My Year in Durham (and beyond...)

Hell: The story of a girl and her visa application

I don’t want to put anyone off of going on exchange, but applying for my UK T4 student visa was quite possibly one of the worst experiences of my life and I never want to do it again. This is my story (and a few tips to hopefully make your experience easier):

One of the major pros of being a Canadian citizen is that, from my experience, you usually don’t need a visa to travel (at least not in the Global North). Before deciding to go on exchange, I’d never had to apply for a visa as I’d never planned on working or staying in a particular country for an extended period of time. I’ve simply just had to show up at the airport/border control, show my passport, answer a few questions, and carry on my merry way. However, as my exchange to Durham is longer than 6 months, this time I had to apply for a T4 (general) student visa to the UK.

The application for this type of visa requires that you have a Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) number. Without this number, you cannot apply for a T4 visa, and if you do, it will be declined. This number is issued by your exchange university (in my case, Durham) once they’ve accepted you to study with them. I received my CAS, as well as some other information, in late July and began my visa application a few days later.

The first step is to fill out the application forms online. Most of the application was quite straight-forward, but there were a few questions that were absolutely awful and confusing. A few tears and much stress later, I eventually figured everything out and submitted it. The next step is to make an appointment at a Visa Application Centre (there’s only 6 in Canada) to get your fingerprints/photo taken, and to hand in all physical documents. The VAC in Vancouver was closest to me (I was living on Vancouver Island at the time), so I scheduled my appointment there and planned a day-trip into Vancouver to get it all sorted. Everything went fine and I went home. A few days later, however, I received an email saying they experienced technical difficulties and needed me to come back to do it all again. At the time, I was working full-time between two different jobs, and so taking time-off to go to Vancouver was difficult. I didn’t have any full days off for 2 weeks, and long-story short, I ended up having to take the helijet to Vancouver early in the morning, go to my re-do appointment, and immediately get back on the helijet to make it back in time for work. Thankfully, my application was successful, and I got my passport back a week later.

Some advice:

  1. Start as early as possible. You can’t submit your application until you have your CAS, but I would recommend starting to fill out the visa forms before your receive it and then just fill in your CAS, etc. once you get that information. Giving yourself as much time as possible will make the experience much less stressful.
  2. No one can help you so just trust your instincts and read the relevant documents on the Home Office website. Go Global only can only help with visa applications TO Canada, and if you try to contact the Home Office through email/phone, they’ll either redirect you to the website again, or charge you a ridiculous amount of money. Heads up: They can’t answer any questions regarding your application at the VAC either.
  3. If you are a Canadian citizen, you count as a low-risk national and do not have to submit all the documents they mention in the application. For example, I didn’t have to submit proof of finances. The application/website doesn’t make this very clear, so make sure to double-check what you actually have to provide.
  4. Try to stay calm and relaxed, and try not to get too stressed over the whole process. In the end, there’s not much you can do, so you may as well just sit back and take a deep breath. Granted, I didn’t take this advice, but ah well.
  5. Live near/in a major city. Obviously this is a joke, but if you do live near one of the 6 VACs, you’re really lucky. I can’t imagine how horrible my experience would have been if I had been living in the Interior or Alberta, etc…
  6. DO NOT google reviews or people’s experiences with the visa application centre. Just don’t do it. It will make you so much more stressed and will convince you that you’ll never see your passport again.
  7. Have fun…?

In all honesty, while it was an awful experience for me, as a Canadian, applying for a visa to the UK really isn’t that bad. People aren’t very helpful, but as long as you tick the right boxes, tell the truth to the best of your abilities, and follow all the steps, you should be alright.

See you later.

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