My visa experience

My visa experience: (where to start from is always an issue), It pays to make sure that your documents are clear otherwise you'll end up paying a ridiculous price to the business centers close by to get a reprint done and stuff like that.

If and when you get the visa, be ready to be begged to 'share the joy' by all the security people

With that said, I'll just talk about what happened in the interview section.
There were four cubicles for the interviewers. On that day, only two were working: cubicle 1 ( the lady with the really curly hair) and cubicle 4 (an ugly chubby guy). The man in cubicle 3 (an Indian) showed up at some point but didn't attend to anybody while I was there.

The lady seemed to be in good cop mode and the guy looked like he had a hangover and was the bad cop of the day.



Of all the people that were interviewed by the lady while I was there, she refused only two. The reasons for her refusal were clear. One was a 7 month pregnant woman who wanted to travel at the end of this month and spend 2 months in the US. She kept insisting she wasn't going there to give birth but just wanted to shop for baby items which she could resell. The second refusal was a young man who was applying for a student visa. He said he wasn't working here in Nigeria and his cousin who had an IT business was going to sponsor him. He said his dream was to study in the states so he was doing anything meaningful here. I guess the lady was having a good day cos she did not really check documents and didn't grill the applicants.

The bad cop: of all the people he interviewed, only 3 were given visas. In most cases, his criteria for not giving was the applicant's lack of travel history and he still grilled them, scrutinized some people's documents and still said no.

Peeps when asked if you've traveled before please don't say 'yes, around the country' or anything like that. It sounds silly and illiterate. The COs clearly are not asking if you've been to Taraba state or Bayelsa. They want to know if you've left the shores of Nigeria before.

It's a good thing we get to hear the questions they ask other people as it helps us prepare our own answers to those same questions.


Well I was interviewed by the lady (thank God) and I was asked the standard questions which were: what was my purpose of travelling, where was I going to in the US, have I traveled before, do I have any family in the US, was I pregnant (she said it was a standard question she had to ask), was I married, where did I work, how much did I earn (she asked to see the statement of accounts to verify that and I had to defend some of my account activities before she even raised the issues), how long did I intend to stay in the states (I got the tip from here to mention days not months or weeks), what my intended date of travel was and I was asked to go and collect the visa in 2 daytime at the VFS center.

I was given 2 years multiple, Thank God! At least I don't have to see them again for the next 2 years.

I was told that the lady had been the one rejecting applications the week before and the guy had been the one giving that is why I believe that it is a good cop/bad cop act. People I know who hang out with them at their recreation club GQ on Queens drive, say that it really depends on their mood because they are always joking about how they let their mood determine how nice they were to the visa applicants.