Dear earthlings,
This post is meant as a preventive measure, why do I say that? the things I'm going to share here are the small, menial details that people tend to overlook and then cause a lot of trouble in obtaining the UK visa..
Make sure you filled out the form CORRECTLY. Double check, triple check, heck quadruple check if you must, but make sure that all info are correct.
Make sure you filled ALL the required info before submitting you form..be it for the ATAS form, TB screening form, online VISA form or the self assessment form..This may seem like a ridiculous reminder, but trust me, it will save you a lot of heart ache later on..
Make sure you send your university the latest passport you will be using for your studies in the UK...this is uber important especially if you've recently renewed your passport..you might wonder why, well, hang on, I'm going to explain now..As you might be aware of from my previous post, your university will issue you a CAS letter..in this precious CAS letter, it will state your passport number, and it's important to get the correct passport number which means your latest passport number..as for me, I was browsing through the documents for my visa submission at 10.30PM on 28th Sept (I'm submitting on 29th Sept, 7.00 AM), that the passport number on my CAS was not the same as my current passport number and only then I remembered i did not provide my uni with my latest passport number...I was so worried but thank God, Allah gave me some ideas, on how to solve the problem..I emailed the international admission team in the UK (I think this is the ONLY time I've been thankful for the huge time difference between Malaysia and UK) telling them my problem and attaching my most recent front page of my passport along with that email..the next thing I did was I contacted my uni's representative in Malaysia, (yes, they are THAT EFFICIENT, answering calls at 10.30PM) told them about my problem and asked them help get in touch with the International admissions team in the UK to speed up the correction..they will not issue a new CAS letter bearing the new passport number, what happens is, the CAS number issued is unique and there's a whole folder online behind that CAS number..all the uni needed to do was write a little note stating that they are aware of my new passport number and updating it online..so, Alhamdulillah, problem solved...
I took the PRIORITY service for my visa therefore, from the website, they mentioned the visa could be completed within 3 working days..I submitted mine on Thursday (29.08.13) and I religiously checked my status online at the vfs website..On Monday, I got an email from the Manila visa processing centre stating that my visa is already shipped off to malaysia (yup, they do the visa processing all the way in manila)..On tuesday, I checked the status of my visa about every 30 minutes if not more...I decided that I could no longer wait because my sponsor wanted to issue my ticket to the UK and I needed to confirm with them latest by Tuesday...therefore, what I did was, I gambled..I just took a train to VFS with the hope that my visa would have arrived already..Please bear in mind that you have to queue even for collection of your visa...I gave the guard my receipt and waited patiently inside..I did not have a good feeling because all those who submitted their receipt with me have already been called...the guy at the counter finally called my name and said that my visa is not yet available, I put on my panicky face, and told him that I needed to book my flight tix and my sponsors are waiting for my visa clearance..I asked him again what is the staus of my application and he gave me the same answer as the one on the web...sheesshhh...so I finally asked him, 'yang hari ni punya visa dah sampai from Manila?' to which he answered 'baru je tadi sampai pukul 2. Kalau akak nak, kena tunggu like setengah jam untuk kami proses dan cari kalau akak punya visa ade ke x'...I was more than OK untuk tunggu setengah jam tu..I was constatntly reciting rabbi yassir wa la tu 'assir from the moment that guy went to search for my visa...Alhamdulillah, my visa already arrived and i could take it then and there..yippeee...
I think this post is too long already.
OK, bye.
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