₦airaland Forum

Olarhmie25:
Good afternoon sir, I am applying for a J-1 visa to attend a program starting May 27th (next month). Please can you kindly assist on the things to note and what are my chances of getting it as the start date is close already? Thank you

Sir,I don't have any information about J-1 visa,this forum is for F1 and F2 visa

Chemist4life:
Sir,I don't have any information about J-1 visa,this forum is for F1 and F2 visa

Alright, thank you

Hello everyone,

I’ve completed my appointment payment via bank transfer — the process was quite fast, and I’ve already seen a scheduled date. However, the available date is in February 2026, which is far from my intended resumption period. For now, I’ve left the appointment at pending, but this has prevented me from creating appointments for my family.

I’d like to know:
Do I need to first select any available date (even if it’s far) in order to proceed with creating appointments for my family?
Also, after selecting a date, will I be able to reschedule later to hunt for a closer appointment date?

Your advice and experience would really help, as I’m trying to wrap up this application process — it’s been quite tedious.
Thanks in advance, and I look forward to your contributions.

abioyebabatunde:
Hello everyone,

I’ve completed my appointment payment via bank transfer — the process was quite fast, and I’ve already seen a scheduled date. However, the available date is in February 2026, which is far from my intended resumption period. For now, I’ve left the appointment at pending, but this has prevented me from creating appointments for my family.

I’d like to know:
Do I need to first select any available date (even if it’s far) in order to proceed with creating appointments for my family?
Also, after selecting a date, will I be able to reschedule later to hunt for a closer appointment date?

Your advice and experience would really help, as I’m trying to wrap up this application process — it’s been quite tedious.
Thanks in advance, and I look forward to your contributions.

hi, how did you pay via bank transfer? I am trying to pay for a visa appointment but I am not sure the best way to go about it

Get someone in the US to help with make the payment with their card. That's what I did and I took me to date booking after few minutes.

Sistopre:
hi, how did you pay via bank transfer? I am trying to pay for a visa appointment but I am not sure the best way to go about it

Any links to a date search group?

you will click on payment via bank option, you can make watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP_rRVUsnnk?si=Seq25EWZdraykhTz
so easy. Pls i need answer to my questions. Help me i can't create appointment for my dependents.

.

missidy:
Get someone in the US to help with make the payment with their card. That's what I did and I took me to date booking after few minutes.

ooh! I don’t have anyone in the US

abioyebabatunde:
you will click on payment via bank option, you can make watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP_rRVUsnnk?si=Seq25EWZdraykhTz
so easy. Pls i need answer to my questions. Help me i can't create appointment for my dependents.

Thank you

Godgivenchild:
It's not applicable to F1 applicants.
There's a mock interview group that you can join.

Thanks for your response, please can you share the link of the mock interview group

There are currently dates for June 2025 in Abuja.

Hello everyone!
I hope you're all doing well. I’m currently preparing for GRE and was wondering if anyone has any good practice materials or resources they’d be willing to share. I’d really appreciate any help—thank you in advance!

Hello all.
A very informative thread I must confess.

This is my question though -
Does the school run any sort of investigative check on bank statements sent to them?

I humbly await answers please.

Guys dates are available for Abuja

Lotacious:
Thanks for your response, please can you share the link of the mock interview group

I'm interested in this too

veektor01:
Hello all.
A very informative thread I must confess.

This is my question though -
Does the school run any sort of investigative check on bank statements sent to them?

I humbly await answers please.

Hello.
US Universities and Colleges does not run a background checks on your bank statement. Despite the fact that they (schools) have agreement with the US immigration to ascertain foreign student's financial capabilities , they only abide with that agreement by having you to sign the financial verification form .

Like every other American (government) organizations, the schools only verify the authenticity of the bank statement by comparison (with others from Nigeria , Ghana, Uganda, etc ) and psychologically by having their experts to check the money lodgements in comparison to others from the same country.

In this respect, it can be a relief for some expert forgers to want to send in a counterfeit financial statement to US schools but the disadvantage and repercussion of that stunt is that the school must interpret all of your admission application information into your Form- I 20 for the American embassy to study & verify .

To summarise, US institutions does not do background checks on financial statement from countries outside of America (US/Canada/Mexico) but US embassy does. Ciao.

Hi, has anyone renewed visa through interview waiver recently in Nigeria: Lagos or Abuja this year. If so, please can you share your timeline from submitting your passport to getting it back. I scheduled premium pick up with OIS, does anyone know how many days it takes for the embassy to send to OIS?

I recently submitted my passport through interview waiver and I am on OPT so I have a limited time for this process. I am so nervous about this process so any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

Dixoxoxo:
Hi, has anyone renewed visa through interview waiver recently in Nigeria: Lagos or Abuja this year. If so, please can you share your timeline from submitting your passport to getting it back. I scheduled premium pick up with OIS, does anyone know how many days it takes for the embassy to send to OIS?

I recently submitted my passport through interview waiver and I am on OPT so I have a limited time for this process. I am so nervous about this process so any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

Hallo Dixo.

You should not have departed the US (except if what you came for is extremely of utmost importance).
You do not need anyone to tell you anything because visa (IW inclusive ) cases is different.

The only relevant information to you right now is that IW official duration of process is 8 - weeks and you cannot retrieve your passport until final judgement.

Note: I just quoted the official timeline. It might be nearer or further. Good LucK.

Wealth1990:
Please be patient but I don't know how long it will be for those support to rectify the issues.
I faced a similar issue that was how I went to YouTube and watched a video on how to solve the duplicate issues. I followed every steps everything seems perfect until I printed my appointment slips and found the wrong passport number I used to bypass it in the YouTube video on my appointment slip. I had to write to the support team no response yet. But why is the support team so slow?

Hello, please have you heard back from the support team, or have you proceeded from this point please. This is 1 month now support keeps telling me it has been escalated. I don taya

Lausuccess:
Good morning everyone. I cancelled my application and started afresh again and when I checked under my applicants, my name was appearing multiple times with different applicant IDs. Please has anybody experienced such and how was it resolved? Because I want to pay my visa fee and don't want any issues because of it. Thanks a lot.

Hello Lau, pls how did you resolve abeg ?

Hey guys!
So I just wanted to quickly share something important that I almost overlooked myself. I remember someone mentioned in the group a while ago about making sure your visa interview consulate matches the one on your DS-160 form. Honestly, I didn’t take it seriously at the time. But just few minutes ago , I saw a post on Instablog that reminded me, so I decided to randomly log into my AVITS profile to check. To my surprise, I saw that I had been given fresh reschedule slots even though I had already used all three of mine before. It was because the consulate I picked for my interview was different from the one I selected on my DS-160. So basically, they gave me new slots to align both properly.
If you’re in the same situation, maybe you picked a different consulate due to date availability when booking please go and check your AVITS. Some people might still be relying on their old dates, not knowing that they’ve been given a chance to reschedule and fix the mismatch.
Just thought to put this out there in case it helps anyone avoid last-minute issues. Check your profile and make sure everything lines up. Better safe than sorry!

Good day everyone, please I need inputs on my situation

I got a federal government scholarship in 2018 to study software engineering, and graduated in 2023, after that I immediately applied to study economics and expected graduation date is 2026 March. I did not like the course and wasn't getting what I expected from it, so I started applying for MBAs in the US and recently got an offer from a top 50 business school in US, with 50% tuition scholarship, I've gotten loan to cover the deficit and also have savings to cover the interest while studying. Now I'm worried about my visaa

Will it be an issue that I'm dropping my masters to restart in the US?
I do have some work experience but I was working and studying, don't know if I should add it, or simply add my 2 startups I'm working on in Nigeria? I can back up my savings because it was from the stipends paid by the government during my undergrad

I deferred my admission from 2024 due to Visa denial, and was issued another i-20 in August 2024 for 2025 fall session (It states on it that i deferred from 2024 fall session). Now i got an email from the school about a change in living expenses calculation, meaning that i need to have a new i-20 issued (after i prove that i can cover the new cost of living), but i have already booked an appointment using the old i-20 which i got in august 2024.

So i am wondering if can attend my interview first using the old i-20, and then get an updated one after the interview, because my interview date is quite close (Less than a month) and i do not want any administrative delays to hurt my chances. Is this something i can do, or i need to update the i-20 before attending the interview, i.e, is there any risk if i go with the old i-20, and is there any way for the VO to confirm if living expenses have been updated by the school

I am interested in this too

officialchikzy0:
I'm interested in this too

I am interested too, please how do i join?

Godgivenchild:
It's not applicable to F1 applicants.
There's a mock interview group that you can join.

I am interest, how can i join?

Godgivenchild:
It's not applicable to F1 applicants.
There's a mock interview group that you can join.

dade6270:
I deferred my admission from 2024 due to Visa denial, and was issued another i-20 in August 2024 for 2025 fall session (It states on it that i deferred from 2024 fall session). Now i got an email from the school about a change in living expenses calculation, meaning that i need to have a new i-20 issued (after i prove that i can cover the new cost of living), but i have already booked an appointment using the old i-20 which i got in august 2024.

So i am wondering if can attend my interview first using the old i-20, and then get an updated one after the interview, because my interview date is quite close (Less than a month) and i do not want any administrative delays to hurt my chances. Is this something i can do, or i need to update the i-20 before attending the interview, i.e, is there any risk if i go with the old i-20, and is there any way for the VO to confirm if living expenses have been updated by the school

I advise you to update your I-20 and submit the updated DS-160 to the embassy by creating a support ticket within your portal. Mine took 24 hours to get it updated.

In case yours is delayed, there's no harm in going there with the old and new I-20 and letting them know why you had the new I-20.

Best of luck!

I was denied under 214b and was told I can apply for new appointment with my profile till the embassy goes on it to deny the application before I can crate a new one. was informed by a customer care representative. I would appreciate if anyone has gone through such experience

Hello everyone, my visa interview is on may 2nd, is it alright that I’m unemployed, do you think it will affect my visa interview, I graduated from university last year November, and I applied for a masters and got admission, can I go ahead with the interview or is there anything I can do to boost my chances of a visa approval

dade6270:
I deferred my admission from 2024 due to Visa denial, and was issued another i-20 in August 2024 for 2025 fall session (It states on it that i deferred from 2024 fall session). Now i got an email from the school about a change in living expenses calculation, meaning that i need to have a new i-20 issued (after i prove that i can cover the new cost of living), but i have already booked an appointment using the old i-20 which i got in august 2024.

So i am wondering if can attend my interview first using the old i-20, and then get an updated one after the interview, because my interview date is quite close (Less than a month) and i do not want any administrative delays to hurt my chances. Is this something i can do, or i need to update the i-20 before attending the interview, i.e, is there any risk if i go with the old i-20, and is there any way for the VO to confirm if living expenses have been updated by the school

Hello Dade.

Can you go to an hypermarket and purchase groceries with old currency note ? No ! Your old Form- I 20 has been deactivated from the school. It's now an ordinary piece of paper .

Reschedule your appointment and ask your school to align your resumption date towards the new date or have them write an official email (print it to the embassy) allowing you to resume slightly late after resumption. Or defer your admission entirely.

Consular will void your appointment with Old Form -I 20. Ciao.

EchegAshley1:
Hello everyone, my visa interview is on may 2nd, is it alright that I’m unemployed, do you think it will affect my visa interview, I graduated from university last year November, and I applied for a masters and got admission, can I go ahead with the interview or is there anything I can do to boost my chances of a visa approval

Hello Ashley1..
If you just graduated from the University last year you are still a fresh graduate. Some of your mates might still be attending classes to sort out carry- overs. In this respect, you have positioned yourself in what the US Embassy prefers (non-stop scholars) most serious international student to do ( meaning you do not have any gap year).

However , as sweet as your position is , you will still need the following for your F1 visa plans to materialize.
1. Outstanding or average CGPA , 2. Genuine and verified sponsor , 3. Your intention for going abroad to study, 4. Your after graduation plans, 5. Relevance of your course of study to your goals.

Let's assume that you are dependent on your parents as a fresh University graduate then your ties to Nigeria are : 1. Your parents and siblings (I assume you to be single or engaged ). 2. Genuine academic interest (starting from your cgpa). 3. Post Graduation plans . 4. Your activities in Nigeria ...church / mosque, Volunteering, New projects etc. Good LucK.