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