Thats very sad to hear the best is always to avoid travelling through all these countries that require transit visas. personally when i travel to 9ja i g via Airfrance, BA, Virgin they are both bunch of nonsense Airlines filled with mischief and rubbish people. sad to hear about the poster tho. anytime dey see 9ja what comes to their mind is you are coming to stay and not go back . and na we dey contribute more to their economy thank thier own people.

paraphase:


Now,What can she do Absolutely nothing. lemme call your attention to when they did the worst to an AMERICAN SUPER-HERO, SNOOP DOGG(american musician oo.) he was even beaten sef by these over-zealous immigration officials and was also ban for 10years.Aunty! he did nothing. Just tell her to 4get it and move on.

Snoop Dogg with a criminal record, an 'American Super Hero'? LOL!
And go google it up: his 'crew' starting throwing punches and breaking bottles because they weren't allowed into a 1st class lounge (many of them came in on economy class)

Look at what nigerians go through all over the world and none of us even bother to contact our nigerian embassies or high commissions. What do they really do if they can't even assist someone with a green passport. I see foreigners demanding to call their diplomatic representatives at any and every given time but all we do is suffer through it all. Trust me, the green passport experience is not funny.

HOTandCOLD:

Look at what nigerians go through all over the world and none of us even bother to contact our nigerian embassies or high commissions. What do they really do if they can't even assist someone with a green passport. I see foreigners demanding to call their diplomatic representatives at any and every given time but all we do is suffer through it all. Trust me, the green passport experience is not funny.

Nigeria High Commission can't help you in a case like this. The lady is even lucky that she was given a place to stay for 7days and medical treatment. Alot of pple were left at the airport that period till the volcanic ash problem was over.

Sometimes we Nigerians are quick to play the 'victim card' while we forgot to do the right thing first.

[b]I must commend the poster for her compassion for a fellow Nigerian. I do not know about people in Canada, but as someone on a work visa here in the US, I was told I needed a transit visa to join a BA flight to Naija with my family last year.
I would have paid for the visa as I would have been reimbursed the cost by my company but for the fact that I know that there are other airlines whose countries do not require paying for transit visas for US visa holders/ or people whose final destinations are in the US.
The lesson in this story is for all of us to always ask before buying tickets for international travels. Like the saying goes, he who asks does not get lost.
It’s sad to hear about the lady’s story and this goes to show that it is not worth the stress that Nigerians go through just to have “citizen” children. The woman is away from loved ones and people who will pamper and care for her during pregnancy and after delivery. This is a time that she is in a vulnerable state emotionally and needs all the help she can get.
For someone whose husband is “doing well”, I do not understand why she will have to go through this stress to be in Canada in her state. If she cannot attend school as she has planned at the moment, her best bet would be to be with her husband in Naija, that is if he cannot be with her in Canada
[/b]


i must commend the above poster and also i think Vcjustice, most times peeps buy and even sign critical documents without reading through small literature thoroughly am a Solicitor, i ve seen a lot, really the volcanic ash disrupted flights around euro n d best bet is something must have prompted the way the immigration guys reacted though am not taking sides, but u never can tell, most expecially as she had been denied visa once, all peeps ask qtns b4 u buy anything more importantly when u about leaving naija remembering that we got no responsible representaion outside our shores.

Sorry my sister at least the pregnancy was well catered for n its still there. The original poster should be also be commended for her kindheartedness.

I dont know about the transit visa thingy really but about the way she was treated,I very much doubt that.I live in the Uk and I know they dont joke with pregnancy or pregnant women here.

Let's look at what happened
She was SPITTING!
I don't know what is acceptable in nigeria but in any civilized country spitting is the dirtyest thing !!
You do not spit  whatever the reason.
One case was confiscated.
"One of her bags was gone, and of course all the dried fish, egusi, crayfish, stockfish, fried snails etc, were discarded. "
Note a case full of food banned in any western country!
This dirty food is illegal in the UK! and probably Canada so why was she trying to smuggle it through?
While she was being held she was given medical care by UK doctors( and I bet she was not chalged)
If she had the same problems at Lagos airport she would still be either lying on the floor or "dissapeared into a police cell or road ditch.

Unfortunately, she has no recourse under the law. Every country has a right to deny you entry, on whatever grounds, into their country. Remember, having a visa does not guarantee entry. It is always up to the border control agent, totally his/her discretion. Now, could they have let her in, of course. Would they have let her in if she weren't Nigerian, probably.

The only thing she can do now is make this story public, and create some embarrassment for the UK border agency. Hopefully, she will get an apology and some compensation - if she creates enough of a headache for them. But outside that, they were well within their rights to deny her entry. She had no valid visa, she had shown prior intent to visit by applying for a visa, etc.

Stories like this abound everyday. I will give an example.

I traveled to the US in 1991 on Alitalia. I was in the US for 7 weeks. On the return journey, the plane that was coming from Rome to pick us up developed engine trouble and had to land in Canada. The airline decided to keep the plane in Canada and attempt to fix it there. They also decided to fly us to Canada to meet the plane there. Upon arriving in Canada, several passengers did not have Canadian visas, transit or otherwise. I was one of them. The Canadian authorities understood what happened and issued 24hr visas to those who didn't hold visas. We ended up spending the night in a hotel. The following day, we boarded our fixed plane to Rome. Of course by the time we arrived Rome friday evening, the flight to Lagos had left in the morning. The next flight to Lagos was in 2 days, on Sunday. The airline offered to take us to a hotel, but of some of us didn't have entry visas. The Italians were adamant, no visa, no entry. We proceeded to spend the next to days at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport. Needless to say, that was the last time i flew Alitalia!

worry246:

Let's look at what happened
She was SPITTING!
I don't know what is acceptable in nigeria but in any civilized country spitting is the dirtyest thing !!
You do not spit  whatever the reason.
One case was confiscated.
"One of her bags was gone, and of course all the dried fish, egusi, crayfish, stockfish, fried snails etc, were discarded. "
Note a case full of food banned in any western country!
This dirty food is illegal in the UK! and probably Canada so why was she trying to smuggle it through?
While she was being held she was given medical care by UK doctors( and I bet she was not chalged)
If she had the same problems at Lagos airport she would still be either lying on the floor or "dissapeared into a police cell or road ditch.

YOU DUNDERHEAD,are obviously NOT A NIGERIAN! Why would you come to a public forum and display your ignorance You have also displayed an intolerable amount of insensitivity to the plight of a fellow human being! Nairaland is for Nigerians and friends of Nigeria! That you can call our food "dirty" shows that you know zero about Nigeria. Empires have been built over a good serving of Egusi soup you @ss! I challenge you to come up with even one country where Nigerian food is banned. The UK you came up with? Then what with all the ethnic stores in the UK? There's no Nigerian food you cannot buy in the UK, and for that matter in any major city in the world! Educate yourself!

So what if she was spitting? It is a very common symptom of pregnancy, and it can happen to anyone , irrespective of race! I suggest you google "Excessive salivation in pregnancy"; I am pretty sure you are not a woman! If you are, then please allow me to wish you Hyperemesis Gravidarum if you ever get pregnant.

Finally, the Nigerian immigration folk would never, EVER, treat a pregnant woman badly. We were all raised by good mothers, which is more than I can at this point, say for you! Oloshi, omo ale!

wazobia-ng:

i believe she can make some cool change from this.

Dis Guy:

Is there any particular reason why she hasnt been advised by a LAWYER and not a health proffessional

Medlabgirl, you are very caring- best advise is to refer her to a competent lawyer

Bro, you know how you provide a listening ear, and just kind of get entangled with the whole thing? I think I just happened to be the first person she could really unload on.  I plan to go as far as helping her find a lawyer; this is what she has decided to do, and then I can safely bow out of the picture, conscience intact.

omoabike:


It’s sad to hear about the lady’s story and this goes to show that it is not worth the stress that Nigerians go through just to have “citizen” children. The woman is away from loved ones and people who will pamper and care for her during pregnancy and after delivery. This is a time that she is in a vulnerable state emotionally and needs all the help she can get.
For someone whose husband is “doing well”, I do not understand why she will have to go through this stress to be in Canada in her state. If she cannot attend school as she has planned at the moment, her best bet would be to be with her husband in Naija, that is if he cannot be with her in Canada

My sister, it is not a joke oh, for this "Citizen children" thing. She said that they agreed before they got married that they would have their children in Canada. It is sad that we, because of the bad governments that we have had, are forced to do things like this. Many of us would wish it were not so, but you play the hand that you are dealt. I hear you about being pampered in pregnancy. I cried through most of my two. I just wanted to go home. I was really sick though and even though I had the best medical care you can imagine, I wanted my mum. She ended up coming for 5 months; my sister in the US also came, as did my brother from the UK, although he insists he came to see mummy. It was awesome. She would bathe me, and we would all sit for hours remembering the funny things that happened when we were growing up in Lagos.


I decided not to have more than two kids though, and God in His infinite mercy has given me a boy and a girl. Phew! Thank God

insight04:

The lady had a Nigerian passport and needed to have obtained a UK visa before transiting through UK.

Now someone is finally talking!
No passenger can travel on BA from Nigeria with a Nigerian passport without a valid UK visa even if your destination is Canada. No official will check you in because BA's first port of call is always UK. If you're connecting you need a transit visa.

Medlabgirl:
I met a young Nigerian woman today. She came into the NVP (Nausea\Vomiting of Pregnancy) Clinic. When I saw her name on the ticker, I decided to go up myself rather than send someone, and I am glad that I did. She told me the most incredible story. I am writing it here, because I am sure that there must be someone out in NLand who will know if there is something that can be done, and if there is, how to go about it. So here goes,

She is a new Canadian Permanent Resident, pregnant with her first child. Her husband lives in Nigeria. She had applied to go to the UK a few months ago, but her application was denied because she wasn't working. She said she wanted to go visit her sister. She does not work, as she is supported by the husband, who according to her is doing very well. She plans to go to school, but is ill right now. This is all again what she told me.
After being denied a UK Visa, she generally forgot about the whole thing, and decided to go home to visit hubby. So she did; and this is where it gets interesting!
She is a new Canadian resident, so she still travels Nigerian i.e with a Naija passport. I understand that as a Canadian resident flying even on a Nigerian passport, that you do not require transit visas. She flew British Airways. The trip to Nigeria was good she said, but on the return trip to Canada, she was caught up in the volcanic ash problem and had to wait in London. Now, BA agreed to provide her hotel accomodation for one night, and had a vehicle waiting to take her to the hotel, but unfortunately the British Immigration refused to let her in at the point of entry. They said that because she had made a prior application to come there, that she had the intention of remaining in the UK. This she denied. She said she lived in Canada, was happy to be there, and had not even planned to leave the transit area on her layover, prior to the flights being cancelled due to the ash situation. She says she was there, really ill and vomitting into her spitty-cup(ladies you probably know what I mean), arguing with them. They refused, handcuffed her, and took her to a detention center, where she was held for 7 days. Sometime in those 7 days, she was taken to the hospital, given an ultrasound to determine if she was truly pregnant, given some meds, she doesn't know what, and sent back to detention. At the end of the 7 days, she was put on a flight to Canada. One of her bags was gone, and of course all the dried fish, egusi, crayfish, stockfish, fried snails etc, were discarded.

This is one of the most incredible things I have ever heard, and I just cannot get over it. She is pretty much ok now, geting along nicely in the pregnancy, she just cannot shake the throw- ups which is why she came in tonight, and I got to meet her.

Now here is my question. IS SOMEONE LIABLE HERE? DOES SHE HAVE ANY RECOURSE? IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN DO? Surely no one should be mistreated like this. I thought, wow this is somebody's daughter, sister, wife and soon to be mother (Deo Volere). I would like to help her, as I think it is an outrage. So please, if you know what to do in a case like this, kindly let me know. I will be seeing her soon I think, so I will let her know what you suggest. Thanks for your help.

A stimulating and informative
case study/thread.