Want my fiance's Family in Nigeria to come for Wedding

[M2MarryN 2]

Advice welcomed.

My fiance will be married shortly-but we are having our large "Christian Church Wedding" in August of 2011. I have had a group of friends get married recently (maybe that's why we became friends??) who married foreigners and of course they all wanted their families from their native country to be there. In all the cases-all different countries-most in Africa-they were denied. We have some months to plan this, so we want to do whatever is necessary so that 4 of his Nigerian family members can come to our wedding. The usual reason for denying a tourist visa in Nigeria is "not sufficient evidence you have something that will bring you back to Nigeria" His Mom doesn't work-but his Dad's health is too poor for him to come-so I think she's be more likely to pass, but she won't go alone, and his siblings, are either in school (University) or have jobs-like many Nigerians-they are businessmen-so no real issue about them having to get back for their work. What can we do or they do so that it will improve their chances of getting a visa to come to our wedding?

Thanks for any advice! Nigerians-or those with experience with Nigerian visas please respond

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

At a recent Nkanu convention only 2 out of over twenty invited speakers where given visas and the success rate for family invites was 1 out of 40. If you want a wedding with known people from both families it will have to be in Nigeria. Even doctors with homes and long term jobs get denied.

[LADYDARE 28]

Securing tourist visa most of the time has to do with showing strong ties to the home country and prove financially you can support yourself. Add to that luck and favor from the interviewer.

[Anh map 2,098]

There isn't anything you can do other than send them a wedding invitation that they can show to the interviewer. They have to get the visa based on their own merits showing strong ties to home, etc.

Best of luck.

[patient2010 93]

the chances are slim to none to be honest as nigeriaorbust said you can have everything to show you are returning and they still will deny you. My fiance brother is a marketing exec for a major company in Naija and he was denied and he is married with children there. Good luck

[M2MarryN 2]

So no one really has any tips-the above I all know-nothing new to me. Have any of you had a wedding here in America and sent invites out and were able to get any family members to come, it would mean so much to my husband (church big wedding is in August).

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The lack of tips reflects the lack of anyone pulling this off. Nigeria is an impossibly tough place. If any of your invitees have large real estate holding and are leaving children behind they may have some luck. Personally I have never heard of anyone getting a visa to attend a wedding.

[Harsh_77 718]

The problem with Nigeria is Consulate has hard time actually verifying if the real estate documents are real or fake.

There has been cases where the estate documents provided to CO were fake and given the rate of fake documents floating around in the immigration market in Nigeria it is difficult for CO to accept any documents as legit.

For B1/B2 all most can advice is give a shot and see how it goes – other than that there is not much you can do.

[M2MarryN 2]

Harsh-what do real estate documents have to do with our family coming to our wedding?

[Harsh_77 718]

Harsh-what do real estate documents have to do with our family coming to our wedding?

I meant was if your family shows they have estate in Nigeria and are likely to return back as that is normally considered as a good tie to your home country.

There has been cases where such documents were shown by someone at consulated which were forgery.

In other coutries if someone shows that they have real state in that country then CO considers them as a good tie and likely grant a visa as the person will return back to the home country as they have stake in the estate.

All I meant was in Nigeira even showing such documents does not gurantee you that you will get a B1/B2.

I hope it my post makes sense now

Edited March 2, 2011 by Harsh_77

[ryna 132]

I meant was if your family shows they have estate in Nigeria and are likely to return back as that is normally considered as a good tie to your home country.

There has been cases where such documents were shown by someone at consulated which were forgery.

In other coutries if someone shows that they have real state in that country then CO considers them as a good tie and likely grant a visa as the person will return back to the home country as they have stake in the estate.

All I meant was in Nigeira even showing such documents does not gurantee you that you will get a B1/B2.

I hope it my post makes sense now

All of this assumes that the CO will even look at documentation and evidence of ties.

I know it wasn't Nigeria, but it is just notoriously difficult to obtain a Tourist Visa from some countries as my wife's friend found out trying to get a tourist visa from Colombia. She is a professional, working for two law firms, owns a farm and as well as a house in the city and she was denied two questions into her interview and without so much as a cursory glance at her paperwork. (She said 8 of the 10 in her group were denied that day.)

If you (they) don't mind losing the visa fee, I say go for it but be forewarned - it's tough. Also, be prepared for the case where maybe 1 gets the visa and the others don't.

As an aside, I know there are costs involved processing the applications but really? The full amount of the visa just to be told "No", especially when they spend 0 minutes actually looking at supporting evidence? It's kind of like applying to a university and being told you need to pay the full 4 years tuition upfront before they let you know whether you've even been admitted to the school!

[Harsh_77 718]

All of this assumes that the CO will even look at documentation and evidence of ties.

I know it wasn't Nigeria, but it is just notoriously difficult to obtain a Tourist Visa from some countries as my wife's friend found out trying to get a tourist visa from Colombia. She is a professional, working for two law firms, owns a farm and as well as a house in the city and she was denied two questions into her interview and without so much as a cursory glance at her paperwork. (She said 8 of the 10 in her group were denied that day.)

If you (they) don't mind losing the visa fee, I say go for it but be forewarned - it's tough. Also, be prepared for the case where maybe 1 gets the visa and the others don't.

As an aside, I know there are costs involved processing the applications but really? The full amount of the visa just to be told "No", especially when they spend 0 minutes actually looking at supporting evidence? It's kind of like applying to a university and being told you need to pay the full 4 years tuition upfront before they let you know whether you've even been admitted to the school!

CO looks ups the candidate’s case even before they start interviewing the candidate.

Just property, good job and family ties are not the only thing that goes into equation, there are other factors are if candidate is single, are at the age where they can blend in the American customs easily, if they are single would they find a partner in US and get married there (some of these just could be for purpose of immigration).

So Co would look at all these factors before making a decision, so yes if your friend had everything and she was working for law firm, but was she single?

Specially countries where they have high rate of fraud and ppl trying to escape their economy the scrutiny is very high.

I can tell you from my personal experience, I have a friend and she is a public prosecutor in UK she is single and between marriageable age, but as soon as she lands in US and tell POE that she is public prosecutor for UK they don’t ask her any question and let her in.

[M2MarryN 2]

hmmmm so no real helpful advise out there. Guess we'll try and be honest and do what we can. I would just hope it's not just his mother who comes to the wedding, as that would be hard for various reasons, but she fits the -won't likely want to stay in America-being married, work, and a house waiting in Nigeria.

[Boiler 46,242]

Why not have the event in Nigeria?

[DaveE 178]

Really tough to get a visa for family members. We were married last July and wanted my wifes adult daughter to attend and be the maid of honor. We knew it would be a long shot but paid the visa fee for her. Visa denied in less than five minutes with the CO. We considered her ties to her home country to be significant, but it was quite evident that the decision was made prior to the interview. She owns her own condominium in the Philippines; has a signicant savings account; works for a major american company; had a letter from her employer and approved vacation for the two weeks we wanted her to stay with us for the wedding.

We provided a guarantee of round trip airfare, letter from our Minister verifying her status as maid of honor, and a notorized letter from me saying that I would be personally responsble for making sure she returned to the Philippines.

The CO would not even look at the documentation she provided. The CO told her, you have family in the states and I can't help you with a visa.

Give it your best shot, (I would try it again), but don't get your hopes too high.