zblade:
Is anyone experiencing this....Havnt received a pick up mail...and i submitted since 8th of March....

Deyonsesi:
@zemth @oab1

Kindly add me to the telegram group for IW. I've been trying to get a date since early February.

Thanks.

lalasun:
Yes I am now in the group. There's no link, someone has to add you. Message @OAB1 she's a superstar! I messaged her and she added me

Cocoliciouness:


Could you please send me the link

Abiodunnn:
Good day all,
It may sound cliche that this thread is a lifesaver....i was introduced here on NL by a friend some months ago and its been bliss. I did a lot of reading here.

I went for my first interview ever on Thursday, 8th of this month (yesterday) at 7:45am in Lagos.
After many many, i was brought forward by the woman organising the queues because of my belly.

VO: Good morning
Me: Good morning with a smile

VO: where are you going to in the us?
Me: houston, Texas

VO: why are you going there?
Me: to have our first child

VO: do you have a doctor
Me: yes. I have contacted dr N, would you like to see the correspondence?
VO: yes please. I gave it to her

VO: what do you do?
Me: i own ....... an interior design and gift packaging company

VO: do you have any staff and how many?
Me: yes. 3 (i quickly included that my DH is sponsoring me as the income that i filled in the form is very low)

VO: what does your DH do?
Me: hes a registered arc and he co-owns a blah blah company. He gave me an introduction letter, would you like to see it?
VO: yes please ( i gave it to her and she read it)

VO: whats the name of your DH company?
Me: told her. I have his company docs here, would you like to see them, she said no

VO: how many years has he been working?
Me: 5

VO: have you ever travelled out of the country before?
Me: No ma'am

VO: why the US?
Me: US offers my child the bonus of dual citizenship with a better medical care

VO: where will you be staying?
Me: intown suites. I have made a booking, would you like to see it? (She said no)

VO: whats this trip going to cost you?
Me: 14k, i have my budget sheet here, would you like to see it? Hands it over to her

VO: lets see if you can afford this?
Me: i passed my DH statement of account to her. (She flipped through like 4 pages)
VO: is this your DH only account?
Me: no ma'am but this is for his savings and he has more than enough to cover for the trip. She then said ok

VO: how many weeks do you intend to spend there?
Me: 8 weeks

VO: do you have friends and family there?
Me: no. I dont

VO: is your DH going with you?
Me: no because of work. However, if his workload reduces, he will come and witness the birth of our first child and assist me bring the child home

VO: tell me about your DH current project
Me: i told her until she nodded and said thats ok

She started to gather all my docs together and i knew it was the moment of truth

VO: since you are going for childbirth, i would advise you to keep these docs cos you will need them at POE
Me: i knew it was a done deal and told her yes ma'am

She then brought out the white paper and circled the address and was trying to explain some things i didnt hear
She smiled for the first time and said 'Goodluck on your childbirth and have a nice day'
I smiled back and said thank you ma

As i said earlier, i had read almost all the visa interviews on these threads that i knew all the likely questions and had rehearsed my answers (which were through anyway). So, i was not tensed, i was unsually composed. Though before i was brought forward, i saw one elderly VO smiling a lot but when i got closer i saw she denied a lot of people. My VO was in Window 6 and she had this straight emotionless face. There was this other male VO rejecting everyone and sipping his cup of coffee as blue papers were flying right, left and center from him.
I just prayed for favour, i had all my documents and i knew i wasnt committing any offence. Though i was just sceptical being a first timer.
You guys should also notice how i was literally forcing all my docs down her throat. I spent between 10-15mins with her as she went through all my docs one after the other twice.

Thank you NL.

In this light, please who knows about any cheap TICKET to Houston first week in March, abeg help a sister.

cutiep:
So we are back to give a tiny bit of what we have learnt from the house that silently assisted us in our first ever application for a US Visa.

Alert!!!!! Very long post...

Sometime in August after my DH and I found out I was pregnant, he came to this tread to enquire as to the best option to take in order to obtain a US visa for birth. We had the options of hiding the pregnancy, obtaining a Visa, using same for holiday purposes in DEC. And later for birth purposes in April. We were however advised by the member of the tread to come clean from the onset and declare real intent of the Visa. After so much prayers, preparation (we read and read and read all the readable on this tread), we got all our documents ready and we booked our appointment together for 8th Feb. 2018. 7:15am. I applied for B2 medical visa while my DH applied for B1/B2 visa. Below is a transcript of our interview.

VO: Good morning
Us: Good morning

VO: can I have your passport please
DH: sure hands them over

VO: what's ur purpose for travelling
DH: vacation
ME: I immediately chip in and say "I plan to give birth in the US" circling my obvious bump.

VO: what your relationship?
DH: she is my wife, we got married in April, 2017

VO: have you ever travelled out of Nigeria before?
DH: yes, in April to Dubai for our honeymoon (VO picks up one passport and flips through to confirm this) she then nods.

VO: okay, and what do you do?
ME: I work in bank ***.

VO: still looking at me for more information she asked again what does your job entails?
ME: I explain in details my job functions ***

VO: okay, how long have you worked there
ME: 6years in march (she looks at her computer and nods as though confirming the answer with what I filled on my DS160 form.

VO: look to DH and askes same question, what do you do?
DH: I am a human development consultant plus I also own an online paint consulting firm.

VO: smiles and says "that's a first for me" what does a human development consultant entail?
DH: launches into detailed explanation of his work...offering training for individuals, businesses, corporate etc on skills acquisition et al.

VO: DO you have any staff working for you?
DH: mostly freelancers paid on commission basis

VO: can I see your statement pls
DH: sure and passes part1 of the statement ( note that DH statement was quite bulky - about 1146 pages but we stapled them very neatly and placed each part neatly in labelled envelopes)

VO: looks through the first statement (dollar) and picks out a payment of USD25k paid in much earlier (Oct last yr) and withdrawn the next day. She asked who paid in this $25k?
DH: my sister, but it was for a purpose to assist her do something, it wasn't "dashed".
VO: smiles and says I know, dash never gets that high.

VO: flips through the naira statement and asked for part 2 of the statement,she randomly flips through and goes to the last page of the statement

VO: where did you do your most recent training?
DH:*** community

VO: how did you get paid?
DH: ***,*** & sales of materials.

VO: nods ( I am thinking she is correlating this with the very bulky statement of account)

VO: do you have a personal statement of account
DH: yes but I didn't bring it along cos I plan to use my business to fund the trip.

VO: how long have you worked as this?
DH: about 8 years

VO: but your statement shows that this account was opened in Sept, 2017
DH: yes, along the line, I had to switch and do something else. I only got back to doing this about a year ago, decided to register a new company and start afresh.

VO: so do you have a doctor yet?
ME & DH: yes and hands her the Dr correspondence (I carefully highlighted each conversation with the doctor and labeled it as 1st msg, 2msg etc so as not to stress the VO)

VO: carefully goes through the correspondence and asked what is your budget for this trip?
DH: 17k - 20k, I hand over the budget sheet.

VO: almost didn't look at it. Types, types,types
DH & I: silent prayer prayer prayer

Eventually, the VO looks ups at us, gathered our documents smiles and says keep all your documents and take them to the POE as your may need them......congrats your visa has been approved, hands us the white paper and dishes some info. Which in truth, I was too excited to recall.

DH & I: (big smile on our faces)Thank you.

VO: you may consider printing statement for smaller periods for the POE because what you have here today is overwhelmingly
DH: sure, thank you.

I was shocked, relieved as well as excited. I went out of the room and did a small dance We wanted this so bad and it seems the odds were against us given that we hadn't gotten Visa before nows (virgin passports) and I was already pregnant. I thank God for this tread which assisted us make the right informed decisions.

LESSONS LEARNT:

1) NEVER EVER use an agent to fill your DS-160 form. Trust me, the form is pretty straight toward and there are some information that an agent might not put much thought to. But if you do it yourself you have all the right information in there and can't be thrown off balance.

2) Discovering this thread is one of the best things that can happen to a first timer. Don't go for the quick fix. Take time and read read read. You will become even more informed than the so called agents.

3) Truth is Paramount to these VO and in the entire process. We declared our true intention despite discouragement from family and we eventually proved them all wrong. We can go to the POE without any doubt or fears knowing that the truth has been told.

4) In situation like ours, its always best to go together. You never can tell what questions may come up. For instance if I was asked to explain in details what my husband does, I don't think I would have done such a good job as he did nor will I be able to remember the last community he trained vis versa.

I will be back shortly to give my smooth POE story IJN...

Now onto the next agenda, flight tickets...any houston based mum with good ticket deals for 2nd week in April? Kindly share.

Thank to my NL family and may God answer all our silent prayers. Amem...

N/B:
We took the under listed documents to the embassy
1) Doctors correspondence
2) budget sheet
3) Comprehensive bill from the doctor, covering Dr fee, Hosp fee etc
4) Appointment letter
5) DS- 160 confirmation page
6) My doctor's report
7) passport photographs ( same as what was used to complete the DS-160 form)
Bank reference from my employer
9) My salary account statement
10) My mutual funds statement of account
11) DH reference letter for account
12) DH bank statements
13) Marriage certificate and newspaper publication (We still bear single status on our passports)
14) Land documents (To prove ties back home)

We didn't print our GTBank receipt and that cost us precious time and money.

UserD:
Hello Please i sent you a PM. Can you reply me. Thank you! and Congratulations!!