#worldbridge

CHT INTERNATIONAL AWARD - BUSINESS & INVESTMENT (CAMBODIA)

Oknha Rithy Sear

Chairman of WorldBridge Group

Oknha Rithy Sear is the chairman of WorldBridge Group with over 23 businesses under his belt that included logistics, supply chain management, property development, financial services, e-commerce and trading. He is a philanthropist who started out as a logistics officer in 1993. His contributions to Cambodia was also recognised by the title “Oknha” - the highest honour granted in the country - awarded to him by the King of Cambodia H.M. Norodom Sihamoni.

Always confident and ambitious in projects he undertakes, Rithy has forged partnerships with international corporations to introduce remarkable projects to Cambodia. He partnered with Singapore-based property developer, Oxley Holdings, in two impressive mixed development projects in Cambodia;  The Bridge, which is slated for completion in 2018 and The Peak, that is set to complete by 2020. He also partnered with leading logistics solutions provider Kuok Group's Kerry Logistics to introduce a custom bonded warehouse zone and special economic zone under the Kerry Worldbridge FSZ project.

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qj2sHhTj8)

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmqnpSkMpHY)

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/