₦airaland Forum

As someone who grew up in Oluyole Estate and know that road like the back of my hand, I think this is some seriously misplaced priorities by the governor. They've 'done' this road before so why not focus on other areas. Oluyole Industrial Estate is right there and somehow every governor has chosen to ignore it. The Estate contains (or at least used to contain) some of the bigger consumer good manufacturing companies (7up, P&G, Sumal, Yale etc) and the road connecting to those are the worst they have ever been. We talk about Ibadan not being able to generate money but imagine how many more companies would have been interested in moving to that estate if the road was done and how much tax they can generate from that.

They could have even tried expanding the road from Mile 110 leading all the way to Dugbe and especially where it turns to Aleshinloye as that spot is always problematic. I really thought having an engineer for a governor will bring some much needed educated lens as to how to address the road issues in Ibadan but i guess not. SMH.

Hi lovely peeps. I'm trying to help my dad book for an appointment and I believe he qualifies for interview waiver/dropbox. The thing is once I made the payment and added the confirmation details, I got the message that says further information would be sent to his email address and we've been waiting for almost a week for the email. Is this typical or should I be worried? Thanks and appreciate any and all feedback

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention Behind your touch airing on Netflix currently. It stars Lee min ki (because this is my first life, my liberation notes) and Han ji-min ( our blues) and is very funny

Not entirely accurate. TurboTax can be used to prepare returns for US citizens and "resident aliens for tax purposes" . I used turbotax as an F1 student because I was considered a resident alien for tax purposes. I personally wouldn't recommend turbotax though because it's known to have dark patterns while filing taxes on the website where they want to trick users to get their paid version instead.

Hisexcellency20:
Turbo tax is for US citizens/PRs/resided in the US for 5+ years. If you are a non-resident, please use springtax. I know a lot of non-residents use turbo tax to get more refunds, it is not right! Do the right thing to avoid "had I know".

Hello lovely people. Please I have a question. I applied for my parent's visitor visa to Canada and got approved. They have received the passport request and I have a couple of questions

I was reading the VFS site and was a bit confused by the documents/payment required.

My parents completed their biometrics at the Lagos location

It appears the requirements are:

The passport request letters for both applicants
A consent form for both applicants
The transmission fee- which they are exempt from since the Biometrics covers this and they are going to the same lagos location to drop-off
the 1-way courier for 1 package - want to clarify if this will cover both applicants or if the fee is per applicant
confirm that an appointment isn't required for drop-off

Also can we mail it to the location instead of a physical drop-off?

Please if anyone has gone through a similar situation or knows what to do, I'm open to advice. Thanks!

nwauwa:
Dates are open now for IW.

My parents submitted their IW yesterday, no questions or interview. Appointment was for 7:45am, my dad was on the queue by 7:15am and he was out by 7:30am. On Tuesday night, we received eved an email that we should fill a new DS-160 forms if the one we submitted was older than 6 months ago. I quickly filled a new one for my mum(hers was filled June last year, my dad, this Jan) . I tried to update her DS-160 but I could not so I simply printed the new confirmation and attached it to the old one.

Putting it out for anyone that might be in same shoes

Hi, my parents got the same email. Please quick question, were you attempting to add the new ds-160 confirmation on the interview application page? Did they encounter any issues with just printing the new confirmation and taking it along with the previous one?

Hello, I'd like to send an item from USA to Nigeria https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZY5VF6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

blackmamba147:
Does it not make more sense if he applies for a B1/B2 visa instead, If the purpose is just to visit, Might be difficult to convince the VO that your husband qualifies for F1.

I'm guessing you probably meant F2 in your second sentence? The purpose is not to just visit for a short period which is why we are going that route since I am here on F1.

Good day guys, Not sure where else to put this as I tried checking if there was a dedicated thread for F2 visas but couldn't find one. I am currently in the process of trying to get my husband to join me with an F2 visa. We have tried to go over possible questions that he could be asked and while I'm fairly confident with our preparation for most questions I am not 100% on two possible questions.

1. Why he wants to join me in the US
2. What he hopes to do while he is here.

As you can imagine answering these in an unsatisfactory way could easily set the tone for the interview and I would like to avoid that. The truth is I don't have any intentions of leaving the US until the end of my OPT Stem extension and we recently got married and we would very much like to be together in the same physical location. I'm just wondering the best way to convey why we don't want to be apart as we begin our married life.

I know that he definitely can't work on F2 neither can he be enrolled as a full time student unless he applies for a change of status, but if we were to say he was to take online courses while here, is that reason good enough for Question 2?

I would greatly appreciate if anyone that has been in this situation(or knows someone) could share their thoughts and experiences regarding F2 visa interview (preferably for husbands applying). If there is also a thread already for this, I wouldn't mind being directed there.

Thanks.

QSola:
Use GTB

Elfmannisback:
Use GT naira card.. One dial.

Thank you very much, that worked!!

Good evening everyone,

Please I have a question regarding PR Fees payment. I have a friend who is in Nigeria and currently trying to pay the application fees online but is getting 'Transaction no approved- 481 declined error'. I helped by doing a bit of digging online and noticed some people that had experienced this before had issues with their banks not giving prior approval for international transactions on their cards or incorrect details. However I was wondering if there was a specific reason for this decline that we were not aware of like restriction on Naira Mastercards etc. He tried using a Wema Debit Mastercard to pay. Can any one advise accordingly, please?

Thanks in advance.

Hephgirl:
FBI pcc tho
TeamAugust and no show o... na wa

On the same boat

DareFadi:
Hehehehe .... this na 2 against 1 ooo.

Its very possible, 20 hours a week is 80 hours a month. .... in my time many years ago the pay like $11.50 a hour making it $920 a month, the tax on that is very little so easily $800 during semester and double that during holiday . That was donkey years ago, the wages should be more than $11.50 now working with a prof or residence life or been a student assistance and the tax usually is little for low earners.

I agree with this, as a GA i earn more than that for 20hours after taxes.

chigozieduru:
Hi guys, I'm Chigozie and I'm already schooling here in the US but I'm quite in a dilemma. I just finished my third year and when the Fall semester starts in August I'll be in my final year. However I'm an orphan, lost the only parent I have and it's been hard to pay my tuition. I have a scholarship that covers half of the tuition but not all so I've been trying to find options. I work during normal semester and from there I pay bills like rent, food, & all those essentials. I've spoken to the intl. office but they are really tight on funds so they can't increase my scholarship at the moment. I currently have a back bill that needs to be paid before I can enroll for Fall.

Back to the main topic, I spoke with a female friend like me who's Nigerian whom I met through my flatmate and you guys won't believe what they told me. She said I would have to escort and it pays well she even introduced me to someone who says if I want to be an adult movie model then no problem. This my friend escort as well but I'm confused right now. Should I do it please? I just want others opinion. Thanks in advance guys x

Don't do it!!! No No No. It's not worth it, and please if you can jejely move away from the female 'friend' who gave such advice, that would be good too. Someone rightfully suggested you go to your international office and state your financial hardship so you might work more hours. If you attend a church this is the time to seek financial help from people even if it means swallowing your pride. Help comes from the strangest places. Whatever it is you have to do escort business no be am o. Even if you want to ignore the morality issues, you are aware you are in a country filled with crazy serial killers that target those kind of women right?

don4ye:
If not for God what will my Israel say? I picked my passport today, as I was coming to Ibadan, we ran into robbers.. All I can hear is kill anybody kill able... Thanks to God almighty , thanks to Army and police .. Arrived Iwo rd 10:55pm..

wow...Thank God!!

aadeyi:
It's not new now..... For like 3month now, I can only withdraw $140/#45k equivalent depending on d exchange rate for dat day on my Fidelity card and $500 online.

At times I had to go to d atm by 5.30 pm so that I can collect for 2days at once, one b4 6pm and one after 6pm, it will be 12am in naija by then

Funniest thing I've read this week.

sirRiddy:
E seun . How is your internship going?

I'm just going to start, leaving for minnesota on sunday. That's why I'm asking for someone that would be there around that time because the company is filled with mostly whites.

Mekurexx:
I'll be going to Minnesota. Leaving by first week of Aug.

when will you be going?

sirriddy, congrats o and welcome to obamaland, meanwhile is anyone here going to be around austin, minnesota anytime from June to august? let me know so we can hangout on some weekends.

Please has anyone in the IT field here taken the EMC Data scientist associate exam before?

olayomi:
Hello house, please does being engaged prove enough strong ties to Nigeria?
Also, VO asks most people what they will be working on...as in research project and all.
I have my I-20 but before I contact my advisor and select courses for the semester, the school advised I must have gotten a visa...what do I do in case of being asked such a question?

Kindly advise please.

to answer your second question, it depends. If your course is research based most likely you know the area of research you are pursuing from communications with your professor etc. If it's not a research based course, you can explain that. Sometimes VOs ask instead if you know the courses you would be taking, and usually your advisor sends a list of courses with their descriptions. You can always contact the advisor and ask questions even if you can't register for courses yet.

obiaguna:
Hi Chief. Thanks for reaching out. Are you currently studying in the US? Is the GRE prep stuff something I can download and save on my system so I can access it from time to time. I was thinking my GPA was really low cos someone up there didn't get funding with his first class GPA so pardon my fears. I also intend drawing up a comprehensive reading plan and strictly adhere to it. Thanks for reaching out again. I appreciate.

Yes I am. Yes its intended for you to download and access offline. But it chops data to download initially but once you get it you are good to go
here's the link www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/?WT.ac=grehome_greprepare_c_150213. it's the powerprep 2.2 version. it's from the official gre website so no mago mago

obiaguna:
I'm neither but I studied finance and I'm currently working in finance. I'm working with a giant start up in Nigeria (but my salary no giant at all)lol. So I developed interest in data analytics/business analytics as accounting/finance is too mundane for me. I already subscribed to Arizona state University and they actually stated that there were opportunities for funding but I haven't emailed the school to know if I qualify(I don't know if that's the right way to go about it). I finished with a 3.4/5 cgpa. What do you think?

Your profile is somewhat close to mine. I moved from Economics to Management Information System. Take the GRE exam, prepare hard and set a score target for yourself. I don't know what you are using to prepare but if you can also get the GRE prep exam from the website that really helps because it simulates the real online exam experience (timing etc). Your cgpa is even ok, mine wasn't even close. Like Slimmy said look for safe schools for funding. If you get high GRE scores trust me nobody will even need to motivate you further. I remember when I took my GMAT, I was so sad till I saw my scores on the screen. I was grinning like a village idiot.

LUCAS99:
Easier said than done. Hopefully when you arrive you will understand how the system is structured. From my observation only a very few people make it. Many more end up with just maybe a greencard and a United states passport to boast of after spending 10 years to 20 years abroad and only live paycheck to paycheck and are even ashamed to go back home.

I respectfully disagree with what you said here. only a very few people make it? that depends on your definition of make it. There are quite a number of Nigerians here who are middle income earners and even few that are high income earners. How is that different from the reality on ground in Nigeria? Like sureboy rightfully said the system was not structured for foreigners to necessarily wait behind after education but we choose to take advantage of that (I will be guilty of this too in some months). It's all about information and strategy, whoever lives 10-20yrs living from paycheck to paycheck here would most likely have lived that same way if he/she was in Naija.

The American dream is no different from the Lagos dream. It's not a promise of fulfillment but a promise of opportunities, if you understand this you can never be frustrated over here. You have your reasons for expressing regret probably because you were misinformed. The bills you complain about are still doing something right? you get electricity, water etc. You also end up seeing result of your taxes. It's a system that works for them. Is it perfect? Nope.

I don't think the GA can cover all the costs anyway. There is always some thing extra that you will pay, but it may be little. You should still be prepared to present financial statements.

imperiouxx:
When we came back to US in Dec, we weren't well informed. We took delta airline that had to first stop at Atlanta. We made mistake of not grinding the melon seed and was seized. They told us we should have grind it. Dried and ground seeds enter. Poultry produce including maggi chicken are not allowed. We have crayfish in another bag, which they didn't check/seize, so we don't know if it was skipped by chance or not. The ground pepper and ogbono were checked and passed. The Nigerian inspector at Atlanta's agric screening gave us a paper that contains info on this website: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/home The guy said if you have herbs, it must be soaked in alcohol or water before they can allow it in. But by then I have already given up on delta airline. We were later told that the restrictions at NY airports is not as tough as that in Atlanta.

Atlanta POE is legendary for seizing all sorts of things, I am never flying Delta Airlines again. I have never had issues flying in from a foreign country (amsterdam and spain) directly to O'Hare. At atlanta my indomie got seized i nearly cried.

anikemoses:
Noodles and Maggi Chicken to the best of my knowledge is prohibited,in all just ensure u declare all the food items u have on u when the manifest will be given to u,it's always done when ur enroute Dubai to US.during my time i declared everything and when i got to the POE i was told that it will be subjected to secondary examination which didn't take up to 5mins...

That noodles and maggi chicken ish depends on your POE. I remember when my sister flew in through atlanta, the items were seized but when my parents flew dubai to US in november the items weren't seized.

sureb0y:
Oh... great idea! thanks for the contribution/info. my question tho... do these assistantships from other departments/non-academic offices come with tuition waivers and insurance coverage?

They usually do, but they normally state it in the job description if its going to be full tuition waiver or half. If it's not there then you can contact the office through the contact details that will be attached. Just make sure you take advantage of all the options out there and don't hesitate to ask questions.

I noticed that a lot of people have been asking questions relating to Graduate Assistant positions. I want to suggest that people shouldn't just focus on GA positions within the department they are seeking admission. Also go to the job hiring site of the school and check for available GA positions in other non-academic offices on campus. If you can reach out to other Nigerians that hold GA positions in the schools you are interested in, that could help too. For example here at NIU, being referred is the easiest way to get a GA position especially if the person doing the referral has impressed his employers.

sureb0y:
I went through some replies on this thread, I must say. while most of them have been informative, helpful, interesting to read, great, etc. some of them have been disappointing. What works for Mr A may NOT work for Mr B. I know how nice it is to get someone's opinion and/or read about one's experience, it is not enough to judge future results solely based on the any of these. I remember how many people still believe getting LLB, MBBS, Nursing degrees are the only ways to succeed in life. The instant you say for example: Geography Major, or something similar, they start laughing at you like you have made the biggest mistake of your life. People have different circumstances, people are unique. Understand someone's circumstance before you criticize/advise and when you do, be constructive and not destructive with your criticisms.
I am not totally comfy with the idea that saying you got to know about a school through online research works against you (only saying it in a kind of generic, uninspiring, crammed way could do this... COULD). Seriously?!!!, sometimes that's the only way we get to know about these schools. some people don't have friends or relatives abroad who would tell them about a school or city/state (In some cases, saying a relative told you about a school in their city could make the VO think you're planning to get closer to them so as to immigrate). That's why the internet is there! I understand it's boring to just give a generic answer, there are better ways to put it to the VO and you should still give them the impression that you know what you're really doing (my opinion).
Secondly, "This is exactly the reason why VOs deny those that reply they applied to only one school". Is this how it really is? That's gonna be disappointing if true. Again, different circumstances for different people. You could have a plan to submit applications to 5 schools. First application. decision. positive + full funding, what's the point in going ahead with the other ones? is 1/5 success better than 1/1? These VOs dey frustrate people sha.
My point is: Understand where someone is coming from before you criticize/advise. It's like advising someone who studied Guidance and Counselling (Faculty of Education) to try to jump to Computer science MSc because the degree is in demand abroad. Discouraging them from pursuing a teaching post-graduate degree cos you think there's no future. If they're interested in it, motivated to do it, people can be whatever they wanna be!
People make mistakes. if the mistake is irreversible, don't make them feel like the world is gonna end before morning. Advise them on how to do better, we are all here to learn.
This isn't an attack on anyone. No offence intended o. It is my opinion and your critiques are welcome.

Moving on now, I just got an admission offer. Oklahoma State University. That's the only school I applied to. waiting for their funding decision. it's usually a tuition waiver plus stipend of 11k per annum + insurance coverage. If them gimme, I fit no bother to waste time with other applications. The graduate coordinator don turn my padi sef. He helped me contact the right people, they waived the $75 application fee for me when I dey apply.

While I understand what you just wrote here, you need to realise that when you are on a public forum it is expected that not all comments or advice that you receive will be useful or relevant to your situation. The onus lies on whoever is receiving such information to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I remember when I was asked how many schools I applied to at the embassy and I said just two and only one gave me admission. I still got my student visa then. A lot of answers people give here is not so much "only one answer" but rather "increasing your chances" kind of answers.

Let me take one of the issues you raised as an example. If Mr. A is advising Mr. B that wants to study guidance and counselling to study something related to computer science instead because of Job opportunity and getting visa, then Mr. B should realise that if he really wants to study guidance and counselling, he has to be prepared with a very good reason to convince the V.O when asked why he chose that course. It's as simple as that.