The Coveted Visa

An Anxious Wait

When Sara first told me about the details of the visa application to the UK, I was not quite bothered. Not after the breezy sail of getting an Australian Student Visa for her sisters ... online.

Grace and Esther applied for their Australian Student visa online and got their reply quite instantly ... QED (quite easily done). So, I was really not perturbed when Sara kept hammering me with the many conditions attached to her application. What can go wrong if you follow the instructions strictly?

But should anything untoward happens I have only myself to blame because I did not think much of the nitty gritty details that needed to be looked into. I was casual until my sister chided me for being so as she too had to go through the process for her son but with greater care.

Below are conditions that are needed to be seriously heeded if you want to have a successful application at the first attempt. If your first attempt fails, it also means you lose your application fees... a whopping RM1k.

• application must be accompanied by original statements : birth certificate, passport, bank statements, right sized/colour photo, court translations and so on


• a stipulated sum must be available for the student's use at any time certified by the bank


• your bank statement must record the same amount stated by the bank and must already rest in the account for 28 days on the day of application

Some technical problems encountered were :

• Sara could not apply earlier in July because the result transcript did no carry the same name as in her passport (passport says Sara Lau Der Yin ; transcript says Der Yin, Sara Lau. So there was a wait of about 3- 4 weeks before correction was made)

• As my bank statement does not include her name, she had to have her birth certificate translated to prove that I am the mother ( She refused any ordinary commissioner of oath and insisted on a commissioner from the PJ court to authenticiate her translation because she cannot afford any human error and had to pay RM50 bucks for 3 copies. Later her friends informed that you can actually go the national registration department at PJ New Town and get it translated at RM5.00 only. So a tip for her mistake)

• Getting the bank to vouch for the availability of funds and stating that all that was stipulated was for her use and to be available at any point was mandatory ( Some friends' applications were rejected because the bank letter was not precisely stated and worst still if the amount stated did not tally with the amount found in the bank statement. We even heard of stories when a student was barred from entering because the funds stated did not tally and created suspicions)

• We had some anxious moments because my statement did not only include British Pound but also the Australian Dollar as it was a time deposit account ( On top of that there was some movement with the Auzzie Dollar and the situation gave us reason to be worried. Should things go against us, we wonder if there was any more 28 days for correction...)

After a successful submission, there was the wait of 5-8 working days. I was less anxious about her results when compared to this application wondering what mistakes could be detected in our carelessness.

To summarise, if I have the chance to apply under this process again, I will not take it so lightly and include the following :

• Have an account of the stipulated sum required by the British Embassy in a child's name excluding a parent's name at least 30 days before application ( that will mean no translation of documents needed)


• Get the bank statement made in accordance to every technical term required and not change any amount within the time of application.

Pray hard.

In a nutshell, the application can be made very easy if you choose to follow instructions strictly.

Sara received a notification today :

...your application is now ready for collection...

What does one understand from this statement? Her friends who had been unsuccessful received the same statement too... they first thought they had the green light ; only to discover later it was not.

Some mutual friends who submitted at the same time together with her have yet to get a reply... this is perhaps the most another anxious wait till Monday.

The Visa.