₦airaland Forum

Lolli2pop:
Hey fam,

Please quick question- i have an appointment for my son’s first nigerian passport. He is 2 now and since its a fresh passport contactless is not available to us.

The appointment is on Tuesday at 11am and on the appointment letter it only says to come with the appointment letter, application form, special delivery envelope and £20 postal order. I have been wondering if i am required to go with my 2 years old or if i can attend alone. Also, i was wondering if i could go earlier than my appointment time. Say 9am.

Please responses from individuals who have attended an appointment recently will be preferred as i heard the consulate have altered its operations.

Please can someone help on this?

Hey fam,

Please quick question- i have an appointment for my son’s first nigerian passport. He is 2 now and since its a fresh passport contactless is not available to us.

The appointment is on Tuesday at 11am and on the appointment letter it only says to come with the appointment letter, application form, special delivery envelope and £20 postal order. I have been wondering if i am required to go with my 2 years old or if i can attend alone. Also, i was wondering if i could go earlier than my appointment time. Say 9am.

Please responses from individuals who have attended an appointment recently will be preferred as i heard the consulate have altered its operations.

erico2k2:
Good Luck

Fingers crossed sir, by the way just to add.. if you were schooling in the UK in 2000 then you are definitely way older than i am. I was born only in 1999 lool , so I am sure your experiences in life and wisdom surely surpasses mine hence all your perspectives. That is very understandable sir.

erico2k2:
Well I wont ask anyone to bring stuff for me cos I know the answer, from your own admission you have never known anyone other than yourself who will bring stuff, You said 10 years in the Uk, well you only arrived last night, some of us have been here for 30 years, I came to school here 2000, and only lived in London so I think I pass for experience if you put it that way. I am opportune to do some Jobs in Prisons around the Uk, you will be surprised the numbers of persons in jail for carrying something they know nothing about, there are loads of stories to give you but no point. You see the way you are asking this questions, its the same way drug traffickers source innocent persons on line to carry stuff for them, If truly indeed you have lived in the UK for 10 years are you trying to tell us you have never ever [b]shipped [/b]anything to Nigeria from the Uk in the whole 10 years you have been in the UK

Lool i didn’t arrive last night i only arrived this morning😁, Good to hear you have been here since 2000.

I ship alot of food items through lordtaylor cargo. They are in Dagenham and i live in east so they really work for me. But did u see my previous post where i mentioned i don’t want to use them because i am not sure if the outfit will arrive before i need to use it.

Anyways Mr Erico thank you for your contributions and thoughts, i get the gist.

Please anyone who can help kindly send a DM, thank you in advance.

erico2k2:
Look savce yourself the head ache that c o mes with you not using your dress, Nobody will bring it I can hit my chest to tell you this ,Even you speaking will not carry anything for a person you don't know unless you are the one who done it in Nigeria and is returning to the UK,I will not even think anyone this 2026 will transport a grand of salt for anyone they do not know. Have you not seen the depth people go to hide stuff?There is a reason you are asked at the airport if you packed all of the luggage yourself. From the way you are talking you sound as if you will bring something for a stranger from Nigeria or anywhere i n the world, if this is t rue you must be a new traveller, DONT, If you live in London there are bunch of air freight people in south and north of London, you get your goods 4 days max cos it comes via air.Do you have any idea of how many people are rotting in prison for this simple gesture? If you are near Plumstead, there is a guy that does air cargo at the other end of Plumstead high street SE2 opp the petrol station, not shell but the other one, Plumstead high street junction with Bastion road SE2 I'm trying to remember the name or you can also go to the Nigerian barbers near the Plumstead fire service. On Lakedale road, they are Nigerians.
Also if you are in the East, there are shyte load of shipping companies owned by Nigerians in Dagenham

Okayy erico2k2, you don’t know me. If it was me I would carry an item for someone once i am rest assured its safe to do so. I have lived in the uk for almost 10 years now. I am going to Nigeria in August and thankfully i have more than enough baggage allowance. Do you need anything from Nigeria? Let me know , so far u cn pick up when i arrive London.


I am not offended by any of the things u said but with individuals like you i just love to help people like you see that not everyone thinks like you. It looks like you are so locked up in yourself , your mind and your own ways.

Don’t worry if someone here helps me i would tell you.

Side note- please if you want to refer a shipping company, a website or at least a contact number will suffice. Your descriptions are a bit over load for me lool.

erico2k2:
Bross U seriously thinking someone will bring something for you from 9ja who dont know you ?or nah something else you dey find info on

Firstly sir, I am not a bross. Yes actually it’s to bring an outfit i made in Nigeria. I was meant to use lordtaylor shipping company but the tailor disappointed and delivered quite late so i am just scared that if i use them it wont arrive before i need it. So i was happy to meet up at Heathrow if the person lives outside london or the persons house if he/she is london based.

I understand alot of people try to be careful with things like because of the risk of unknowingly carrying a prohibited item. i still think it comes down to a heart that is open to truly helping, there is still such a thing as risk assessment- if you were for example coming from lagos, you could firstly start by asking what item i was looking to bring. If it was me that would be my first comment/question at least.

I am not sure i have heard of tailors who can hide cocaine in the thread used to stitch the materials loool or perhaps was the material used to sew the clothes made from cocaine.

Anyways forgive me if non of these makes sense to you. If anyone also know of a dispatch company that could surely deliver next week please let me know as well((except the usual likes of dhl , parcel force and ups that is extremely pricey)

Hi guys please is anyone coming to the UK from lagos before the dnd of March?? Kindly reach out please

giselle237:
Not required. Make sure parents have NIN.

Thank you Giselle for your response. That requirement on the document upload page has a red asterisk showing it is mandatory before i proceed. Would you advise I upload copies of mother and father NIN in that section ?

Hey fam please i was about applying for a fresh nigerian passport for my son. It looks like there is a new requirement from the last screen on the application portal - requirement to provide Local government certificate of indigeneship/attestation of citizenship from the Embassy.

My son is from imo state by the way… please how have people here navigated this requirement??

Zahra29:
They can use their most recent (expired ) passports for the application if they are not able to renew in time.

They could also provide evidence that they have applied and are waiting to renew their passports.

Please did you get this information from a particular source? I am just wondering if an expired passport will still classify as valid proof of ID. They have no other IDs again.

bigtt76:
Do they need the Nigerian passport to apply for ILR? Why don't they opt for using the NIS app instead?

Yes they need their nigerian passport. Because for example even when attending a biometric, tthis will be their only available vaild proof of Id they both have.

Hi family, please i know 2 ladies that need to apply for an ILR in October . They are both mothers so it skipped their mind to check the validity on their Nigerian parents. To keep the story short they need to apply for ILR by october and the nigerian high commission has given them an appointment in December for passport renewal.

Please does anyone have any contacts here in London that could help these ladies. Because they have no other option.

Lolli2pop:
Hi Guys, please a quick question for those who have become british citizens through the spousal visa route. My husband is british and having obtained my ILR last year , i was now planning to apply for citizenship. The form is asking for my husband naturalisation certificate number. My husband became a citizen since 2014, so he literally replaced his certificate. We also don’t want to pay 500 for a replacement, so i was wondering if i could put in a value like N/A in the response and just suit his british passport alongside other documents.


I really wonder why they would ask for this certificate number and not passport number. Someone who has a passport surely definitely acquired a certificate at some point

Here guys.. please has anyone got an answer to this

jedisco:
Truth be said, I was looking at #TSLA the other day and wondered if to break ranks and take a bite with my 'risk portfolio' but mind no gree me- hands are tied too. Im curious .. what do u really think of TSLA?

Markets have been good though.
Kudos to the person who filled their ISA on April 6. Chap is over 20% up and counting.

Hi which trading platform do you use? And why

Hi Guys, please a quick question for those who have become british citizens through the spousal visa route. My husband is british and having obtained my ILR last year , i was now planning to apply for citizenship. The form is asking for my husband naturalisation certificate number. My husband became a citizen since 2014, so he literally replaced his certificate. We also don’t want to pay 500 for a replacement, so i was wondering if i could put in a value like N/A in the response and just suit his british passport alongside other documents.


I really wonder why they would ask for this certificate number and not passport number. Someone who has a passport surely definitely acquired a certificate at some point

Hi guys, please i have a situation. I am travelling to Nigeria in about 48hrs with a baby. My bay has a britissh passport but not a nigerian passport. I have a valid naigerian passport.


Will the best option to make my way to the nigerian high commision to apply for an ETC or would it be best to do a visa on arrival??

Also which one is the least expensive option? And for the ETC would i need to go with him please?

Hi guys, i know this might not be the right place for such things but i will appreciate if anyone knows a better thread for such things.

A dear brother based in Lagos who owns a very small business got scammed of 13 million naira when he was trying to make payment for some goods. He transferred the money to an individual with a zenith account. He spoke to one of the account managers there who claimed the scammer has withdrawn the money. Please does anyone know any other steps that can be taken to retrieve this fund.

Hi guys, someone I know applied for a uk visa from Nigeria via an agent. The agent used false documents. The individual has now been banned . Please how have people handled this in the past? Can he appeal?? Anyone had any success?

jedisco:
A good starting point is understanding what ISAs are. ISAs is the umbrella term for your tax free saving allowance of 20k. Its like a tree which then has different subdivisions such as LISA, S&S ISA, Cash ISA e.t.c. I've found this site useful in explaining the whole concept : https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/isa-guide-savings-without-tax/

Now to LISAs - Its a seperate bucket under your ISA where the government tops up your contribution by 25% but this can only be used penalty-free for 2 purposes: buying your first home or at retirement. There is also an exemption if one is terminally ill. Also worth noting that you can't currently use it to buy a house that costs more than 450k - something to consider as you're in London.


First is to decide if you want to save for your home in a LISA or normal ISA or both. To many, filling a LISA first is preferable as you get the 25% rebate. With the money (your deposit + govt rebate) now in a LISA, you then decide what you want to do with it. Do you leave it in cash and get 1- 4% per annum without the risk of loosing money or do you invest it in S&S with potential for much higher returns but risk of losing some capital. If investing, the next question is do you buy individual companies (st0cks) or do you buy a basket comparising a large amount of companies (i.e fvnds). Fvnds which are my preference, if well chosen are cheaper, little hassle and historically return 7-10% pa. There's the risk you may lose some money when investing but if you your time frame is long enough (3-5 yrs and above), you would likely come out much better when invested properly. The risk is actually holding cash. Remember guaranteed interest on cash would struggle to match inflation and is unlikely to keep up with house prices.
When deciding on whether to go with solo st0cks or buy a collection, I've found this short video series quite good in explaining the concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4KEJQ_Z5U

I'd give an example (pictured)- after buying my place, I decided to continue investing in my LISA for retirement purposes. This time I went with S&S against cash. Its maxed out for the financial year and invested for under 8 months in the named fvnd. Returns so far (aside government rebate) is over 9%. Granted the last 2 years have been exceptionally good for markets but it'd take 3 years for same amount in cash to bring same return if the interest rate was 3%. I say 3% cos though you might get higher now, rates are likely to fall as BOE drops rates. Interest rates on cash were 1% is not too long ago. While saving for my place, I used a cash ISA+ LISA but with what I know now, I'd save in S&S if I'm doing it again.
Thesame concept largely also applies to how pension investments are made. Just like ISAs, they are all called tax-free wrappers. It's what you do with money inside the wrapper that matters.

Thank you Jedisco … extremely clearrrrr, very very clear . Makes perfect sense.

I intend using trading 212 as a platform, is that wat u use as well?

Lexusgs430:
If you're looking at buying a property within 3 years + under 40 years old.... Open a LISA today and deposit £4K before April 4, so you can claim your free £1K, from HMRC......

Regarding investment in shares or index funds, you can do a combination of both..... Individual shares are more risky than index funds, but could offer better returns (in the short term).....

An index fund, offers better returns for long term investors.....

LISA is basically, cash isa..... Whilst stock and share ISA, exposes you to the stock market (which is got it's advantages and disadvantages).... 😁😂

Which would i advise you to choose? I am not a financial expert, you can consult geh geh....... 😊😁

Thank u baba… i am hoping to buy a house in 3 years( i am 25 years). Sorry sir i think you might be confusing a few things. Based on what i read :

LISA(lifetime isa) = lifetime savings where govt tops 25% which is not accessible unless u wanna buy a home.

Cash isa= normal savings account can be accessed anytime and most providers have between 3%-5% interest rate.

On a side note if i go with LISA i would have 15k in 3 years(assuming i put 4k each year).. 15k is not enough deposit for a house in London hence me wanting to get involved with other investment strategies.

I would read up about index fund, didn’t come across this one. So far i have downloaded money box, i am hoping to use them for everything investments.

jedisco:
I'm not a guru

Personally, I'd start by envisioning how much I'm likely or target to save over the course of the year. Then secondly, how soon would I be looking to buy a house- if its above 3 yrs (some say 5), I'd rather go with S&S Lisa as the returns are likely to be better. Except you have big pockets, when buying a house, you're likely to empty most of your savings eitherway

600x 12 = 7.2k.
I'd first fill my LISA - S&S preferably.
The rest would be a split of S&S ISA and some cash for as emergeny funds. I tend to keep the minimal cash I need- but thats just me

Thank you so much jedisco and everyone else that commented l… i am sorry for a late response i have been quite busy.

From my understanding of what you said jedisco, your most prefered is life time ISA (stock and shares not the cash one). Please why would u prefer the lisa stock and shares to the cash one that the government gives 25% on in each tax year.

Also is the lisa stock and shares not more risky as isnt stock nd shared like forex where you can loose money?? Also i dont think the govt gives 25% on the stock and shares lisa right??

Please forgive me if i have used any wrong terminology, i am completely new to this world of investing and i will be glad if yu can clarify my confusions.

Also @lexusgs i am hoping to do a ling term investment, from my research i have seen long term investment pays better.

Heyyy investment and financial gurus.

Please i would like to start organising my finances.

After bills i have like about 600 pounds to save. Instead of just putting the 600 in my llyods savings account to sit there (1.15% yearly interest) and do nothing i think its best to get my money to work.

After my research i realised rhe 3 safest thing to do will be to split yhe money into a life time investment ISA (to be ablt to buy a property in the future), put some in a cash isa and then a little bit into stocks and shares ISA.

Please gurus what are your thoughts on this?? Does anyone have any tips, advifes or even suggestions of great platforms i can use for any of the 3 isa areas i mentioned.

Hi fam,

Please i recently passed my auto driving test….does anyone have any tip on how to get a good car? And possibly a cheap insurance?

Hi guys, please any way out? I have been trying to get a driving test date in london but no success. Any thoughts?

missjekyll:
For his business, he needs tax receipts,financial statements that show enough turnover to justify his salary from his business.
Have you got those?then don't mention his business.

2nd way is to sponsor him. His ties in that case will be his young family. He is retired and focused on parenting his toddler while his wife works outside the home.
He is family focused and keeps an eye on all his children even the adult ones.
Thats how I would sell it to the EO to come over in December which is just 4 months away.

While this arrangement is common here,it's unusual at home and you would need to sell it very hard to the EO who may not buy it.

3rd and best option: postpone till spring. He should register his business and pay tax then pay himself a salary.
You pay him a stipend regularly. Enough for him to sponsor himself .

It ll be spring then too and better weather

I don’t really the tax receipts are necessary ohh.. my mum has visited the uk twice to pay me a visit. Shes a business owner. On both occasions i declared her business and claimed she was paying hereelf like 300k every month. The only SOA i had to submit on her part was the account where she was receiving 300k monthly. I have never included an account of the business nor any tax receipts.

Lastly after all the above, i always add my statements because i always let the ECO know that i am sponsoring her fully.

AgentXxx:
It came this time around and I have replied

Hi agent, we got your response and my husband has just sent his CV over to you as he is the one currently job hunting.

Thank you for your prompt response.

AgentXxx:
The message from nairaland didn’t come through. Can you try as my nairaland email is functional. If not I can share via dead thread.

Hi Agent, i clicked on send email via your profile but i am surprised the email hasn’t come through since your email is functional. As a second option, could you use a dead thread as suggested.

AgentXxx:
Are you living in London? Are you happy to work 5days in the office for the first 5 to 6months? If Yes to both then send your Cv

NB: it is a junior IT Engineer role. No Sponsorship included.

Hi Agentxxx , do you have a work email I could send a CV to?? Additionally, i have also requested to send you an email via NL.

kumbhuru:
I would have loved to but I was warned against helping anyone bring in anything. So I will humbly decline

Okay,all the best ….. please is there anyone else that can help ? Or is there anyone that does a shipping business ?? I will need the cloth before the 30th of june. Weight is only 0.2 kg or even less

kumbhuru:
Can I take morinha seed with me on flight?

Hiii sear, please are you flying before the 30th of June. I ordered a dress in Nigeria and I will appreciate it if you could help me bring it please. I am based in London, are you arriving at Heathrow?

Lexusgs430:
Do you want my sister's style.......😁

The poor goat would be fried, till the last inch of it's life, dried (optional) and frozen (mortuary
standard)....... 🤣😁

I fried it the last time but for some reasons I didnt like the texture after cooking with it. There is no way i can definitely being it fresh right?

Hello fam, please I am trying to bring goat meat from Nigeria. Can someone please share their experiences of trying such and how they went about it and any tips or advices.

Please i don’t want advices based off your instinct or common sense , i am looking for experiences and real life examples. .*smiles*