₦airaland Forum

hello all, please is there anyone who has had their baby in virginia in the last few months? were you able to get your child's birth certificate promptly? I had my child over a month ago and we have not been able to obtain the certificate yet.

in the case for ETC please is it required to submit the birth certificate along with the documents or will the hospital proof of birth be sufficient. We have international travel planned for the end of the month and would appreciate any feedback from the group.

thank you

Hi All,

I wanted to share a quick update. I was able to arrive in Virginia as scheduled. I did not need to inform the US about my intent to be in the country.

I flew direct to Washington DC on United Airlines (lagos immigration stress is a whole story we're all familiar with but luckily, being pregnant bought some goodwill and people helped so i could move up the long queues).

on arrival to washington dulles, we had to take a mini train to the main terminal hall where we had to go through immigration. I walked to the immigration officer and here is an excerpt of our 1.5minute conversation

M: Good Morning
H: Good morning ma'am, what brings you to washington today
M: I'm here to visit family and possibly have my baby
H: Cool. Do you have all the details, your medical records, hospital etc
M: Yes
H: how long do you plan to be in the country
M: 2 - 3 months
H: Okay
H: So you're heading to Virginia as your final destination for this
M: Yes
H: Did you bring any food?
M: yes, grains, nuts, that kind of stuff
H: any fresh fruits or vegetables
M: no
H: okay, all good.
H: did you bring any cash?
M: no cash but i have money in my account
H: how much approx?
M: xx
H: okay

proceeds to stamp passport and hands it over to me.


H: Enjoy your stay and good luck with the baby
M: thank you

I'm in Virginia in case anyone wants to meet up over the next couple of months and good luck to everyone on their journey.

Cheers.

AmeliaT:
Congratulations! Send them a message to notify them. My sister in law went to give birth and was called aside with 11 other Nigerian pregnant women. 11 were deported and she was the only one who made it in because she had sent them an email notifying them of her pregnancy and intent to give birth there. The others were told they were deceitful in their applications. The same thing happened to a colleague, my bank officer and a mutual friend- mutual friend was very rude and constituted a nuisance and was slapped with a 5-year ban as well.

Cover your tracks by sending that email. All the best!

Hello,

Thanks for the quick response. Please who does the notification go to - can you help share a sample email as well as the contact email. I am planning on going to virginia and travel over the next couple of weeks/asap.

Thank you and look forward to your feedback

AmeliaT:
Congratulations! Send them a message to notify them. My sister in law went to give birth and was called aside with 11 other Nigerian pregnant women. 11 were deported and she was the only one who made it in because she had sent them an email notifying them of her pregnancy and intent to give birth there. The others were told they were deceitful in their applications. The same thing happened to a colleague, my bank officer and a mutual friend- mutual friend was very rude and constituted a nuisance and was slapped with a 5-year ban as well.

Cover your tracks by sending that email. All the best!

Hi All,

New here and I just got my visa approved for travel. I wanted to ask if there's anyone who has any recent landing stories to share? I travel frequently to the US and I'm wondering if i should state that while on my trip this time i will be having my baby in the us (this will be the first child I'll likely have there)

I'll appreciate any encouraging words or suggestions.

also, please are there any updates on applying for US passports or Nigerian passports for the baby?

Thanks

Lochinny:
Hi guys! Wanted to give my POE experience coz I’ve learnt a lot here and I believe mine would help someone. Sometime in March I told you guys about having a visa that’ll expire in May and that I was thinking of using it to give birth. I was encouraged most especially by @debbieeeeee
and @pointednose to go ahead.. and I actually did.

So here’s my experience:
I traveled with my Child which I gave birth to with the same visa 2 years ago. It wasn’t an easy journey. Went with Qatar airways. (One of the best airline I must say, just that the journey was quite long)
My POE was JFK which I used the previous time. When I got there, I was directed to join the citizens line because of my child. While on the line, a lady saw me and asked me to come forward (obviously a helper from God plus she saw I was pregnant and carrying a child) mind you, I didn’t try to cover it my pregnancy. did same 2 years ago infact I was almost due when I traveled the last time.
So back to my story, I met the POE officer who asked for my passport, he collected my child’s own and asked what I’m here for, I told him to have my 2nd baby. He looked at the computer for a while without saying a word to me, then stamped my child’s passport. Then he collected mine and asked where I was going to stay and asked for how long. I told him the town I was staying and I’m looking at 3months Or more. He now asked if I came with any food stuffs and I told him just spices, he now asked to see my face and I removed my face mask. He then stamped my passport 6 months and said have a nice stay.

From this, I can tell you two things
1) prayer is the key. I and my husband prayed seriously for a smooth Poe. Even told my pastor

2) Be truthful. Just say the truth to them. I learnt it here that being honest pays so when I traveled to have my first child, I told them exactly the same thing, (then I was obviously pregnant so I couldn’t even dare lying) and it was an easy Poe and I used the same JFK.
After hearing people say that 2nd time is always tougher, I got scared and people advised me to cover up since my pregnancy isn’t that obvious but I still couldn’t see myself doing it. I just said what will be will be. I made sure I was with every single receipt from the first one and a letter from the hospital showing I didn’t collect any Medicaid from them. Still they didn’t ask of anything..

These people appreciate honesty and I think if we keep being honest, they’ll start seeing Nigerians in a good way.

Thanks @Debbieeeeee and @PointedNose for the encouragement.