₦airaland Forum

I applied for Unilag transcript online over a month ago and till now, it still hasn't been received by the assessment body that I need it sent to. Does anyone know what I can do to get Unilag to send my transcript pls? It took them roughly 2 weeks to acknowledge receipt of my application and payment and now, it's taking them so long to send it.

I completed the process over a month ago and my transcript still hasn't been received. Does anyone know how I can ensure that it's sent pls? It's taking far too long.

Niksie:
Hello NaijaMama, sorry to bother you. Please how did you resolve this baby's visa versus return ticket issue with Airfrance? and did you pay just about 10% of your own ticket. Thanks

I eventually returned without a visa and processed visa on arrival. I explained this to AirFrance officials and they let me fly. However, a friend said she saw another woman with her kids that weren't allowed to check in/board a day after.

For the ticket, I bought a return for $206. I got a quote of $375 for one leg if I was adding it to my ticket.

I hope this helps.

Niksie:
Please did you get the fit-to-fly letter for up to 10k from your hospital? this is what my hospital charges and i'm wondering if it's not better to do just the one at port health (at the airport) which is way cheaper.

My apologies for the late response. I hope its still relevant. I use my office HMO, so I can't say for certain but I don't think I was charged for it.

ultimatebas:
Good day everyone,
My family and i got back to nija on the 31st of July but was kind of busy.
DW travelled from Lagos to Houston via UNITED on the 29th of May and arrived on the 30th

passport:$165
Birth certificate:$23
ETC: $370( $50 courier fee inclusive)
Accommodation: $1,200 per room (shared sitting room and kitchen)

I have given back so i ain't owing you guys any more.
Anyway, thanks everyone for the info i got from here . It was very helpful. Can't believe Nigerians can be this generous.
Cheers

I thought Emergency Travel certificate was no longer accepted. How did you pull it off?

ashedzi:
Congratulations on d arrival of ur LO. Still awaiting for ur birth story.

True, I should get down to it already.

As some of you may already know, I mentioned that I'll use a birth center in Katy Texas. I followed up with my plan, contacted the birth center and paid a total of $4,500 using wire transfer through IBTC. I had a balance of $500 to pay on arrival.

I flew AirFrance at 35 weeks and 1 day. I was asked for Fit-to-fly by their officials at the airport in Lagos and I handed it over to them. I got it from my hospital.

I carried dried fish, garri, pap, blended melon, blended crayfish and groundnut. The bag was checked in without issues.

The flight from Lagos to Amstardam was very nice and comfortable, in flight entertainment was superb but the food wasn't fantastic. From Amstardam to Houston wasn't as nice though. I didn't need a wheel chair at any point, so I didn't use.

My POE experience was very nice and easy:

Officer: What are you here for?
Me: Child birth and shopping afterwards
Officer: I see that you were in New York in December
Me: Yes, I came with my family for Christmas holidays and also spend 2 weeks in Houston.
Officer: Put your fingers .... Why USA for child birth, why not UK?
Me: UK doesn't give citizenship with child birth, I'll like to give my child the options of choosing where she'll like to live when she's old enough and the opportunities that come with being an American citizen, especially good quality education.
Officer: Why isn't your husband with you?
Me: he's home working and taking care of our older son. (As we were talking, more like gisting, he'd finished taking my biometrics and stamped my passport)
Officer: Do you have any paper work?
Me: Hand him my emailed receipt from the birth center and correspondent.
Officer: Barely glanced at it, hands them over with my passport and wished me safe delivery.
Everything took less than 5 minutes.
I couldn't believe how easy it was. I had to ask him if that's all. He said yes, you can go. I looked at my passport and if been stamped in till Dec 24th.

I went to wait for my luggage, picked them all, passed through like everyone else, called uber and got home nicely.

My birth was uneventful. My baby arrived at 39 weeks and 5 days. The midwives were super nice, spoilt me silly. They were very attentive and supportive. I laboured in water but eventually had my baby on the bed. Wasn't a walk in the park but wasn't bad. I had my baby around 6.30am, I left the Birth Center around 1pm. The mid-wife came to visit me at home 2 days later, tested the baby and confirmed everything was fine.
The birth center waved my balance of $500 and gave it to me as a discount.

They accepted all the lab test plus scans that I did in Nigeria. I didn't do any more tests except the routine ones that I didn't need to pay for. I paid for some other small things like herbal supplements and vitamin K shot for baby that totaled about $200 all together.

They applied for my Social Security Number and filed my baby's birth with the state. I received the SSC in the mail 2 days later and processed birth cert and US passport. Still debating what to do about Nigerian visa.

There you have it. That's my experience so far. It's been wonderful here but I can't wait to return to my family.

mamaron:
Very well done to everyone on this thread. Your advise is invaluable and the jokes are hahaha! What I appreciate the most is the honesty from the veteran mamas. Pls permit me to ask a question. I have read through but did not find any answer. Most mothers tell the CBP that they are on the USA for better healthcare. The CBP harass sometimes and want them to just say they are in the US for babys citizenship reasons. Pls has anyone said they are there so that their child will become a US citizen, STRAIGHT AND DIRECT (the honest truth because many countries offer better healthcare but no citizenship) and what happened as a result?

I passed through Houston POE on the 23rd of June and told the officer that I was here for childbirth to take advantage of the citizenship that my child will have. Told him I'll like to give her the options when she grows up especially for good quality education.

I spent a total of about 4 minutes with the guy. He didn't ask to see my money, he didn't send me to secondary inspection. He only asked to see correspondence and receipt of payment because I told him that I'd paid 95% of my total bill by wire transfer. My food bag was also not checked.

Ye2ndearisto:
to the lady who asked about air France price to add infant ticket. Get to the airport with your infant and pay. I followed a Nairaland mama who had become a sister o the airport today. When she called air France on phone they have her quite of $460 . When she got there the guy booked return ticket for the baby and the cost came down to &190.67. Best thing is to get to the airport first . And yes no more etc you have to do visa .

God bless you immensely for your response. You have saved me a LOT of money as I was already considering flying to New York, spending 2 nights and returning with my baby.

Hello Mamas and Papas, I know I should give details of my POE experience and birth. I'll do that as soon as I'm done with all the paper work.

Please I need information from Mamas who have flown AirFrance recently, particularly from Hoouston.

Someone mentioned here that emergency travel cert is no longer processed or accepted, which means the options are visa or Nigerian passport. Since I'm in Houston, I decided to process a visa but on calling AirFrance, they said baby can not fly with only a one way visa unless we buy a return ticket for both me and baby, since there's no proof that she's Nigerian.

Please has anyone had this experience and how did you resolve it? Is there any advise on how I can handle this without getting a passport and not buying a return ticket for both of us? I can't go all the way to the states with Nigerian embassies.

Your responses will really be appreciated.

phummy2:
Air France will ask for fit to fly from port health cos they refused the one I had from my hospital so I had to get from port health before I was fully checked in.

That's surprising. I traveled with KLM last week at 35+1 weeks and they accepted my doctor's fit to fly. I was only asked at the point of check in.

luckyman23:
good morning, please does Air France/KLM ask for port health authority fit to fly?

No, a letter from your doctor will suffice.

mismarshal:
I flew arik at 32 weeks 5 days on the 7th of June. They accept only fit to fly from the health port authority only. I'm not sure about the cutoff time but the lady in Port health authority measured my tummy with a tape and wrote I was 29 weeks!

I gave it to them and took my flight. It costs N1, 500 and you can get it only on the day you are scheduled to trave only.

It's interesting that anyone will think they can tell how far gone a woman is by measuring her belly with a tape.

cfcchick:
Please any idea about stanbic rate?

335

yokus:
Same thing with travelstart, charged 138k to move ticket date forward, they r so rude, no ones knocking anyones hustle, we r being frank here.
Despite paying for the extra service of recieving partial refund if i decide to cancel a leg. They didnt still give me.
So why was there an option for that, it should have been deactivated since they know they wont refund. Worse part is they are to saucy to apologise . Hisss they are all the same. I have been buying my tickets directly ever since and i have no regrets whatsoever, the small difference pays in the long run when u need to change, add infant or get a refund.

quote author=chloe7 post=46809561]wakanow once gave me 165k to change dates, I laugh tire later they called and said they've seen 150k for the same dates, later again they said 105k, even fresh ticket was 150k just imagine, they are all same abeg

I totally agree with you, particularly on the bold text. I used wakanow to book my ticket to Houston to avoid having to crack my brain about currency conversion since KLM quoted in dollars. Because of plp' negative experiences with them, I called yesterday to find out about adding infant to my ticket and the lady that took my call after several minutes told me outrightly that I'll have to call the airline directly. Meanwhile, you it's difficult make changes directly on your ticket if you used an agent. I had to ask her what the point of using them is if they can't help with simple changes and ended up telling her that 'my friends were right after all'

After this experience, I'll NEVER use them again. I'll deal directly with the airlines. They just lost about 5 customers (all my family members, including mum, husband, mum in law, son etc) for their non helpful attitude.

Momo13:
[0018297383quote author=Iwanawana post=46747959]Dear all,

Maybe goodnews to start the week with. A dollar to naira starting off at N255 on interbank FX marketing.

Yayyyy! Some good news finally.. does this morning mean to PTA is accessible now though?

Please does this mean I can get it at 255 or a little higher? What bank can I get it?

bubelahot:
Stanbic and i chose pay in Naira option.

Stanbic doesn't accept anymore. I tried it over 6 time last week and even 2 weeks ago. The payment method was rejected after about 2 days of placing the order. I called Stanbic and they said I should choose the 'pay in dollar' option.

bubelahot:
My bank still dey work ooo.
Bought things on amazon yesterday n its already been shipped to arrive tomorrow....

What bank and did you choose the 'pay in Naira' option?

isysleek:
Update on UBA card for online transactions. I posted about UBA rate being 208 when I tried buying stuff on amazon few days ago. I chose the "pay in naira" option like I've always done in the past. It declined. Tried with two friends cards but also declined. Just spoke with UBA card fulfilment customer service and I was told "pay in naira" option has stopped. That I have to choose "pay in dollars" and I will be charged the naira equivalent. Rate on Friday was 377.

Same experience here. My card was declined as well.

ai100:
please is Gtbank still working and what rate is first and stanbic now

Stanbic is 315. I don't know about 1st bank but it's way more expensive

isysleek:
UBA card. I shopped with it on amazon today and rate was N208.51 for the "pay in naira" option.

Are you for real? Thanks! You're a life saver!

I usually shop with my Stanbic IBTC and GTBank cards on Amazon and choose 'pay in Naira' which gives me the rate of N209 to a $. However, I noticed that the option is no longer available from about 2 weeks ago. Does anyone know any other bank card that still accepts that option?

Momo13:
I was at stanbic oh! They said no show as I don't have an account with them. I will try standard chartered tomorrow..
Hubby will try diamond bank for form A tomorrow although word is there's prerogative for school fees.
Thanks dear

You should open an account with Stanbic IBTC. They process form A within 72 hours if it's $5000 and below at N199/$1.

Labims:
Hi, what was the total bill for Katy?

$5000 if you pay upfront. There are other little bills that come up to another $600 but most of them are optional

bmanbaba:
Na wa o. Western union is now N354 to a dollar.

For real?! Is it confirmed? It's even worse then parallel market.

Top9jajamz:
good day ma, which hospital are you using that accepted this form A payment?

are you still staying at Katy.

I'm using the Katy Birth Centre and yes, I'll be in Katy.

happytbaby:
Hello,

I am sorry babe, giving the information will not help. The Bank simply does not have FX, we were even told that they cannot bid from CBN for medicals, they can only use in-house funds, which as at yesterday was really scarce.

The Form A was done for us because hubby had informed the people approving since February that we were coming, they just could not say no. It was a big favour. Both hubby and I worked there before so you can imagine that I even took my hospital letter to the home of the Account Officer that processed the transaction, asked her to cook for me and waited to eat. I hope you understand my long story.....it was 'leg'

My Form A got processed at Stanbic IBTC at N199/$ within 72 hours. I submitted on Wed.25th and got debited on the 26th. I was pleasantly surprised. An in-house person told me the secret is to ensure that the money is less than $5000, so I asked that my bill should be broken into 2 invoices, 1 for $4,500 and the other one should contain the bal. I submitted only the $4,500. I couldn't believe it even when I received debit alert, until I got the swift evidence. Praise God with me oh!

babyspice:
Hi Ify4charm,
I wouldn't worry too much. Newborns are known to breakout on their face/ scalp area. it will clear out in time. Read this article so it can put your mind at ease. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a72/spotty-skin I personally wouldnt use johnson's products on your baby's skin now. try Aveeno products.

Johnson's products are actually nice but ensure you buy from the US, if you must use them. looks like what we get here is substandard. My toddler son still uses all their products and his skin is very nice.

I agree with you on babies breaking out. Sometimes, it's inevitable but they'll disappear on their own. Just give it time and ensure his room is well ventilated. Also, do not put him in a hot environment with thick clothes because contrary to what our mamas tell us, babies feel heat.

Nnystc:
Baibeeee!
Calm down
I am as sincere as sincerity!

I am here for 2 weeks only oh.
My belle long but e never long reach to "born".

I'm here for small aploko, and then back again for the real McCoy.

Thanks for asking though. Honesty is still the best policy!

My hands are clean oh. I can even post my picshure when i clear Niaja immigration again in 2 weeks time... "Burden of proof" tinz...

Thanks for the clarification, I be dey wonder.

Nnystc:
Greetings from yonder.
Arrived a few mins ago on KLM.

Chai, those KLM people don't know we are Africans? With their Poto-potor food... jump and pass biko. I was just eating only the bread and butter and washing it down with coke.

My POE experience na waka pass oh. Nothing to report.

I used automatic processing (was directed there because this is not my first time using the visa) and then off to those final CBPs that don't have computers.
1.What are you here for? 2 week vacation.
2. What do you do back home? I'm a *&& working with ****
3. Do you have food? Yes. Egusi, gala, dried fish, roasted peanuts and cashew, blardy blardy blah.

And then I was stamped in for the usual 6 months.
After that I collected my bag and hit the streets.
No Agriculture inspection. Nothing.
To God be the glory. With my long belle and all.

In fact umunnem, no matter how many times in a year one clears US immigration, each new entry always is a new experience.

The weather is pure heaven. Sunny but coool!

Did you really say '2 week vacation' with the intention of birthing? Isn't that being insincere? Or, am I missing something?

simababe:
Dh applied for me 2 Fridays ago. Was meant to pick it up yesterday but cos Passport wasn't with Dh, he pickd it up today. So that's like 8working days. Goodluck

Please what branch did you use? I was at the head office in Marina over a week ago and was told that there's a queu till end of August. They didn't even let me apply since I'll be leaving in June.