Nigerian Students Seeking Visa To Travel Abroad Lament Their Sad Experiences At US Embassy

Twenty-six-year-old Benjamin had prepared himself and spent five days fasting and praying to secure a student visa at the United States’ embassy.

His widowed mother had spent her savings to pay all the fees leading to the stage and her hopes were hinged on Benjamin scaling through the crucial interview.

Like other students seeking admission to schools in the US, Benjamin’s mother had, according to him, paid about $100 (N36,000) for application fee to the foreign school, $300 (N108,000) for evaluation fee, and $91 (N32,000) for the courier service to bring the admission documents to Nigeria. The United States had also been paid $200 with an additional $20 service charge (N80,300).

The family was happy when the documents arrived and Benjamin’s mother paid N57,600 for the visa application to the embassy. In all, about N350,000 had been expended, including other miscellaneous fees.

Benjamin went for the interview and after some minutes, he was handed a blue paper.

“Dear applicant, thank you for your interest in travelling to the United States. This is to inform you that you have been found ineligible for a non-immigrant visa under Section 214 (b) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act. A denial under Section 214 (b) means that you were not able to demonstrate that your intended activities in the United States would be consistent with the classification of the non-immigrant visa for which you applied.

“Today’s decision cannot be appealed. However, you may reapply at any time. If you decide to reapply, you must submit a new application form and photo, pay the visa application fee again and make a new appointment to be interviewed by a consular officer….,” the letter read in part.

The Ondo State indigene, who wondered what he did wrong, lamented that the rejection was a big blow to his family.

“The consular officer had no reason not to give me the visa. He asked different questions, which I answered sincerely. He just gave me back my passport and said I should try again later. I am supposed to resume school on January 7, 2019. My widowed mother paid the fees for my six-month flight course. We spent about N350,000,” he said.

But Benjamin’s case is not peculiar.

Twenty-eight-year-old Bimpe from Ogun State said she was certain she passed the visa interview after answering four questions.

“I was asked what I was going to do in the US and I said I was going for pilot training. The officer asked if I worked in Nigeria and I said no. He asked who my sponsor was and I said my father.

“He asked me if I could fly and I told him that at the end of the training, I would know how to fly. He asked for my father’ statement of account and after going through it for a few minutes, he returned it and said I should try again later,” Bimpe said.

Another student, Sasha, who claimed to have got admission to St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said she had been denied a visa twice.

The 26-year-old claimed that the denial had affected her resumption in the school where she had already paid some money.

She said, “The first time I went to the embassy in Lagos was in July. The interviewer asked me a series of questions, including the name of my school and the course I was going to study. While explaining, he suddenly cut me short and said, ‘Sorry, you are not qualified for the visa.’

That was all; no specific reason was given. When I asked for the reason for the denial, he just said, ‘Sorry, I am not allowed to tell you; but you can try next time.’ Most of us who applied for visas that day were not given.

“The second time, I went to Abuja. That was on August 27. When I got there, I was asked when my school would resume and I told them August 27 and that I should have come earlier if the embassy was not shut for two weeks. Immediately I said that, the interviewer said, ‘Sorry, you are not qualified for visa again.’ The fault was not mine.”

Another prospective aviation student of Epic Flight Academy, Florida, Charles, alleged that the consular officer had problems with his mother being the sponsor of his education.

Charles said that was the only point of disagreement which marred his chances when he went for the first interview on September 21.

“I applied again and got a date for Monday, October 22. I was asked questions such as the name of my school and why I was going there to study. I was asked what kind of airplane I would like to fly and I told the interviewer and he smiled. I thought that was a positive reaction and I was hopeful. He asked for proof of the payment of my service fee, which I gave him. Then he said, ‘Sorry, I can’t give you a visa.’
“We paid N350,000 as visa fee, service fee, application fee, evaluation fee, among others, and you are not giving us a visa after going through a lot of stress? I have paid my registration fee. I was supposed to resume on November 5,” he added.

A parent, who identified himself only as Adewunmi, alleged that his 18-year-old daughter, who got admission to study nursing at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, was disqualified because she was not married.

Adewunmi said the N345,000 he spent on the process was wasted.

“She told me that when she said she was not married, the interviewer said she was not qualified to have the visa. I don’t know what is wrong with the embassy and if they don’t want us to apply to schools in the US, they should tell us instead of exploiting us.

“It appears like they are just taking our money. How many people are they giving visas? And how many are they collecting visa fees from in a day? It is like fraud. If they don’t want us to send our children to their schools, they should tell us,” the contractor said.

Another parent, Wole Ogunba, said he believed there was a plot to stop Nigerian students from travelling to the US.

Ogunba, who claimed to have lived in the US from 1996 to 2013 before returning to Nigeria, said his daughter was denied a visa because she asked the interviewer to speak up.

He said, “My daughter went to the embassy for an interview and she was the first person on the line. All she had the opportunity to say was, ‘Sorry, I can’t hear you.’ She said it twice and that was the end of the interview. And it’s not the first time that I will hear that people said, ‘Pardon’ or ‘I can’t hear you,’ and they are denied visas.

“My daughter is not an illiterate. She speaks and understands English. And you cannot tell me that the reason you did not go further with the interview was because you thought she would not be able to understand what she would be taught in class. She gained admission to study nursing and we paid some of the money and still, she did not get an opportunity to go there.

“If this kind of thing happens in America, you get a refund. So, I don’t know why it is in Nigeria that things do not work. People pay service fee; visa fee; transport fare; hotel fees, if you don’t live in Lagos or Abuja; flight ticket to travel; and the DHL to mail in this and that. And within a few minutes, their hopes are dashed.

“But I guess it is because this is Nigeria and nobody is ready to stand up to them. We want answers; if they don’t want anybody to go there to study anymore, they should tell us. And what makes it worse is that they don’t tell you the reason for the denial. They have a small piece of paper that they give you and what they print there is very vague.”
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