How To : Apply for a Visa

Dear London,

How to : Apply for a VISA

NOTE: This is all based off my experience getting the Tier 4 Visa for being a graduate student in the United Kingdom leaving from New York state in the United States of America.

When applying for your visa there are several things to keep in mind:

• Make sure you know the right time to apply. If you apply too soon, pieces of the application and the application itself may end before you complete the process, or leave the country. If you apply too late, there is a good chance the turn around will not be quick enough.

• If you have applied too soon, the fix is easy – Cancel your biometrics appointment. If they cannot get your biometrics, (fingerprints & photograph), they cannot process your application.

• Biometrics – The appointment took me minutes to accomplish in the Albany Homeland Security office. I went at 10am. An important note is that, while they send down your fingerprints to the Consulate, they do not send down your photograph taken at the appointment. You must attach a photograph that you take on your own that is acceptable for visa. The best place to get this – at least in Cooperstown – is CVS.

Step-By-Step for the Tier 4 Visa:

1. Request a CAS (certificate of accepted students) from your international University – By providing the appropriate documents: undergraduate transcripts, passport.

2. Apply for your visa online at the appropriate country's website. For the United Kingdom – http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/ApplyNow.aspx. Make sure you apply for the correct visa, for example: This time as a graduate student I needed to apply for the Tier 4 Visa.

3. Schedule an appointment at the given location – usually a homeland security office - in an acceptable time slot to get your biometrics.

4. Attend the appointment with the appropriate documents, such as: Booking Conformation, Visa, etc. They will tell you what to bring when you go to your appointment. Finish the appointment by getting the Booking Conformation stamped, and signed by the office.

5. Organize all required documents and send to the appropriate consulate. The documents are: a Letter from University, CAS, documents needed to obtain CAS, letter of evidence to funds from loan company and international university, bank statements, credit card statements, points-form from the visa department that organizes paperwork, etc. It is important to research the documents required as the process changes from types of visa and time periods.

6. Wait for your passport to return with your visa attached to one of the pages in the mail.

   
   

   And that is how you get your visa!

   

   xx, Kristin