<p>(This was posted earlier on the Study Abroad Forum–so far 33 views and 0 replies. So I’m trying a more populated forum.)</p>
<p>I call upon the collective wisdom of CC to help us navigate what’s turning into a real Kafka-esque nightmare. </p>
<p>My D will be attending the University of Edinburgh for the upcoming Spring semester. She would be considered a Non-Visa National and therefore eligible for receiving a Student Visitor Visa at the border after showing supporting documentation, but the university prefers their students to have pre-cleared multi-entry Student Visitor Visas obtained before traveling. Her home institution does not provide any advice or help in visa processing. </p>
<p>So D used the application for a non points-dependent study visa (i.e. not a Tier-4 study visa) as there were no other good options to choose from at the new Visa4uk site. The problem is with the “UK Sponsor” fields of that online form. There is no UK sponsor that we can fathom. Do they mean financial sponsor? D already indicated that her parents will be paying for everything. </p>
<p>The form will not proceed without all the fields being filled in so that the visa fee can be paid, the form printed out,and a biometric data appointment made to ultimately send off all and everything to the visa processing center in NYC. I fear in my bones it’s the wrong form but there is nothing in the selections specifically for “Student Visitor Visa” anywhere on the Visa4uk site we are supposed to use. And we have been told that one cannot study under a “General” Visa.</p>
<p>There is no one to address questions to. Calling the Embassy or any of the consulates results in the same message: a recording that they cannot help but if you call such and such a number, live help will be provided on a fee-per-minute basis. There is a VAF1d student visa form available for printing out and mailing, dated Dec. 2012, but I have been told things have changed since November 2013, so I’m not sure this form is even valid anymore. E-mailing the contact help address provided has resulted in no answers yet. Plus the Border Agency website indicates that her nationality is one that must apply online. And if one clicks the specific VAF1d visa online link at the Border Agency website you get sent to an error page.</p>
<p>Has anyone had any recent experience with this and has succeeded in applying for a Student Visitor Visa online?</p>
<p>Looks like you are caught in a beta test site- sorry!</p>
<p>AvonHSDad has a son studying at Univ of Edinburgh this semester. Maybe you could pm him and ask his advice. Also, can you reach out to Univ Of Edinburgh? They have lots of international students. If your D is having issues with this new site- she can’t be the only one.</p>
<p>D studied at U-Edinburgh a few years back … her program recommended the visitor visa, which was perfectly fine. D did her study through the Butler program. They are a well-respected program - maybe you could call their Study Abroad program for advice?</p>
<p>Arcadia University is very well versed in study abroad, including Edinburgh; they are located in Philadelphia. Maybe give their program a call. [Arcadia</a> University - Resources for Study Abroad Students](<a href=“http://arcadia.edu/studyabroad/]Arcadia”>http://arcadia.edu/studyabroad/)</p>
<p>Try UK resident dot com / forums
When we had to get student visas there were many changes going on, the rules changed each and every month and we spoke with people who applied the end of one month and were denied because the rules changed in the next month when their app was processed.</p>
<p>There are expediters who you can pay to walk the app into the embassy and do the paperwork that one day, IIR that is around $100.</p>
<p>I needed info to apply for a new British passport for myself and a british by descent passport for DD, and did use the pay-per-minute service. I guess that’s the way the british government makes the visa/passport process self-supporting. I actually found them very helpful, efficient and pleasant, and it only ended up costing me a few bucks. YMMV.</p>
<p>My daughter did a study abroad semester last year at Edinburgh, she elected to do the Student Visa option at the border. I believe she needed to show her passport, letter of acceptance from Edinburgh, letter from her home college and her ticket home. Customs will provide the necessary stamp in your passport.
I think your UK sponsor would be considered the University of Edinburgh (IMO).</p>
<p>Well, thanks all for your good suggestions. We ended up Skyping Edinburgh and found out that there is no such thing as a multi-entry Student Visitor Visa, it’s always a one-entry and you get it at the border after showing proper supporting documentation, and we were told that most of their study abroad students go this route. You can apply for the student visitor visa in advance from your home country but then it also costs some non-trivial amount of money and you have to use the online forms which don’t seem to be working at the moment due to the upgrade. Great. The Tier-4 study visa is the multi-entry visa but more geared for longer-term courses of study, also has to be done online, costs even more money and has a stricter vetting procedure. </p>
<p>Now why couldn’t it be made this clear on the Visa4uk or Border Agency websites?</p>
<p>artrell, my daughter had the same experience…I fretted more than she did, nothing seemed “black and white” to me. But my daughter did ask her home university and emailed Edinburgh and they were very nice.</p>
<p>Hello all. We are experiencing exactly the same scenario with my son. We’ve been trying unsuccessfully to work this out in conjunction with the college but despite their willingness to help, they seem to be stumbling upon the same issues (hard to contact the authorities, no phone numbers with helpful people on the other end, etc).</p>
<p>"Applications should be made using VAF1D form. When applying online, applicants must use the ‘(General) student visitor, to study English language’ route on Visa4UK. </p>
<p>This new Visa4UK category has been mapped to the CAT D Student endorsement on Proviso and therefore the Student endorsement should automatically print on the CAT D vignette. If an application is not made online, ECOs must ensure they choose the category D Student endorsement."</p>
<p>I’ve scanned all of the menu options and there’s no option under (General) student visitor.</p>
<p>@Vot123 - how did you find out or can you confirm that the visa is granted at the border?</p>
<p>@alesssj4 - In the end, we figured out that the “Student Visitor Visa” was the way to go for a SEMESTER abroad course of study from both other students who had done study abroad at D’s school, and from a website, can’t remember which one. The Student Visitor Visa is for a short-term stay only, the student is prevented from working or doing volunteer work even if it is unpaid, it is granted at the border, and it’s single entry only. Well, this sounded kind of dicey to us here being granted student visitor status could depend on the whims of a border agent. </p>
<p>So we had a whole slew of supporting documents in a folder for D to show when she got to the border: proof of financial support from us with a signed letter from us saying we will be paying x, y and z during her term there, bank statements from us to show we have the means to support her, the official letter from the U. Edinburgh welcoming her and stating that she will be a student there and for how long plus their institutional ID code, we included a printout of her return plane ticket, the letter from her home university attesting to her good academic standing, her major, that D is in a study abroad program through her home institution, that she will be returning to graduate in 20xx, and explaining how her tuition and room and board are being paid. We also had a copy of the paid housing contract in the folder from U. Edinburgh. </p>
<p>As it turned out, all the border agent was really interested in was the official welcome letter form U. Edinburgh and the letter from her home college, he stamped her passport, put the “SV” for student visitor somewhere in it and off she went. We were told to make sure the border agent put the “SV” down or else it’s no good.</p>
<p>The “single entry” bit bothered me but I was told by someone that this means that if the student leaves the UK, they will need to re-prove their status IF documents are asked for or else be potentially denied re-entry. So I instructed D that if she leaves the UK to go traveling before she’s finished the term, that she should be sure to at least bring the welcome letter and the home college letter with her, just in case. </p>
<p>Same here, I had everything in their backpack that was asked for although daughter kept saying her friends who went before for a semester didn’t need much…she was right, letter from university they wanted to see which was with letter about funding, but still, they “could” ask for other things. One student said on UK visa site, she was asked for bank statements. </p>
<p>Thanks for your reply but I think our cases are slightly different. There’s a recent (2011 I believe) provision created for “Student Visitors” that want to stay between 6 and 11 months. It is treated as an amendment to the more rigid points vs. non-points based system and allows students to do an entire school year.</p>
<p>The issue I had is that I couldn’t find the category on the new beta site. The college in the end was the one that found an answer. Despite what the website above states re this visa type living within the “General” section, a student must use the following route to apply online:</p>
<p>Visit >>> Special Visitor >>> (Special) Student visitor, to study English Language</p>
<p>Right underneath it there’s also an option for “(Special) Student visitor, up to 6 months”</p>
<p>Whilst the Borders Agency may be slightly relaxed about providing 6 months SV visas at the border, I wasn’t confident that an 11 months visa would be as easy, so in the end I did it all online, booked an appointment which my S is attending tomorrow and hopefully it’ll all be done with soon.</p>
<p>I am going to be studying board in the upcoming Fall semester and is having the same dilemma. Did your daughter have any trouble traveling out of the UK with her single entry student visitor VISA?
How document did she need to provide to be able to re-enter to the UK?</p>
<p>My D did a semester at LSE and she entered as a visitor, no visa required. She told them that she was visiting her aunt in London which she was doing before school started.
During her semester stay, she went to continental Europe almost every other weekend and always re-entered as a visitor or within the EU, no visa was required.</p>