₦airaland Forum

@ruskiee,being a wife myself with kids, I will not advice that he confess to his wife unless she is at risk of being told by somebody else or finding out one way or another. Hopefully you have not given your wife STD, that ,in my opinion will make her suspicious.

My advice is to tell your "bit on the side" the truth and cut off links immediately.Concentrate on your wife and kids, make sure it NEVER happens again and PRAY that your wife never finds out later on.

ALTERNATIVELY

If you happen to want to be with this lady, then confess to your wife and move out and go and be with the lady. As for me, I will not appreciate double dealing. so best you make up your mind and stick to one. Once may be a mistake, twice or more smacks of total disrespect and lack of love.

Inasmuch as I am tempted to jump on the bandwagon and insult you, who am I to judge you? As someone said, let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.

Its up to you now and it may be that you are going through a midlife crisis but you are at risk of losing EVERYTHING if you dont put an end to this madness.

Good luck mate.

well, I decided to apply for my family's visa in person rather than by post. All things being equal, it was not too bad. Spent about 2 hours to submit, our naija people as usual tried queue jumping, which thankfully was not tolerated by that "hard woman". In any event I was ready to pounce on the lady that tried to jump the queue.

Picking up was a week later(Monday 9/11) and again I got there for the 3.30 time given(passport collection is between 3.30-4.30) but no news , nothing until 4.15 when it was announced that they are now ready to deal with visas. Collected mine by 4.40 and was out. So by Nigerian standards it is not bad.

However, I was speaking to a couple of oyinbos(one in person and the other agent), who say that the Nigerian embassy has not changed as it lacks organisation and customer service. One pointed to the "hard woman" and said "that one in particular is so rude, she does not need to work with people, ever again". Inasmuch as I agree with him, sometimes that is what we Nigerians need.

Overall, pretty painless(perhaps I am a glutton for punishment). So got my visa and am ready to roll.

morpheus24, I think you need to direct your enquiries to a travel agent based in Lagos. Forgive my ignorance if I missed something e.g if you are actually based in the UK etcccccc

@ noblegas, do I take it that you were onboard the plane abi you copied it from somewhere. nice view from the plane window though mate.

okay Boggy, thanks for clarifying that.
Personally, I am more concerned at the moment with their international standard. I appreciate that if they cannot get it right on the homefront, then how do they expect compete internationally.

Thamesmead is telling porkies, BIG TIME. Wonder why if your alleged "boyfriend" was that rich, he could not pay for you to go get a visa, even express visa for next day will cost less than the bribery.

Bentley, Aston martins, clearly you are not a classy babe(or bobo), Otherwise there will be no need for you to emphasise on all these material things that you have not even worked for.Kilburn, Cricklewood, uh Shallow. The real rich people dont brag, they let their actions tell you how rich they are.

As Aysometin, I am happily married with two lovely boys so any reply about prowling central London hotels to sell "goodies" is definitely not my style.

This thread has just lost its credibility as far as am concerned, bye

though @ Boggy, I didn't know Arik flew to London at 2pm. I thought their return flights to the UK where at 10.30 or 12 noon?

thanks peeps for the feedback. majority good thus far.

Oh dear! Guess not too surprised as they are already exhibiting similar traits to Bellview. Anyways, booked to fly them this Christmas. Will post my feedbacks then, positive hopefully.

@ admin/Dis guy

My post on this thread(posted yesterday) seem to have disappeared. Whats up?

OPTION 1

£250 plus two angel perfumes(or £50 for each), delayed  and cried for 3 mins, spoke yoruba to a bunch of incompetent fools(some will say victims of the system)

OPTION 2

£99(plus PO commission) at Nigeria Embassy, pass through Immigration control like other people and avoid entertaining greedy fools

OPTION 3

£150 approximately for passport in UK or one done fast track in Naija. Which by the way is valid for 5 years.

Ummmmm, let me toss a coin and see what option I would go for Please help me my nairalanders ,

@ joxiri, thamemead had planned it all along , there was no family emergency about this. From personal experience, inasmuch as Nigeria embassy can be crazy, my visa is always ready to pick up 48 hours after submission. dont know if they have gone crazier since 2007.

justwise is well wise and matter of fact, like your points here mate.

having said that any of these things are possible if you work for a reputable and established company(like Carnal) that use trusted agents for such things.

I have never needed to use them but I feel that if you are applying for these things, you do not need an agent. Read the forms and guidance properly,ask questions from the right people and DIY. So if you get it right , good on you and if you get it wrong, you have nobody else to blame but yourself plus you will not have paid thousands for an agent to use your case as a test run.

Stenaco, I am afraid, you appear to have been conned. Would love to be proved wrong so will hope to get more update from you soon.

@ busy body

Could you clarify your comment please, I am afraid I am having a "blonde" moment. Apologies to any blondes in the house.

If "Benson" is 15 years old then I am "jlo". Even Stevie Wonder knows he ain't 15 years old.

It is really sad but (statistically) true that we are well in the top list for fraud, just behind Pakistan. Whether we like it or not, we are there. Even if we seek to argue that what of the other countries, white collar ,not reported or in the statistic etc, The fact of the matter is "na who dem catch be BARAWO". Perhaps we ought to cover our tracks better.

But back to "Benson", Uncle London-common you can come up with a more believable name, and to top it off, the Oscar nomination for the most cringeworthy moment, (drum roll pls), he kneels down, begs and brings out the toothbrush, I wanted to scream, cry, laugh all in one but I just cried and felt sorry for him.

Bet he is somewhere in the UK now enjoying himself, "unaccompanied minor in a strange land"

well, so the speaking in Yoruba, crying for 3 mins and "giving them something" was in your opinion worth it then? At least you advised that it is not a good idea to travel without visa unless you are prepared to bribe.

Still sad that you had to resort to bribery to fill the pockets of greedy people, which btw you did not have to do and could have avoided totally. As for me I can imagine the embarrassment of crying and having to bribe for putting right something I had done wrong. I guess that is Naija for you.

Lets continue in this vicious circle and see how long it will take us to reach our destination( progress, respect of other nations, regular electricity and water, good education, good roads, affordable and safe health care, good judicial, government and police etcccccccc). Ghana, our neighbours have moved ten steps ahead of us in this regard and I wonder why we are behind ?

Oh another thing Chris-J, given my opinion that your relationship does not appear strong enough for her to be given a visa to come and visit you, if she has other close family in the UK, they may be in a better position to sponsor(as the relationship ties will make more sense). If she is granted a visitor's visa, then you can get to spend more time with her in the UK(since you may be too busy to go over there as often as necessary). That way you can get to know her better and if all goes well, she can return to Naija and you can then go over do the registry wedding and apply for settlement.

I think based on your past experience you are asking the right questions and trying to do the right thing. Good on you.

Chris-j

I think given your personal history(divorced etc) and Immigration history(previous applications you sponsored being refused etc), you cannot afford to let another application be refused, especially with someone you are considering marrying etc. Hence I am not fully in support of her applying as a visitor. As you have rightly pointed out, questions will be asked about what your relationship is with her, what ties she has in Naija that may guarantee that she intends coming back. If as OAM4J suggested, you mention that she is your friend that you intend to marry, this am afraid will make them more jittery that if she comes and you guys don't get on, will she overstay and abscond? if you decide that she is the one, will you marry her in the UK and seek to lodge an application from here, thereby "jumping the queue"?. Not a good idea in my opinion.

It may even be slightly better if she applies as a student but my slight concern with this is that they may question who you are to her and why are you sponsoring her studies. Though the Immigration rules do not clearly state that you have to be related to someone to sponsor them but the stronger the relationship ties, the more they are likely to accept the motive for sponsoring that person. Does she not have close family members in the UK?

The best option, in my humble opinion is that you take the time to visit Nigeria a couple more times(not exactly sure how often you have visited and spent time with her in the past ). If you are 100% sure that she is the one you want to marry(you should know what to look out for by now), then you go to registry in Naija, marry and submit application to the embassy that she joins you in the UK for settlement. You will need to show proof of your previous visits to show that you know her, have spent time with her and this is no "blind love" , pictures you took with her on your previous visits, love letters, birthday/Christmas/valentine cards etc, together with the relevant proof of your status , accommodation etc here in the UK. Submit these in Naija(chances are you will both be interviewed to determine that the marriage is genuine and subsisting) and by God's grace she will be granted settlement.

Any fears as to her "changing" upon arrival in the UK is a matter for you to consider and weigh up, all I can say is everything in life is a risk some higher than others so good luck with that one.

, @mamaarthur scammer, try something else, like a real job!
@poster, Dubai good on holiday but to work etc, not a good idea.invest your money in a business in Nigeria.Gud Luck

@poster

I think the others have said it all, perhaps try doing abit more research before trying to scam people. Who writes up e ticket based on paying 20% upfront anyways. Firstly, it is printed not written, secondly, no airline will confirm your booking by issuing an e ticket, if you pay only 20%, you have to pay the full price or at best 99.9999% of the full price.

Common Poster !the world has wised up to all this. Sad

@mama gee

thanks?Is that suppose to be constructive

Not too bothered about Duty free on board. I have never bought duty free on-board any flight anyways. Much rather buy in world duty free before boarding.

Thanks for the feedback.

Live in London for the past 17 years and been to New York a couple of times. Frankly speaking, no difference in my opinion, both cities are fun when they want to be but I found New York surprisingly dirty, . New York is just another London and in my opinion not somewhere I would like to go again for holiday. Now for shopping? oh yes, will go again but for just 5 days maximum.

Equally as good, equally as bad!

@ Noble Gas

not funny o . Omo Ibo's account scared me abit since we are talking about Nigeria carriers, hope this is not a trend. Sorry if I am not being patriotic and showing faith but track record of Nigerian carriers historically have not been consistently good.

You know what I will take your advice and relax cos 90% of the feedback so far about Arik have been impressive.

would love to have any more feedback though.

What is this I hear about Arik Air cancelling flights and leaving customers stranded about 2 or 3 months ago.? Anyone have any news on this? Constructive feedbacks also welcomed.

Perhaps Arik Air were having an off day(trying to console myself with that thought). I know on their website, they have in advance published dates when certain flights will be cancelled "due to maintenance". I hold my breath for my journey in December and will post any dramas, fingers crossed there will be none.

Anyways all airlines have had cancellations at some point in their history, its the frequency, the level of inconvenience and mitigating customer's loss that reduces complaints.My brother once had VA flight cancelled and he was put up in a hotel overnight, flew out the next day and got a discount off next flight.

Bellview are just on another planet as far as customer service etc are concerned. Again as for BA, the success of this new policy of theirs remains to be seen.

@OMO IBO

Are you sure that was Arik Air? what you have described bears the hallmark of Bellview and their issues for the past month or so. If anybody else heard of this incident with Arik Air, please post o, so that everyone will be on the look out. I have booked my ticket to Naija for Christmas with them and I am quietly praying that there will be no drama.

As for BA, they may just have shot themselves in the foot with this. Just try to make back their loss from the customers, which frankly in my opinion is disgusting. Is it not standard or even common sense that families who book together and check in together should seat together without having to pay extra for that privilege. So that means if some people have paid the extra in advance to secure preferred seats, on the day of travel at check in, I come with my family of four and because there are no longer four empty seats together, my 3 year old will sit next to a stranger, while 5 year old next to another, hubby somewhere else and moi, sitting by the toilet.

What a load of crap. Good luck BA, lets see how this pans out.

that fear will forever be there unless the passport is being sent by special courier service(hardly with Nigerian HC)

Well lets see. Will let you know what option I go for.

thanks Chis J. that sounds a breeze. May give it a try.

LOL    .

I do think they are trying to be patriotic given the national football team. still not too keen on the name though.

oh another thing

@thamemead, I see you have decided to get the visa then rather than bribe your way through at MM Lagos. Good on you.

@Chris j

I am looking to apply for my visa(plus my two boys) shortly and was dreading taking the time off from work and spending the whole day there(even though I work at Strand). The on line application looks very appealing and I am keen to explore that but just don't want to get there and I get shouted at for getting it wrong.

What did you have to do? did you just complete the form and pay the fee on line? How long before you were able to get your visa?

Bellview again? not surprised. I think there ought to be some kind of health or code red warning against that airline.

Tried to make enquiries about bellview when booking tickets for my family trip to naija for Christmas(hubby insisted it was cheaper after much arguments). The Agency(Indian runned) was kind enough to inform me from the outset that he was obliged to bring to my attention Bellview's unreliability and poor service, however he said if I still wanted to proceed, he was happy to book for us-I promptly dropped the phone and told my hubby to fly bellview on his own and the kids and I will fly another airline.

Suffice to say, hubby agreed and we have booked Arik together-I hope we wont be let down.

Though never used them, but 95% of the reviews I have heard are bad(infact atrocious), so avoid them at all COST.(forgive the pun)