A PURCHASED FLIGHT TICKET LATER, MY BUSINESS VISA IS DENIED

By Rebecca

31 October 2019

This is Nigeria where everyone is expected to keep a positive mind about everything and pray against ?evil forces? standing in the way of your progress. After praying for the good things to come your way and it happens in the negative, we find solace in saying it is ?the will of the lord.? We fail to expect negative results from the start and put in all the extra effort, especially if we have someone helping out with the whole process who is giving us ?the vibe? and telling us not to worry.

This can be the only reasonable explanation for someone who is asked to book a flight ticket during the visa application process, but goes ahead to purchase a flight ticket because the person ?is taking a leap of faith.?

Imagine having to buy a ticket while applying for a business visa and your visa application gets rejected? You are then left with an expensive flight ticket that you have already paid for, but cannot even use! The fee paid for the visa application is a non-refundable application processing fee as well, making it a two-way loss. We all know how losing out on money without actually getting the services required can be very painful.

So you know I'm not making this up, I will share a real scenario with you. 

I heard of a fabric seller who decided to expand her business. She heard Dubai is an awesome place to get wonderful fabrics and decided to give it a try. She applied for a business visa to Dubai and, believing strongly that the visa will be granted, purchased her flight ticket and even paid for a hotel reservation ahead.

She applied for a business visa because it is a non-immigrant visa that allows the holder a short duration stay for business-related reasons, which was exactly what she needed. She was told that before the visa application would be granted, she was to present a flight reservation, among other things, for the visa application. She went ahead to do just that, but as she didn't see the need to just reserve a flight now only to pay for it later, she went ahead to purchase the ticket (note that some people would have made the same mistake because they do not know it is possible to book a flight without paying a single thing.)

Unfortunately for her, the business visa was denied. For those who have had a similar experience in the past, they know that reason(s) why a visa is denied is never communicated, you are left to figure that out on your own. 

When your visa application gets denied, you do not have to blame your ?village people? in a hurry, there are different reasons why visa gets denied.  

Among other things, it can either be that she failed to fill the application form in a clear manner, or she owns an invalid Passport. Typographical errors of names, date of birth, address, etc. can also be another reason why her visa was denied. Her business visa application might have been denied because the consular officer did not have all of the information required to determine if she is eligible to receive a visa, because the lady does not qualify for the visa category for which she applied, or because the information reviewed indicates that she falls within the scope of one of the inadmissibility or ineligibility grounds of the law. The only thing is we do not know exactly what she did wrong, you can just try to avoid these things when you apply.

Embassies will ask you to show proof of return flight tickets to and from your destination country. This is to ensure that you are actually going to come back to your base and not make an illegal attempt to stay back in their country. But paying for flight tickets is an expensive commitment to make when you are not even sure whether your visa application will get accepted and how long it may take.

A flight reservation for visa refers to a reserved itinerary or a flight plan to and from the destination country you want to apply the visa for. These itineraries are not actual flight tickets, and thus, need not be paid for.

A flight reservation document looks almost like a flight ticket, except that it does not have a price tag attached to it. Hence it is also sometimes referred to as a dummy ticket. It comes with a unique reservation ID or code that can be verified from the airlines? website if the embassy wants. Apart from that, the flight reservation for visa contains all other information that you would normally have on a flight ticket

Since some visa takes longer than expected to get processed, what do you do with the confirmed flight tickets? A full refund of the price is extremely rare, and you end up losing the money paid. There are various ways to reserve a flight during the visa application. One is to find out which airlines offer this service and book a reservation with them. The other way is through verified travel agents. Always remember that it is possible to reserve a flight without paying for it.

For a denied visa as well, it is possible to reapply in the future. If you reapply for a visa after being found ineligible, you must submit a new visa application and pay the visa application fee again. If you were found ineligible for serious crime records of some sort, you should be able to present evidence of significant changes in circumstances since your last application

If your application was denied because documentation or information is missing, you can provide the missing documents or information as soon as possible. After submitting the documentation, your business visa application can then be processed to a conclusion to determine whether you qualify for a visa. You have one year from the date you were refused a visa to submit additional information. 

Otherwise, if you do not provide the required information within one year, you must reapply for the visa and pay another application fee. If your application requires further administrative processing, this takes additional time after your interview. Processing times can vary based on individual circumstances. So have no worries if yours takes longer than your friends, good things take time.

Avoid taking leaps of faith when you can simply be reasonable. When asked to reserve a flight for the sake of your business visa application, do just that and do not purchase the flight ticket as that might not end well. If you do not know how to reserve a flight without paying for it, then try to contact an agent or any of the other methods mentioned earlier.  Be certain your visa application is successful before going ahead to make payment. Take your leap of faith after your visa application is successful.

Hello reader, if you need help with any visa process, kindly click here to be connected to a visa agent

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