₦airaland Forum

Just to add my 2 cents to this visa for intending travellers to the US for child birth issue.

My wife had our baby in the US earlier in the year and we paid all bills.

Fast forward to December, I was applying for a work visa to go to the US with wifey from the US consulate in Melbourne. I have read the stories here about the increased scrutiny for people who birthed their babies in the US, so me and wifey decided to go fully prepared and not take any chances even though we interviewed outside Nigeria and thought our chances were brighter.

Transcript as follows;

VO: Why are you going to the US
Me: Company is transferring me to our related company there for XYZ period
VO: Are you going with your wife and any other family;
Me. Yes, my wife and 10 months old baby
VO: But your baby's passport is not here
Me: We had him in the US earlier this year so he has a US passport
VO; When was the last time you were in the US on your work visa
Me: April 2017. I travelled again for child birthing early this year on a B1/B2
VO became stern at this point and was typing furiously on his monitor. He faces my wife;

VO: Did you take advantage of any medical benefits in the US, what hospital did you use and how much did you pay. What visa were you on when you had your baby.
Wife: We paid all our bills and have a zero balance letter from all the services used. I used XYZ hospital in Texas and had a C section and my best estimate of total bill incurred is around $13k (slips all payment receipts and zero balance letters to him.) I was on a B1/B2 visa which I obtained prior to getting married but notified the Lagos consulate of change in intention prior to travel (slips letter of change in intention and consulate's response to VO).
VO: (After taking his time to peruse through the well labelled documents) I will be approving your visas. You will receive your passport in the mail box within 10 working days from today.

My observation
The Visa officers across all the locations have become more thorough with people that have had babies in the US in the recent past.
This is irrespective of your rich travel history. if anything, that puts you under more scrutiny, Between my wife and I, we have been to the US more than 10 times in the last 3 years.
Our itemized bill had a little bit of adjustment on it for self pay patient. We decided not to brandish this unless we were asked. Thankfully, the VO did not request for it.
We might have had the luck of not interviewing in Nigeria. An itemized bill may have been compulsorily requested leading to a fresh round of Q&A. This was avoided.
Success rate for visa applicants are very high at the Melbourne consulate and the VOs and other admin officers were more courteous. Completely opposite to what I have witnessed at the Lagos consulate on my two past visits. There were 3 interview windows with a barrier to conceal the interviewee from the other people waiting in line. I thought that was more dignifying.
The visa interview was not a breeze and I ended up answering more questions than I initially anticipated. It was clear to me that the tone at the top has cascaded to every rank and file in the US consulates across the world.
Note that I went in for a work visa interview but the interview was less about my work and nature of what I do but more about my wife that had a baby earlier in the year.
We anticipated the worst even though we had a good case for a visa and also a good location. All the questions we dreaded were asked. You just cannot be over prepared.
Most importantly, I was at peace with myself knowing that if the visa was not approved, I was going to stay back in Australia which I was quite hesitant of leaving for the US.

All the best guys

ame shit that happens everyday when I once presided over the association. This is not news worthy..just some opposition members to the President concoting some stories and capitalizig on the proliferation of the media. Btw, there was also no exchange of blows anywhere or picture of bloodstains. As rowdy as our sessions usually was back then...it was just about intellectual discussions. Its typical of students to manufacture nonexistent figures as proceeds from major programs even without having the slightest idea whether such events were run on 100% borrowing. Its the duty of the president to clear the air if given the chance to but typically...the propaganda, lies and rumours would have gotten to a boiling point as is the case here.

Too late to find your balls Mr. President. Wish you had these balls all this years (wasted years)

DSS.. As Daft a their paymaster

Yea it was at unilag two months ago where Steven & Otj did NUASA OAU proud, its so impressive that Coker & Otj have repeated the feat again at Yabatech. Kudos to my alma mata. You guys rock and please keep the flag flying

cant shout BB jo.

Inasmuch as i am weary at totally declaring Ribadu a saint, we must not fail to lose sight of the caliber of people this guy dealt with. I still insist that if ribadu is indeed corrupt as he his being painted to be why did it take the likes of Ibori and his cohorts this long to begin to talk( and even in trickles without any meaningful claim or substance to back their claims).
Nigerians should know that Ribadu dealt with people who can afford to pay any amout to get information that will totally bring Ribadu into disrepute if he had been insincere all this while.They have eyez and agents world over and also have the money to fish out any unwholesome practice Ribabu might have commited while in office or even before or after he left offive, yet so much time has passed and they are still chasing shadows.
I just want us to give Mr Ribadu the benefit of a doubt and i dont care if am hated for this but Ribadu is a rare breed of public officers and it might take us a while to find some one like him.[sub][/sub]Can u put your life on th line for a just course?

Thank God i read this piece, was about going there this wknd to complain about my Nokia N95 that fell into water and has been malfunctioning ever since. I just thought i was going to arm myself with my reciept and my warranty claim, and that'll do the magic. Na wa o

This is the country where the good guys are made fugitives while the bad/corrupt/incompetent fools that call themselves rulers are made to reign supreme. God have mercy.
For those nailing this guy, i hope u now know the difference considering what Abuja has turned out to be since his exit.

By their fruits you shall know them. I don't think i expect any thing less from the Sun news publication. which has been a proven platform for crook politicians like their benefactor to air the views. As for Mr Ibori, why did it take you this long to start putting up a defence. NIGERIANS  are not fools

greatly missed MJ.I thought i could hold bck the tears at his memorial bt hell no.stil d best av ever known. RIP MJ

Education is the main thing about dealing with stocks. All we see on daily basis are companies esp Banks coming to the market to solicit for funds witout taking time to educate the investing public thru forums on what or what not not to do with thier stocks in the nearest future.
Let me make a quick distinction between two major classes of investors viz Institutional investors and speculative ones. An Institutional investor, say a company buys these stocks en bloc hoping to get capital appreciation and dividends on the their investments but more emphasis is placed on the dividend aspect cos it constitutes a large part of their investment income in their books and these amounts are usually large.
For the average investor like you and me who mostly subcribe for minimal holdings, the amount we get as dividend is mostly always insignificant and what should matter to us most should be the capital appreciation on these shares . Speculative trade should be the main aim for those of us that fall under this category as against just keeping the certificates and boasting about the little appreciation every now and then. It should be noted that stocks are not meant to be held indefinately as is the practice here in 9ja , instead it should always xchange hands as frequently as possible . The market value of your share does not have to drop before you trade in it , you can always get a better stock if u are willing to speculate and trying to get the stock with the best growth potential.
Our stock market is devoid of life mostly because of the ''sit tight investors '' we have around and we need to make it more volatile in order to attract more foreign interest into the system.
The keyword should be '' DONT HOLD ON TO YOUR SHARES WHEN YOU HAVE NO GOOD REASON TO DO SO '' . Some bumper opportunity may just be passing you buy.
Further enligtenment is required,

Talking abt 9ja Soap , the soap that has the best story lines will most certainly be the superstory series but talking about total production package , i give it to tajudeen adepetu i.e Domino.

Timaya hot like fire oo,
Gosh , i could'nt believe i have been grooving to an old buddie's song all this while until i confirmed from sum old classmate of mine today. The face on that album barely looks like the timi i once knew and believe me he has really changed.

Believe me this guy is just destined for the mainstream entertainment industry. I can recall we went to the same secondary school and were in the same class in SS1L as art students in IKGS oshodi bck in 2001. His real name is Timi.

I know him to be this kind down to earth guy, very funny( u'll always have sumthing to say anytime he steps into the class) , mischievious and always making use of all available free period in class to sing & rap while drumming with his chest and desk,always running from teachers cos he can't just be serious for a second .

The main thing that endeared me to him was that despite his seeming unserious nature , his command of english language was excellent and he was a ladies man , always had enough ''effizi'' on his school uniform( Not the correct school uniform) .

Despite the fact that we all looked down on him as a ''never do well'' back then , am just happy he channeled his God given talent to a more productive use as against all the vices we knew him for then and he's making the best out of his new celebrity status.

The main lesson here be say ''NO BE EVERY BODY GO BE GRADUATE BEFORE THEY HAMMER ''. Just follow your dreams religiously and guard them jealously irrespective of what people think or say , and the sky is the limit .

Thumbs up Timmy

u definately won't go out wit an enemy. It sure is difficult goin out wit a close friend cos there's a high tendency of finding out more abt the person that may piss u off than u know wen u guys are in the platonic and dealing with such circumstances can be pretty difficult cos u are neck deep in it, if u knw wat i mean. Basically,i think it all depends on the maturity of the dudes involved but my verdict is that it is better dating sum1 u knw (close friend) than a total stranger.