₦airaland Forum

Louisanc:
Good morning
Please can someone explain the process of sevis fee for me, when do i pay for it. I need the ID, for booking an appointment. Please help, this my first time.

Abbiemills:
Visa approved....
Transcript later.
Only God could have done

statemanui:
Hello guys,

Please I got this response from the U.S visa service Desk after I applied for an emergency appointment at the Lagos consulate:

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for writing to the U.S. Visa Service Desk.

We understand that you would like to know the status of your emergency appointment request.

In response to your question, we would like to inform you that your request is still under review. You will receive an e-mail once your emergency appointment has been approved or denied.

For more information please visit our website:
https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ng/ng-niv-expeditedappointment.asp

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T3P3RXJ to share feedback on the services we provide.

Have a pleasant day!

Regards,
U.S. Visa Service Desk.

Then I tried to check for available dates to see if it has been approved and could only find dates in 2022. However, I haven't submitted my DS160 form and I realized that I have an option to change location before submitting the form.

My question now is if I change my interview location to Abuja will my EA (Emergency appointment request) still count for this new location or will my EA option link be restored as it has been removed after my first request?

I will be anticipating your response guys.

Thank you.

oyakojo:
Visa Approved on Tuesday.
Lagos Embassy.

All praise be to God for His faithfulness. I wanted to give traveling for masters a final push after being denied three times at the Canadian embassy. my interview was scheduled for 10am so I got to the venue an hour before the interview.


Transcript

Profile;
Lagos
Deficit $29k
Civil Engineer
8 years working experience.
Masters of Construction Management
Fall 2021


V.O: Which school are you going to and study plan

Me: I am going to usa for my masters in Engineering Industrial Management with focus in Construction management at Bowling Green state university, Bowling Green, Ohio Usa. A total of 33 credit research hour is needed for this program. 27 credit research hour in course work and 6 credit research hour in thesis work. courses will be taken in construction management, business operation and problem solving techniques in the construction industry.

V.O: why this course

me: Having worked for 8 years in the construction industry as a civil engineer. I observed that the construction industry is in need of skilled construction managers.
this course will equip me with the advanced skills and Technical knowledge of construction management. it will enable me to develop the leadership skills needed to manage complex construction projects after completion of my studies
in Addition, the course will improve my professional credential which will enable me to take up a senior managerial position in my current place of work after completion.

V.O How many schools did you apply to?
me: I applied to two schools; Bowling Green State University and Purdue University and i got admission into both schools

V.O Why Bowling Green State University
me: There are two reasons I choose BGSU
1. the cost of attendance of BGSU is cheaper to Purdue University. BGSU COA is $29,000 and that of PU is $50,000
2. BGSU offers graduate internship within the two years course of studies. the school has a strong collaboration with the industry. this will help to harness the skill, knowledge and theoretical practice of what is taught in class and the practical realities of what is on site/industry.

V.O Are you married
me: I am married with a girl and a birth day coincide with class resumption at BGSU

V.O Is your wife going with you
me. I will only be staying in USA for 2yrs, will not be relocating permanently. my wife works at ..... insurance. it makes no sense for her to resign are work and move to the usa with me.

V.O where did you work
me. I told him

V.O How much is your salary
me I told him

V.O I will be approving your visa and he hands me the white paper.



My advice

Be confident , see it has a conversation with the V.O.
my interview lasted for about 4 minutes. I looked into his eye and was a bit fast because i observed that he did not want to spend more than 3 minutes with each applicants.

Lastly. Please pray


Congratulations Bro,

qst: From the Angle did she request For You Payslip?

Besides, what amount of salary income in your view is tenable?

Abbiemills:
Visa approved....
Transcript later.
Only God could have done

Occc:
Hi! God has done it again.
I just got my visa approved.
University of xyeh
CoA 43k+
Masters in Nutrition Sciences.
Vo. What are you currently in Nigeria ?
Me: I am a student instructor at the jjj, I teach students on how to maintain healthy lifestyle thru good nutrition and how to make healthy food choices.
Vo. What kind of school is jjj?
Me: it is a missionary school.
V. O. Will you go back to jjj?
Me. No, I will work at the AEFUTHA where I did my internship.
V. O. Who pay for this?
Me: my aunt..
Vo. What does she do?
Me she is a business woman. She buys and sells electronics and she is also into real estate. She buys sells and develops landed properties.
V. O I would be approving your visa, bla bla and story for the gods.
Me thank you and I come put my white paper in my envelope.
God is good. Make sure you pray.

Duisburg:
Congratulations. Abj

Lagos or Abuja embassy?

Occc:
My friend transcript
COA: $41k

Funding: $37k

Course: PhD Agricultural Economics

Third attempt
Rejected twice in Abuja for M.Sc Business Analytics at the Texas A&M, Commerce with no funding.

This was how my interview went

My interview transcript

V/O: please pass my your I-20 and your passport. Types for almost 2 minutes while I peruse her office.

V/O: (pauses typing and looks at me fully in the eyes) please tell me why you chose this university and this program.

Me: (looks at her fully too) I chose this university because the curriculum is tailored to meet my career goals as it offers me a blend of agriculture, economics and technology. Also, I have developed a good student-faculty relationship with the department plus I got funding.
(spends some minutes typing)

V/O: yeah, I can see some funding here. Who is Mr and Mrs Bleep...

Me: (I completed the names for her.) Mr and Mrs XXXX are my parents.

V/O: What are you doing now?

Me: I work as a Data Annotator with XXXX where I label and classify data from the industrial sector, agricultural sector, e-commerce and other sectors of the economy.

V/O: what do you intend to do with this degree?

Me: this degree will act as a spring board for me to launch my career as an agritech research scientist with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture here in Nigeria. I have liaised with them and the minimum qualification I need for this role is a PhD in Agricultural Economics.

She didn't hear the name of the organization and I had to repeat it thrice.


V/O: I have approved your visa....


All the glory belongs to God.

Neephemie:
Hello everyone. Just got to know about this thread and my visa interview is next week Monday. Don't even know where to start checking for info/QA on here. I have a GA role and a financial aid (a few dols). I've just been doing random search for preparation on the internet before now. Please help with what to look out for and questions to prepare for. My school is to resume on the 16th of August, I applied for emergency date but was denied. So I had to stick to August 2nd. Been worried coz of the closeness of the dates but I'm just trusting God. I'll appreciate any help right now. Thank you

Occc:
My friend transcript
COA: $41k

Funding: $37k

Course: PhD Agricultural Economics

Third attempt
Rejected twice in Abuja for M.Sc Business Analytics at the Texas A&M, Commerce with no funding.

This was how my interview went

My interview transcript

V/O: please pass my your I-20 and your passport. Types for almost 2 minutes while I peruse her office.

V/O: (pauses typing and looks at me fully in the eyes) please tell me why you chose this university and this program.

Me: (looks at her fully too) I chose this university because the curriculum is tailored to meet my career goals as it offers me a blend of agriculture, economics and technology. Also, I have developed a good student-faculty relationship with the department plus I got funding.
(spends some minutes typing)

V/O: yeah, I can see some funding here. Who is Mr and Mrs Bleep...

Me: (I completed the names for her.) Mr and Mrs XXXX are my parents.

V/O: What are you doing now?

Me: I work as a Data Annotator with XXXX where I label and classify data from the industrial sector, agricultural sector, e-commerce and other sectors of the economy.

V/O: what do you intend to do with this degree?

Me: this degree will act as a spring board for me to launch my career as an agritech research scientist with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture here in Nigeria. I have liaised with them and the minimum qualification I need for this role is a PhD in Agricultural Economics.

She didn't hear the name of the organization and I had to repeat it thrice.


V/O: I have approved your visa....


All the glory belongs to God.

Abbiemills:
Visa approved
26/07/2021
(Abuja Embassy 7:30 am)
So I have a unique case, my sponsor is my aunt who is a citizen of United States, she resides in the same state as my school.
I didn't get any funding.

My interview was rescheduled from 16 to 26 which is today

VO: Good Morning
Me: Good Morning ma, how are you today?

VO: fine thank you, kindly pass me your document
Me: I did, after which I did my thumbprint

VO: I see you are going to California State University Long Beach for your Masters in Applied Mathematics
Me: I am going for my Masters in Applied Statistics (I wanted to explain to her that my school recognised Applied Mathematics and Applied Statistics as the same code but she shut me up)

VO: I don't need that information
Me: alright

VO: what will you do, when you come back?
Me: I will come back to fill up the role of a senior data analyst at XYZ company

VO: What do you currently do?
Me: I work as a data analyst at XYZ ( vo cut me as I was about to explain my job roles)

VO: who is paying?
Me: My aunt Mrs XYZ, She took interest in me as a child due to my academic performance (VO cuts me by saying she doesn't need that information)

Then she types for a long while, then handed me the white paper and my I-20, telling me about covid bla blah.

I tried to hear the covid stuff but I was too overwhelmed with joy

Guys the only thing I can say is, practice and pray. I practice almost any and every question. I used transcripts that were dropped on NL to practice and then I prayed for God's grace.

avrex3k:
Visa approved today
Location Abuja
The only document I was asked was my I20
God's plan.

Approvalll:
Congratulations please share your transcript

vizin:
Good morning everyone!

Please, I'm curious about the visa interview part where proving or demonstrating home ties is an important part to possibly getting an approval. What if your reasons for wanting to study in the US means a career advancement opportunity in another country and not Nigeria, is this going to be an issue when you are asked "what will this degree do for you or what are your plans upon returning?"
Please I'll appreciate an answer on this one.
Thanks.

fdecisive:
Date: 1st June 2021
Status: Approved
Funding: Full Ride

Since last week, I have been watching boxing legend Mohammed Ali and his fights with Frazier and Foreman. So today when I was inside the consulate, I began to get a bit nervous. So I began to warm up (subtly though) just like Ali does, from left to right... . Watch him on YouTube, you'd love it.

While on the queue, I saw several cases being adjudicated. There was a guy who couldn't string two or three sentences without a serious grammatical mistake, he didn't sound like someone who passed English at all. On top of the fact that he was telling obvious lies. But he was speaking forcefully, and in the end, his visa was approved, to everyone's surprise. There was a guy who was practically fidgeting, didn't know where he had worked just a couple of years ago, couldn't say what the degree will do for him. But his visa was approved. In my mind... See grace. There were others who seemingly said everything right, and were calm and confident too, but were still denied. Fear God.
It got to my turn.

VO(Caucasian): Good afternoon
Me: Good afternoon sir.

VO: So tell me, what are you going to do?
Me: I'm going to the university of xxxx to gain knowledge and conduct a research with Dr xxxx and Prof xxxx, on how government policy on internally displaced persons, refugee, and migrants are formed; this study will lead to a masters degree in International Studies, and prepare me to take up a role as Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at xxxx, where I currently work. (I stopped, and VO was still typing and looking through my i-20).

VO: (He kept mute for about 20 seconds. He was checking my I-20 all the while I was speaking and kept typing even after I stopped.) Suddenly, he heaved a sigh, opened his mouth, and said... Alright, I will be giving you this document, and approving your visa. We got a lot of folks in queue and I can see you got a full ride, so let's not waste much time.
So here's your i-20, you can pick up your passport from Monday next week at DHL office, VI... Have a wonderful trip to America.

Me: Already smiling. Thank you so much. Have a nice day!
The whole process took just over a minute.

First of all, I want to appreciate the Almighty God for this. I return all the glory to God. I will share part of my story below to motivate and inspire someone out there. You can make it, if you will try!

As of August last year, I had no clue and no plan to study abroad. I had different plans for my career, which included doing a Masters at UNILAG . That same August, a friend of mine John (not his real name) who won a commonwealth scholarship to the UK visited me. He had travelled to Lagos in order to process his tuberculosis tests at Ikeja. He shared his story with me and challenged me to apply for Chevening, Commonwealth, and any other scholarships I could find, adding that I had exceptional experiences that will make me stand out. I was inspired because this was a guy who grew up with me in Warri, walked the same streets with me, attended the same fellowship (FECA), he was even my junior throughout our days at UNIBEN, and here was he going to UK on a fully-funded Scholarship. I believed I could do it too. I decided to give my applications my best shot. As God would have it, we were working remotely at my workplace, so I could devote a lot of attention to research online. I made up my mind to apply for UK Chevening and Swedish Institute Scholarship (NOT USA - I did not think I could afford their numerous standardized tests, and other fees, etc). The USA was out of it for me.

From late August to November last year, day after day, night after night, I did meticulous research. I got vital help from John and others too. I tried to string a coherent story from a pretty diverse career story spanning journalism, news broadcasting, community development, refugee support, humanitarian aid, corporate communications, etc. I wanted to develop a solid personal statement from my experiences that will always be convincing.
After sleepless nights, and managing my applications with my full-time job, I got admitted to 6 UK schools (Universities of East Anglia, Leicester, Bournemouth, Lancaster, Westminster, & Cardiff). I applied for the Chevening Scholarship. I got favoured by God, and was shortlisted for an interview. Last April I did my interview at the British Consulate, Lagos. It was successful, as the panellists shared their feedback with me that I I was outstanding. I'm confident I will be shortlisted for the award when names will be released this month.

But this is how my US story began. In early February, another younger one of mine from my NCCF (NYSC), with whom I had chatted around Christmas last year, reached out to me. He told me that he was now in the US studying, and told me I could actually apply to schools for PhD and get funding too. I never knew - ignorance ain't good. I immediately modified my personal statement, adjusted my references, and started conducting another massive research on US schools that had my course, and was going to waive the application fee, GRE, TOEFL, etc. I wasn't into these standardized English tests, as my English was excellent as far as I was concerned. But to get the schools that were waiving these was a real work... Night upon night I searched patiently. I was lucky to stumble upon my current school, and applied. I requested that the application fee should be waived, and they did. In fact, at some point it looked as if they were appealing to me to send in my application, after reading my personal statement. Two weeks after applying, I got admitted with full graduate assistantship, health insurance, return flight ticket, tuition and fees waiver. I couldn't believe it! I danced and danced that night, praising God, and I'm sure others in my flat must have heard my loud screams, and tonguings too .

I share all these to inspire someone. I am not from a privileged background. Life has been hard several times. I fought my way through undergraduate studies Uniben. It was hard, but God helped me.
Pick yourself up! Don't give up on your dreams to be the best you can be. Always demand the best from yourself. Set the bar high, and aim for it. Wipe the sweat off your face, and persevere. People will misunderstand you, underrate you, discourage you, and even frustrate you, but by the help God, be determined to press on. You will prevail.
One day, I know I will do my PhD at a prestigious school as Harvard. I believe it's possible and I'm going to put in the "hard and difficult work" it will take, by the grace of God.

Above all, have a God-given vision to improve human life, your community, and your society. God will always back those who are called according to his purpose. You will never lose energy as your vision will energize you to keep going.

I wish everyone reading this success in their endeavours. God bless you.