Applying for a Student Visa Overseas

If you are a student and have been accepted to a university in the United Kingdom, you must obtain a Tier 4 General Student visa. This may sound like an easy task, but in reality, there is a lot of research you should do before applying. First of all, you will need to go to the website www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/ Here you will find the steps that you need to take in order to apply for a visa. You will need to apply for a visa and pay the appropriate fees. Once you finish the online application, you will be taken to a screen where you need to schedule a biometric fingerprint and facial scan.

You will need to bring the appointment printout to the biometric center. Once they scan your fingerprints and take a head photo, you will be given a signed piece of paper that you will need to include with your sent application to the British Consulate. Now, once you have that out of the way, now comes the sending the application to the British Consulate part. First, you will need to make a checklist of what you need to include with your application. This is VERY important that you do not forget any required documentation. If you forget ANY required document, they will not notify you to let you know. Instead, they will send everything back to you and reject your application. When they reject your application, you are required to start a brand new application and repay the entire application fee all over again. On top of repaying the fees all over again, you are required to go have the biometric scans done for a second time.

Things that they require you have would be a letter from the university stating that you are accepted and that shows you paid the placement fee for the school. The second, you will need to provide them with transcripts or any degrees from colleges that you used to apply to the UK university. Third, you will need to send your passport, yes, your official passport (copies will not be accepted). Fourth, you will need to send in your printed application along with the signed biometric scan paper. Fourth, you will need to send in a passport sized photo of yourself. Fifth, if you have been granted full tuition and cost of living expenses through a loan, then you will need to have your US loan lender send you an official signed and stamped letter stating the amount you have been given. If you have enough to cover cost of living, then this is the only letter you will need. However, if you have only money from the loan to cover tuition, you will need to provide bank statements showing that you have the money to pay for housing, food, travel, etc. Once you have all of these documents together, you will need to send them to the British Consulate to have your visa approved. Remember, ALL documents MUST be original, if not, you are guaranteed to be rejected.

If you are in a hurry to get your visa, you can also have it expedited through a service found at this website: http://www.ambpv.com/

The same rules apply for the expediting service as with the British Consulate. There is an additional expediting fee that you will need to pay. Forms for the expediting service are found at the above mentioned website.