Interzone to Birmingham

Selecting Courses at the University of Birmingham is an interesting thing. Upon applying to the University I was told to select tentative courses from a list presented on their website.

The courses offered on this list are what enticed me to go to Birmingham.

It was almost fantastical. They had military history courses focusing on the First World War (Birmingham supposedly being the premiere First World War History University in the UK), there were courses on Curatorship and museumology, Vikings, Hitler's social changes, the list goes on!

At Birmingham, actual course registration does not happen for international student until you actually get to the University and enrole in the modules (the term for course).  However, I received an email saying that I could register for courses ahead of time. Unfortunately, this email also said that all but two of the courses I had selected upon application to the University, based on the modules presented on their website, were not being given for the entire year that I was to be at Birmingham.

I was more than a little disappointed...

Along with the email was a list of proposed modules. Unfortunately, very few of them were of any relevance to my specialization in post-ww1 military history. I asked for a completed list of offered modules and was put into contact with my Academic tutor for my stay at Birmingham, who gave me a complete list of history modules I could select from. Being my Acedemic Tutor, I let him know how frustrated I was as to the module changes (a fair concern, considering the amount of money I had to drop into it and that my academic choices were based on the original list of offered courses). Unfortunately I must have come across as very aggressive and my concerns were taken as very obnoxious.

Not exactly the first impression I want to be making with my Academic tutor who, oh look, happens to be the professor for one of the courses I picked from the New List! I look forward to meeting him in person.

The final stage of the visa application process is to have your biometrics taken by Worldbridge, "The commercial partner of the UK Border Agency"

It goes like this: you go to their poorly constructed website (difficult to navigate, extremely small text) and you book your appointment with the nearest clinic. Worldbridge charges a fee to call them, most likely because people would assume they can ask Worldbridge all their Visa questions. It is consequentially very difficult to get in touch with them, though you are able to rearrange the date of your appointment as desired given enough advance. As I was working in New Brunswick during the summer, the nearest appointment was the "Mobile VAC" clinic in Halifax. Appointments are only available once or twice a month. Book this as soon as you can. The sooner you can get your biometrics done, the sooner you can send your papers in to the British High Command in New York to have your visa processed. My appointment finally came. It was on a weekday, so I was forced to take two days off work to drive to Halifax, get to the appointment the next morning, and drive back. I had to have my Visa application ready. The one with the Barcodes. The appointment was in an office tower in Downtown Halifax. I showed up 15 minutes early and was greeted by a very pleasant receptionist who told me to have a seat. The receptionist does not work for Worldbridge and as such could not answer any questions I might have. At the time of my appointment a lady came out and invited me into her office. There were two video cameras recording me as well as a laptop and fingerprint scanner on the table. The lady was very cross and chewed me out for getting my application out of order, shoving the pages in my face demanding to know where the others were. She was not open to answer any of my questions and refused to shake my hand afterwards. The appointment lasts about 9 minutes, she looked over my receipt for the Worldbridge appointment and my Visa Application (the one you get from Visa4UK). She then took my fingerprints (telling me I was doing it wrong) and then fills out some forms putting them in a secure envelope. She also fills out a packing slip for DHL. This is the return courier service to get your passport back to you, after it gets shipped to New York. She then gave me a paper, refused to give me time to read it and when I tried to ask any questions she cut me off telling me to read the paper. fun. The last step is to assemble all my documents into an envelope and ship it to New York. This includes (but may not be limited to) the secure envelope I received from the Worldbrige appointment, my passport, and the all important Appendix 8, sometimes called VAF 9. This document is like the replacement for a face to face interview and, depending on your situation, may call for various supporting documents. You can find a Vaf 9 Guidance online, which is about 77 pages long, as well as other documents to assist you in filling out your VAF 9. Remember, conditions may have changed from the writing of this post to whenever you are filling out your UK visa application.

It took three days for my package to get to New York. I received a confirmation emails saying they had received it. I got my passport back a couple days later. From sending to Receiving it took about a week! I was suitably impressed by the rapidity and happy to have had it processed so quickly!

After I finally got my CAS it was time to get rolling, as I received it late and was unsure of how long the application process was going to take. The first thing I had to do was "apply for a visa" at Visa4UK. This is the official UK government site (at the time of my application, summer 2013) where you fill out some considerably irritating forms to let the UK government know that you wish to enter their country. The website is rather basic, but you are given a reference number which is attached to your email so that you can save your application. This is also the site that allows you to pay for your visa application. The price will probably change in the near future, but as of summer of 2013, the UK Government says that that application fee is 298 pounds (source). This is the fee to apply for a visa.

Also note that UNB (my home institution) made no mention of this fee whatsoever and it is entirely the applicant's responsibility to pay for it. Once the application for a UK visa is completed, the Visa4UK form prompted me to to print the Application (you can also come back to it using your email and a given reference number supplied by Visa4UK emails). The website's rudementary design is reflected when trying to get back to your application form. When I would type in my email and password and hit "enter" on my keyboard, the window would close and I was left wondering if it was just loading! It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that it was automatically going to the cancel button and not the login button. When using the Visa4UK website I would recommend navigating using the mouse and cursor to avoid these mishaps.

Now that I had paid what felt like an exuberant amount to Visa4UK and had confirmation of payment emails in my inbox and my visa application form printed out, I returned to Visa4UK and was prompted to register for a Biometric examination through the UK Border Agencies commercial partner Worldbridge. Worldbridge`s website and services were continually vague and frustrating, which will be discussed in the following post. Furthermore, here is a link to another blog which summarized the application process in smaller form which I found to be extremely helpful:

http://alannaforwales.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/u-k-tier-4-student-general-visas-for-canadian-dummies-or-alternatively-u-k-tier-4-student-general-visas-for-the-canadian-about-to-snap-student-to-be/

The visa application process is, in my opinion, the hardest chunk of paperwork that must be completed before going to study abroad. Before embarking on this quest, I must warn you. There will be hard times, you will cry. There will good times, and you will laugh. You'll make both friends, and enemies along the way. Furthermore advice regarding visa applications is considered Legal Advice. The information I am presenting is purely for informative purposes and cannot be used as a guide or checklist to the application process.

Before I began the application process I wanted to make sure I had my Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies number, or CAS. This is a number supplied by the University of Birmingham to prove that I am indeed studying at their institution, and that the UK Border Agency, the people who control the visa entry system, should allow me in to their lovely country. My email of confirmation to the University of Birmingham gave an estimate as to when the CAS number should be sent to me. Furthermore, you have to apply for your visa withing a certain number of months before you wish to begin your studies, in my case, no more than three months before my studies began. I became anxious when the CAS number never showed, and sent out a variety of emails, notably to the person at Birmingham who was supposed to be my official contact at the University. I ended up receiving an automated email from their office saying that they were going to be on vacation for the rest of the month. They never got back to me. I decided to call the university (called early in the morning Canadian time as I had work during the day, around lunch their time) and talked to some lovely secretaries, one of which noted that the email they were sending my CAS to had two (not one, TWO) typos in it, which explained why I never received the email... The moral of the story is if you have a question, look it up. if it's not apparent ask directly, they will help you.

For the past few months I have been navigating the treacherous waters of all the applications I have had to submit for studying in the UK.

Both my host institution and UNB have been quite helpful whenever I reach a problem! UNB is very generous when it comes to submitting their forms, and seem to be comfortable answering questions and delaying things as long as they are assured that you realize the extent of their responsibilities towards you. They definitely want me to go and have a great time! However, they seem to only passively mention that they will have NOTHING to do with your visa applications and other paperwork that might have to be completed before going. They're sending you off, but definitely don't touch any of the legal aspect. So I must say that the  500+ dollars, American, that had to be paid for the various UK visa procedures came as quite a shock, especially considering there was absolutely no mention of having to dish out that much money for it!

It would be quite a hassle, and nearly impossible for UNB's international department to be able to advise you on visa applications, especially considering the vast number of countries students may go for their studies. Though at some point in the application process, a warning regarding the importance of visa applications, and the extent to which UNB will involved themselves would have been nice:

**WARNING: STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS AND APPLICABLE FEES REGARDING VISAS FOR HOST COUNTRIES***