Second Interview for Student visa

Some of you might be called for a second interview for your UK student visa. You will receive the venue and schedule of your interview by e-mail. The second interview will mostly be a video conference similar to your first interview but sometimes it may also be done face to face.

Below are the possible questions you might be asked during your second interview:

1. Again it will begin with, why have you chosen this course and why this university?

2. In case you have a gap / break in your studies or work experience, you will be questioned in depth about that.

3. If you are a returning student to UK, you will be asked about your previous course and why you were unable to complete that.

4. For students who have a close family member residing in UK already, questions about him/her may also arise.

5. Questions related to the source of your funds will be asked. Make sure that your bank statement is able to answer such questions to skip them for yourself.

6. Most of all you should be able to prove to them that you're a genuine student intending to pursue a course in the UK with a valid reason for not doing the same in your home country.

7. Prepare to tell them what you intend to do after completing your course with stress to the point that you intend to return back to your country. If you have any plans in place after your return, you can also tell about that.

In most probabilities, your visa decision will be made within a week after your second interview.

Loan Letter Format for UK Student Visa

If you have availed an education loan for your study in the UK, you have to submit a loan sanction letter issued by your bank when you attend your visa interview. Unlike the funds maintained in your savings bank account, this loan need not be maintained for 28 days or any particular period. The date on the sanction letter can be even the day before your interview.

Following details are to be printed on the bank's letter head.

Your name and total amount sanctioned to you has to be printed very clearly followed by,

1. Name of the course
2. Name of the University
3. Rate of Interest
4. Repayment period
5. Margin amount
6. Co-applicants / Guarantors (if any)
7. Has a part of the loan already been disbursed?
8. Disbursement format
9. Are all formalities complete?
10. This sanction letter is valid till <date>

This letter should be attested with the bank's seal and branch manager's signature. If the letter head of the bank doesn't include the contact details of your branch, please enclose a business card of your branch manager. [This is just for verification about your account and loan by the British high commission which will not be done for everybody but in rare cases.]

UK STUDENT VISA INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Your UK student visa interview will be over video conference directly from Sheffield. Below are the questions that I faced during my student visa interview:

1. Generally it will begin with an introduction of yourself, what course you have applied and to which university.

2. Why are you planning to do this course?
[For this question you'll have to point out the relevance between your course and your previous area of study or your previous work experience. You can also talk about prospective job opportunities on successful completion of your course.]

3. Why have you chosen the UK as your place of study?
[Explain them why this course can't be done in your hometown or elsewhere.]

4. Why have you chosen this university?

5. When is your course scheduled to begin?
[Tell the exact start date of your course.]

6. Have you applied for any pre-sessional English language course?
6.1. If you answer no to the previous question, then why?

7. Where do you see yourself on successful completion of your course?
[You should tell them what you intend to do after completing this course.]

8. And in the end, you will be asked if the entire interview was clear to you and did you understand them properly.

Documents to be taken to UK student visa interview

1. CAS letter:
This letter will be provided by your university and will contain your unique CAS number. Those of you who haven't received your CAS number need not worry since your university will apply to the home office for your cas number only near the time frames when you're eligible to apply for a visa(i.e., 3 months before the start of your course).

2. Bank statement:
A statement of your bank account in which you are maintaining the funds necessary for your living costs and tuition fee. This statement should cover a period of 3 months, with the end date not exceeding 28 days before the date of your visa application and it should contain the bank's seal and banker's initial on all pages.
In addition to this statement you should provide your original bank passbook and a letter from the bank stating that you are a genuine customer since <date> and the balance available in your account to ensure that it doesn't have any holds on it. The letter should also contain your photograph attested by the banker.

3. Loan Letter: (Applicable only if you have availed a bank loan)
Your loan sanction letter from the bank should be printed on the bank's letter head and should also contain the bank's seal and banker's initial. Photograph is not mandatory on a loan letter. It should clearly mention the name of your university and the amount sanctioned to you in pound sterling.
On this letter, the bank should state that all formalities are complete and there are no conditions in disbursing the loan amount to you upon demand.

4. Documents mentioned on your CAS:
Your Cas letter will mention certain documents which the university has considered to provide this admission to you. This might include your degree certificate or school mark sheets, in case of undergraduate students. It might also mention other documents such as recommendation letter or work experience depending upon each case.
All the documents mentioned on your cas has to be taken in original to your visa interview.

5. English language test certificate:
Your original english language test certificate, the date on which should be within 2 years.

6. Medical test report:
Your tuberculosis test report from an authorised screening centre. This test has to be done within 3 months before your visa application. List of home office approved tb screening centres.
Make sure you get your testing done well in advance as you may not be able to collect your test report on the same day. And during busy days it may take more time, so get your testing done at least 2 weeks before your visa interview schedule.

7. Original Passport:
This is the primary and most important document that should be submitted along with your visa application. You need to take a photocopy of your passport to keep with yourself as you will be submitting your original passport on the day of your visa interview.

Blog about my personal UK visa experience

I'm a prospective student from India, intending to pursue my Masters in the United Kingdom this year. My course is about to start in September and here I am writing a blog about how I applied and successfully received my student visa, all by myself. Yeah that's right, no agents or consultants! Right from the admission process until getting a visa can be done without any professional help. It's all out there, all the information can be searched and found. Only thing needed is your time and effort.

Now, I'm trying to reduce your search time too by giving you the links to useful information. When I began my visa application, I was on the look out for similar blogs, for someone who has undergone this process already and is ready to share their experience. I searched, searched and searched but in vain. So now I've decided to help everyone out there who wants to apply for a UK student visa.

Let this blog become a hub where useful information, applicant experience and student visa guidelines of our time are stored forever...

Apply online for UK study visa from India

Any student with an unconditional offer is eligible to apply for a UK visa 3 moths before the start of his/her course. So you will receive your CAS (Certificate of Acceptance for Studies) number only near that time frame, without which you can't make your visa application. And when you apply for your visa, the date on which you pay your visa application fee will be considered as the date of your application.

STEP 1: COMPLETE THE ONLINE VISA APPLICATION
After you receive your CAS number you can submit your visa application online by going to this link: https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/. On this page, you have to first register an account which can be done well in advance so don't keep waiting until you receive your CAS letter from the university. After registering, log in to your account and create a new student visa application. [How to fill in all your details in the application will be done in a separate post]

STEP 2: VISA APPLICATION FEE PAYMENT
I submitted my application exactly on the day from when I'm allowed to apply. [i.e., Since my course begins on September 8th, I can start applying for a visa from June 8th on-wards.] So I completed my visa application online on the 7th of June. Then I made the visa fee payment of INR 32550/- on 8th June. Hence June 8th stands to be my application date (exactly 3 months before my course start date).

One important thing to note before you pay your fee is that the visa4uk site accepts credit or debit cards only for payment. You can't do it with your internet banking nor can you pay cash. A problem that you may face here is that most cards have a daily transaction limit of say Rs. 30000/-. So get in touch with your bank or customer care and clear out this per day transaction limit on your card before you begin your payment process.

STEP 3: SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT
After you make the payment, you will be able to select an appointment date and time for submitting your original documents along with your passport. For this you will not be able to select the immediate next working day (i.e., you can't pay the fee today and take an appointment tomorrow), so plan accordingly. And all the appointment timings begin from 1.00 P.M only, nothing in the morning. So you can leisurely reach the visa application center mid-day!

FINAL STEP: SUBMIT YOUR DOCUMENTS IN PERSON
On completing the above steps, you will receive an e-mail confirming your appointment date, time and venue. At this stage your visa application is complete. Now you just have to print your application and get your documents ready [Documents required for student visa application will be done in a separate post]. Finally, visit the visa application center mentioned on your application on the scheduled date and time.

Comments and queries are welcome..

When will I get my UK student visa

How long did I wait for my visa?

I submitted my UK student visa application along with all the original documents and original passport at a VFS global visa application center on the 11th of June, 2014. I had opted for a courier service to deliver my documents to me since my hometown didn't have a visa application center and I can't travel there again. I had also opted for a SMS service to inform me about the status of my visa application. For both these services I had to pay Rs. 525/- which was collected from me directly at the visa application center.

Even though I paid for the sms service, I never received a single sms from the visa application center. Later, after receiving my visa, I came to know that DND(Do Not Disturb) was enabled on my mobile number. Check if you have done this too by entering your mobile number in this link - http://www.dndcheck.in/ If so, contact your network provider to get it disabled.

After about 2 weeks (which was a really long wait for me), on the 25th of June, exactly at 6.00 P.M, I received an e-mail stating that a decision has been made on my visa application and it has just reached back the visa application center. Neither this e-mail nor the sms alert (if you have opted for) will tell you what the decision is. Only when you open your passport you will be able to know the result. And since I had opted for a courier service I had to wait again till I received it in my hand.

All these couriers are dispatched through BlueDart, so you easily track where your documents are by going to the following link:

https://www.bluedart.com/

There you have to select the radio button "ref no" and enter your reference number starting with GWF - the one that was generated when you submitted your visa application online. My courier was dispatched the next day and delivered to me on the 27th of June. [In case you did not opt for a courier service, you can directly visit the same VFS center and collect your documents the next day itself.] I had to show one my original ID proof to the person delivering my courier from BlueDart before receiving my packet.

All my documents were correctly returned to me and above all I was really very happy to see my visa stamped inside my passport. :) I am entitled to enter the UK exactly one month before the start date of my course and remain there until four months after the completion of my course.

Comments and queries are welcome..