₦airaland Forum

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US banned travels from some countries including Schengen countries and the likes. They exempted students and some other groups. Even in pandemic era, essential is whatever you define it to be. And Yes, education is supposed to be essential

LagosismyHome:
i know we all have great plans, we love to be optimistic , we want to travel ..........but where have you seen student travel classified as "essential service" . The whole education is not classified as essential service . UK closed all schools, WAEC is been cancelled , nigerian schools are closed . What is essential about education in a pandemic era . we are in a global pandemic health care is essential , food is ........but education

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Yes it is a lot. But in any country where they reopen, they will only operate based on their capacity, getting appointment dates will be a competition. Not everyone will get a date that suits them, some people will still have to defer or start online. They reopened in Korea, I'm sure they have more yearly F-1 applicants than Nigeria

Eniolakiite:
If they prioritize F1 in Nigeria, it is still a lot.

They prioritized F-1 in the few countries where they reopened

Eniolakiite:
US can’t be compared to other countries in terms of student visa because many people apply for US student visa. They might have laid down regulations that each country should meet before they can resume services. And to think not only student visa, other visa types too. If they open today, many people will rush them. Nigerians apply for US visa a lot. Also note that they do in-person interviews, so their safety is important.

I agree with your argument regarding the comparison between TLS, VFS and US embassy. But I still want to believe that it isn't all about social distancing

Taal17:
Uk visas are different process - no inperson appointments. Public doesnt interface with the Consulate at all. You submit documents to a 3rd party and your documents are scanned/mailed to even the UK sometimes. The only interview you could have done for a visa to the UK was a skype style interview at TLS office.

VFS and TLS in Nigeria pretty much had social distancing pre-COVID-19 so they can resume services easily.

US is a totally different process if your country doesnt have a visawaiverprogram with them then you will do in-person interview outside the US. Even within the US those adjusting status have to sit in for in-person interviews - they need the in-person to suss out applicants reactions and demeanour. They dont trust your documents to be genuine and wont base too much on anything you submit.

Mauritius and Seychelles. But it isn't about Africa, I doubt if it is about countries with high influx too. I would say they have rules they are following and the way they are interpreting the rules is best known to them. International flights must be playing a major factor though

kilankoazeez:
Good morning everyone

Is there any African country that the US embassy their have started visa operations?

Im thinking it's a general thing across Africa or at least majority of the countries with high influx of visa applications...

I doubt if it is about Nigeria and the fact that they are not handling the virus well. It is bigger than that. VFS resumed office resumed services for different countries already, UK has announced resumption too. In my opinion, US are only using the situation to delay Visa services. If not, what of the numerous countries that are 'handling the Virus well', NZ for example. A lot are doing well with respect to their curves and routine Visa services have not resumed yet. Truth is Nigeria will continue with this trend for a while, I dont even know if I should call it a trend
N.B the notice from the link posted previously are on other embassy pages too, including US embassy in UK. I guess they are tired of people sending them emails to ask questions and also flooding their social media pages with questions

kastgeraldino:
Because the govt is not sure about its ability to manage the virus amidst international travel. Even if international travel is allowed, I really don't see how it will make the US embassy think of resuming visa services for Nigeria anytime soon. Put yourself in their shoes (US officials), would you trust the way the Nigerian govt is handling the virus?

There is a document the embassies seemed to be using as a guideline to determine if they will reopen based on local conditions or not. It was formulated by the States Department and used by both their domestic and overseas outlets. It isn't very clear to me though, I guess it is not that straightforward. Because if it were, embassy in Wellington should have opened by now. The document is called DIPLOMACY STRONG and it is online

Sevis fee is valid for one year. As long as it is within that one year, even if you defer or even change schools and get a new i20, it is still valid within the 365 days

kastgeraldino:
Does one pay a new SEVIS fee if you defer and have to get a new I-20? I know visa fee is not affected for one year.

Naturally, one should only be able to apply for Visa from a country at which they are legal residents. Ofcourse you would have to show prove of residency

I got that screenshot through this link
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/forms/ds-160-online-nonimmigrant-visa-application/ds-160-faqs.html

greenskittles:
Wait, does this mean we can apply for visas in another country? Or is this restricted to cities within the same country?

Yes

brashear:
Guys pls, if I choose Abuja when filling my DS-160, can I choose Lagos when booking an interview?

Disclaimer: I am not trying to book an interview atm, I have just changed my mind to be interviewed in Lagos.

Limited visa services appears to have resumed at US embassies in Slovakia and Austria. In fact they US seem to be exempting certain groups of individual including students from the ban it placed on Schengen countries from entering the US

US never shut their airspace from day one. Only restricted entries from specific countries including the Schengen countries, UK, Ireland, China and recently Brazil. Their citizens from the restricted countries can still enter the US but just through specific airports. Nigeria shut its airspace but their have always been repatriation and special flights that leave from time to time. However, there are strict rules on the people that can board those flights.

kastgeraldino:
Please I want a clarification regarding flights. I'm hearing various conflicting stories regarding flights. I thought that the Nigerian airspace has been closed, and that America has shut off international flights. But I still hear some people say that there are flights to the US. Does anyone know the real deal?

If you know anything about post-graduate studies in the US, you will know that it is very possible to have a 2.2 here in Nigeria and get a full funding for Master's in the US. In fact, a lot of people target US because of the funding opportunities. You said you help people and that is why I actually decided to reply you. I want to let you have the right info in case you meet someone that needs your guidance. I have the feeling you don't know much about it though because if you did, you won't be asking someone that went for Master's if he wrote SAT.
Anyway it is possible and I'm a witness. I have atleast two of my classmates with a 2.2 going to the US this fall for Master's (If US embassy here reopens) and they are fully funded. In fact one got into University of Georgia which sometimes is ranked in 50-60th top universities in the US; depending on the ranking organisation.
Compared to Canada, they have more universities in US, as high as 5000 - so applicants have more options. They look at your application package holistically and there are a lot of ways you can make up for an average CGPA. Standardized tests like GRE and TOEFL, match with a Supervisor, SOP, LOR and the likes. Some people even decide to evaluate their transcript and it is proven that WES evaluation boost CGPA, so if you have a strong 2.2 here in Nigeria, with the evaluation, your CGPA can be as high as 3/4 which is the minimum for most schools. Overall, the US is a land of opportunities, there's really no limit to what you can achieve. Follow some people like @momentswithbren on Twitter and LinkedIn, you will read people's testimonies.
So bros, I come in peace, please change your mindset. I also implore you to do more research.

vibrant99:
It is also because this is a faceless Forum that why you will say someone is "RUDE". Do a quick google and Read out the meaning of RUDE!

The things i wrote or said , are they CANDID? Are they subjective? Are they Possible?

I am not a natural person that tends to fall into the weather that fits everyone, I drop it the way it suits and walk away.

You think people don't think? They actually do, and most of the time they listen more to the Voice in the wilderness~!

You wanna see the number of mail request i get even with the whole Negativity? I should have been avoided !

I have guided people people, advised people and even solved most people's problem on his Forum, the last one even extended her appreciation way beyond necessity that the HUSBAND asked to meet me one on one, My brother people are thinking !

You may think all you need on the forum is sugar-coated positivism, that a Lie, You need me and my "Unwise" as much you want people to lick your toes!

I could have also simply moved on, but No, i am sure my reply will help other, i decided to perch and do Justice.

The fact remains, DID I MAKE SENSE? OR YOU ARE LOOKING FOR RESPECT?

Be wise when you Can, stop reading Motivational write up, Motivate yourself .

Look at your last two sentences, then read your previous posts. Yes, you guessed right, you really need to be more creative. Or maybe you still didn't notice the cliche. Anyway, you can do better. It is good we are now done.

hosey:
Lol. Ekaita and I have resolved the issue as he has addressed all the essentials I suggested.

So just get away from our conversation as we are now done. This is the last time I respond to you. I cant make you feel relevant.

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I think you should ask for his genotype, maybe how long he lasts in bed too.

hosey:
You never even mention about your research interest, research field and you expect people to answer you. Then we can know which schools we can reccomend base on their expertise.

Also you did not ask about what are the PhD pass rate in those school? Do PhD supervisors in the department racially profile people. Your supervisor decide your PhD and set up for viva and not the school. Without their approval, you are going no where. You must ensure you have a good supervisor who will support you and not a racist.

You are not emphasising on all this and just talking about location and work opportunities. You need to up your game. We need to tell you the truth and say it as it is.

Nigeria's issue is kinda complicated. We can't really draw a reliable curve. 1. We are not testing uniformly day-to-day. No pattern, it is just at random. Individuals states contribute mainly to this. 2. The cases we see everyday are backlogs. Those samples were taken btw 2-4 weeks prior to the day the results were reported.
When you consider that and the fact that we have only tested less than 200k people when we have an estimated population of 200m.
But we still stay hopeful. Hope they find our local condition manageable and hope our government give them go ahead. A lot of consular officers are still in Nigeria attending to emergency cases since the time embassy was shut

Eniolakiite:
An angle...

I also think it's not about total number of cases in each country, the question of "are cases increasing or declining in this place?" is also important. Cases in Nigeria are increasing on a daily. Some countries in Europe have seen decline. Like a country in Europe can have more cases than Nigeria currently but actually they had more before and is now declining, that will be seen as handling it well.

Apart from NCDC report and official numbers. Nigeria and Nigerian Government will still be a factor. My guess is that there is something odd somewhere. They won't reopen here if the Nigerian government did not give them go ahead. Look at the case of UK Visa, TLS offices have either opened or already scheduled to open in some African countries like South Africa whose official numbers is like six times worse than Nigeria. The only thing Nigerian UK Visa hopeful got was only a promise from the UK ambassador to Nigeria that they will open soon. Also, VAC office is Ghana has reopened since, Canada hopefuls here are still waiting.

If the declaration from ICE remains the status quo,
my guess is that we will have to get an updated i20. You can view some tweets from that @USEmbassyJA page. If all the law suits did not materialize, I guess schools will have to compromise and start issuing new i20s

greenskittles:
This is really good news, I hope the Nigerian embassy and consulate follow suit. Now I have a question, since ICE asked schools to reissue new I-20s, do you think we can still apply with our current I-20s? Or is the I-20 really "beyond the embassy's jurisdiction" and they only need to see it as proof that you're a student (but not necessarily concerned with the fine print).

No spring 2021 option?

kastgeraldino:
Unfortunately, that's the reality. You can't get paid unless you are in the US. My school offered to defer my admission and full scholarship for one year. Even though deferring is hard, I got no choice but to accept cos I'm getting tired of all the uncertainties. Let me use this one year to build my network further and earn more.

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Yea, the date is right there

Geewin69:
That tweet was posted in 2015.

For real Bros. We have to do what we have to do

greenskittles:
Honestly, this is what I'm thinking about right now. I just have to keep reminding myself that all this uncertainty surrounding my life right now is one of the consequences of me trying to seek a better life for myself and my children if I eventually get married.

Our guy

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You can keep preaching till eternity. Most people chose a particular country for a reason. Most are potential graduate students and are adults that know the options available to them. They have heard about UK, Australia and Canada, Estonia and Germany, Turkey, North Cryprus, Scandinavian countries and the likes. Some are so desperate that they try five countries at a time. I can apply to a UK university today with my undergraduate transcript, WAEC result and paper reference letters and get an admission offer in 5hours or 3days. Very easy and less tedious. But we still go through the pain of writing GRE, GMAT,TOEFL and the likes to get to a US school. All for a reason. Everyone knows where they came from. Millions of dollars are awarded to Nigerian students in funding every year, you won't get that in any other country. I am sure you are currently enjoying some of their benevolence. My point is that it is not as easy to ignore US as you are presenting it to be

Eniolakiite:
Yes to other options. That is what I keep preaching.

If and when Trump wins in November, he can and will likely change as many things as possible. Maybe this period is for everyone to reflect and decide what they want. It doesn’t have to be a particular country. One should be open to options. No amount of curse or anything can change things to your favor all the time.

UK in the past didn’t want students to stay back after studying, now they want them. Other countries want what they want. Nigeria wants what it wants Policies change from time to time. Don’t be rigid and insist it must be a particular country so that frustration doesn’t set in. This advice is particularly for those yet to come in to the US.
By the way, saw that attached image somewhere and feel like putting it here