PurpleSky

Thank you all!!!! He leaves Gambia tomorrow. And hopefully they'll give him the visa on Tuesday then he'll be on his way to me. Yay!!!

Thank you all!!! I sure can't wait to see him. I don't know what we're going to do first...well actually I do. He wants pizza. HA!!!!

YAY!!! I'm so happy for you Brother! Can't wait til you get here!!!!

Looks like it wasn't so bad. FH was notified today that his AP was completed yesterday and that he needs to come to the Embassy with his passport. Apparently they were trying to contact him since yesterday but were calling the number he had when he was actually in Dakar. The person told him they remembered him telling them that he had a Gambia number (since his cell phone only works inside Gambia) and called that number today. He said the person was very excited to finally reach him and deliver the news.

FH called today to tell me that someone from the Embassy called him to tell him to come with his passport. Apparently his AP was completed yesterday and they'd been trying to contact him since yesterday. They were calling the number he had while he was in Dakar (as his mobile phone for Gambia didn't work outside of Gambia). They kept trying, then finally remembered that he'd also given them the number to his Gambia cell phone. When they called, of course he answered. He said the person that called was very excited to finally reach him and was happy to tell him the good news!

I'm so excited...hopefully he'll be here within the next week or so!

Yep definitely have them hold for pickup at your local DHL office. That's what we did and it worked perfectly!

Yep I call every week on my day off! it's become quite the routine.

He is good with it. He doesn't want to live in the community itself but he does want the option of having the ability to celebrate holidays and events with them. Also when we raise our children having the community within reach is important. Plus I think because he's been away from home for the last four years, he misses them.

I know what y'all are saying though because his brother (the one married to my cousin) refuses to live around other Africans period. He has one friend here in the states and that friend lives in NYC.

Good luck and God's blessings to you!!

We are still waiting. It's going to be a month next week. But the hard part for me is that I really want to go see him since I haven't seen him in almost a year. We don't want to waste the money doing that when he could get out of AP any day. I think I could bear more if there was an actual end date. Oh well I waited 6months for the petition to be approved so guess I can wait for this too.

This is going to be harder than I thought. I keep wanting to say "me a miss dis ting" which is patois not pidgin.

I'm still waiting too. It's almost a month.

Congrats

What does it mean, to be in Administrative Processing?

Basically that additional security and background checks are being done on the beneficiary.

A 4 year nursing degree in the US is going to cost mega bucks.

Would not a local option be a much better bet?

This was one of the things we considered. In our state nurses are in high demand and many of the community colleges have nursing programs so we thought that we would have her start with that and if she wanted to get an actual BSN there are private scholarships that she could apply for.

The ones that are "local" to her would require hours of travel (if she were to live at home with Papa) or would require her living off by herself which we are not very keen on (due to safety issues most especially penchant for human trafficking there) . We have not completely ruled this out but we would feel much better with her being with family.

Thank you!!

Figured as much. I will send them an email tonight to see what she would need. It's good that we are looking into this now rather than waiting and being VERY disappointed. If America doesn't work out for her we will look into Belgium where one of her sisters lives.

awww, sorry to hear that! hope the AP process is quick for you guys.

Will keep you both in my prayers. Hope this is a step forward. Keep your chin up kiddo and let God do his work.

Thank you both!

God is good and He always has our best in mind because He knows just how he's planned our lives. This little setback has caused us to have to switch a few things around but overall, I know it will be ok.

LOL I have no idea where to start. Yesterday I was trying to get FH to speak Pidgin to me and he said "not yet my love". So I started speaking a little of the Patois I know. He said "what is this wrong pidgin language o".

She is only 22. She still lives at home with Papa. She has no children but she does have a job. That's about it. Here's the deal:

Their mother passed away when FSIL was just a child. She is their mother's last born (the baby of 8 children). Because of this it was the older siblings' responsibility to take care of her and provide her with a better life. My FBIL as the oldest overall, paid for her high school education and it was supposed to be the 2nd oldest brother's responsibility to pay for her university schooling. She has been out of high school for 3 years and the 2nd oldest (who lives in Spain) refuses to now live up to his responsibility. So she is stuck in their village with an education that is pretty much going to waste. She really wants to be a nurse and the rest of us have decided to chip in to pay for it, but would want her to be safe and cared for (without having to travel back and forth or live by herself) so we thought to have her go to school here so she can get a better education as well as experience and not have to worry about where her next meal would come from or where she would live. The added thing is that since both my cousin (who's married to the eldest brother) and myself both have medical backgrounds we would be able to help her with her studies. FSIL has no desire to stay here in America because she wants to stay with Papa and she wants to go back home (to Nigeria) to help her people with getting a higher level of care. She said she would like to start a children's hospital/orphanage for all the street kids there.

What ties would she even be able to show since she's so young? Should she write a statement and have it notorized regarding her plans once she returns home with her Nursing Degree? Should we purchase a return ticket for her to go back home when the school year is over? How would we even do that if we don't know if the visa would be approved? She also doesn't have a large bank account (she does have a little savings though), I would think that a 22 year old Nigerian girl having a substantial amount of money in a bank account would not look right.

I am at a loss here

She's in Nigeria with Papa and the rest of their family.

We are beginning the process of looking into Nursing schools here for my soon to be sister in law. We've requested information from a couple of schools that would issue her an I-20 so she can apply for a student visa. My question is this...she is young (only 22) so what would she provide as ties to say she would go back to Nigeria once her schooling here is completed?

Thanks in advance!

We sure can wait together. This process certainly takes a toll on a person. This was the day that we were going to have our civil/traditional ceremony so I've been a little bummed all day. He is frustrated but holding strong. We've had to make quite a few changes in this process and feel like our lives are on hold. I feel like you... Sometimes I think one of the reasons AP exists is to weed out the fakes. This is putting a lot of pressure on us but we'll make it.

There's really no way to tell how long it will be. My fiancé is Nigerian as well although he lives in The Gambia. Unfortunately we are waiting in AP too albeit not as long as you have been. I make a weekly phone call to DOS asking for an update. I've heard of others who've spent 8mths or more in AP before finally being denied. I am praying it won't be that long but there's really no way to know.

Congrats!!!

You've pretty much received answers to everything already except for the question of the fee. The fee they are talking about is a separate fee from the petition. The actual visa fee is $350.

Good luck!

I don't believe so. With the combination of them not being listed plus I'm assuming no child support orders she should be fine. I would get a notorized statement just in case stating that she's the sole provider and that she doesn't know their whereabouts (only if that's the case). I also think y'all should prepare for the small instance that they may want a signed statement from the fathers. They have a way of finding people on their own.

HA!!!

I'm always so amused that there's such a big difference within my FH's family. For instance, his brother has been here in the States (married to my cousin) for 8 years. While they speak English, my FBIL/CIL has a high voice and speaks very quickly so my family is always asking him to repeat himself. When the relationship with FH started, they'd already mentally prepared themselves for more of "huh? what did you say?". They were quite surprised when although heavily accented, they understood just about everything FH said.

Funny story...

Nigerians have a habit of adding "o" to the end of words and sentences. One time FBIL/CIL was talking to me and he said "I don't like this baby doing this o". (He was referring to his son, 6mths at the time, pulling anything hanging...jewelry, hair, scarves, etc). One of my younger cousins (7yrs old) turned to look at me with a shocked expression. I asked her what was wrong. She said "Why is he trying to speak Spanish?!" I guess the combination of him speaking so quickly and adding the "o" at the end, confused her.