₦airaland Forum

Amyfid12:
Good morning lovely people. It's been a week i was denied visa at the US embassy in Abuja. To say i was devastated is an understatement.

Sorry about the disappointing experience. Visa decision takes a holistic approach involving your Application and your interview exchange. Whilst, I have no idea what you filled on your DS form, I have to observe that your opening exchanges at the interview was awkward. Unfortunately, you met with an impatient VO who was unwilling to give you an extended chance (a lifeline). Your response on "Why The School" was anything but inspiring. The VO easily sealed your faith at that point.

You need to shake off the disappointment and re-strategise, ensuring to leave no stone unturned. The situation is anything but hopeless. Best wishes in your future endeavour!

Caveat: my opinion is personal

Brown2Green:
This is my perspective:

Funding had a major role to play in the VO's decision.
But the reverse could have been the case if you were going to a top school with such or more deficit. Mind you, I said Top school not Top program.
Like the person that had over 40k deficit but for a top 10 school. He was approved.


Secondly, since you know you have no funding, you need to Sell yourself with any given opportunity.
Why this school?
'I was interested in an ongoing research ' has become hackneyed. I think you should have done better as it made the first impression for the VO.
BTW, what was the closing balance on the SOA?

Before my interview, i posted my proposed interview transcript, and you said my responses were apt and i concluded that i was on the right track.The closing balance on the SOA was $45,000.

Lol

Amyfid12:
Before my interview, i posted my proposed interview transcript, and you said my responses were apt and i concluded that i was on the right track.The closing balance on the SOA was $45,000.

Amyfid12:
Before my interview, i posted my proposed interview transcript, and you said my responses were apt and i concluded that i was on the right track.The closing balance on the SOA was $45,000.

I understand how you feel and I'm really sorry about the outcome. But that's not the end of the world.
You should prep up and refire! Good enough , same VO cannot interview you twice.

This was what I saw that made me say it was apt.

ME: I chose WCU because I'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on Improving maternal and child health outcomes in undeserved populations. And at present, my community is undeserved haelthwise, cos we've had an increase in maternal and infant deaths. Also, WCU mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300hrs community service course called Applied Learning Experience. That's when students apply public health knowledge and skills gained in the classroom to real world public health problems. Its an avenue for students to interact with their community. This exposure will be of help to me when I return to Nigeria cos it will enable me plan and implement public health programs

[quote author=Brown2Green post=78885253
Thank you for the encouragement



I understand how you feel and I'm really sorry about the outcome. But that's not the end of the world.
You should prep up and refire! Good enough , same VO cannot interview you twice.

This was what I saw that made me say it was apt.

ME: I chose WCU because I'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on Improving maternal and child health outcomes in undeserved populations. And at present, my community is undeserved haelthwise, cos we've had an increase in maternal and infant deaths. Also, WCU mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300hrs community service course called Applied Learning Experience. That's when students apply public health knowledge and skills gained in the classroom to real world public health problems. Its an avenue for students to interact with their community. This exposure will be of help to me when I return to Nigeria cos it will enable me plan and implement public health programs[/quote]

Hello guys,
I was exempted from toefl but I wrote gre and was given admission. Do I need to write toefl exam for visa interview?

Esther52190:
Hello guys,
I was exempted from toefl but I wrote gre and was given admission. Do I need to write toefl exam for visa interview?

As far as the school waived it, then you're good.
It will be expressly stated on your I20 that you are proficient so the VO will see that.

I think you should just reapply again. I remember reading somewhere on this thread where the applicant got his F1 visa after the 6th visa interview.

Cheer up as it isn't the end of the world.

Meanwhile, AS MEN OF HONOR, WE JOIN HANDS.

Amyfid12:
Good morning lovely people. It's been a week i was denied visa at the US embassy in Abuja. To say i was devastated is an understatement. I thank God for the support system i have in terms of family and friends that encouraged me that all things will work together for my good. I had to come out here to get advice on how i went wrong. I applied to 6 schools, 5 admits and all for Masters in Public health. They offered me admission without funding. I reached out to them but there was no assurance i will be given a GA position. I decided to go for West Chester University, Pennsylvania and the total amount on my I-20 is $29,525. My aunt who resides in US is my sponsor. I prepared well for my interview and ensured my documents were complete. Below is my interview transcript on 24th May:

ME: Good morning
VO: Good morning, pass me your passport and I-20
ME: Sure
VO: Why did you choose this school?
ME: I chose this school because i'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on xxxxxxx. Also, the school mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300 hours community service course called Bleep. ( The VO cuts in)
VO: What do you do?
ME: I'm a pharmacist working with xxxxxxxxx
VO: Who is your sponsor?
ME: My aunt by name xxxxxxxxx
VO: types for some seconds and handed a green paper to me, that it will explain my denial of Visa.

All these, didn't last up to 5 minutes. I was shocked because i expected questions on Why US? Why MPH? What are your plans after the MS program? Can i see your SOA? which she didn't ask me.
Please, where did i go wrong? Mind you, i didn't stutter cos i prepared well for this interview. My school starts in August and i don't know what to do.

I'm so sorry!

Also, with other corrections made it is my opinion that an Aunt in the USA places you like someone who could run away? I think it somehow removes home ties. Just an opinion!

Amyfid12:
Good morning lovely people. It's been a week i was denied visa at the US embassy in Abuja. To say i was devastated is an understatement. I thank God for the support system i have in terms of family and friends that encouraged me that all things will work together for my good. I had to come out here to get advice on how i went wrong. I applied to 6 schools, 5 admits and all for Masters in Public health. They offered me admission without funding. I reached out to them but there was no assurance i will be given a GA position. I decided to go for West Chester University, Pennsylvania and the total amount on my I-20 is $29,525. My aunt who resides in US is my sponsor. I prepared well for my interview and ensured my documents were complete. Below is my interview transcript on 24th May:

ME: Good morning
VO: Good morning, pass me your passport and I-20
ME: Sure
VO: Why did you choose this school?
ME: I chose this school because i'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on xxxxxxx. Also, the school mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300 hours community service course called Bleep. ( The VO cuts in)
VO: What do you do?
ME: I'm a pharmacist working with xxxxxxxxx
VO: Who is your sponsor?
ME: My aunt by name xxxxxxxxx
VO: types for some seconds and handed a green paper to me, that it will explain my denial of Visa.

All these, didn't last up to 5 minutes. I was shocked because i expected questions on Why US? Why MPH? What are your plans after the MS program? Can i see your SOA? which she didn't ask me.
Please, where did i go wrong? Mind you, i didn't stutter cos i prepared well for this interview. My school starts in August and i don't know what to do.

dipseacon:
Please what are my chances of getting Visa? I'm currently in my final year at Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture. But I have gotten admission at East Tennesse State University to study Nursing, would they require a proof that I am in a school over here? And like I asked earlier what are my chances of getting Visa?

but you didn't actually study agriculture, did you?
cos I know the school, they offer many courses not related to agriculture. hope what you studied is related to nursing

Amyfid12:
Good morning lovely people. It's been a week i was denied visa at the US embassy in Abuja. To say i was devastated is an understatement. I thank God for the support system i have in terms of family and friends that encouraged me that all things will work together for my good. I had to come out here to get advice on how i went wrong. I applied to 6 schools, 5 admits and all for Masters in Public health. They offered me admission without funding. I reached out to them but there was no assurance i will be given a GA position. I decided to go for West Chester University, Pennsylvania and the total amount on my I-20 is $29,525. My aunt who resides in US is my sponsor. I prepared well for my interview and ensured my documents were complete. Below is my interview transcript on 24th May:

ME: Good morning
VO: Good morning, pass me your passport and I-20
ME: Sure
VO: Why did you choose this school?
ME: I chose this school because i'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on xxxxxxx. Also, the school mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300 hours community service course called Bleep. ( The VO cuts in)
VO: What do you do?
ME: I'm a pharmacist working with xxxxxxxxx
VO: Who is your sponsor?
ME: My aunt by name xxxxxxxxx
VO: types for some seconds and handed a green paper to me, that it will explain my denial of Visa.

All these, didn't last up to 5 minutes. I was shocked because i expected questions on Why US? Why MPH? What are your plans after the MS program? Can i see your SOA? which she didn't ask me.
Please, where did i go wrong? Mind you, i didn't stutter cos i prepared well for this interview. My school starts in August and i don't know what to do.

Which state is your aunt in? Is it close to the school you applied to or in same state?

sheke01:
Welcome to the league of Computer and Information Systems Security/ Information Assurance, glad to see my fellow naija bro coming in for this program. Tired of seeing too many Indians dominating this program.

do you happen to be at st. Clouds? Tell me something about the indians lol.

Abdulrahmon68:
It is When people find it difficult to achieve after so many struggles or when things are not working out the way they planned that is when they will now come here and be saying the "Honest Truth is this The Honest Truth is That". Abeg Don't come here and be saying things to discourage people that are pursuing their dream, the fact that things doesn't work for A doesn't mean it won't work for B. People are making it irrespective of the programme they opt for whether STEM or no STEM. After all no be everybody wey do STEM go work for all these big big company like Microsoft wey una dey mention, some people wey no do STEM go still get favor to work there. Most importantly, The Destiny of Taiwo is different from the Destiny of Kehinde! [/b]Anything you believe will work for you, do your research very well go after it, believe in yourself and pray towards it. [b] Na risk everybody dey take cus this life self na risk but let's try and take calculated risk

If you are reading this Please don't be discouraged, Go after your dream. And please make sure you control yourselves over Frustration. Learn From the negative and mistakes you find on this thread, be inspired and be motivated with the positive ones.

Am also using this medium to wish the Muslims friends here happy Ramadan Mubarak! and Happy Eid-il-Fitri in Advance. May we witness more of it on earth in Good health and in every good things we have asked for in this month and so many years to come. Aameen

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Thank you

@Agreatman dont mind him, he acts like he is the Visa officer that would grant people visa, i wonder why he on this forum when he has a better chance of being a consular at the USA embassy because he knows more than them. a lot of people have done standardised tests and have not gotten, some didnt do and still didnt get. so its my choice if i dont do GMAT or GRE . This forum is for support and not gloat or make people feel worse after denials. but thats all he does because he believes he knows better than everyone

AgreatMan:
I wonder why u usually see an opinion which differs from yours as a personal attack on you. I quoted the lady, I agreed with her point but as a side-note, I chipped in that the influence of the GRE is getting watered-down year after year. This means that the general belief that everyone must write standardized test will no longer hold true for some candidates.

There is no where I debated whether GRE is not a requirement for public admin, I only said it is madness for such students to be made to produce GRE. If schools are dropping GRE requirements for courses like computer science, chemistry and biology, what is public admin doing with GRE?

I am just making my comments on a current trend, which were backed with facts. I am not competing for who has the biggest mouth on Nairaland USA travel thread.

thanks we all have our opinions but we can pass it in a more subtle way to avoid being perceived as rude or imposing opinions, which was his case

ProYouWebsiteUK:
There is nothing like oversabi in what he was saying. He was only trying to help by telling you what he thought was the right thing for you to do next.

All the VOs expects all students to take Standardize tests no matter what, and sees students that did not take the test as an unserious student.

What he was trying to say is that, what if you try again without taking the GRE and you get to the interview and the VO ask you if you take the test and you said No. It takes only the Grace of God to be approved Visa if the VO ask about Standardize Test and you said you didn't take it. You wouldn't know the type of question the VO would ask you. The VO might not even ask you about English Proficiency Test in your next interview but ask for Standardize Test.

There is sense in what he was saying, you just chose to hate his words because you don't like him. Stop seeing him like he's acting oversabi. Think over his advice before you reapply. At least, you will be able to tell the VO that something has changed about your application.

Who knows maybe God used him to tell you what might hinder you from getting your Visa in your next attempt so you can work towards it.

My advice though.

@Esther52190 hello based on my experience i was denied in december for not taking mY ielts to the embassy, please its either you get a letter from the school stating why the English test was waived and how they verified your English proficiency (since your BSc was studied in Englis) or you just do a TOEFL or IELTS to be safe.

Esther52190:
Hello guys,
I was exempted from toefl but I wrote gre and was given admission. Do I need to write toefl exam for visa interview?

Esther52190:
Hello guys,
I was exempted from toefl but I wrote gre and was given admission. Do I need to write toefl exam for visa interview?

Hello , what's your gre verbal score, if you did well in it , it safe to tell the vo that it qualified you for TOEFL waiver

Amyfid12:
Good morning lovely people. It's been a week i was denied visa at the US embassy in Abuja. To say i was devastated is an understatement. I thank God for the support system i have in terms of family and friends that encouraged me that all things will work together for my good. I had to come out here to get advice on how i went wrong. I applied to 6 schools, 5 admits and all for Masters in Public health. They offered me admission without funding. I reached out to them but there was no assurance i will be given a GA position. I decided to go for West Chester University, Pennsylvania and the total amount on my I-20 is $29,525. My aunt who resides in US is my sponsor. I prepared well for my interview and ensured my documents were complete. Below is my interview transcript on 24th May:

ME: Good morning
VO: Good morning, pass me your passport and I-20
ME: Sure
VO: Why did you choose this school?
ME: I chose this school because i'm interested in an ongoing research by Prof xxxx on xxxxxxx. Also, the school mandates it's MPH students to complete a 6 credits, 300 hours community service course called Bleep. ( The VO cuts in)
VO: What do you do?
ME: I'm a pharmacist working with xxxxxxxxx
VO: Who is your sponsor?
ME: My aunt by name xxxxxxxxx
VO: types for some seconds and handed a green paper to me, that it will explain my denial of Visa.

All these, didn't last up to 5 minutes. I was shocked because i expected questions on Why US? Why MPH? What are your plans after the MS program? Can i see your SOA? which she didn't ask me.
Please, where did i go wrong? Mind you, i didn't stutter cos i prepared well for this interview. My school starts in August and i don't know what to do.

You did well. I would say you were unlucky and your denial was purely due to financial reasons. Your aunt based in the US and sponsoring 100% of your cost of attendance is a red flag. It works sometimes but you were unlucky it didn't work for you.

If you took standardized tests, I would encourage you to try again. Maybe in your next interview, you may be lucky to get a VO that will ask more questions and will be impressed that you took standardized tests.

If you can't get the visa after three attempts, abort the plan and refire for a better-ranked school for fall 2020.

wintabotom:
@Esther52190 hello based on my experience i was denied in december for not taking mY ielts to the embassy, please its either you get a letter from the school stating why the English test was waived and how they verified your English proficiency (since your BSc was studied in Englis) or you just do a TOEFL or IELTS to be safe.

There is no need taking a letter if it is stated on the I20.
Your case was that it requested English proficiency on your first I20.

same I 20 has student is proficient on the next coloumn but i guess the VO wanted to see what test was done to confirm this .. can u please refer to the screenshot i attached in the previous post i am assuming he i20 may be worded differently

Brown2Green:
There is no need taking a letter if it is stated on the I20.
Your case was that it requested English proficiency on your first I20.

wintabotom:
same I 20 has student is proficient on the next coloumn but i guess the VO wanted to see what test was done to confirm this .. can u please refer to the screenshot i attached in the previous post i am assuming he i20 may be worded differently

Point I'm making is once it shows 'English Proficient' there is no need of requesting any letter.

Time2win:
Which state is your aunt in? Is it close to the school you applied to or in same state?

Maryland

bracelum:
You did well. I would say you were unlucky and your denial was purely due to financial reasons. Your aunt based in the US and sponsoring 100% of your cost of attendance is a red flag. It works sometimes but you were unlucky it didn't work for you.

If you took standardized tests, I would encourage you to try again. Maybe in your next interview, you may be lucky to get a VO that will ask more questions and will be impressed that you took standardized tests.

If you can't get the visa after three attempts, abort the plan and refire for a better-ranked school for fall 2020.

Thank you for the advice

Hello please I need help,I and my family where refused tourist last year,I’m going for F1 visa here is the problem while filling the form the section that has fill old ds160 number I filled it and my husband click submit unknownly so it took me to upload passport photograph.The problem is I have some little adjustments to make in my status so I filled a new Ds 160,going to where I will schedule appointment I used a new email address,while filling it a message popped out saying they having this details on their data base do u want to transfer old data I clicked yes,now it took me back again to upload passport which I did.After that the reply was I will be contacted what do I do no contact since.

Hi Good people,

Please I need your kind advice when is it safe to reapply after an F1 denial ?
@Lagosismyhome any body pls share your kind thoughts

Gernny:
Hello please I need help,I and my family where refused tourist last year,I’m going for F1 visa here is the problem while filling the form the section that has fill old ds160 number I filled it and my husband click submit unknownly so it took me to upload passport photograph.The problem is I have some little adjustments to make in my status so I filled a new Ds 160,going to where I will schedule appointment I used a new email address,while filling it a message popped out saying they having this details on their data base do u want to transfer old data I clicked yes,now it took me back again to upload passport which I did.After that the reply was I will be contacted what do I do no contact since.

Contact the support line.

When visa officers request for passport at the beginning of the interview, what do they do with it? Do they check your visas or they type in your passport number

Good afternoon house. Pls is an F1 applicant to pay the SEVIS fee before booking an appointment??

Thank you in advance!

Dipro:
Good afternoon house. Pls is an F1 applicant to pay the SEVIS fee before booking an appointment??

Thank you in advance!

Not necessarily.

Timm89:
Hi Good people,

Please I need your kind advice when is it safe to reapply after an F1 denial ?
@Lagosismyhome any body pls share your kind thoughts

This question is very hard to answer because you have to look at the full body of work / package

for example if the school is VIU , then no amount of reapplying is safe . or if it someone with a masters going to a Community college .

If you have the right profile then i would say sure apply again as soon as possible and hope for the best . But you must have done what gives you an edge: such as pick good school, test result , prepare well and articulate yourself well

Brown2Green:
Contact the support line.

Thanks please do you know the support line or email