GreatGuy

Can you please provide additional information about why your children were not approved with your Visa? how old are they? Did the CO explain (or provide written letter) why it is only your visa that is being approved?

A. Don’t expect to be treated with much dignity.

My fiancée went for her interview on November 9th (with 2 Emails from the Embassy that confirmed her appointment date to be 9th November. At the gate, however, she was told that her name was not on the list of people to be interviewed that day. She showed the gate-guys the 2 confirmation emails from the consulate, but they insisted that her name was not on the list. My fiancée also insisted that she did not compose the email by herself. Thank God that one of them eventually appended her name to the list at the gate, allowed her entry, and asked her to go ahead and make the payment. He then took the confirmation emails inside (probably to check with a more senior person). He came back and told my fiancée that her name was on the schedule for the following day (Wednesday 10th). What could have happened? They changed the date of interview at their discretion (after replying my 2 emails confirming her appointment date) and they did not think it is necessary to inform me or my fiancée of the change. She called me and told me what happened, and I don’t have words to describe how I felt. Afterall, there is no chance of possibly being able to speak with someone at the embassy that day, and it does no good to email them at that very moment. We consoled ourselves that ‘come back tomorrow’ is much better than ‘where were you last week Thursday when you were on the schedule?’ or ‘come back for your interview on December 15, 2010’. I thought a little sense of dignity would have caused the Consulate to notify us of the change in interview date, but I guess that word does not really exist much at the Lagos Consulate.

As if that was not enough, she was given a slip to collect her visa from a location in Lagos on Wednesday November 17th. She got there, only to be told to ‘come back tomorrow’. The reason is that the Wednesday was a public holiday! It is still a puzzle why the Consulate will give you a public holiday on your visa collection slip. Anyway, thank God she collected it the next day. But she got there on Thursday and was told "your visa is not yet ready" come back tomorrow Friday 19th but call this phone number before you come. (I wonder why the Embassy did not hand out that number with instruction to people to call then to confirm readiness of visa before going there to for visa pick-up). She did called them and was told she can come before 4pm to pick up the visa which she did.

B. The ‘Asian Lady’

If you have ready enough reviews here on VJ, you will know the famous female Consular Officer (the ‘Asian Lady’). She was known for mostly adjudicating with denials/admin-reviews. The day I read that she refused someone just because they have done a traditional Engagement Ceremony in Nigeria before applying for K1 visa; I was terrified all-day because we have done our traditional Engagement while I visited Nigeria to meet her. She just tells such people to go back and file for K3 instead of K1 (without any feeling that these people paid $455 for filing fee, $350 for visa app-fee, 18K naira for Medical, variable costs for Police certificate, etc., all of which have to be paid again!!!. She herself knows that Wedding Certificates are not issued during traditional engagements, even if dowry was exchanged, but she just seems to enjoy such wickedness. And who will not file for K3 visa if they have legal marriage certificate, since it takes same time-frame, and is MUCH CHEAPER?

After reading of such refusal here on VJ, I prayed to God specifically to remove the Asian Lady from CO role before our interview date, either by causing her to be promoted to a more senior role, or at least to be on a relief duty for a senior officer on vacation. But God chooses to answer this prayer in the negative (maybe to teach me that there is nothing impossible with Him). My fiancée said she refused another lady that day just for the same reason. She said when her number was called and asked to go to the ‘Asian Lady’s window, she was filled with great fear, to the point that her hands were shaking when she was asked to sign the DS-156K form. She however regained her confidence after she asked about 5 questions, all of which we have gone through during our preparations. The interview then went as follows:

C. Interviews are getting tougher for K/IR visas

She was asked the following questions:

- Who is the petitioner

How did you meet? (introduced us to each other by Mr-X)

How is Mr-X related to you?

Why would she introduce you to someone who is out of the country?

When you talk, what do you talk about?

What did he tell you about America?

What else did he tell you about America?

What did he do last Saturday?

When did you first meet in person?

How long did he spend when he visited (2 weeeks)

Why would you marry someone you have spent only 2 weeks with?

Has he been married before?

When did he get separated from his ex-wife? When their divorced was finalized?

Why did it take so long between their separation and the finalization of the divorce? (about 4 yrs)?

When do you plan to travel?

Where are you going to have the wedding? And what type of wedding?

What’s the name of the Church?

What’s the name of the Pastor that will conduct the wedding?

Is he schooling in America? What is the name of his school?

When you get to America, do you intend to go to school? Which course do you intend to study?

Have you done a traditional marriage?

Has your fiancée paid the dowry to your family?

Did you do an introduction? (Apparently she knows of the Introduction-Engagement-Wedding tradition. She just likes to refuse people once she hears ‘yes’ to the Dowry question)

Does he have any kids? How old? Whats the name?

Do you have any pictures? (she looked at the ones provided)

She then said, ‘You are okay. I will approve your visa, BUT not until you bring me a photocopy of your birth certificate (my fiancée went with only the original. Their instructions said to bring original). You can either bring it next week Wednesday or if you can go and do a photocopy outside and bring it back today after 1pm. My fiancée gladly accepted the 1pm offer. She was there again for another 3.5 hours, making her experience span 6am – 4:30pm.

I am sooooo thankful to God that we are done with this stage.

Lessons:

a. Prepare for the possibility of being mis-treated. Don’t take it personal.

b. Prayerful preparations can help boost confidence during fierce interviews

c. Call-logs help a lot. Subpoena your calling card company to provide you some. I find rebtel.com printable call logs very handy

You do not need unnecessary stress for yourself, so, simply go with dollars. The Lagos Consulate has it on their FAQs that you can either pay in dollars or naira equivalent. However I have seen a number of shocking testimonies here on VJ that people who brought naira were sent back to go and get dollars. I would have discounted their testimonies as untrue except that more than 3 different people here on VJ said so. So, I would simply minimize my stress by getting USD in hand. Visit any bank in Nigeria and you can get genuine dollar bills exchanged for your naira. Hope that helps.

I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal. But can you please provide more clarification on your situation, so that we can better know what to share with you.

Specifically, what notice was your husband given after the interview? Is it a 221g notice (temporary refusal, usually due to incomplete documentation), or an outright denial letter (which is usually given only when the consular has reasonable doubt about the authenticity of your marriage relationship).

If it is a 221g, then you have nothing to worry about at all. If it is an outright denial, then you may need some intervention attempt (perhaps from your Senator) or other line of actions. In any case, I pray that God will help you out.

Please clarify.

I will mark that as a YES. You are intending to migrate to live in the US. Working is part of that living. You dont need to worry about it.

Congratulations. I pray for more of these positive testimonies from genuine filers. Have a happy union with yours.

I understand the basis of your being worried. I cant put things in better words that "Gary and Alla" comment above. Just to add a little word of encouragement: always convert your worries/fear to prayers when you have no control over a situation like this.

Also, please know that Lagos Embassy WILL NOT allow you as the petitioner to enter into the Embassy on the day of your fiance's interview. So, dont even think about the option of going with him to the interview.

Be strong as you start this waiting race. I realize now that waiting is one of the most difficult state to be in life! But all will be well, eventually. Stay calm.

Peace to your heart,

GreatGuy.

If I were you and the passport is new (no visa stamp from any country), I will simply go and get another passport with the correct full name (if it will be too much to ask them to change the name and re-issue the passport). I dont fully know the process of legal change of name in Nigeria right now. It used to be that you can just swear to an affidavit and also publish the name change in one of the daily newspapers.

The short-version long-version conflict in your names on record versus your name on the passport may pose some problems. You may want to research further if you will need a legal change of name from Ogechukwu to Ogechi, or if your a remedy can be done on your passport (maybe getting another one with your full legal name). One thing you can be sure of is that American consular officers will not consider Ayodele and Ayo to be one and the same person. You dont need to complicate your life with them.

All the best

KayMar,

You may find some useful information specific to Nigeria's US-Consulate requirements at

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Nigeria&cty=Lagos

Peace and good luck.

Tero, I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal with the CO. The CO must really be having a bad day. She knows within herself that she will not approve a Spouse visa (CR-1/IR-1 visa) based on your Engagement pictures and the fact that 'monetary gift' was involved. After seeking the mediation of your Senator, you may want to send them an email (LagosIV at states dot gov), asking then to if they will approve a Spouse visa based on the so called 'monetary gift' during the engagement, and even if they will, how you even can obtain a CR-1/IR-1 approval from USCIS when you have no Marriage Certificate or any other admissible evidence to proof marriage. I hope they reply your email with good information.

Incidentally, Lagos Embassy is not one of the places you can call and ask to speak to a Supervisor to seek redress. Only the emails work for now, and their response time is even spanning up to two weeks in recent times. Please keep us all updated. I hope you obtain a redress quickly.

Peace,

GreatGuy

Some of these COs needs to be trained or held accountable for their reasonings. They should know that most legally married people will not file for a fiance visa when K3 visa takes about the same processing time and is even cheaper.

Tero, I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal with the CO. The CO must really be having a bad day. She knows within herself that she will not approve a Spouse visa (CR-1/IR-1 visa) based on your Engagement pictures and the fact that 'monetary gift' was involved. After seeking the mediation of your Senator, you may want to send them an email (LagosIV at states dot gov), asking then to if they will approve a Spouse visa based on the so called 'monetary gift' during the engagement, and even if they will, how you even can obtain a CR-1/IR-1 approval from USCIS when you have no Marriage Certificate or any other admissible evidence to proof marriage. I hope they reply your email with good information. Incidentally, Lagos Embassy is not one of the places you can call and ask to speak to a Supervisor to seek redress. Only the emails work for now, and their response time is even spanning up to two weeks in recent times. Please keep us all updated. I hope you obtain a redress quickly.

Peace,

GreatGuy

Thanks y'all.

I called the NVC this morning and was told that my case has been forwarded to the foreign Consulate in charge last Friday 25th June.

Kinda surprising why it took soo long. My NOA2 was dated June 6th and the trend here on VJ has been less than 5 days.

In any case, I'm happy the case file is not missing-in-action!

My I-129F was NOA2 Approved on June 7th, 2010 and I received the hardcopy of the NOA2 few days after that. However, up till now, I have not heard anything from NVC. VJ's average is 5 days from NOA2 to NVC Receive. Its more than 20 days for my case and no email, no letter from NVC. I'm getting a little worried!

1. What do I need to do to know what is going on with my case?

2. For those of you that posted date entries on VJ for "NVC Receive", "NVC Sent" and "Consulate Receive", how did you get these dates? Did NVC emailed you? Did they send a physical letter? Did the Consulate email/write you? Do I need to subscribe to some Alert Notification system somewhere?

Any insights/advise will be appreciated.

Thank y'all.