₦airaland Forum

Portsmouth86:
Iberia are a Spanish airline which has merged with British airways, they are not the best airline in line with the planes of BA or that of virgin.

Its more the cost, Iberia offer really low priced flights compared to many other airlines...but far better than Arik air,

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews7871.html

the reviews are not great, but i know people who have used them and said it was fine, just not to expect a service which Virgin/BA offer

I personally Live in the UK and each time I want to come to Nigeria to see my hubby I pay approx £800 for my flight and then pay about £300 for my own visa (on each visit) , so in all I need £1100 before I start, so of course when I saw that with Iberia, my flight and visa would be less than buying just a flight ticket with Virgin, its a no brainer for me

its definitely worth giving them a go, what have you to lose? Depending on the flight you choose you can get really good connection times too.

The review on Iberia is very discouraging but i checked Qatar and Lufthansa review and its almost the same thing meanwhile i know Qatar to be a good airline.

I think i will rather pay extra and fly with Lufthansa or Air France cos i might need to change my return date.

prayerrain:
I finally got my visa today.
I was very nervous at first as per a first time traveller with a virgin passport.
coupled with the fact that I'm a teacher with a take home salary of 42K . but my fiance is my sponsor. the only thing is that my fiance has been to different countries but has not been to UK nor US.
Actually I applied on the 27th July ( Monday) and by Wednesday 29 th July they called my fiance to know if it was true he was my sponsor and by Thursday 6th august I tracked my app on TLs and saw that a decision has been made so I decided to check today. and it was ready. visa was issued on the 5th august.
thanks to everyone ..... now I think Ikeja is quite fast.
I really thank God Almighty and everyone that has contributed directly or indirectly. God bless us all.1 love... Justwise vicjustice.....more grease to your elbow...

my thought....... I think its better if one tells the total truth.....
London eye, Trafalgar square, tower bridge !!! here I come.

Congrats!!!!

OGreene:
Anyone still looking to travel this peak period might check this out. It's from GTB sme market hub.

I also got the mail from GTB, i beg who know Iberia oooo. I no wan because of few Naira difference go enter one chance.

colegold100:
House, justwise, and great experienced personnels in the building, I hail o.

My wife and daughter were refused uk visiting visa today o.
My wife was refused based on:
I quote " I note that the balance of this account has been significantly inflated by large deposits amounting to 800k prior to your application. You have not provided any evidence as to the origin of these recent deposits.
I am therefore not satisfied that these funds are genuinely available for your use or that your financial circumstances are as stated.

For my daughter:
You have not supplied any documents to confirm your relationship to your claimed parent. From the documents submitted I am not satisfied that you are related as claimed.

For my wife's refusal, we submitted our savings joint account in which our savings goes to. her salary account were submitted withpayslips, letter from her office, my pay slips, proof of investment etc.
The issue is that some lumps sum which entered the joint account were
1.from my salary account which was my upfront allowance,
2.also bonus/allowance from my wife salary account,

3and also a 650k was withdrawn in May from the joint account but was refunded in july 2015.we were having 1.2m when the application was made.

I will like to know what evidence they want even when we both provided our salary accounts where the lumps were from.?
And how else can I explain the 650k that withdrawn in may and lodged back in july. ( as we wanted to use the 650k to purchase a property but the deal didn't go tru, hence the refund.)

For my daughter, the Tls officers told my wife that to avoid duplication of documents, that she does not need to submit separate document for our daughter as the they will refer to my wife's application when reviewing my daughter's own. Alas, they did not refer to it o.

I presently have 2 years uk visiting visa and I want them to reapply as we want to go on vacation by September.
Please I need advice on how to tackle the reasons for their refusals.

Statement of account is one of the main reasons many are refused visa and same happened to me in my first application. After learning the hard way during my 6 months visa application, in my 2 years visa application which i picked up last Friday i wrote a cover letter detailing every deposit in both my saving and salary account. My cover letter had a table with columns for serial number, date, amount and details. I wrote out every figure in my savings account and indicated its from my salary account for safe keeping(transaction details on statement of account shows in between customer transfer) and the only huge deposit in my salary account was explained as bonus and i attached a letter to support the bonus.

So please re-apply and write a cover letter explaining every deposit and get a letter from the Finance dept in your office confirming your bonus/allowance. Also explain the 650k was for a transaction that didn't go through and you return it back to your account.

For your daughter, didn't you include her birth certificate and family pictures? Even school fees receipts too can be included to support your application.

i hope others on this forum will read this and stop donating visa fee to BHC. YOU MUST EXPLAIN OR GIVE REASON FOR HUGE DEPOSITS IN YOUR ACCOUNT.

Best of Luck

OGreene:
Good morning all, this August trip has to be shifted. Went to KLM counter yesterday, round trip to London from Lagos is 510k Na wa! Other airlines too are above 350k, doubled....phew! Iblaw I dey with you for Sept jare when I cn get Iberia and Luftansa for 158k and 175k resp.

Also my friend is asking if she needs to submit her last refusal letter in her new application. She was denied few yrs back and cnt find d letter. She wants to re-apply by month end.

@OGreene Shebi i told you. Cost of mid September flights are like half of August. I no dey go for business so why should i pay like N350k for flight i can get N170 mid September.

OGreene:
Please has anyone flown Royal Air Maroc or Kenyan Airways recently? Are they cool?
Bcoz August prices re not friendly right now

My visa application itinerary was to travel August but now i have my visa na September i go travel o. Flights are too expensive but i will not fly Kenya airways/Royal Air Maroc. My uncle was ill and needed to go to UK urgently for medical attention. i went to BA @ MMIA on Tuesday 21st July for a flight next day and paid N451,000 Economy, the same flight he bought N229,000 in February and returned in April, he normally buys a one year ticket and changes date when he's tired of Uk and want to return to Nigeria. Old 84 year old man.

pizonewave:
Thank you Iblaw, Blessedfavoured and Justwise for your responses, you guys are amazing.

Hi Justwise,

These are the documents i hope to present when i make my application Salary Statements (We arent issued payslips tho at my organisation, will state that on my cover letter), Savings account statements, Employment letter, Introductory letter from my employers, Hotel reservation, a letter of consent to travel from my wife, with a copy of our marriage cert to verify her signature.
What else do you advise i add?

Missing: 1. Tax 2. Approved Leave from employer 3. I guess you have a baby so Birth certificate. 4. Flight itinerary and in the additional Info part of the online form write in details with date what you intend to do in the UK from date of arrival to departure 5. Copy of Office ID card
Best of Luck

uptown17:
@iblaw in april, hubby got the money from colleague A and transferred same to colleague B 3days later.
we dont know what paper evidence to give since refund wasnt to colleague A. what excuse can be tenable
we need to apply end august. please help ooooooooo gurus

Let your husband just think of something depending on the nature of his job and also indicate in cover letter that the money left 3 days later for so so thing eg your husband is supervising a project, help someone complete a transactions. It will be good if whatever he decides can be supported with any document.

blessedfavoured:
you need to include both your savings and salary account. Pay slips. employment letter, leave approval letter , hotel reservation, detailed itinerary for the 7 days, and your budget i think.
for number 2, read ogreene's posts.

As mentioned above, please include your salary account that shows your salary of 350K and write a cover letter explaining that the 80k is personal savings from your salary account. In my application i wrote a cover letter and indicated that all deposits in my GTb were from my SCB salary account, i had at times 200k transferred from salary to saving account but i explained everything in my cover letter.

Let your friend re-apply and provide documented evidence(eg letter from Finance dept) that the money was his allowance and he simple transferred it to his saving account from his salary account. I am sad that many still donate visa fee to BHC cos they don't know that large lodgement of any kind is like a crime in UK visa application.

[quote author=CuteAngel post=36638272][/quote]@CuteAngel. Best of Luck. Most people who re-apply after correcting errors mentioned in refusal letter are granted visa. Yours will not be an exception IJN

uptown17:
ok. because hubby;s statement is giving so much headache. i have an elder sister who is capable of sponsoring me n baby. she has been to uk 6times and has a 5years visa running. can she sponsor me and baby, then hubby wont need to apply
if yes, what documents will i need from hubby please. i am thinking wont they wonder why he isnt the one sponsoring?
etc

thanks for responding soon

Sincerely it makes more sense for your husband to sponsor you than your sister.

Apart from the transfer of 400k into your husbands account what else is the issue with his account. What is the purpose of the 400k and cant you get any document to support this transfer.

In my last 2 years application i had a cover letter explaining EVERY DEPOSIT in both accounts i submitted. I also had a 400k transfer into my account apart from other deposits and in the cover letter i explained it was a loan returned by my colleague. Two deposits were supported with documents and others were just explanation because my letter was in form of a table with columns for date, amount, details

OGreene:
Thanks to the person that suggested I fill the complaint form on TLS. I filled this form on Monday and in few hours I got 2 responses from Visas and Immigrations and TLS that my application has been processed and I will pick my passport shortly. Today, Wednesday, I said let me go to VAC and check sef, they said it's ready. I picked it up, visa was stamped since 30th July.

As if I knew the delay wasn't ordinary. Human error tho... You guys can remember how I panicked about re-scheduling the hotel booking, it wasn't funny.

Congrats!!!!

uptown17:
hello people please help me out with this uk visa

my first uk visa application with my baby was refused as the embassy could not reach the person that invited us & inadequate funding.
hubby has travelled to few places and has expired uk visa. we all want to reapply with him as sponsor and using hotel booking

he has a N400k transfer that came into his account in april which he also transferred to another person. because uk is money focused, how do we explain this 400k in our application. we intend applying end august

who knows what category of people go for interviews in uk embassy. my last refusal was sept 2014. will they call us for interview?

note: hubby never had a rejection any time and has been to few other countries. his will be a renewal

i will apprieciate your candid response

For whatever reason he got a transfer of 400k please provide reason and if possible paper evidence as that alone can make you donate visa fee to BHC.

Selection for interview is done randomly at their own discretion so be prepared when you go submit your documents.

Hope your husband has a print out of his previous application form and documents so he wont commit any blunder reference his previous details.

Best of Luck

blessedfavoured:
finally went to pick up our passports today, and we al got it.
off point but let me share
I had a mini heart attack when i opened the passport and didn't see the visa at the back as usual, I scattered the whole file looking for the refusal letter. When i dint find it, I had to go back to flipping pages.

Lol

Congrats

My was last friday, as i got the envelope i just opened and pulled out my passport and saw the visa. I could hear my heart beat

Portsmouth86:
Good Evening, apologies for the delayed response I work nights and sleep in the day, back at work now

I have only ever used Virgin, BA and Alitalia, tis will be my first time using Iberia and the stop over in Madrid is about 2hours but going out is less than 2 hours, it all depends which flight you select.

Bare in mind delays can be for a number of reasons, so may not necessarily be a common occurrence for one airline in particular, unless its Malaysian airlines which get delayed indefinitely I flew with Virgin to Lagos and on my return flight we had a delayed departure due to storms.

When I search for flights I use www.skyscanner.net

http://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/los/lond/150915/150930/airfares-from-lagos-to-london-in-september-2015.html?adults=1&children=0&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&rtn=1&preferdirects=false&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false

KLM and Air France are one group so you will find that many KLM flights are operated by Air France and vise versa

September is not the cheapest but I would advise looking on Skyscanner or Opodo

please note this very important fact... Try not searching the same dates too often, this will show the airline that those dates are in hi demand and they will hike up the prices... as I have to advise my clients when they are just browsing...
Availability and prices are not guaranteed until ticketed and the flight itineraries may be operated by partner carriers

Happy searching

Thank you

Appreciated

iyaaliyah:
Goodmorning. Happy sunday to us all.
Pls I submitted my application at VI centre on Thursday. I expected a mail or sms atleast acknowledging my application but none since then.

Do I have any cause toworry?
Thanks.

No cause to worry, very soon you will get a mail concerning your application.

Portsmouth86:
Is that a return from Lagos or originating from London?

I found October was very cheap being off peak season, September the kids are on school summer holidays so prices are always sky hi.

try airlines such as
KLM (cheaper flights operated by Air France, which stop in Paris)
Iberia - (stop in Madrid)
Turkish Airlines (stop in Istanbul)
Royal Air Maroc (Stop in Casablanca)

The price of flights varies considerably depending on the month, day and even time of travel, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the cheapest days, and Friday and Sunday are the most expensive. (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday are in the middle)

when checking you will also notice it is sometimes cheaper to take night time flights

Hope this helps,

Kind Regards

Karen

Originating from Lagos

Is Iberia good with time? My first experience with Iberia was 2013 i was waiting for someone to arrive Lagos on Iberia, the flight was delayed and arrived Lagos Midnight instead of 8:45pm.

I will prefer KLM, Air France or Lufthansa and i want to travel in September not October. I have been using wakanow and each airline website to compare price. I love Qatar airways so much, used Qatar to Dubai and my last trip to London but the trip to London via Doha was tooooo long so i want a Europe transit.

jonaifame22:
Pls I need information on this,as I am a barber and a graduate as well,but wants to settle abroad,thank u!

In March i was in Manchester and most places barb 10 pounds i was luck to find a place to barb 7 pounds. you do the calculation, this is something that cost me N200 here in Lagos.

Present a fake bank statement for UK visa application and lets see if you will get visa. Bank statement is number one check for Uk visa. Take your time and run your account properly NEVER use fake statement otherwise they will either give you 10 years ban or trick you to come for interview and arrest you.

ArikeGZ:
No we used mastercard to try to pay. Please how do i go about filling another form. there is no column for cancel/delete.
Please response needed asap. Thanks alot

I assume you are using GTB Mastercard, i had problems using my Mastercard for payment last year so call Gtb and give them the error code. Resolve problem with your card

bestestgirl:
Hi guys, so I have been a ghost viewer on this thread since I started an online programme and I intend to go for my grad . I must say that anyone who reads these pages does not need a travel agent at all. kudos to justwise and others.
Anyway my question is concerning validity of the passports; the time frame between the grad date and the expiration of my passport is about 4 months and I remember reading somewhere that you need at least six months validity. my question is that this requirement is not stated anywhere in the newly updated requirements found here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/423699/2015_04_20_Visitor_Supporting_Documents_Guide_-_Final__2__-_CLEAN.pdf

Should I just take the risk and apply? or should I kukuma cancel my passport and do a fresh one?

Thanks Guys

If you are applying for any visa your passport MUST have 6 months validity, if its less then get another passport and include both in your application but quite the new passport number on your application.

FrontPageLawyer:
Thank you for your response Justwise.

I'm the managing director of the company and I do not have a salary account and no pay slip.

What can I do? It is a 3 days business trip

Thats the mistake of many business owners, you need to separate your business account from your personal account for times like this.

ArikeGZ:
There are some pictures that they have together, and she has also attached his utility bill, and bank statement, him and his wife's running mortgage etc. There are no email exchanges between them just whatsapp messages.

You can forward whatsapp conversation to your email address then print it out, thats what i did in my first application to indicate IV Letter will be scanned and sent to me via email.

Portsmouth86:
Yes i guessed that since you said you got a 10 yr.. i was meant to quote the bottom part

"finally, for return ticket, there is no point quoting outrageous ticket prices on the form. BA can charge £1k for a return flight and Air Maroc or Arik can charge £500 for the same flight, depending on the season. so always go with the lowest/average air fare. £700 is an average fare for a lagos to london return ticket - even during the busy summer months."

to also help other applicants with flight costs, I work in the Travel industry so I always look out for cheap flights to/from London to Lagos.

apologies for the miscommunication on my part.

@Portsmouth86

I beg i need flight for say 15th Sept return 30th Sept

Portsmouth86:
check flights with Iberia or KLM too it may mean a stopover but a lot cheaper in price, i got a return flight from London Gatwick to Lagos for only £384 stopover in Madrid 2hrs either way, Im not sure how much different the prices are going Lagos to London though.

you would ideally be best to give a generous budget for the flight costs which you will also need to include in the 'how much is available to you for this trip' section

Good luck

384 Pounds is a good price for just 2 hour stopover

OGreene:
Iblaw, great news! Congrats.

I will be going in August, e remain for dem to release my passport/visa na I shall not be refused ooo.

Amen. You shall not be refused IJN. My daily confession then was "Í shall not be rejected i shall be accepted".

I applied to travel in August but i am changing it to September now that i have my visa

I picked up my passport at VI center today and got my 2 years visa

Did submission Friday 10th July and by Saturday 18th July i got an email from Sheffield that a decision has been made on my application, on Friday 24th July i got an email from the VI center that a decision has been made and soon i will be notified when to come for pick up but today Friday 31st July i just decided to go and check and my passport was waiting for me with my 2 years visa . In fact from my passport, visa was issued on Thursday 16th July so it seem either VI or Ikeja the process seem to be fast now.

Anyone in the house that intend to travel in September?

Best of luck to everyone applying soon

justwise:
Then to spend £1,400 in few weeks on that salary is just over the top, that did not help your application at all

Thats why i said yesterday that the lower the amount one budget for a trip the better cos this budget will be compared to how much you earn

Ralphlauren:
BrainyBell and ogreene

regarding the financial section of the form, i will try as best as possible to explain my own understanding of the requirements. very recently, i helped a relative in completing the form and the application was successful with 10years visa issued.

i will use an illustration to make it easier.

closing balance on bank statement = #1,500,000.

cost of hotel for 10 days = £500 (using an overly generous exchange rate of £1 to 350naira, this works out as 175,000naira). Hint: always look for very cheap, budget hotels - as long as they are located within London or any other tourist city.

cost of return ticket = £700 (using an overly generous exchange rate of £1 to 350naira, this works out as 245,000 naira)

living expenses (that is feeding for the entire 10days) = with a generous/average budget of £35 a day, you have 3 meals a day so for 10days stay, this works out as £350. (using an overly generous exchange rate of £1 to 350naira, this works out as 122,500 naira).

transportation for the entire 10days = generous estimatation of £150 (using an overly generous exchange rate of £1 to 350naira, this works out as 52,500 naira).

adding all the figures above, the total cost of the trip = £1,700.00

therefore, for the section, 'how much is available to you for this trip', i will fill in £2,200.00

for the section, 'what is the cost of this trip personally to you', i will fill in £2,000.00 (the £300 difference is for any 'unexpected expenses')

now convert £2,000 to naira using an overly generous exchange rate of £1 to 350naira = 700,000k

so from the ECO's point of view, spending 700k from 1.5m isn't too bad as the applicant as 800k left in the bank

finally, for return ticket, there is no point quoting outrageous ticket prices on the form. BA can charge £1k for a return flight and Air Maroc or Arik can charge £500 for the same flight, depending on the season. so always go with the lowest/average air fare. £700 is an average fare for a lagos to london return ticket - even during the busy summer months.

Your points above are exactly what i have been saying, How much is available for this trip should not be the total in your bank account but total of flight, accommodation and personal expenses.

Ralphlauren:
you should have given yourself at least 14days for your application to be decided.

go and check gov.uk's website to see the stats for applications decided last month. only 17% or so were decided within 7 working days while 99% were decided within 14 working days.

i understand you were denied previously but its not like you were applying to attend a conference or an event so changing your travel dates would not have had any material impact on your application or made it appear like you were inconsistent.

i will just wait till shortly before the deadline to cancel the hotel reservation and then cancel it. pointless forfeiting that amount of money. next time, book hotels that will penalise you for a night stay or two in a case of a 'no show' or late cancellation.

I concur

BrainyBell:
Dear all,

Please, kindly assist.

I applied for a UK visa and I was denied with the reason in the attached screenshot below. I planned visiting the UK for only two weeks and my sponsor would be responsible for my accommodation. Upon reviewing the application I submitted, I observed an error in the ECO's decision, which was even unclear as to the real reason behind my denial - too much funds for the trip or insufficient funds?

On the form, I had stated that I had 2,078 Pounds as AVAILABLE for my trip, but only intended spending 1,100 Pounds, which is the COST of the trip to me ( broken down into 700 pounds for flight fares, and 400 pounds for shopping et al). Beyond this balance on my salary account, I also separately attached a fixed deposit certificate which had a balance of 450K.

In denying me, the ECO said I stated 2,078 pounds as the COST of my trip, which is FALSE! It was further stated that I don't have sufficient funds when indeed my salary account showed 650K balance and my fixed deposit account had 450K, totaling 1.1M.

I have decided to reapply instantly and attach a written statement to this, since the basis of denial is so flimsy! However, before I do, what do I need to amend?

Please, kindly drop your comments.

Regards.

@ALL
The question "How much is available for this trip" should be a total of your flight,accommodation and personal expenses and NOT the balance in your bank account. Please stop donating visa fee to BHC.

I am talking from experience and hate seeing people making mistakes that are avoidable after i had made similar mistake. And the less amount you indicate as expenses for the trip the better for you because they will look at that amount based on what you earn.

I hope no one on this forum will read this and still make this mistake again

Own a shop and have sales girls to assist her