₦airaland Forum

Tymally:
Hello Tymally I will like to connect with you as I have some questions to as you. Thanks
I have already sent an email to you from here already

Toceen2022:
The way you mentioned 2k as cheap deposit... Try and give a range you have in mind for cheap tuition for Msc, so that you can get responses.

But be aware that most times cheap tuition is relative to your program of choice.
For example, a Master of Art program may cost around $10k/per year, while in same school, MEng or MBA may be around $20k/per year.

matthew080:
Hello my people

How can I get Conestoga acct number for form A payment?

Pls it's urgent

dami94:
Good day everyone...got my passport back from tls today and my application was approved

Visa type- Tier 2 general
Biometrics- 20th August
Collection email- 10th of September
Collection date - 11th of september.

I hope this serves as an encouragement to someone. Cheers.

ZabethMay:
Good morning house,
You all should join me to thank God. My days of worry and tension if my application was right or not is over! I got my passport this morning with my visa!! I want to say a big thank you to everyone here who helped calm my anxiety in one way or the other. This forum is truly so helpful. I really really do appreciate you all.

My timeline:
4 Tier Student visa
Biometrics- 18th August
Interview- 19th August
Passport ready for collection- 7th September
Passport delivered with visa- 9th September

First application to Uk, No none straightforward message, no second interview and also didn’t get the BRP message.

I wish everyone on this platform who is applying success. You all would testify also.

Lemme join the flight booking league.

Uk here I come!!!

Engager69:
Bro just employment letter no Go suffice at all you would need an ID card also,payslip,also study leave letter not just employment letter, if possible also the salary account statement of that employment you have. The gurus would buttress better on this.

Having a good job is a good home tie, but the pay for that job has to be worth it lets say 300k because if the pay is not tempting the VO would look at it that there is a good chance you would gbe ja [runaway]. A salary of 100k below might not suffice or even 150K just saying the gurus would give a better advice on this.

Do you have a house?
A land?
A car?

If you don’t those any of your family member have? Let me not talk on this here. Pm directly would do the best I can to help out. Stay blessed bro

Good Morning

Missjayone22:
The invite..

GahiaO:
I would like to share my transcripts here because the Nairaland platform was of tremendous help in preparing for my Visa interview. But before I go into all that, I would like to give a brief bio.

I am a Medical Dr and I applied for a masters degree to study Public Health at the University of Massachusetts. My IELTS score was 8/9 and my GRE score was 300. Applied to two other schools, university of Arizona and Georgia Southern University. I got accepted to all of them but only Massachusetts give me an Assistantship (which came with full tuition waiver, health benefits and biweekly stipends). I got my visa in my second attempt. My first one was in August 11, 2018 (at 11am) and it goes as follows;

VO; Goodmorning
Me; Goodmorning - can’t remember if I smiled or not
VO: so you are going to the University of Massachusetts?
Me; yes
VO: what would you be studying?
Me; Public Health with a focus in Health Policy and Management
VO: Ok. how long is your program?
Me: 2 years
VO; Ooh you are a Medical Doctor
Me; yes
VO: are you currently working?
Me: yes
VO; what do plan to with this degree?
Me; I intend to come back to Nigeria so that I could work in key organizations both government and Non governmental organizations involved in health policy formulations like the the ministry for health, primary health care development board. I also intend to.. the VO cuts in and says “so your father would be sponsoring you”
Me; NO, it’s actually my uncle. And besides I got a graduate assistantship that came with a full tuition waiver, health benefits and biweekly stipends. The entire value of my award is in excess of $44k.

VO: I know but your I-20 says you have a deficit of $12,300 (my total cost of attendance was $56000)

Me; yes, my uncle would take care of the rest.

VO: do you have his statements?

Me: yes
VO: lemme have them
Me: passed it to him. I came with a total of N6.1m from two financial institutions; Zenith Bank( had 1.6m) and Arm Investment Company ( had 4.5m)

VO; looks at it for a while and then say “.. ok.. congratulations.. I would be approving your visa but I would verify these statements and if they are fake you would ban from entering the US for life..”
Me; that’s fine they are 400% authentic.
VO; passes me the white paper and told me where to pick up my passport. He then mentioned that “..inform your school so that they can send you a letter that you would present at the POE should there be delays with verifying your statements”
Me: Ok. Then I walked away

So after the interview, the embassy closed down for over 2weeks. When they reopened, I got a mail from the embassy saying I should submit a letter of authorization for just the ARM Investment Company bank statements. I did that quickly. I sent copies to both the bank and the embassy. I also informed them that I had submitted what they asked. So, after a week got another mail saying that I should resubmit my bank statements along with my passport. The next day they returned my passport so I printed the exact same bank statements I came with during my interview and resubmitted it alongside my passport. After this, I was quite optimistic that there won’t be any issues. 2days later, I checked my status and it had changed from “administrative processing” to “Refused”
I was a bit confused and shocked. because my bank statements were legit and I had done all that they asked. So I waited to pick up my passport to see what their could have been. When I pick my passport, they attached a denial letter to it. It was very generic and it was the same one they normally give anyone they denied. I was really sad. I didn’t want to try again. The whole process had taken over a month and in the end I was still denied. Meanwhile, my school had deferred my admission to spring 2019. But luckily for me, they said I would still have my assistantship should I come over in January. This gave some form of courage to try again. So I did. My second interview was last week Thursday (25th October) at 9am Abuja. This time around, I got a new bank statement from a Conventional Bank that had more money (9.4m). My interview was as follows;

VO; Goodmorning, welcome to the United States embassy
Me; Goodmorning
VO; why are you going to the University Of Massachusetts
Me; I’m going to obtain a masters degree in Public Health
VO; what school did you attend
Me: university of PortHarcourt. I studied medicine and surgery
VO: I can see that you have a GA, does it cover for you full tuition
Me; yes it does, it also comes with health benefits and a biweekly stipend.

NB: After I said this I tried to bring out my bank statements to give to him because I thought he said “can I see your statements” but he quickly cut in and said “ pls put that back, I would not be needing that”

VO: how did you get this Assistantship
Me; I applied, then I was invited to do a Skype interview with the Director and weeks after, I got a mail saying I had been offered the position
VO: when did you get this Assistantship
Me; July, 2018
VO: are you currently practicing
Me: yes
VO; he typed for a while and the said “ congratulations, I would be approving your visa..I hope you enjoy your stay at the University of Massachusetts” and then he gave me two white slips and then was said some other things about where to pick up my passport. But At that point I could no longer hear him.. I was so happy and shocked.. I kept saying in my “ he did ask for my bank statements, he didn’t ask why I chose to study this course, or what this course would do for me, or what are your study plans, or why were you denied the last time” all the questions I prepared for, all the questions I feared he might.. he didn’t ask any of them. He just approved my visa. Just like that !!

My passport was ready for pick the next day but I picked it up yesterday.

It was a very humbling experience for me and in all I give thanks to God almighty. He did it for me. It ended in praise. I am also grateful to everyone here on this platform. You guys are doing a great job. God bless you all. Shalom

So finally I got time to put my transcript together. Had my interview on the 4th of october and it was successful.
I had spent over 2 months praying, fasting, practicing, mock interviews, reading etc. Like everybody say, your confidence is key even in the face of uncertainty you cannot not be confident. I think confidence comes from a lot of practice, self awareness and a bit of understanding that las las its not a do or die affair.

Two weeks to my interview I decided not to be on check nairaland for any updates because every time I came on here I got scared by the rejection transcript I read, I just felt I didn't need any bad energy as day for my interview drew near.
Additionally, from day 1 I have trusted God through the process and the confidence of me getting this far solely was on my trust in God. He totally made the process from day 1 effortless for me and I trusted that He wouldnt leave me hanging. That is not to say I didn't prepare, I prepared like the outcome totally depended on my practice. Few days to my interview, I had a virtual mock interview with a friend currently studying in the US and she scolded me so much on my answers not been specific with too many stories, I had to work on my answers and make them more specific, some with specific examples, I feel like that was the deal breaker. Enough said, see my transcipt below.

Was scheduled for 6:45am, got the the embassy at past 5 or so. At some point I needed to ease myself, asked the security where i could do that and he directed me to a gutter near by, while doing my business, my passport which I was holding in my hands fell inside the gutter, I was like "na like this Devil wan start". I quickly picked it. It was really wet, thank God I had handkerchief with me, I kept on cleaning every page of my passport till I entered inside the embassy.

Straight to my interview.......He was like the oldest of the VO's, had rejected everybody that went to him that morning before me and I had just told myself anyhow e go be, its fine.

VO: Good morning, passport please
Me: Good morning......passed my passport and i20

Vo: What are going to do in America
Me: I will be studying for my masters in business administration at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

Vo: How many universities did you apply to?
Me: I applied to two universities - wright state and university of michigan - flint. Got admitted to both.

Vo: Why did you apply to these universities
Me: They are located located in smaller cities compared to bigger cities like Boston, New York, Chicago etc. I believe this will help me focus on my studies and achieve my goal of coming top of my mba class.

Vo: Did you take any exams
me: yes, I wrote Toefl and gmat. Had 92 on toefl and 460 on the gmat.....raised my exams score sheet for him to see

Vo: 460 is an impressive score
Me: Smiled, nodded (truth is, 460 is really not an impressive score on the gmat)

Vo: tell me about you academic experinece
Me: I studied marketing at the university of nigeria, nsukka. I also a have a certificate in marketing from the charted institute of marketing, uk and have taken other short courses in negotiation skills, digital marketing just to mention a few

Vo: Who is sponsoring you
Me: My Uncle

Vo: Can I get your bank statement? Are you with them?
Me: yes....gave him my statement

checks them then ask

Vo: how are you exactly related to them .....(before the interview, I was hoping they wouldnt ask these questions because my sponsors are both yoruba's and I am igbo - was scared our names may give us away)
Me: My mum's cousin (said that with all the confidence I could gather)

Vo: I see two different names(talking about my bank statement), are they both your cousins
me: yes

Vo: Have you travelled out or Nigeria before......oh you have been to the UK
Me: No, I haven't been to the UK.....Vo:oh, the UK program was online
Me: yes. I have been to Dubai twice, one for vacation the other for some business meeting.

Vo: Are you married?
Me: No

Vo: Any kids?
Me: No

Vo: What will you do when you complete your program?
Me: I will return back to Nigeria and continue work with my current company, I currently work at xxxxxx nigeria limited. I will also seek roles in other fmcg companies in Nigeria like p&g, unilever etc

Vo: Your visa has been approved......said plenty things I didnt hear, gave me the white paper, circled with where I will pick up my passport
Me: Just nodded to all he said, carried my document and left.

I picked up my passport on Tuesday, class starts in Jan 2019. Still here till Dec.

alliswell77:
Hello house, I applied to university of Cincinnati, and I was given admission without funding but I went for the visa interview yesterday, My visa was granted:::: my problem is, i don't know what to do since I don't have the fund to start even for the first semester:::: now I have the Visa but confused: please I need your candid advise cause I'm a confused man already

Adekola87:
Hi guru in the house please I want ask some question, I got my i20 recently and I have paid for my sevis (i90) which I am yet receive the confirmation please do I need i90 confirmation to schedule my visa appointment ? Am afraid cuz last nitgh when I was filling my application the available date for interview is 23rd of April and its some days to my resumption date(4th of may) cuz the available date might filled up while waiting for the sevis confirmation, please house do I need sevis ( i90) confirmation before I can book for visa appointment?

olammy2018:
Hello nairaland users, please I needed schedule an appointment between 1st till 12 of April but the least available spare start from 23rd while the programme I am applying for is between 16th till 18th of April. Please what can I do to secure an appointment date between this stipulated time..

Flexyshyo:
Hello house, please any one with useful information on what administrative processing means after a visa interview and how long it takes?

Joan011:
check ur inbox