Julia and the Quest for the Tier 4 Student Visa: part three

Well.
Well. Well. Well.
Well. Well.



Well.*

Progress has been made in regards to obtaining my visa.
I submitted my biometric data today, which means I had a "No smiling" picture taken and was finger printed. With a stamped biometric data-confirmation paper, I was able to send in my visa application, along with my passport. It's been sent to the British Consulate in New York and will disappear until my visa has been approved or declined.

It was all too boring to write about. The visa office was slightly amusing, however. The floor was white and it had two sections of patriotic red and blue chairs. The larger section was for immigrants. Their chairs faced a floor-to-ceiling window and they had tvs and people talking to them and it all looked vaguely like a party. The smaller section was for people leaving the country. There were about eight chairs facing a wall covered in pictures of Elena Kagan. I see what I am to you, America.

I hear you're trying to leave my country

Anyway, I miss my passport already. I know a few posts ago I made fun of its silly quotes and groaned at its horrible picture of me, but I love that little, empty thing. I'm stuck in the USA without it.

I know I haven't left America in about three years, and I went the first thirteen years of my life without leaving the country, but all I think of now are the things I'm going to do when I leave. I think of the people I'm going to meet and the places I'm going to go and the experiences I'll have. They all felt so close, as though I could blink and I'd be there. Without a passport, that's all still a few corners away. I can't visit for a day, let alone a year. Now, I feel like I've been grounded a bit**. I'm still in America. I still have a lot of work to do. I still have two and a half months before I leave.

It's going to be a long summer.




*I want to be a writer. With words.
**In the metaphorical sense, as well as physically. No cross Atlantic flights for me just yet.

Julia and the Quest for the Tier 4 Student Visa: part 2

Things I have in common with people charged and not yet tried of being ax murderers:

1. We both like chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate. Even people charged with being ax murderers.
2. We both spend a lot of time on the internet. The internet is full of ax murderers, right?
3. There was that one famous ax murderer from New Orleans. He was never tried, though. Neither was he charged and not yet tried. I still say it counts.

Things I don't have in common with people charged and not yet tried of being ax murderers

1. I am not awaiting trial for murdering someone with an ax.
2. I have never murdered anyone with an ax or with anything else, for that matter.
3. I DON'T HAVE TO CHECK YES TO THIS, A QUESTION ASKED IN ANGRY CAPS LOCK:

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CHARGED IN ANY COUNTRY WITH A CRIMINAL OFFENCE FOR WHICH YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN TRIED IN THE COURT (INCLUDING TRAFFIC OFFENCES)?

 Yes!

This morning my mom and I woke up incredibly early, at, like, eight and drove to the small town where I got my speeding ticket. Traffic court wasn't in session, so we went to the D.A. office and the lovely, lovely, D.A. man changed my ticket to a non-moving violation. This means that the ticket's price got reduced by about $30, it won't appear on my insurance, and, most importantly, I no longer have a court date. I am awaiting no trial. Me and people charged, but not yet tried, with being ax murderers have one less thing in common. Oh gosh, that sounds so wrong.


Anyway, all that meant that when I came home this evening, I got to ask my dad for $500 for the visa fee and make my appointment to continue my visa application, which we've scheduled for Thursday at 14:00. 


I probably could've done all this while checking off that horrible little box, but I don't want to take any chances. What's more, I would've had to handle the ticket in August anyway. Now, my gigantic checklist of things to do before I leave has gotten a tiny bit smaller.

regards,

Julia "not an ax murderer" Jorge

Visa Liveblog

Earlier this week I got an e-mail from the study abroad office telling me:

I have received your offer letters from Nottingham and I have left them in our front desk rsity office (103 Hatcher Hall) under your name for you to pick them up.
This letter has important information concerning your exchange at Nottingham, arrival date, visa info, etc. so please be sure to pick it up.

So today I took off of work, drove for an hour and a half to go back to my school, I picked up the letter from the office, and drove for an hour and a half back. At first I was very confused about how any of this information would be helpful or why it was worth the three hours driving, but here it is anyway: 

          Dear Julia

Student Name: Julia                                                                            Date of Birth: 14/06/1993

Student Number: 00000000000                                                             Nationality: American

I am pleased to inform you that your application for admission as a full-time university level undergraduate level International Exchange student at The University of Nottingham, UK from 24/09/2012 to 21/06/2013 has been accepted. The details of your acceptance are set out below. Any conditions must be satisfied prior to admission.

If you are beginning your studies in September for the start of the autumn semester, the University recommends that you arrive in Nottingham on Tuesday 18th September 2012 to attend the student Welcome Programme. The compulsory University orientation meeting will take place on Wednesday 19th September 2012. 

(Information that does not apply to me.)  

 Students joining the University for longer than 6 months will have been provided with details relating to their Tier 4 visa application. Information on this can be found online at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/internationaloffice/offer-holders/preparing/index.aspx#visa

(more information that does not apply)

We look forward to welcoming you to Nottingham!

Yours sincerely
B.
Study Abroad & Exchange Co-ordinator 

 Programme: Undergraduate programmme (no qualification)Tuition Fee: 0.00Conditions: N/A Method of Study:Full time Start Date: 24/09/2012 End Date:  21/06/2013

So now, I leave in less than three* months and I have all of the information I need for my visa (i.e. the stuff in bold, plus a couple of extra things I don't feel comfortable posting online), so I can officially apply for it! Since I hear the process is pretty frustrating, it'll no doubt be boring, and I need to tell you about it anyway, I've decided to liveblog it.


11:03PM CST: Reads this powerpoint.
11:06PM CST: Realizes links on site no longer work. 
11:07PM CST: Begins rereading powerpoint.
11:08PM CST: Disregards the powerpoint. 
11:08PM CST: Just goes straight to this site: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/
11:10PM CST: Reads this and realizes I'm not actually going to be able to liveblog this entire thing:

Before you apply

Before you apply, you must:

• prepare the supporting documents that you will need;
• be ready to enrol your fingerprints and photograph (known as biometric information) at one of the Application Support Centers run by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (unless you are exempt from this requirement); and
• be ready to send your valid original passport or travel document and supporting documents to the UK Border Agency in New York, USA.

11:15PM CST: It keeps telling me to apply online... but won't tell me where I need to apply.
11:17PM CST: Ah-ha! I found the online application link snuggled in the corner of the page!
11:18PM CST: I wonder where my passport is. The page says I need it for this.
11:20PM CST: And it says I need to pay on this page as well.
11:21PM CST: I am very worried about clicking the 'continue' button. Maybe I can find a fake one to fill out and save on my computer for tomorrow?
11:26PM CST: Curls up on couch for a few minutes and daydreams about meeting a guy who looks like Aaron Johnson before he dyed his hair blond. 
11:29PM CST: Wonders if that last thing was appropriate for this liveblog. 
11:31PM CST: Stares at 'continue' button. Wonders where my passport is.
11:33PM CST: What do they mean by 'travel itinerary?'
11:34PM CST: I'm feeling very unsure about this whole thing.
11:35PM CST: Pauses "My Yard Goes Disney" to hunt for my passport. 
11:42:PM CST: Finds passport. Considers the tragedy that is Aaron Johnson's blond hair.
11:44PM CST: Did you know US passports feature inspirational(??) quotes on each page?

We send thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have so many things to teach us as people. We are glad they are still here and hope they will always be so. -Excerpt from the Thanksgiving address
Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. -George Washington
This is a new nation, based on a mighty continent, of boundless possibilities. -Theodore Roosevelt 

11:53PM CST: Presses the "continue" button.
11:55PM CST: I really hope this is the right application.
11:57PM CST: So far, all of the questions are about where I'm from. This isn't too scary at all.
11:58PM CST:  Oh gosh. So many types of Tier 4 visas. I'm a Tier 4(General) Student? I think?
11:59PM CST: OHMYGOD! I DON'T KNOW WHAT A POINT BASED SYSTEM IS!
12:03AM CST: Okay, I rechecked the Nottingham website and they say I need to apply for the PBS Tier 4 (General) Student visa. Everything's under control.
12:05AM CST: Section 1 is called "About You"
12:07AM CST: I don't think I'm allowed to put "New Orleans" as my place of birth as I was technically born about 15 feet outside of the city.
12:08AM CST: This all makes me very uncomfortable. What if I make a mistake and they say I lied on my application and they ban me from the U.K. for 10 years.
12:10AM CST: Now we're on to section 2- "Passport Information," which I can fill out as I have my inspirational(??) passport on hand.
12:12AM CST: I look like a drug addict in my passport photo.
12:15AM CST: I don't know whether or not my passport was issued in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
12:16AM CST: Googles 'where was my passport issued USA' which apparently has been googled many times before.
12:21AM CST: Apparently no one knows the answer.
12:32AM CST: Even though they ask for a place of issue with the city included, I don't know where it was issued, so I'm not putting one. I refuse to be banned from the UK for ten years for lying.
12:34AM CST: "Section 3- Your Contact Details" 
12:35AM CST: "How long have you lived at this address?" "State number of months and years?" Is "sixteenish, I think" an applicable answer?
12:38AM CST: I give up for the night. I'm saving the application until morning, when I will get my mom to help. She is good at that sort of thing as it is part of her job.

June 23, 2012
8:05AM CST: My mom and I finished the online application, but a few weeks ago, I got my first speeding ticket ever and my mom didn't want to pay it right away and my court date isn't until August, so on the question asking if I was being tried on criminal charges and had an upcoming court date (including traffic violations) I had to answer yes. It shouldn't affect my visa, but it's still not the best thing to have on your record when you're applying to live in another country, so on Monday my mom and I are going to the rinky dink town where I got the speeding ticket and submitting an appeal to have my ticket pardoned. My mom says that since I'm an honor student, it's my first ticket, and I'm apply for the visa, if the judge is in a good mood, my ticket should be pardoned, and hopefully we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone.
Also, my mom said not to worry about the city for the issuing question or the months for the home address question, so we breezed through everything.

I'm going to post my post-court visit visa application separately, so that's it for this post!

Aren't visas fun? Aren't they?


To be continued.



*<3

Ahh!

Full name: Miss Julia Jorgenson  

Dear Julia,

Student ID number: 0000000000 

School/Department at the University of Nottingham: English Studies 

Study period: Full Academic Year  

Thank you for applying to study abroad at the University of Nottingham! We have now processed your application and you have been accepted by the University of Nottingham for the above study period.  Your University of Nottingham Student ID number is indicated above.  A hard copy of your offer letter will be sent to your home University. If you are applying independently this will be sent directly to your home address.

AHH!!!!!!
AHHHHHH!!!

My official acceptance letter is here!
It was longer than this, but the following ten paragraphs were all instructions for VISA applications and accommodation. (Which later posts will go over in full.)
Also noted was that I had to be in Nottingham by the 18th of September and that they had a chartered bus that would pick me up from Heathrow, but I'm going to try to convince my parents that I should spend a few days in London beforehand. (The British Museum has been calling to me in my sleep. I will return to you, my love!)

I would continue screaming, but today's my last day at the beach so I'm going to go develop my sunburn more. I just haven't reached that boiled lobster look yet.

Okay, just one last little scream. (ah!)

Love at first sight

Regards,
Julia