Good evening everyone,

What are the recommended ways to address being refused F1 again if “uncertainty of return to Nigeria” was the reason for initial F1 denial?

I’m going for LLM and I’m completed my NYSC 1 year ago.

Hello!

Does anyone have a means to get the actual reason for visa refusal from the US embassy? Like in canada, one can apply to see the Canadian immigration case owner’s notes used to reach visa decisions, so is there anything like that for US non-immigrant(F1) visas?

shayhune:


Your interview is quite similar to someone I know who went for her interview recently and was also rejected. Her brother who works as a SWE in the US was also going to be her sponsor. What I can deduce from your interview transcript and hers is that the VO wasn't convinced that you would come back b/c your brother who is a USC will be sponsoring you. The VO was probably thinking you would decide to stay back and take the immigrant route like your brother.
I would advise you to apply again but this time, let them know that only your parents will be your sponsor.
Also, try to get some funding/scholarship from your school if you can. It makes your interview at the US embassy less strenuous.
What's the cost of attendance that's stated on your i20? Without funding, this could have raised some red flags too

Thank you so much for this. Cost of attendance is $75k, and I had 13k scholarship stated on my I20 as well. However, I dnt mention the scholarship while talking about the funding because I assumed VO could already see it on my i20.

.

Donbigi2:

I thought the same too

Thank you so much for the feedback. I guess I can see how the VO could have felt if you all feel that way here.

Coincidentally, my brother’s salary is not bloated at all if anything the $15k I mentioned for him is a little less than what he makes monthly. He is about 10 years older than me, a US citizen and well established in his tech career in the US.

For My dad you will notice I only mentioned 20M for last month for him based on his harvest. Maybe what I should have done is account for every other month he doesn’t sell as much and dropped his monthly to about 3M instead.

For my mom I should have done a similar thing as well.

I went in prepared to talk about annual salaries, so when VO asked for monthly I started recalculating on the spot. In total the funds available to me were more than double what I needed per year. I can trim that down to only my dad as my sponsor for next time.

Linccoln:


Did you say your brother makes $15,000 a month?
Which country ? If I may ask. I guess the V.O found it funny too.

Yes he actually makes a little more than $15,000 per month, I said 15k because I had to divide his annual salary to monthly at the request of the VO right there. He is a US citizen and lives & works for the multinational tech company in the U.S.

Interview Experience 3 DAYS ago
VISA Status: Denied
Lagos Embassy
*Please read through my experience, and kindly share any recommendations for positive results next time.*


Me: Good morning ma’am
VO: Good morning, please can you hand over your passport and I-20? (I handed it over through the space created to give documents)
VO: can you tell me what your program is about?
Me: it’s an LLM program in Intellectual property law, it’s an area of law made to protect the rights of creatives and this includes their craft, literal work or music in order for their rights to not be infringed by unauthorized persons
VO: okay, so who is finding this program
Me: my parents and brother
VO: what do they do for a living starting with your brother
Me: my brother is a cyber security expert at XYZ(big multinational TECH company), my mum is a textile trader and my dad retired as a GM of a company into his commercial farming business
VO: what is their monthly income
Me: my brother’s annual income...
VO: no I want his monthly income
Me: oh his monthly income is about $15,000, my mum’s monthly depends on the quantity of textiles sold a month but about N2.5m and my dad is in his harvest period and this month alone he made N20m from sales of his produce
VO: okay, how much do you make a month?
Me: 250,000
VO:Is that in naira
Me: yes 250,000 naira. I am a lawyer
VO: Oh you're a lawyer, how many years now
Me: 2 years
VO: okay, have you traveled before?
Me: yes, I’ve traveled to Dubai and other African countries while I was younger for the holidays
Officer: okay
……..typing something for about a minute……
Officer: I’m sorry the US immigration service won’t be granting you a US visa and the reasons behind this decision has been revealed on this piece of paper ( handed over my passport and a blue piece of paper)
Me: okay, thank you
Officer: you’re welcome and have a nice day