₦airaland Forum

Beautyaddy:
And yes, very well it should be.

Huh...it obvious that these people dont know that some Nigerian are very good expert liars when it comes to convincing the US visas officers to grant them visas.

It is already very difficult to get a Visiting Visa to the U. S. Those that are able to get it usually have high paying jobs and quite successful in Nigeria.

The bigger problem is the brain drain going on in this country. When the "educated elites" feel the need to take this kind of route, all in the bid to leave Nigeria. It leads one to question our survival as a country.

The future indeed looks bleak, the Doctors are leaving, The smart, intelligent graduates are leaving for further studies abroad without plan of coming back. We are losing our Intellectual and human capital on a daily basis. Then who are those left to develop the country?

Nigerians are walking into Canada, prompting request for U.S. to take action

The flow of asylum seekers that began this past summer has resumed this spring. Most of the new arrivals are Nigerians.
By Selena Ross
April 28 at 6:00 AM

MONTREAL — As Ni­ger­ian asylum seekers flood into Canada across a ditch in Upstate New York, Canadian authorities are asking the United States for help — but not with managing the influx at the border.

Instead, they want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.

It is a ripple effect that few expected last summer when people, mostly Haitians, began to walk into Quebec via an “irregular” border crossing north of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and seek refugee status.

With the coming of spring, the flow has picked up again. But recently, the asylum seekers have been mostly Ni­ger­ian, and their route to the border is more problematic, Canadian officials say.

Many Haitians had lived in the United States for years before suddenly learning they would lose their protected status and fleeing north. But many of the Nigerian asylum seekers are arriving in Quebec with recently issued U.S. visitor visas, said Mathieu Genest, a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister.

“They’re not using the visa for the reason it was intended for,” he said.

Canada is not asking U.S. officials to refuse entry to Nigerians, Genest said. It is seeking stricter screening to ensure that Nigerians who are granted U.S. visitor visas truly intend to return home.

The request is an unsurprising one between two countries that have collaborated for decades on migration-related matters. But it also is a sign that Canada is feeling new pressure on its borders as U.S. immigration and refugee policies shift.

“Instead of Trump throwing us back to Nigeria, we appreciate Canada right now for accepting people,” said one Nigerian man who walked into Quebec in March.

The man, who gave his name only as Isaac, carried a single duffel bag as he prepared last week to move with his family into an apartment in Montreal. Many Nigerian claimants in Montreal will not speak to reporters for fear of jeopardizing their status.

For six weeks, Isaac and his family have stayed at a shelter on the city’s outskirts, a onetime youth detention center that was converted last year into emergency housing for refugee claimants.

“I don’t want to go back to Nigeria,” he said. “Nobody’s safe.”

He arrived in Texas early last year on a visitor visa, he said, with plans to get another kind of visa when it expired or else claim U.S. refu­gee status for himself, his wife and their two young children.

But the election of Donald Trump changed his mind. “He doesn’t want immigrants,” he said. “Canada is open for an immigrant.”


The Canadian government has been trying to tone down its welcoming image — or, rather, to provide accurate information about how it processes refugee claims. Ethnic communities in the United States have been warned that actually winning refu­gee status here is hard.

But the campaign has been ineffective. As of mid-April, nearly 6,000 people had entered Quebec unofficially, three times as many as during the same period in 2017. And in 2017, claims across the country had doubled from the year before.

[Canada’s asylum claims are spiking dramatically. Will it restrict its welcome at last?]

A complicated web of factors explains why most of the new claimants are Nigerian.

For years before Trump’s election, the number of Nigerian refugee claims was already climbing worldwide, driven by the violence of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and other problems, including persecution related to sexual orientation and religion. In Canada, Nigerians were the biggest group of claimants in 2016.


Mary Chukwuwuekezie, who walked into Quebec with her three children in November after staying in the United States for 11 months on a visitor visa, said conditions in Nigeria are worsening.

“They kidnap,” she said. “They burn houses. They’ll even burn a church.”

But it has never been easy for Nigerians — or many other asylum seekers — to enter Canada to lodge a claim in the first place, partly because of its geography. Most foreigners need a visa to board a flight to North America, and the United States grants visitor visas more freely, said Benn Proctor, a researcher at the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute.

No one can officially enter Canada from the United States as a refugee claimant because of the Safe Third Country Agreement, which forces people arriving in either country to make their claim where they first land. Last year, however, a way around that became apparent, when news organizations and past border-crossers on social media publicized the locations of Canada’s unofficial land crossings, opening an opportunity for Nigerians.

“If your final [destination] is Canada, you’ll want to walk across the border,” Proctor said.

The State Department says that it has “strong working relationships” with Canadian colleagues and that screening is constantly improving, but it isn’t planning any bigger changes to its visa program.

“National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications,” a department representative said in a statement. “At this time, we have no changes to our visa application process to announce.”

The United States has also become less appealing to Nigerians as a place to stay rather than to pass through, they say. Many took personally two comments reportedly made by Trump — one last June about Nigerian immigrants going “back to their huts” and another in January about African “s---hole” countries.

Winning U.S. asylum claims has become much harder, as well. The approval rate dropped 26 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics compiled by Human Rights First.

Eleanor Acer, the Washington-based group’s director of refu­gee protection, said Canada is well aware that, for many people, the only way to claim asylum in any country is to get a visitor visa first.

“It’s shocking and disappointing that they are trying to encourage another country to deny visas to people who are, in some cases, legitimately seeking protection from persecution,” she said.

As a signatory to international conventions, Acer said, Canada should open its doors further and “actually terminate its Safe Third Country Agreement . . . if the United States is simply not meeting that standard, given its harsh treatment of asylum seekers.”

Canadian officials have said they are not looking to abandon the agreement, although last week, they struck a slightly different tone.

Given the current numbers of asylum seekers, “we have contingency plans,” Genest said. “That being said, we are constantly in conversation with the U.S., making sure that the Safe Third Country Agreement is working for both countries.”

Many of Canada’s new asylum seekers may end up disappointed. Of asylum claims processed last year — a minority of the total awaiting adjudication — more than half of the Nigerians were rejected, a significant jump from the previous three years, and nearly three-quarters of the Haitians were rejected, up from about half.

Their likely fate: deportation.

Source :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/nigerians-are-walking-into-canada-prompting-request-for-us-to-take-action/2018/04/27/f9357a0c-45b6-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ed888608faf1

ABOLORUNKING:
Thanks a lot.

It covers everything (tuition + stipends)

Congratulations, but that your GPA na die. I am so happy, I can imagine your joy and excitement. Well done. For those still awaiting decisions, keep the hope alive.

[quote author=muritalaolaide post=67012969][/quote]I hope you have thought about this very well. Of you eventually get your visa, being away from your kids will be one of the hardest and most difficult thing you will ever go through.

You know it is failed state when a leading Presidential candidate is congratulating the winner of the shitshow.

RexCheeng:
I hope My post inspires/challenges someone out there.

The summary of this post (TLTR)
WES CGPA: 3.45
GRE: 320, 163Q
TOEFL: 107
TA for 6 months.

Schools applied to:
University of Nebraska (MSc)- Reject
Miami University, Ohio (MSc)- Admitted without funding
University of Tennessee, Knoxville (PhD)- Rejected
University of New Haven (MSc)- Accepted with TA position

Congratulations.

kingfintan:
Thank you very much sir!

You meant Thank you very much Ma'am? She is a female.
@theamerican, Great posts. I hope you are here to stay. Meaningful and insightful comments without drama. Your responses seemed as if I was reading something from @LagosismyHome.

STENON:
Thank you so much for your response and my sincere apology for just responding to your post. Goodmorning and how have you been sir? I am very grateful for the clarification concerning funding sir. After replying the emeritus of my willingless to accept the lab instructor position, He later requested for my CV and transcripts and I forwarded to him. Just few minutes ago, He asked me to submit my application ASAP so as to get my visa before resumption date. He also asked me to send a mail to another Prof. that I am the same Person as Stella I. on my transcript against Stella A. that is on my email address. He mentioned that he recommended Stella A. for graduate school before seeing Stella I. on my transcript. Finally, He said I should be ready for skype interview anytime soon. I am scared of what to expect during skype interview because I have never done such before.

Cc:
Quoran
Time2Smile
Scholastica16
and other great people of this forum

Nothing to fear my lady. He has already recommended you for admission and has some stakes in ensuring that you are legit. He just wants to chat with and get to know you. You should familiar with your previous courses and thesis. What your Career aspirations are. Learn
a little about his own work too and ask him about it. Just approach it as if talking to a senior colleague about your past education and future goals. I really don't have time to go into details. I am sure Quoran post will be more detailed and helpful. Cheers

Bukyolami:
Please someone should reply me asap, no response in the house.

You need to read through the thread, all the resources you need to ace the GRE is on this thread. If you have written GRE before, how did you register then? It might be too late for you to apply for Fall. I'd you are in Lagos, you should consider BY MAFIT free tutorials. You will need a lot of patience in this Journey.

Bukyolami:
h.
How do I get this please

Send a PM(personal message) to the moniker "ponpon" or Google "GRE BY MAFIT".
I am sorry if this sounds harsh but Please no one owe you a response.

GraceJoks:
Good evening, I have been an ardent reader of posts on this platform and I have benefitted immensely from it. I wrote the Gre in January. However, I didn't apply to four schools because of lack of funds. I am yet to receive response from Central Michigan University regarding funding but I have been admitted. I will like to seek your advice about other schools for msc statistics (fall 2019) that I can apply to based on my profile. Thank you.

Profile
BSc- Mathematics/Statistics
Cgpa- 4.42/5 , Wes (3.81/4)
Gre- Q-156, Verbal- 150, AWA- 3.5

Time2Smile, Scholarstica , I need your contribution and advice on this. Thank you.

I am quite busy and can't always reply promptly. Read through the thread and you will find excellent school recommendations that have been applied to by others on this forum. However, most of the research and choice of schools is up to you because you are the one that know the most important criteria to you. I can suggest you look at:
1. University of Texas, Austin
2. University of Washington, Seattle
3. Duke University
4. University of Pennsylvania,
Those will be your reach schools

1. Texas A&M College station
2. University of Arizona
3. Iowa state University
4. University of Kentucky
5. University of Texas Dallas
6. University of Missouri
7. Florida state university

In addition, I think you should not limit yourself to only Statistics, but also look at Mathematics programs. Also, you might want to apply for PhD programs as the opportunity for funding is more. Your GRE is also a bit low considering your GPA and field (especially the Quant) , while I have no doubt you can get an offer with it, I believe a score of 160+ in Quant is attainable by you and it will boost your chances. You can do better than Central Michigan University.

kacey007:
I did my GRE today at JKK and had a score of 295.
Would you advice I re-write it for Msc Mathematics?
Verbal: 143
Quant.: 152
CGPA : 4.24/5
Cc time2smile

Thanks once again walspring for d GRE discount.

Yes, you should definitely rewrite it. I think you should give a more detailed description of your test experience. You must have learnt a thing or two to help you in the subsequent attempt.
Your high GPA in mathematics means something. What it tells me is you are quite smart and you should be able to significantly improve your scores especially the Quant. Also your verbal is very low and you should be able to make a jump into the 150s with some smart preparation.
You should try to read through the thread if you haven't, GRE is all about adequate and smart preparation.

GeeRaoult:
...the altruistic services of the ilks of Sirreddy, Danninja, Time2Smile, Happyday etc. I want to specially appreciate Otorhope for also giving me the drive that I need to push during my downtime.

I hope to give the GRE a shot by June 27, 2018. I look forward to sharing my experience just like the primogenitors of this forum did for posterity to have something to hold onto.

All the best, and don't forget to take full length practice tests to simulate the real exam.

sureb0y:
Nah, lost interest in staying. I heard Naija has improved, stable light, Ambode has turned up, jobs, no more strikes, cleaner Lagos, etc. Time to go enjoy with my friends and family.

While I understand your yearnings for home, however by almost any metrics, Nigeria is in a worse situation than it was 2 years ago.

almeida3:
Hi Stenon!

Except he is going to negotiate a full tuition waiver with graduate school(which is not always easy, the best you might get is an out-state excess waiver, which means you have to pay in-state tuition), I will advise you reconsider the offer. From experience, a POI at SJSU will pay max $15/hour for 20hours half time work. This amount will barely offset your cost of living in California. They may call it a full funding, but, in the real sense, it's not.

You may consider the offer, if however, you have a means of paying your tuition.

Regards!

I think you should allow her get the full offer with the details first, and then she can make a decision to accept or reject the offer.
Congratulations to Quoran, that was really impressive.

TravelDrim:
Enough of all these arguments pls. That's not what this thread is for.
Please people in the house, can one get a GA or scholarship through GRE alone? Or must the scholarship come from GRE and TOEFL
?

While you can be funded with only GRE alone, most schools will require TOEFL. In addition, most funding comes in the form of teaching assistantships. You will be expected to instruct native speakers in one form or another, therefore a good TOEFL score, especially in the speaking section, really strengthens your application. It is also the easier of the two exams.

Motiqueen:
Good morning, please can we talk......I need your help concerning admissions into Masters program in the USA..

Can you please post your inquiry, other people on this thread might have better information and advice that is superior to mine.

Scholastica16:
It is real and if you get in, you won't need your sponsor's money.

Most of the people getting PhD admits on here have only their Bachelors.

PGRE is not a replacement for the general GRE. It just strengthens it. A lot of the folks you would meet on the various Physics grad school forums would have taken the PGRE so I think you should consider it.

Sponsors are great but I would not want you to rely on them. You don't want excuses when you are in the US and someone starts telling you stories that touch.

I was about to say the same thing. Nothing beats being funded by the school where you are assured of constant paycheck and other pecks. Graduate school is stressful enough without the additional burden of worrying about money.

In addition, @STENON stop viewing your B.ed as an impediment where it can actually be an advantage. For all intents and purpose as regards this your admission journey you are a Physics Major. Graduate schools even encourage student to take some teaching courses and get teaching certification. This is were you should leverage education courses you have taken and teaching practise as part of your training so far. You can view the Education part as a minor. It is all about packaging without being dishonest.

Once you get here, ( and I know you will if you really want it and put in the effort) you will cope just fine.

reDazey:
Thank you all for the congratulatory messages, @ Quoran, mfarad, ponpon, Sherlock5577, paulbets, layez, smallsuper and TheGrandChemist.

@TheGrandChemist, lol. Rankings are not checked that way. You look at course-specific rankings if ranking matters to you. The University of Utah is among the top 50 graduate programs in Computer Science, highly ranked than William and Mary.

In fact, I got an acceptance email with admission and funding letter from the University of Utah. After 10 hours, I received another mail saying it was an error. Then I wished "Amadioha's thunder" was real. I had the perfect target.

Which kind of stupid nonsense is that. I can just imagine the agony if you didn't have any other offers. That was very unprofessional and sloppy of them.

reDazey:
My Second Experience
I will start by congratulating everyone who has an admission. It is truly an arduous journey. More congratulations to those with funding and all the best to those still awaiting funding. I must add that it is not over till you hear from all your schools. Last year, I can recall a close friend who got an admit with full funding in May. Hope still dey!

I want to encourage someone here today with my story. Never give up on yourself and your dreams. When you plan to retry, find out the actions that failed you and learn to change your strategy for success. Finally, keep trying if you believe so much in a vision till you achieve it.

This is the period where most of us sit and wait with bated breath, hoping and praying that our admission with some sort of financial funding drops into our mailbox. I pray everyone gets their heart desires.

Last year, I was in a similar position. I felt dejected, some of us can relate to this emotion. Lots of admissions with no funding. I applied to combinations of (MSc and Ph.D.) in Statistics/Maths. Got some rejections and some acceptances( without funding). It was a terrible blow because I felt I had a good profile. (GPA 3.6/4(WES), GRE 318, TOEFL 109). However, I learned some important lessons. It is not always about one aspect of your profile. LORs and SOPs are very important.

Having been out of school for a while and working in an IT-intensive organization; I overlooked my IT skills which were going to be advantageous. I got some advice from several persons, I selected the ones I felt will work for me and dropped the rest. So for Fall 2018, I restrategized, applied to CS programs. Also, I realized I did not take some risk on my former school list (Sirriddy and Scholastica16 encouraged me to aim higher).

So this year, I reapplied to 5 Ph.D. programs
1. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst (pending)
2. The University of Utah (rejected)
3. Kansas State University(accepted with full funding)
4. The University of Alabama (accepted, no funding. I did not bother to ask for any.)
5. College of William and Mary(accepted with full funding, being considered for fellowship)

Also, to "avoid stories that touch", I applied to Georgia Southern (MSc Mathematics and I was accepted with a funded GTA position)

I thank God for the courage to try one more time and I pray that everyone finds a reason to believe in themselves and keep pushing.

Special thanks to the extraordinary persons that supported me throughout this journey; Sirriddy(you are just too much), divabiola, jaybiz007, Scholastica16, MsNas, dramaka). Thank you guys for being more than friends.

Whao congratulations, I am so excited for you.

LagosismyHome:
What is the value of this research ..... should it not be only genuine bank statements...

I tire ooo. Coming here without adequate funds to finance your education is not advisable. Losing status and becoming an illegal is perilous, especially in the age of Trump.

akatovic1:
ok I am back again and here are my admission decisions( for now) for fall 2018
- University of Texas Austin (msc/Ph.D)- Rejected
-Renssaeler Poly (Direct Ph.D)- Accepted but no news on funding yet sha

I am still awaiting the rest and may God help us all.

Congratulations. That's a very good school. Does your department not have guaranteed funding for PhD students? That will be weird for a school like Rensselaer Poly.

Edit:This is a page front the graduate handbook. You are almost certainly assured of funding.

The statistics up there is wrong. 44% denial rate will mean 56%of visa approval which is really incredulous. Anyone who has visited the US embassy before for a Visa interview knos that for every Visa approved about five(5) applicants are denied Visa.

The only way the statistics is plausible is if those were approved after previous denials are not counted in the percentage denial. And even that will not fulfill the purpose of this article because those individuals will have to pay a new Visa application fee.

ProEnergy:
good day bro

Hi, How do you do?

Beautifully written. You will not see most Nairaland kids here. They would rather comment on meaningless topics. @Op, I think this is where true religion comes in because it give purpose to human lives.

Congratulations to all with admits.

cococandy:
Not the best picture but it tasted so yummy. I missed eating this. I had to make it.

Is the Meat here Ponmo? If so, Where do you get that in the US? African shop?

Mavrick2012:
sir, concerning pathing ways, beside the fact that we have 2 kids, i so much love my wife to the point i can't think of living my life without her, i can't just divorce my wife

You should be asleep at this time. Okay I understand that you don't want a divorce, but you can't force someone to love you. The Nigerian woman that will continue to love and respect her husband even when she is breadwinner of the family is very rare indeed. This is the root of the problem and the easiest solution is for you to become more financially buoyant. I know it is very difficult with the economy situation in Nigeria, but you have to look for other sources of income. You are a family man and your salary is just too small to survive. Stop depending on your wife income. Driving taxi or Keke, learning a trade might be options.

You also mentioned that she said you offended her in the past, You might want to apologize again, talk to her, let her know how much you are hurting and continue acting nice and showing her love. Maybe, maybe, just maybe she will come around. But like I said the root problem is the money. I really feel sad for you.

Mavrick2012:
Gooday house,
Am typing With a heavy heart and eyes full of tears, have been crying for the past 30 minutes.
I sincerely don't know how to win my wife back.
We have been married for the past 7yrs.
We have had issues in the past (some of which can be found in my topics here on nairaland).
Between 2011 and 2013,we had serious marriage threatening misunderstandings.
Between 2013 and 2016 we stopped fighting, but engaged in silent relationship.
By 2017, i felt we not growing younger, so i called my wife for total reconciliation. I pleaded to her telling her i have been wrong all these years.
The issue now is, my wife is not loving me the way she should. Whenever i demand for a pathing or welcoming hug, she does it with some level of hesitation, sometimes she even refuse.
If i tell her i love her, she scarcely respond.
My wife has refused me sex since January 27th 2017. While i desire we relate directly, my wife would rather be on wattsapp, sometimes down to 12 midnight.
I love my wife so much.
I desire to have my wife back to me.
House, please tell me what to do.
Have been on sleeping pills so i can sleep from thinking.
Am currently contemplating alcohol, if it could resolve my frustration.
I love my wife, as a matter of fact, my wife is the only woman i have known sexually in my entire 40yrs on earth.
HOUSE, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT TO DO TO GET MY WIFE BACK

You sound like a broken Man. Why would you allow your wife to have so much control over your life and happiness? . Did you say no sex since January 2017? More than 1 year!!!! Is she the breadwinner of the house and bearing most of the financial responsibilities?That's is the only reason I can think you find yourself in this miserable situation.

You need to man up, take control of your life and stop talking about STUPID love. By the way, what you have at the moment is not really a marriage. You have lost respect of your wife. You need to stamp your foot down and let your wife know that you will no longer accept this bullshit. She either agrees on working on your union or you part ways for your sanity.

RuuDie:
That is what she said down there. My guy, I no be idiot na... if we are to take what she said literally, it means uni libraries do not close even on federal holidays and significant ones like Christmas etc. Even at certain point in the day in uni library, they will bounce non-card holders. Make una no dey do like sey because we neva enter abroad, we no sabi something jor!

I agree with you. However, l library doesn't close on Federal holidays though only on Thanksgiving, New Year and Christmas(3 days in a year) ,But let us assume they close on Federal holidays too and don't allow those without card from 11pm to 7pm(Although other ID like drivers license are acceptable). The root of the argument is that someone said there is free internet access abroad. Is the time available between 7am to 11pm everyday not enough for the person access free internet, books and other resources.?

RuuDie:
Is it uni library or hospital ward?

Yes, University libraries. And you don't even need a card to enter.

Gbolly4unow:
I need advice please. I have B.sc CGPA 4.14/5.0, M.sc CGPA 3.8/5.0, GRE 285. Can this profile fly for full funding phd admission(management) in USA considering my abysmal performance in GRE? Thanks in anticipation of your response.

You should be prepared to rewrite the GRE. Your current score does not cut mustard. Is your intended course of study Management?