 Hello, good afternoon and welcome to this presentation. This is a presentation about how to make a tier 4 general student visa application outside the UK. I'm just going to navigate my way around and my name is John Hitchman. I'm a student advisor, immigration and finance. I've got a dual role at SOAS, but part of my role is to talk to students and applicants like yourselves about how to get a visa to come to the United Kingdom. And there's a very long link there, sorry we couldn't make it shorter, but this is a link to SOAS webpage. And if you go onto this website, you're going to find some very comprehensive guidance that explains to you how to make a tier 4 application. And the page is split into two. There's applying inside the UK and applying outside. So if you look under the heading, applying outside the UK, you're going to find two pieces of guidance. One of which tells you about the documents that you're going to need and one that tells you about the online visa application process. We're going to go into a lot more detail talking about that now in this presentation, but the guidance is there. It's all written down, so it'd be really good for you to use that when you actually get around to applying for your visa. Okay, so this is what we're going to be talking about today. How do you make your tier 4 general student visa application? How do I apply for that? Where can you apply for it? When should you apply as well? And then quite importantly, we're going to talk about what documents do you need? How much money as well? You're going to need to show that's obviously a very big question. And then we're going to sort of talk about whether you can bring family or not. And finally, at the end, we're going to have a chance for questions. So any questions that you have, if you'd like to type them into the text box, and then at the end of the session, we'll be here to answer those questions and anything you think of at that time. So don't worry, we're not going to disappear. And I'm here with a colleague, advisor and a colleague from admissions as well. So any questions you have about this whole process, we should be able to answer those for you. So let's get started. So who can apply for a tier 4 general student visa? So firstly, you must have been accepted onto a course that serves and have an unconditional offer for studies. That means there aren't any other qualifications or anything you need to do. You've already been given an unconditional offer. And tier 4 is part of what we call the points based system of immigration in the UK. So you need to score 40 points to be granted the visa. You get 30 points for the CAS. That's the confirmation of acceptance for studies. Now the CAS is an electronic document that's created by the admissions team. So has on the UK visas and immigration computer. So it's a document created by us. But the one you apply for your visa, you'll have a reference number and that reference number will be known to the people issuing your visa and it all connects up like that. Now the CAS isn't a letter or a piece of paper. It's an electronic document. And all the details that you need to know about the CAS, including that it's long reference number, will be sent to you in an email by the admissions team. So that's 30 points. And then for the 10 points, that's for maintenance. That's what the UK visas and immigration call maintenance or most people call money. So it's showing that you've got enough money to support yourself while you're studying in the UK. Okay. So how do I apply for this visa? So you use the online application system that I mentioned and that we have guidance for on our website. And then you pay the immigration health surcharge and that's currently £150. So it's increasing to £300. We think possibly in September this year, so hopefully you're going to pay the £150 rate and that's £150 per year of study. So if you're doing a three-year program, then you'll be paying £150 for each of those years. And if you've got four months at the end, you'll be paying an extra £75 for that. And that money covers the cost of your NHS healthcare. So the NHS is our healthcare system in the UK. You'll be paying for that in advance. So any healthcare that you need will be covered by the immigration health surcharge. And there's a fee for applying for the visa. That fee is currently £348. That's going to stay the same until next year. And then also you need to print a cover sheet and submit this cover sheet. We're supporting documents, which we're going to talk about in a lot of detail later on in this presentation. Then you'll also need to give you a biometric. So you may never have done this before. And that's where you'll book an appointment and go to a centre and a scan will be taken of your fingerprints and also a photograph will be taken of your face and this information will be digitised and used as part of your visa. You'll also be interviewed, a credibility interview. That's a very simple interview where somebody will be speaking to you and asking you questions like, why did you decide to study the subject that you're studying and why are you studying it so as and what led you to this? Maybe what your career aspirations are. So it's nothing to be worried about. We have some guidance about this as well that we link to on our website. And then for certain people coming from certain countries, you might need to have a TB test as well and you can find a list of those countries online or that's also linked to from our guidance. Okay, so where can I apply for the visa? So you normally apply for this in your country of nationalities. That's the nationality that's stated in your passport. Now, you've got a star there. The exception to that would be people that are outside of their country of nationality with a right of residence in another country. And what that really means is that you're in another country with a visa type that isn't a tourist visa. So you're not just on holiday in another country. You're there as a student or maybe a worker or in some other capacity, but you're not a tourist. So if you're in that other country with something other than tourist visa, you could apply for tier four in that country. And then once you finish your online application, you book an appointment and that'll be to go to a local center in the country that you've applied in. There'll be some instructions that are given to you about where to go for that appointment or it's located. And then you do your biometrics, as I've mentioned, and you go for your interview. The interview will normally be conducted over a Skype line. So you'll go somewhere and sit in a room and speak into a laptop or a computer. And then you submit your cover sheet and your application form and the supporting documents. And then a 30 day vignette is issued and that will allow you to travel to the United Kingdom in time for your studies. And the vignette is a sticker in your passport. So it's a stick on page with your photograph on it that allows you to get to the UK. And then once you get here, you can collect your biometric residence permit and that's a plastic card with a chip in it. That contains all that biometric information that we've discussed. So your fingerprints and your photograph that's being digitized at your appointment. Okay, and when should I apply? So you can apply up to three months before the start of your program. And the important thing to remember before you apply is to make sure you have all the documents listed as academic evidence. So the academic documents in your CAS, there'll be a list of documents that so as a scene, in order to give you an unconditional offer. And UK visas and immigration will generally want to see all of those documents. Okay, and then also as we've said, you've got to meet the financial requirement. You've got to show that you've got the money to support yourself. So your financial documents have got to be absolutely correct to the UK visas and immigration guidance. And we'll talk a bit more about that, but for very detailed specific guidance that's on our webpage that I mentioned earlier. Okay, so we've talked about documents. What are you likely to need? So you're going to need two passport photos that meet the UK VI photo guidance, which you can find online, which we link to as well. You're going to need to include your current passport. You're going to need your confirmation of acceptance for studies. That's not a document that you submit, but you'll need that email in order to copy information from that into your visa application form. Then you're going to need original qualifications that are listed in the CAS. Okay, perhaps proof of English language ability as well if that's listed in your CAS statement. And that could be a number of different things. It might be a language test, or it might be one of your degree qualifications that was taught in a country where people speak English. And proof of maintenance as well. So that's your bank statements that meet the guidance. Any of these documents that aren't in English, you'd need to get them officially translated into English to be acceptable. Now, the only exception to these documents and who needs to show them are people that are classified as low risk nationals. And you can find out quite easily if you're one of those. And this is also known as differentiation arrangements. If you are a low risk national, you don't need to provide those financial and educational documents. So you're providing a lot less information. But you are signing something in the form that you have the document. So you still need to hold the money and you still need to have the qualifications and keep them at home. If they are requested, you can submit them later, but you just don't need to submit those at the time. And then how much money do you need to show? This is a really important question that students often ask. So if your program is longer than eight months in length, you're going to need to show the full fees for the year. So the whole fees for the first year plus 11,385 pounds of maintenance. If your program is shorter than eight months, you're going to need to show the full fees for the program plus 1,265 pounds for each month or partial month. So for instance, if you were studying a course that was five and a half months long, you would need to show six times 1,265 pounds because the half month, they would round it up to a full month. So month or partial month, be aware of that. Now, if your fees are shown as paid on your CAS, you don't need to show that money in the bank. So if your full fees are shown as paid on the CAS, you just need to show the maintenance amount if it's more than eight months, 11,385. Now, you might be receiving a scholarship or sponsorship or receiving loans, an educational loan from your country of origin. And if that's the case, you can use documents to prove these and if they cover your full maintenance and fees, then that's the only documents that you'd need. But perhaps they don't, perhaps they just cover your fees or part of your fees, and then you need to show the remainder held in the bank account again. Any money that you show in the bank, so sorry, like actually going back, you can use money held in your bank account and you can also use money held in your parents' bank account. And any money that you show must have been held for at least 28 days before the date that you apply. And when we say the date that you apply, that's not the date that you go for your appointment, that's the date that you pay online for the visa application. So, can you bring family? Yeah, if you're on a postgraduate programme of over a year in length, or if your government sponsored programme of more than six months, you can bring the family members of what will be called dependents. And people that classify as your dependents will be your husband, your wife, your unmarried partner or your child under 18. And the maintenance for dependents is slightly less, but you still need to show money to support each family member you're bringing. So, for a course of more than eight months, it'll be £7,605 for each dependent. And for a course of eight months or less, it'll be £845 per month or partial month. So, hopefully this presentation has been useful. If you use this and our guidance that's online, we'll hopefully have a successful visa application. And we'll see you at SOAS. But if you have any questions, we're here now and we're ready to answer them. So, thanks for listening. And please fire away with any questions that you have. So, Peng Cheng has asked, if my passport is ready for the end of July, is it possible to apply for the visa? So, yeah, it should be okay to apply for a visa in July. The processing time is supposed to be 15 working days. That's side of the United Kingdom. That isn't always the case, but it generally is. So, that's about three weeks, you know, maybe a month if you wanted to round up. So, that should give you plenty of time to get here in time for September. Okay, well, we're still here, but otherwise, oh yeah, okay, we've got a question from Amy. How long does it take for a cast to be issued? I'll let my colleague Sean tell on to that one. It just depends when you've requested it. We're dealing with the moment with CASIS submitted at the beginning of the end of May. And we're prioritising CASIS for students who start early, like the beginning of September. Thanks very much for watching and listening, and we'll see you all soon at SOAS. Thank you. Bye-bye.