₦airaland Forum

timi02:
Hello everyone,

Thank you for always giving us genuine info, i'd like to seek your advice.
I'm an Audio Enginerer and I've been working for a church in Lagos for Five years now, there's an audio Enginering conference (4days) that i want to register for all expenses paid by my senior colleague in US(ie he's sponsoring me).

What are my changes of getting a visa for this conference considering I've a virgin Passport, i am single?

Thanks for your kind response

They will likely deny you.

omoisaiah:
an F1 student
Help me still look this small one if he good how can this help me
VO why did u choose this school
ME the school was ranked highly specially in my field of study and their course curriculum is much similar to what I want to study
VO how did u know about the school
ME I learn about the school while surfing on net then I visited their official website to find more information about the school I was very impress with their faculty profile and it is a public school
VO what will you do after graduating
ME after completing my study's I plan to return to my home country to establish my own electronic Company
VO why did u want to go to America
ME to study electronic engineering technology
VO why this course
ME this course proved me with the skills experience to produce working designs and electronic systems.
please I need help is this good

yeah sure.

nefertitiram:
She said favour will find her. What if the CBP officers name is favour?

If the officer is igbo, that might be true.

justwise:
Did you indicate child birth during the interview since you were pregnant then?

I guess she'll be hoping for favor too... whatever the heck that means.

MsPapi:
Yab me well oh. You hear...lol

Lol it's better to yab you now rather than run into visa problems later. As others have said, do a vacation now... come back, then go for birthing in June. If any concern, it will be that you did not mention your pregnancy at the interview but they might be willing to overlook it. All the best and safe delivery.

nefertitiram:
Izzalie! TWoods Na you be this


Well my response to the OP is you lied! It will come back and haunt you in March 2019, even if you scale through POE.

JFK is no longer that happy go savvy POE, they are vexing right how

she asked for advice...

MsPapi:
It is well sha. Favour will find me.

Huh? You lied at a visa interview and concealed a pregnancy from the VO... and you're speaking about favor?

MsPapi:
Morning All.

I'm new here and I must say I've learnt a lot. I've been trying to summarise info from the first thread and gradually I'm getting it.

Thanks to all those who make efforts to provide answers and constructive criticisms.

Here goes my issue.

My son and I have just been issued a B1 / B2 for the purpose of vacation only. My interview went thus

VO: Good Morning, how are you today
Me: I'm good thank you

VO: so why do you wanna go to the US
Me: My cousin whom I haven't seen in over 15 years is inviting us and my husband was there last year, he had a good time and he's promised taking us on a family vac.

VO: tell me about your job
Me: I work as a sales consultant with a travel company in the holidays dept. My core is building travel packages and making travel arrangements for both corporate and individual clients.

VO: How about your husbands job:
Me: he is a banker. He works with x bank in lagos

VO: Have you travelled with your son before:
Me: yes, we were in dubai for vacation last year

VO: Do you intend seeing a doc for any reason: NO

The issue is obvious. ( wish I had been on this forum earlier).

How do I now state at the POE that I wanna give birth in the US since I was issued a visa for vacation purpose only? Will my cash and card and upfront payment be enough as evidence of payments? My cousin/ host is in chicago but the Chicago poe stories I'm hearing are not for the fainthearted at all.

What lifelines do I have? I'm expecting by mid July and I intend leaving at the end of May. Any July moms can also be in touch so we can relate.

Thank you.

If i were you, i'd travel now for vacation, come back, then go have a baby in May. That last line i highlighted is a bad one... the CBP officer will see that and you showing up with a protruding belly will be a red flag. Yours is a cautionary tale - be honest at all times.

Driftingking:
By Funke Osae-Brown


If South Africa is truly serious about marketing itself as a tourists’ destination, its High Commission needs to drop its toga of arrogance and emulate countries like Dubai and Kenya where you get your visa within two days as is the case with Dubai or Kenya that issues visa on arrival. Little wonder, Dubai has the largest tourism market share in Nigeria.

SOUTH AFRICA HIGH COMMISSION RELEASE MY PASSPORT!!!

As a Nigerian, i am surprised you did not ask the South African high commission to emulate countries like Nigeria...

mimimum:
So you now determine whether I understand or not. Kontinu. I understood more when the other two ladies explained! Well if you must know, I was well within my rights to address him for bringing children into the matter. I didn't have an issue with his explanation until he started addressing children. Wasn't it me that asked question? I asked him question on discounts, e enter low income matter. Like I will go and be telling them I earn less that $200. Leomwe and Mama00 that answered sensibly, aren't they human beings? Abeg, let's learn to talk civilly. Whether you abuse people or not, people will still be what they are and do what is in their mind. So why get headache over the matter. It is not the truth you are saying that is the problem, it is how you say it. Aren't you the one setting the rules of being cordial in our conversations again? If you are encouraging him to be rude, then it will continue.

I don sign out for this matter. Make we discuss important issues for here.

Will your kids ever live in the US? - yes.
Will they work and pay into the Medicare system? - yes
Will your kids probably dislike freeloaders using their taxes and not paying for it? - dear God yes.

So exactly what did I say about "your children" that was untrue? The sheer amount of useless drama on these boards is outstanding.

Ishilove:
There is such a thing as 'etiquette' which is not culture bound. This era of social media has people juxtaposing tactlessness with 'bluntness'. If you want to pass information, do so without resorting to arrogance and condescension, which quite frankly, is very irritating.

The Twoods fellow is arrogant and uncouth, QED. There are no cultural attachments to those traits.

There is such a thing as honesty and trustworthiness. If those were in ample supply amongst Nigerians, this thread would not exist. Ask yourselves why you have to constantly suffer through the indignity of explaining every detail of your childbirth when the average Norwegian does not? QED

debbyomi:
Haven't you all figured by now that @Twoods is either a VO/ use to be one in Nigeria/or works with an organization that has interests in matters related to birth tourism.

Also, I suppose his culture doesn't celebrate "respect" which prevents Nigerians from seeing things logically and bluntly separating facts from emotions. We shouldn't be culture-bound. Filter through the supposed "rudeness", "disrespect" and pick what information will be relevant to you without getting offended.

Lol all three guesses were wrong. But wait, I see a lot of noise about "culture" and "respect". I mean seriously... coming from a Nigerian... no comment really.

mimimum:
Leave am naa. Na only am sabi type English. Let him continue running his mouth there. I can see he/she is incapable of giving a civil response at any time. My bad that I even tried being reasonable in my post. Let him come to the border and stop pregnant women coming to give birth. Since he wants to be giving foolish responses.

How civil and "unpersonal" of you in response. if everyone simply did the right thing, this thread would not exist. Enjoy.

mimimum:
NL mamas, you have heard o. When you people reach, tell them you don't want to pay 8k all in package. Choose the 30k option so that we can atone for the sins of the doctors who unfortunately pass bills to government.

its simple - simply pay your fair bill. Easy. The VO won't care whether you know the doctor is passing off the costs to the Feds or not.

ashedzi:
This is most likely why the VOs are now denying people who receive large discounts for birthing purposes... the discounts are because the Feds fund the hospitals to provide services to poorer Americans... not to internationals.


Can u please explain more,am beginning to get confuse about this discount issue. I know you can be given Cash discount for upfront payment of ur bils. Do u mean accepting discounts is all wrong Another thing is how do u know Hospitals to avoid so u don't have trouble renewing ur visa. Please help, we are all learning.

No. Discounts solely because you are paying by cash is valid.

MsDenise:
I'm not looking to engage you and it's not necessary to be overly patronizing. To be honest, I find your posts on 'discounts' very enlightening.
However, by the tone of her post, she was merely seeking clarification and made a valid point regarding some docs who give discounts knowing full well that the patient is not American.

The last comment about her kids moving to USA and paying for discounted bills left over by other nationals (in not so many words) was a bit personal and unnecessary.

Fair enough. Point taken.

MsDenise:
I don't think @minimum is trying to deliberately defraud the US Govt. Seems like she genuinely want more info about how the 'discounts' work and your final comment is a bit rude

Frankly anything that is not overly patronizing here is considered "rude" so I've stopped bothering with such comments. As has been enumerated here for over and over - there are no "discounts". You may get a few percent off for paying in cash, but when you're paying 50% or more below what others would regularly pay, someone else is making up that difference somewhere. My last comment was simply to ask you to put yourself in the shoes of others who pay to maintain a system you do not contribute towards but are happy to use.

If "discounts" were a thing... all of us would use it too! But when we go to have babies, no one gives us a discount... I wonder why.

mimimum:
But most times from inquiries we send to them, they know we are coming from outside the US. I for one always tell them I am from Nigeria. So why do they still give the discounted self pay prices? Don't understand how it works. Are you saying it is the docs themselves that defraud the system?

As one of the VOs mentioned before (see a post justwise made a few pages back), some doctors purposefully charge you low prices, so they can then bill the government for the rest (the government often would not bother to check until years later). That's a common Medicare/Medicaid scam unfortunately.

The problem is many folks here go to these underserved hospitals because of the "discounts" you get... which the rest of us pay for in terms of higher insurance premiums and taxes. If you notice, the average middle class American does not use those hospitals. They'd be sent away if they showed their tax returns.

Some day, your children will move here too. We'll see how they enjoy paying for others to come get medical care for free.

egariyi:
so why dont the fed govt ask the hospitals/clinics to stop giving discount to foreigners if the discounts is affecting its citizenry?

Is this really a serious question? There are no discounts, the Feds subsidize hospitals so poorer Americans can access healthcare cheaper. Asking the hospitals to crosscheck the citizenship of each patient is unreasonable. The job of a doctor is to treat you, not serve as a CBP official. Unfortunately most Nigerians have zero clue that many societies work on a honor system, it is your duty to make sure that you're not defrauding the system.

Your question is emblematic of the Nigerian problem.

nefertitiram:
A simple Google search of the meaning of exotic will help you.

Red lobster is exotic to us the same way ofe nsala and ugba is exotic to you

considering my mother is igbo and i do have a bag of ugba in my freezer at the moment...

nefertitiram:
*cocks gun*

Chitowns my hometown, wahdyumean
I sha be igboro. If you were in Uniben in those days, Chicago's got nothing on you.
Not all parts of Chicago are bad. Avoid south side and westside. North side is Bae! Downtown is heavenly. Concrete jungle like New York City.
Not too many tourist locations but its really fun in summer! And you will catch the fever whenever the Chicago cubs have a game. Omg! The entire city is blue and white. If you don't have a cubs jersey you are sleeping on top okada! I wish I could posts pix!!! Then the cubs won the world series for the first time in almost 100 years last November oh boy! I nearly run leave town for them. It was just crazy! Fireworks and all.

I love Chicago o, as long as you understand the terrain, and limit movement at night (high tendency to get mugged if you are not driving) it is fun all the way!

Then the food! Omg! I'm a foodie. I eat everything and everywhere. Red Lobster for exotic seafood, Chinese buffet, Chic fil A for the best chicken sandwich in the world, good old MacDonald's chicken nuggets, popeyes, I can go on and on and on! Chai! Who will buy me ticket?

Red-lobster and "exotic" should not be in the same sentence.

Colouredgirl:
Tell her what you think she should have one in tis case..since they were bent on her filling the form even after she notified them she is an international patient...

That is downright false. No one forces you to fill a form here.

omenkaLives:
Awwww... Baba looks really frail.. I'm suspecting cancer.

Hope you make it through sir.

The Lord is your strength. He will prove Himself mighty even in your case. It is well with you.

What is the meaning of the above?

nefertitiram:
It's the trump effect... So sad you had to experience all that.

Why dont you take a trip to dubai?

I don't think it has to do with trump. People have been turned back at the Poe since the beginning of time...

I think the officer doubted the legitimacy of the relationship between bros and his uncle. You would be expected to have correct contact info for a genuine family member... or the wife or children...

The problem really is us. If the bros was a swede, the office may have cut him some slack. But how many times have they heard cock and bull stories from us Nigerians? Every "smart" naija "big boy/babe" (aka fraud) makes it that much harder for cbp officers to ignore things like this when it comes to genuine travelers.

We all need to fight the frauds amongst us. No one will do it for us, we just pay for the consequences of being guilty by association.

darellone:
I have an interview this Friday ..

The purpose of traveling is for family vacation.. I have a daughter that's a US citizen and my wife has B1/B2 visa.

What is my chance of getting the B1/B2 visa please

No one can tell you what your chances are. But as long as you have good ties, you should be ok. Relax.

simababe:
Pls don't misquote me, I'm certain u read where I said I have learnt not to include my earnings anywhere again. No 1 is saying we should go and use tax payers money. I was only trying to calm down there arguments. Bsyds u don't expect me to lie do you. I made sure I told them that I Dnt want anytyn that would flag my visa. And I still stand on my grounds that we al are trying to make a better future for our kids n selves.

I wasn't referencing you perse, simply pointing out the fact that we should not lose sight of the other side of the coin. Your post simply came in handy.

democrat4:
I had a terrible experience in new York airport. I was refused entry. Reason been my relative address had changed from when I applied for the visa. I was supposed to stay for 13 days. The officer tried to contact the number and address on the form without success. My uncle had told me his wife will receive me. The number he gave me was that of the girlfriend in new York and I think that's where the problem started. The reason for this I guess its because of the wife's attitude problem. But the officer new she was not exactly the wife. When he went tru my uncles status he was able to get his wife number
At that time the wife was already trying to reach me. The wife was in california and she told the cbp officer that she will buy me a ticket to LA. But at that point the guys mind was made up. I had to withdraw my visas voluntarily so as not to be forced out and banned. The officer said i can contact the VO in Nigeria. My questions

Can I explain what happened to the Vo and still be able to apply in the future. If yes how do I go about it. I was only made to know i was refused entry. I don't know if I was banned.

If I still want to attend the visit coz am currently on 4wks leave wish just started. How do I go about it. This was my first trip outside Nigeria and I had boasted about in the office. Just don't know how to face that. Lol.

I also want the record set straight as I will be eligible for secondment overseas in my firm next year. It might be in our USA office. I don't want it to affect me when the opportunity comes.

Need your advice please

Good news - you are not banned, as you voluntarily withdrew your request.
Bad news - you'v made it that much harder to obtain another visa... basically the CBP officer thinks you misrepresented a material fact on your application, which is not a good thing.

Ok news - its not the end of the world, relax, wait a few months and reapply again. This time explain in detail (facts only) relating to your previous experience at the POE and hope for the best.

Lesson - perhaps you should consider deleting facebook, there is more to life than showing off that you too have traveled to "yankee".

simababe:
Pls you guys should zip it. We are all adults here. No one knows it all. We should learn to overlook somethings if we can't correct each other calmly. I also filled a form during doctors visit, I was asked my salary, I said I'm not working and I'm on self pay. I was made to pay 30 dollars then, but all my recipt has self pay on it. I told them I was sponsored by my husband and I don't work. Now I've learnt never to input any salary anywhere. Though I Dnt know if it applies everywher cos I gave birth in new York. Let's do everything with love. We are all trying to work towards a better future for our kids n ourselves. #signout

This is what often gets lost in all of the discussion here... the US taxpayer is also trying to work towards a better future for his kids and him/herself. They should not be forced to bear the burdens of people taking undue advantage of a system they have not contributed to. The "discounts" you get come from the medicare/medicaid taxes we all have to pay at source every month and for which we are not entitled to.

Mel403:
Hello everyone, happy Sunday to us all.
Thanks janet101 for replying me.
Pls more questions;
My husband travelled and stayed back in the us even after his visa expired will it affect my chances of going to the us for b1b2 visa. We have 2 kids. Please response will be appreciated.

You can forget getting a B1/B2 visa.

Here's why - you will have to include your spouse on your DS160 application. The VO will be able to determine that he is currently in the US illegally. Why should the VO believe that you and your kids will abide by the terms of the visa?

Thanks to you and your husband, the next innocent applicant has to jump through extra hoops to convince the consulate of "ties" in order to obtain a visa. If we talk now, you people will be the first to waffle on about ITK. Good luck on getting any other US visa.

Freshface:
Uncle Twood, STICK IT! As much as u have enthroned yourself as the moral police of this thread, it's appreciated sometimes but other times u r just freaking annoying!

You can put ur point across without being condescending! Because u live and work in America doesn't automatically mean u are better than all of us. I am certain u are also an immigrant, so stop being more American than the originals sef! I am sure u got there for want of a better life! That is what parents here are trying to secure for the children!

I am sure if u had ur way, u would stop all of us from coming over all together! Unfortunately, there's absolutely nothing YOU can do about it! Until such a time it becomes illegal, we will continue at it legally and truthfully to the best of our abilities!

So once again, stick it!

If you notice, i only respond to posts where there may be a hint of illegality. There are tons of posts here that i do not respond to at all... the point isn't that birthing is illegal, but that you make sure that you do so without taking advantage of the system.

If the shoe was on the other foot too, you'd be just as "condescending" as you accuse me. Methinks you're more upset that you have to get a visa to birth in the first place. My advice to you - take your own advice.