₦airaland Forum

pchilaka:
https://www.nairaland.com/realshifu
realshifu
You will need to call Prime Hospital, Port Harcourt and book for your medical appointment. The medical procedure is between 8-12noon.
When I did mine, I was told i need to book first. Their number is 08090840688.

Thanks! I called them earlier. The lady said 8-12 as you have mentioned. But she said I can come tomorrow for it rather than booking. And apparently the price is cheaper than it is in Lagos I think.

jnyuwa02:
Prime Medical
#4 Prime Close Off Chief Nyenwenwo Avenue Eliada Estate,
Rumuogba by Artillery Junction,
Port Harcourt,
Rivers State. Nigeria

Good luck!

Thanks Chief! I'll go there tomorrow by God's grace.

Doyenrey:
Wow so fast! You are almost there.

Please what documents did you submit, and what program are you going for??

Masters at McGill University.
Sponsor’s account (My Fiancée's Sister) and supporting evidence for our relationship, letter and affidavit of sponsorship.
My personal ARM Mutual funds account.
Siblings birth certificate (All 4 of them)
Father's landed property (1 house and its valuation)
Current Annual Practicing Licence to practice as a Dental Surgeon (Am currently a Corper Doctor in Bayelsa)
I got a Differential Fee waiver Award from McGill. So I will be paying tuition at Quebec rate (I added the email confirmation).
SOP

I think that's all, I just did everything in a rush and sent it, coz as at July 21st, I didn't even know i will be applying for the study permit coz my CAQ arrived very late. I saw the CAQ on the 21st of July.

Famzyactivity:
paper route or online route?

Online

jnyuwa02:
Congrats in advance, you are almost on your way to final approval. Find the nearest Canadian approved physician and follow through. God has been gracious to you. Many applied since June and never heard a word!

Wow! I thought it was a glitch coz this appears to be fast. I have a question though. I'm in Bayelsa, and I just traveled to Lagos last week for the biometrics, and I will prefer not to travel back to Lagos so soon. Is there any where I can do this medical say in Port Harcourt?

Good afternoon everyone. I have been a silent reader here. I applied for study permit online on July 26th, was called for biometrics the next day. I did the biometrics on July 31st. My resumption is for September.

Just now I received a Medical request in my CIC portal through my email. Please can anyone explain what this mean?

ekpotek:
Did you declare this fund in the online application form as savings/investment?

Yes, I did. Under savings/investment/additional income section.

chloe00:
Realshifu if you’ll permit me to add o, cost of your travel is like your four months salary without the investment of which they know you’ll likely want to stay beyond 5 days.
Secondly I don’t think your being single worked against you because I got my Uk visa as a single lady although it’s every man to his own case; I don’t think they look at single or married to issue visa, I personally believe the funds issue is what worked against you , so maybe you should save up a bit more and have more money in tour savings account e.g if your proposing to spend £1k, have £2.5k in your savings as proof of funds that you have saved over time because they always like to see that you can conveniently afford your travel without being a burden to anyone. Thank God Uk isn’t like USA where they won’t even tell you what is working against you. I believe if you can right the wrongs the ECO stated then you’ll get the Visa . Cheers

Sorry, didnt see this earlier. Thanks for your comment and the encouragement. Will be useful for future purposes.

@epotek see letter to embassy from ARM

ekpotek:
Hi sorry for the refusal. Is it possible to share the cover letter you wrote. Sometimes we shot ourselves in the foot, with our cover letter. The ECO would have being more convinced if you have gotten a letter of suppport from ARM to show that the investment fund was liquidable within 2 days of request. Better still liquidate the investment and support the lump payment with an official letter from ARM not email correspondences. Secondly the ECO did not see any evidences that the investment fund belong to you despite the fact your name was on it. Lessons learnt, get a detail letter from ARM showing when you started the investment fund, how deposit is received by ARM and yield rate. This is if you wish to reapply. Being single is not barrier, as your qualification as a doctor is highly rated.

The Entry Clearance Officer
The British High Commission
11, Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island
Lagos.

Dear Ma/Sir,

STANDARD VISITOR VISA
I am [Redacted]: a medical doctor, cancer researcher and a youth leader and advocate. I hereby apply for a UK Standard Visitor Visa (valid up to 6 months) to enable me attend the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF), at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), April 16-18, at the QE II Center London. I am currently undergoing my compulsory 1-year national youth service in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. My place of primary assignment (PPA) is the [Redacted].

I will be funding this trip myself with a budget of 380,000 NGN. During the CYF, and my 5 nights in London, i will be staying at the Pride of Paddington; 1-3 Craven Road, Paddington, Westminster Borough, London, +442074022156, at a total cost of 49,294 NGN (breakfast inclusive). My bus fares between the hostel and the QE II Center will be covered by a 20 GBP (approx. 10,100 NGN) Oyster Card. I budget 25 GBP (approx. 12,650 NGN) for dinners with a return ticket to London costing me between 280,000 – 300,000 NGN. To properly clarify my ability to fund this trip and my current social standing, I find it neccessary to provide the following additional information.

1. Every graduated nigerian dentist/doctor that is going to practice in Nigeria, is required to do a 1-year housemanship, followed by the mandatory 1-year national youth service. For me, i graduated April 2016, and did my housejob at the [Redacted] 18/07/16 – 17/07/17. I was called-up for youth service in November 2017 (first an orientation camp), and i resumed my PPA on 11/12/17. This means i was without any tangible full-time employment for a period of approx. 4.5 months (mid-July to mid-December), I could only do few locums -where I was mostly paid in cash and individual fund transfers - while waiting to be called-up for service.

2. Therefore, to prove my ability to fund this trip, I submitted a letter confirming my long-standing mutual fund investment with ARM – rather than the regular past 6-months bank account statement. This is part of my savings from my salary from Housemanship where I earned 158,000 NGN monthly (see attached [Redacted] payslips and 6-month salary period account statement from GTB). The other part of my savings was invested in 2 cassava farms with Farmcrowdy as explained on the application form (see attached email correspondence with Farmcrowdy and farm sponsor portal printout). I was able to save so much during my housejob because of my strong savings culture and work ethics; I worked numerous locums that effectively put my total monthly income at approx. 210,000NGN allowing me to save as much as 150, 000 NGN monthly overall.

3. My Farmcrowdy investment will mature on April 15, 2018, so I currently don't have access to the fund, however all my savings in ARM is readily available to me. Request to liquidation of fund takes a maximum of 3 working days. To purposefully demonstrate it's availability, I did a partial redemption and I attached my email correspondence (Thurs. Feb. 8, 2018) with ARM and an account statement that reflects the credit from ARM (Mon. February 12, 2018). The 2280 GBP I filled is a very conservative estimate of my total savings (ARM balance plus the remaining money in my GTB and Access Bank accounts, excluding my soon to mature Farmcrowdy investment).

4. At a monthly allowance set at 19,800 NGN by the federal government, youth corp members are not paid much. However, due to my profession, I earn an additional 98,000 NGN from my PPA, taking my monthly earnings as a Corper to a total of 117,800 NGN. My first allowance was paid in cash at the end of the new corp members orientation camp in december, while my January allowance was paid into my Access Bank account on 30/1/18. Though, I am yet to be paid my first salary at my PPA, as it is not unusual among federal hospitals to start paying new workers 2-3 months after assumption due to red tapes; the earlier months are paid as arrears (See my first pay slip from Housejob October 2016 for example). However, my salary is confirmed in the attached letter from my PPA.

5. I attached three statements of accounts. Two from my account with GTB – Oct. 2016 to Mar. 2017 (ST1); proving my source of the savings with ARM and Nov. 2017 to Feb. 2018 (ST2); to demonstrate that the ARM fund is available for my use. Then one from my account with Access Bank simply to show my Jan. Allowance from FG.
For ST1, majority of the credits, apart from Housejob salary were my salaries for locum work (especially from “[redacted]” and cheque clearances from “[redacted]”).
For ST2, a credit of 142,500 NGN on 10/11/17, was my salary payment for the locum I did for the [redacted] (one of the locums I referred to earlier between my housemanship and youth service call-up). A debit of 76,000 NGN on 13/11/17 represents a loan to my fiance that was repaid partially on 15/01/18. 40,000 NGN cash deposit on 27/11/17 represents another locum payment with another 16,000 NGN from [redacted] on 7/12/17. On 2/1/18 I received a sum of 86,692 NGN which was my final salary from Housejob ([redacted] doesn't pay house officers their last month's salary, until some clearance and documentations are completed, and this can take anywhere between 6 months to 1 year after the housemanship).

Kindly find attached all relevant supporting documents for this application. I hope you will find everything in order and be rest assured of my returning to complete my work and national youth service immediately after the CYF. For further questions, clarification, and interview, please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.

Thank you, for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[Redacted]

So i probably shot myself in the foot for being too explanatory. But i was at pain to point out in the letter that i am not funding the trip from my salary (I wasn't even yet paid by then (mentioned that), just got paid this March), yet the ECO kept going on and on about my salary. Maybe a long-standing investment savings is not useful for visa purposes. But since i am not ready to pull out from ARM mutual funds, as it pays much better than bank's fixed deposits, your advice for how i can go about this in the future will still be very much needed. I am not reapplying for the visa

Aquaman84:
@realshifu God bless you, please what address did you use when you were printing it out?

The Entry Clearance Officer
The Deputy British High Commission
11, Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island
Lagos.

Is this the correct address please?

Correct!

Aquaman84:
@realshifu, so sorry for the visa rejection. Please how did you send your cover letter? What address did you use? And did you print it out when you were submitting your documents??

Because I saw a cover letter section on the website, did you type your cover letter there?? Please I'm so confused

I filled that blank section on the website, and i also typed, printed, signed and submitted a more detailed cover letter. I hope this helps, please don't be confused.

galazito:
@realshifu........... as much as i can understand the reason of the refusal, it is clear that he made his judgement based on the informations you supplied:
1. you told him that presently you are out of job (tie)
2. Your itineraries is more than your available funds (that is accessable funds)
3. You did not actually show any tie to the country (no job, not much accessable funds, still single i guess)
4. Your presentations
these are my personal views @justwise will do justice to this

Thank you @galazito for your response. I should clarify somethings.

1. I was not out of job when I applied, I am currently employed as corper doctor, now, and as at the day of my application - Feb 26th. I was only out of a job between when I finished Housemanship and getting a call-up for NYSC (July - November). I had to explained that in my cover letter coz it meant as at Feb 26 when I applied, I had no immediate pass 6-months salary account to show - I resumed at my PPA in December. I submitted my posting letter to the Hospital, and an introduction letter from the Hospital confirming my position and salary. And it's a Federal institution.

2. I had thought my fund was available, and demonstrably so. I deliberately liquidated a little of that my savings with ARM (took just 2 days), and showed my email correspondence with ARM, and noted on my account statement to show the ECO (I had read on this thread that the ECOs a lot of times consider fixed deposits as not available fund. But the ARM fund is not fixed). I also tried to avoid committing money lodging so I liquidated just a little.

3. Yes, I am single. I guessed that worked a lot against me, but I can't fix that yet. But as I noted earlier, I am in the job I should be in my career as a Nigerian-trained doctor.

4. I don't think I understand this last point.

Thanks a lot for your comments. Hopefully, @justwise and @epotek will review my situation too.

Hello House,

I received my passport with refusal letter included by courier today (see attached). I was to attend the Commonwealth Youth Forum at CHOGM. I am currently a corper Doctor in Bayelsa. My monthly income is actually 117800 (my PPA salary plus Allawee) but the ECO kept quoting 98k from my PPA alone.

But anyways, I explained in my covering letter that I won't be funding the trip from my salary, but from my savings with ARM. Those savings were from my recently concluded Housemanship and I submitted an account statement covering that period which showed me moving my salary to ARM investment funds. To demonstrate that the fund is readily available, I liquidated a small amount of it into my GTB account (It took 2 working days, and I explained and pointed it out in my covering letter, attaching my correspondence with ARM). Yet the ECO disregarded it all in one paragraph and treated my main source of fund as an aside.

So where do you guys think I went wrong for future purposes, I assume there is something wrong somewhere, please help me out?

Documents I Submitted.

Letter from the Hospital (My PPA) confirming my salary and leave.
Traveling approval from NYSC.
Acceptance email from CHOGM .
Posting letter to PPA .
NYSC ID Card.
Investment fund letter from ARM(With over 1M).
6 months statement of my salary account (GTB) covering a period from my Housemanship (To prove the source of money in my ARM fund) and the payslips.
Another past 4 months statement (just to demonstrate the availability of the ARM fund showing liquidation).
Access Bank account statement to show my allawee.

PS: I finished housejob last year July, I started NYSC November, resumed my PPA in December. So I was out of full employment between July and December, which means I had no past 6-months regular salary account to show. I explained all these in the covering letter. I applied on Feb 26th.

Msjoy:
Hello House, please I'm applying to the UK embassy and I'm not sure under what sub category my purpose of trip falls on. I'm a Lawyer and masters student abroad and I'm writing my thesis this semester. So I've been able to secure a lawfirm in the UK that invited me to come for research in relation to my thesis topic which is in line with the firm's area of practise. My university has also given me a letter to take to the embassy in this regard. I'm not sure which sub category this masters research falls under, I initially felt it was business academic but I'm also not qualified for that category. I'd be very greatful if d immigration experts in the house can give any possible suggestions. Thanks guys

Good morning. I am not an immigration expert, so the gurus here will still correct me if I am wrong. But I believe the Standard Visitor Visa covers what you are describing. I assume you are currently using the Visa4Uk website, in which case you should switch and start here
https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa read the page then click on apply, then click on online application. Start filling the application, you will get to a point where you are to choose a sub visa category, none of which will really fit your purpose, so click on "others", then you will get a box to freely explain the purpose of your visit, which is a few months research at a UK law firm.

I hope you will find this helpful.

ozymes:
You could actually booking a walk-in-appointment

Thanks @ozymes for your suggestion. But at 89 GBP? That doubles my visa cost. I'll pass. And anyway, that option is not even available on the website. I cant go past the date choosing page, i have not even been able to pay for the Visa application itself.

mamateniola1:
I woke up early and checked last week Tuesday and I got Wednesday 12pm after refreshing several times. I was happpyyy. I had to stay awake to put my documents and itinerary together.

Thank you for your quick reply. I guess i will have to keep refreshing, probably delete my cookies, and try in the early hours of the morning. Coz the thing has frustrated me already. I was thinking of booking this Friday before coz i have to travel down to Lagos, but now I will just pick any day that comes through and get a new approval to travel from my LGI. All the best in our applications. Final question, was it the same website as the screenshot i posted above?

mamateniola1:
God bless you @ekpotek. The questions are under 'my other sources of income' which is another column from 'my salary'.
Then pls who has been able to book for an interview at ikeja center. It is saying only premium and it is 110usd.

@mamateniola1, how were you able to book your appointment? Mine is not even just showing premium, it's show all the time slots, but keeps saying they are not available after i click save and continue.

Hello everyone. Special shout out to everyone that has been contributing to this thread helping people especially justwise and epotek.

I have been a silent follower of this thread, but i had to create a nairaland account to ask this question coz i have been stuck for like 3 days. I am applying for a UK Visa to attend the Commonwealth Youth Forum as a delegate, at CHOGM 2018. I have followed all the advice here, and i have filled the visa application form for a UK 6 months Standard Visitors Visa, but i haven't been able to submit the application because the appointment booking is not working. No matter the day and time i choose, it keeps saying "the appointment you have chosen is no longer available. Please choose another time.", and only february days are available. So i need help from the gurus in this house.

I have tried to start over on the visa4uk website, with the feeling that it's the vis-immigration site that's dysfunctional, but i can't seem to find a suitable visa category on that website only "Business", there is no option of choosing the "Standard Visitors Visa". Thanks as you help out.