Husband's sister wants to visit US - Lives in Lagos Nigeria

[shakurmaria 0]

My husband's sister would like to visit us during the summer. She resides in Lagos, Nigeria. How does she go about obtaining a visa, and what are the requirements? Please help us. Thank you

[Penguin_ie 5,988]

**** Moving from Bringing Family Members... to Tourist visa as OP does not intend for the sister to immigrate *****

OP, the sister will need to qualify on her own, that is, show ties to her home country (good job, property, husband and kids staying home etc). You and your husband can write a letter of invitation saying what you plan to do and that you will pay any expenses, but it will do little good.

[Operator 1,927]

Instructions are here http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html

[souleymon 27]

1st n foremost,she has to show she has a strong tie in Nigeria.tourist visa is hard to obtain in Lagos.

Since your husband isnt a citizen yet and his sister is just visiting,the CO in lagos is always adamant to issue visa.she might wait for months to ve an appointment date.

Letter from her place of work

Consent from her husband if married

If available Pics

But the embassy hardly looks at docs

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Nigeria is the hardest place to get a visitors visa from. The assumption from all places is that you are trying to get to the US to overstay and you must convince them otherwise. For the conventions for my husbands tribe the invited speakers include government officials, doctors, teachers, nollywood stars and 90% get denied for "lack of sufficient ties" . If these people have troubles you can imagine what you face. Gather the best proofs that she will return and don't buy a ticket until the visa is in hand.

[jenkatx 52]

When my Honey went he said just 2 out of about 300 were approved. HUGE waste of money and time!

[ndu26 114]

She needs to go to the visa section in nigeria.usembassy.gov and fill out the Ds-160 form online. she shd remember to save the password and security question she chose. then after that make a $140 visa payment a Guarantee Trust Bank ( I think they need to see the applicant's passoprt or copy of it) use the receipt number and register (create user name and passowrd with email) to book appointment on the VFS. (company on the embassy website who cordinates the appointment bookings). the wait times are long though. my sister booked abt 2 weeks ago and was only able to get a date in March ending !!! so have this in mind when u r fiiling out the Ds-160 cos they will ask for your intended time of travel.

As others have said , very difficult to get a tourist visa and THEY HARDLY LOOK at documents regardless of what you are presenting.

Good luck

Edited December 20, 2011 by ndu26

[shakurmaria 0]

His sister is 16 years old. She would just be coming over the summer to US to visit us and then go back. Is this possible due to her age? Please advise. Thank you.

She needs to go to the visa section in nigeria.usembassy.gov and fill out the Ds-160 form online. she shd remember to save the password and security question she chose. then after that make a $140 visa payment a Guarantee Trust Bank ( I think they need to see the applicant's passoprt or copy of it) use the receipt number and register (create user name and passowrd with email) to book appointment on the VFS. (company on the embassy website who cordinates the appointment bookings). the wait times are long though. my sister booked abt 2 weeks ago and was only able to get a date in March ending !!! so have this in mind when u r fiiling out the Ds-160 cos they will ask for your intended time of travel.

As others have said , very difficult to get a tourist visa and THEY HARDLY LOOK at documents regardless of what you are presenting.

Good luck

[bdawn 66]

His sister is 16 years old. She would just be coming over the summer to US to visit us and then go back. Is this possible due to her age? Please advise. Thank you.

Her chances of getting a visitor visa is virtually nil.

[Boiler 43,857]

Absolutely nil if you do not try.

I wonder why it seems so easy for Nigerians to get visa's for the UK?

[Operator 1,927]

You know it's really funny how people feel about applying for visas and the advice or opinions they are willing to share with others. My wife is from China and when we first started dating I invited her to come to the US for a visit. She had never been but had been to Europe and all over SE Asia. Now China is a high fraud country (I don't know the statistics so maybe not seen to be as bad a Nigeria) and at the time she was a single 26 year old. All her friends and colleagues said "don't bother applying" and "No need to apply they won't give you a visa". Of course none of them had ever applied. I finally said to her "If you don't apply for it you certainly won't get it." It turned out to be a 3 minute interview and she was approved. She even told them she was going to visit her American boyfriend.

I'm not suggesting that the OP's SIA will be presenting the same proofs and evidence that my now wife did back then. The point is if you don't apply you won't get it. So telling someone that their chances of getting a visa are virtually nil without knowing them or their life circumstances is counter productive.

The OP knows it is not an easy visa to get thats why she is posting here.