Visa approved today Nov 6th!!!!

Location: Lagos

Appointment time: 7am

I promised to share my transcript as a testimony so here goes.

My appointment was for 7am but I got here by 5:45am from my house. Met people already queued up and I remembered I had not withdrawn my reciprocity fee(42,900). So I told my taxify driver to go back and look for a bank so I could withdraw. I finally withdrew and got back to the embassy by 5:55am. I had to keep my bag with those gate people and they were telling me 2k. I was like for what?? Una no dey pity for person?? Please I dont have 2k o, its 1k I have. We finally agreed on 1k and i gave them the bag. I met up with a friend of mine who was going for the same course (Masters in Agric Economics) and who also got full funding like me. We stayed on the line for over an hour during which time our documents were signed by a CGI staff and they affixed a sticker on the back of our passport. I must say there was a particular toddler that was causing havoc up and down today(classic f2 toddler behavior, lol). I loved his energy and he helped to keep us calm. We finally went through the security checks and got into the strong room where we scanned our fingerprints, submitted our gt bank receipt and then queued up to face judgement. There was a particular VO on the left that was issuing refusals like sweet. "I'm sorry I'm unable to issue your Visa at this time, this paper will explain why". See me doing probability in my head. I was like if this person goes left, this one will go right and so forth so I will be interviewed by the VO on the right. The lady in front of me going for accounting got rejected due to funding by the VO on the left and then it was my turn to face him. Probability ko le work o.. I quickly said God, the hour has come to glorify yourself.

Vo: good morning
Me: Hello, good morning.
Vo: Pass me your passport and other docs
Me: passed them through one impossibly small slit
Vo: so where are you going?
Me: I'm going to the university of Florida for my masters in Agricultural Economics
Vo: why did you choose this school?
Me: I choose this school because UF is spearheading the research on citrus greening disease and I've received funding to work with Dr. XYZ.
VO: Wow, citrus right? You're so specific.
Me: Yeah (shines teeth behind my mask)
VO: so what will you do with this course?
Me: I intend to go into academia and lecture for the university of Benin where I finished from. I will also consult for the federal ministry of Agriculture and IITA in Ibadan.
Vo: okay, hold on a minute.

*Stands up and walks to the other vo and they discuss for some time then came back.*

VO: so where do you work?
Me: I work as the personal assistant to the MD of XYZ, an agricultural firm here in Lagos.

Vo: are you married?
Me: no, not yet

Vo: do you have any kids?
Me: not yet

Vo: have you travelled out before?
Me: not yet

Vo: types again and says...okay, I intend to issue you this visa. Take this paper to window 22 and pay your reciprocity fee. Keep your i20 and sevis receipt as they will ask for it at the POE. Goodluck in gainsville, you'll love it there.

Me: Yeah I will, go gators!!!

Vo laughs and says yeah.

So tips, tips, tips.

1. Pray and hold God strong!!! I can't overemphasize this enough. Get a scripture and hold on to it.

2. Dress comfortable, but not shabby. Your footwear matters dear ladies and gentlemen, I don't understand why you'll be wearing palms or sandals to an important interview like this. Wear something nice, but comfortable.

3. Be ready to have a conversation with your VO. Some people were sounding like recording machines. No emotions, no inflection. Just dropping everything they've crammed like machine guns. Please strive to sound as natural as possible.

4. Keep your answers straight to the point. Talk more about your research. Dont start talking about the state of the art facilities and the bustling environment. Talk about the specific things that made you interested in the program. Your research and your funding. If you have time, you can talk about the ranking of the school and other things.

5. Practise a lot. Do as many mock sessions as possible. Stand in front of a mirror and watch yourself talk. Watch your face, listen to your tone of voice. Go for that warm balance between indifference and enthusiasm and maintain a smile even if you'll be wearing a mask. It helps with your confidence.

6. Hold God strong.

7. Be confident.

PS: my friend was also approved.

Greatest gbogbo!!!

Thank you guys so much to all who contributed to this thread. God bless us all.