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.