at a time. No productive person plans to vacation for such long periods unless retired or faced with extenuating circumstances. Do all this and I believe you can apply in another 6 months just to be on the safe side. I hope this is helpful! Goodluck ! Arry110: |
Have you sorted this out now? Testy17: |
The UK does NOT issue green cards. That is an American document. If you mean, the “indefinite leave to remain” aka ILR, it is 5 years after receiving your Spousal visa/Biometric Residence Permit and both you and your spouse should have been living and working in the UK and you must not have been absent for more than 90 days annually. Your first spousal visa is issued for 2.5 years, then you need to seek renewal, then it’s reissued and at the end of the tenure, you can get the “ILR”. lahify: |
Okay!!! This makes a lot of sense; you are not a flight risk! Go ahead and all the best!!! Soraco57: |
Indeed your questions are rather strange. The first one about number of times visited is a no brainer. You’ve been there 5 times in the last 10 years. The question about leave to remain- have you applied for British permanent residency? Yes or no? Allow me to ask this. In the last 5 times you’ve been within 5 months, why did you go so frequently if you don’t have friends or family? How long did you stay each time? What was the time duration between visits? Where did you exit to? I ask this because it is forbidden to “live in the UK for long periods of time through frequent or successive visits” and it may seem like you’re doing that. Soraco57: |
Is this for Victoria Island? It’s quite common with them. It also happened to us two weeks ago when trying to book for my husband’s biometrics for his renewal. The had only released appointments for the following week and all of them were paid so I decided to check on a Sunday and found a new string of appointments with very few free slots available. You can try to check at the turn of a new week but it’s not guaranteed! Goodluck! Honey9: |
AmeliaT: Lamide123: |
Congratulations to him. That was lucky. However, he needs to report it immediately without any fear. 1. Best case is they’ll tell him not to worry and to continue as is. 2. Worst case is they’ll ask him to submit his passport and it will be cancelled from March 2024. Which is the original time he paid for and that’s fine. However, by letting them know the truth, it’s established his credibility and also shown him not to be a flight risk so for his next renewal, as long as circumstances haven’t changed, he should be fine to get it. Please encourage him to fess up. He’s got absolutely nothing to lose and it’s better safe than sorry. It’ll be fine! Lamide123: |
Happy it worked out for you! Wishing you the best with the next application. |
1.5m is indeed quite small. The current Oanda GBP exchange rate is 1013. Flight tickets alone are almost 1 million. So, 1.5million is minimal. This is the budget guide I advise all my friends and family to use and everyone has been successful: Flight- £1064 Accommodation- £50/Day (unless you’re staying with a friend) Food- £20/day Transport- £10-15/day Optional Shopping- Variable Entertainment- Variable Then use the Oanda exchange rate to get the naira equivalent. I personally advise that you try to ensure that the available balance in your account is 2X the budget for the trip. Because they expect that you have funds to go back to when you get back home. So, you can use your available balance to work backwards to see the budget you have available for the trip and therefore the number of days you can afford to stay. agabusta: |
I have four examples. 1. One of them is here on Nairaland. He applied for 6 months and got rejected and he cleaned up his act, re-applied, got it and used it 3 times. He came back to ask if he should go for 10 year Visa and he was discouraged but he went ahead and he got it. 2. A Nigerian friend applied three times and got rejected. He finally applied via employer and was approved. Used the visa twice and then went for five years, approved. 3. Another friend got the 6 month visa and then went for 5 years and was approved. 4. My Brother in law did 6 months, 2 years and then 10 years. All approved. However, with these people I know personally, they had good, recent and frequent travel history to other countries like the USA, amongst others. Establish why you need the long-term visa in your cover letter, ensure you have good and frequent travel history and goodluck! sanyaolurilwan: |
Hi, Sorry about this. The entire application was complex and confusing. When you say uncle- Your mum or dad's brother? Otherwise, that is not an uncle. I'm British/Nigerian who grew up in England; married to a Nigerian and we do not refer to extended family members as uncles. I know it is common in African and Asian culture. If truly, the man is her uncle, then his daughter is her cousin; not niece. Again, we are confusing ECOs with all our contradictory language and terms. Your uncle is sponsoring, you are sponsoring. Why? Then suddenly, 3 months after rejection is able to sponsor herself. How did her account balance grow from 2m-3m in 3 months when her salary is 250k and is expected to spend out of it. Please be very careful. There is absolutely no rush. My advice: 1. They should initially arrange a trip to meet elsewhere e.g. Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda etc. Places with easier reach Visas. They can then use this to set precedence as proof of family vacationing. 2. After some time, she should re apply, sponsoring herself. 3. She should include details proving that the uncle is her parent's sibling using birth certificates, family pictures from baby hood et al. 4. She needs to establish proof of guardianship of the cousin. Show letters from school, tuition fee payments and the cousin's birth certificate to show that the uncle is her dad. 5. Concerning her finances, she needs to be conscious that her salary is 250k a month and so, it could be tricky. That is less than minimum wage in the UK. This is my typical guide: A. Do not resort to inflation, sending through large deposits within the six-month period. B. Spend as you normally would in your personal account, leaving some each month so that is accumulated to a healthy balance. C. Review the statement first before you indicate your income, expenditure, and budget. Make sure the annual income matches the statement income. Annual income should ideally be X2 of your 6month statement. The expenditure should also follow the same principles. D. Budget for the trip should ideally not exceed 2 months’ income (in her case, that is 500k which can't even pay for a ticket). There is no hard and fast rule about this, but people have been rejected for a budget that was X4 their monthly income because to a conservative British ECO, it doesn't make sense that anyone would invest such capital expenditure in just a holiday and return. E Ensure the budget covers your entire trip. Breakdown flight, accommodation, food, transport and a little bit for shopping and entertainment (not mandatory). Below is my personal basic budget guide which I came up with myself and is by no means prescriptive, but you can review, and tweak as needed. This will help guide to ensure your budget, length of trip and available balance are all in sync. Flight- £1064 Accommodation- £50/Day (unless you’re staying with a friend or family member) Food- £20/day Transport- £10-15/day Optional Shopping- Variable Entertainment- Variable F I personally advise that you try to ensure that the available balance in your account is 2X the budget for the trip. Because they expect that you have funds to go back to when you get back home. So, you can use your available balance to work backwards to see the budget you have available for the trip and therefore the number of days you can afford to stay. Others have gotten their visa with a 500k balance but it’s better safe than sorry. G There should be no unexplained deposits or large inflows. An account balance that is not in sync with monthly salary will be questioned. H She better include proof of work, payslips, confirmation letter from the company and the leave approval letter matching the exact dates requested on the Visa. No variance. A senior manager friend of mine at multinational got rejected for that little mistake. These are my thoughts and of course there have been exceptions to the rules, both positive and negative. All the best! mamawa123: |
The E-Visa is back!!!! Applied for my husband's Moroccan E-visa this Wednesday evening- 3rd May 2023. They said it would take 3 working days. E visa approved and received today- 5th May 2023. It took 2 days and we paid the standard fee; not fast track. E visa is only for travellers who have a valid multiple entry visa to USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Schenghen, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand or Norway. You apply directly from their website, pay on the website. You attach your passport photo, valid passport and valid visa. No other requirements but you must attest that you have a hotel booking, return ticket, enough funds etc. (We already paid for hotel, tickets etc. but did not need to attach them. Goodluck! hunee: |
What’s the reason for this? Are you her parents not alive? What will the storyline be? I don’t think this is possible. The relationship is too far. If he’s your uncle (the sibling of your parent), then it means it’s her great uncle. That’s if you’re even blood relatives. People are finding it hard to file for biological children; so this is a mighty stretch. Also, for what purpose does your uncle “want” to take your daughter? When you didn’t even ask him. Parents, please be very wary of such “favours”. Most of these people are looking for housemaids who’ll manage chores while their own kids enjoy. It’s modern day slavery!!! Some of them abuse these kids sexually and physically. They’ll say they’re helping you to “train them”. Meanwhile, education is free in the UK. Please keep your daughter. Testy17: |
Your message is so touching and God bless and reward you for all you’ve done. I believe that you should write a strong Cover letter to explain that he is your “half-brother”. Please note that he is NOT your step brother. You share one parent so it is half. Explain that your share a mother and she passed on and for the last 10 years, you’ve been responsible for him. Show proof of your birth certificates and his tenancy in your home. Proof of school fees paid etc. If you can also establish proof of guardianship. Do all you can to show the genuine relationship and a strong cover letter to explain that you are more or less his foster parents. Also state that his father and him are not in touch etc. That’s my two cents. Thank you for not wanting to leave him behind. May God bless you and straighten your path. All the best!!!! Sefunmi012: |
My advice is that you quickly find another location to travel to. If indeed the narrative of a trip to reward you for hardwork is true, then ideally your dad would be sending you elsewhere. Please try placed with more lenient visa processes such as Morocco , Egypt, etc and after sometime reapply sharper! All the best Daniel2802: |
Sorry about your refusal. Have you taken the time to assess the letter? Have you actually reviewed your responses? What do you think? Do they make sense? Do you sound like someone who truthfully applied to the school, with a keen interest and someone who has a plan? Is english your first language ? It didn’t appear so. Are you also seriously going there for school or to japa? Sounds like that latter because if you did the research and selection process yourself, you should know all those questions without preparation. You couldn’t mention a single school you looked at. You didn’t mention anything about fee differences, student to teacher ratio, location, nothing. I went to university 15 years ago and I still remember over 50% of my modules. How much more someone that just applied? Your answers didn’t make sense to me. You failed to understand the questions and you showed inferior intelligence and understanding of English. If you couldn’t answer those questions; it begs to question how you will cope as a masters student when the lecturer will just be teaching and not have time to repeat their words or questions three times. AR is for cases where you feel the officer made a mistake but the issues are very clear and you yourself would reject this application. So, I don’t think it’s worth pursuing. You can find another course and country or try again next session. I wish you all the best! olaleyeh5: |
My colleague applied to the UK about three times that I’m aware of and was rejected all three times. He also applied when he was much younger. Last year, his company had a group trip and did a group application. He was granted the visa. Shortly after that, they had a trip to the US and he was also granted. ECOs are mature enough to know that people’s circumstances change. Someone could have been refused multiple times because they applied at the wrong time. They get their act together and can now travel. So, it depends on your circumstances. My husband applied for a UK visa when he first graduated and reapplied last year. More than 14 years later and was granted. He even declared the refusal and explained that it was because he applied as a fresh graduate with no reasonable ties or income. He got the UK visa and has had multiple US Visas etc. It’s not held against him because his circumstances have changed dramatically. Uchepresido: |
You will be rejected and May also face a 10 year ban. There is a system called “CLASS” which the consulate staff and ECOs use. It has a record of your passport; goings, comings, refusals et al. So, these countries all share information. It’s best to declare. A previous refusal doesn’t stop you from getting a Visa. I have friends and colleagues that have been denied multiple times due to financial reasons and when they got their act together, were later granted. Deceit is a key reason for refusal and bans. Declare! AdesinaOBD: |
I know someone who did this but she went with her own passport and visa showing the same surname. uchetobi: |
I don't have any experience with UBA unfortunately. Please go to the bank with the AF number and all your details and join the queue for PTA. They are meant to review and approve instantly. Wait there until it is approved by the first two approvers- the reviewer and the supervisor. It is after this it will join the queue and during this time, follow up with daily calls and/or visits. It is then you will get it approved by disbursement reviewer and disbursement supervisor. Also opt for the card option if there's a cash scarcity. Please see screenshot below of my last approval so you get clarity on the number of steps required. I submitted on the 19th of April and see it was approved by the first two that same day. CheersToLife:
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What bank and what branch? I applied in February using SCB; it was approved in 24 hours but no disbursement. My husband used GTB and got his approved and disbursed within 48 hours. I quickly cancelled SCB and moved to GT and got it. Based on that learning, we applied again with GTB in April and both got disbursement. A friend applied late and also got it. So, what bank are you using? Do you have an account manager? Usual review and approval is done within 24 hours. CheersToLife: |
I have gotten it approved and disbursed twice this year. What's the issue? My Tips 1. Fill out all the information 14 working days before; not calendar days. 2. Attach your ticket, visa, passport and a signed letter of authorization to debit your account. This is where people miss it. 3. Get the AF number and go to your bank immediately with those documents. This will trigger the approval process and follow up daily. Bonus tip- Get a dollar card with your bank and tell them if they have cash scarcity, they can put the money on the card. This is what I do. When you get to your destination, you can withdraw. CheersToLife: |
So many people have joined successfully since I posted. I guess you aren't copying and pasting correctly. I have sent you a DM with the link. All the best tessydunbi: |
If you need an Interview Waiver appointment in Lagos because you qualify, you can join the group below. Link removed as people were just joining and not taking part. If you are serious about joining the telegram group and taking up a slot, DM me. You however need to pick a slot where you will check every single day and report faithfully. Any non compliance leads to removal from the group. Please note that every single person has a specific allotment for when they check for dates every single day i.e. Monday to Sunday and non compliance is not tolerated. You will be removed. You should only join once ready to start checking actively for dates! All the best!! |
You must be kidding me!!! Wow!