Short Trip to UK [JULY 2016]

I had an opportunity to visit United Kingdom last July. Well mainly it's actually to attend my brother's graduation at Bristol. But that doesn't stop me from grabbing this opportunity to travel around. 

Took Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to London and overall the journey was pleasant. It's pleasant because I am sitting alone with no one sitting next to me. The only thing that I regretted is to order SEAFOOD only meal. I find the meal is too fishy. Hence, I decided to cancel the seafood meal and took the normal meal on my way back then. The normal meal is better. 

***Surprisingly the meal from London in Malaysia airlines taste better than the one in my home country? I guess it depends on the caterer...***

Boarding A380 for the first time. 

A must try in London - Burger & Lobster. it's not cheap. Around 20 £ per a meal there. Do expect yourself to pay at least 20 £ and above. The meal is inclusive of fries & a signature sauce. 

Me & Big Ben 

Visited the British National Museum  

A visit to Clifton Bridge at Bristol

View from my accommodation at London. Stayed in hostel and the experience was beyond okay. I think living in hostel in London is absolutely fine and most important I met lots of new friends there :) 

Managed to get a nice view near the iconic London Bridge

The first place that I visited in London is their CHINATOWN. LOL. My brother wanted to eat chinese food so much. 

Me in Nottingham Castle

Night view around Piccadilly Circus Tube Station

Visited Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. I did not know that this stadium has attracted so many tourist especially from MoC. Most of the souvenirs and gifts were sold out in their shop. Would want to watch a live football match sometime soon. 

One of the most beautiful city that I visited in UK is Glasgow & Edinburgh. I really enjoyed the beautiful scenery and history in Scotland. I notice generally the food there are cheaper compare to England. Spend about 4 days in Scotland and I visited quite a lot of places. Did not regret that I decided to travel to Scotland on my own. I would definitely come here again and my next to do list is to visit Scottish Highland! 

A view of Kelvingroove Art Gallery & Musuem, Glasgow

Edinburgh is very beautiful!

Me & Edinburgh Castle

Took this picture from the top of Edinburgh Castle. This castle is a must visit in Edinburgh. I thought of spending about 2 hours here and I ended up spending 4 hours here~ There's so much to see and hear in the castle. There are free tours every 15 minutes in the castle & you can just follow the tour guide and explore the castle. I actually bought a guide book for 5 £. The entrance fee to the castle is about 16.50 £. 

Audio Tours are available to hire in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Mandarin. Adult £3.50, Child £1.50

 On my way walking up to Edinburgh Castle. The journey to Edinburgh Castle is quite steep. It's a good exercise though.  

Took this in the airplane while on my way to Edinburgh

Overall, I enjoyed Scotland the most out of so many places. I wish to explore more places next time!

After visited UK, I am no longer having any interest to shop for highstreet brands in Malaysia. They are so much cheaper in UK. I will consider on what to buy in Malaysia next time. HAHA. Till more to come soon. 

- Peg-

Overview of United Kingdom General Student Visa (Tier 4) for Malaysian [2016]

As one of the most searched topic online for most Malaysian who are going to further studies in United Kingdom, I am going to summarise all the information that you need and process to apply for a TIER 4 (General) student visa for studies more than 6 months in UK. 

I also applied for this visa this year and hence I think it will be really good if I can share it with more people in the near future. 

This information provided is only for guidance and it's purely based on my experienced and is updated as of 28th July 2016 12.00 am (GMT +8)

PS: The immigration might change the rules and process time to time. Hence, I would really suggest you to do a cross check with UK immigration office when you apply for visa in the future. 

To be eligible for the visa application you must: 

1. Have been offered a place in a course with a qualified education provider in United Kingdom (unconditional offer) and you firmly accepted it
2. Received your CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies) 
3. Have sufficient fund to support yourself and pay for your course (tuition fee & maintenance fees)
4. Clear from TB (Tuberculosis) 

How do you apply for Tier 4 visa? 

According to the rules from UK Visas & Immigration, you can apply for your visa up to 3 months before your course start date. 

You will need to prepare the following documents: 

1. VAF9 Application Form 

• Firstly, register an account online at https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/home/welcome
• Select 'Register an Account' button to begin your application.  
  

• Fill up all the relevant information in the website and print out the application once it's completed. 
• Alternatively, you can print out the application form and fill it up if online application is not your option (eg: North Korea). 

2. Visa Application Fee 

• This fees change from time to time. Please check the current fees at this link https://visa-fees.homeoffice.gov.uk/) Just to let you know that I paid USD 440 for my visa. 
• Payment can be done online via several methods such as : 

1. Credit or debit cards 
2. Cash at Alliance Bank branches in Malaysia
3. Online transfer via Alliance Bank only to VFS (M) S/B for UK Visa fee, Account number 14185-0-01-001313-7
4. Bankers draft purchased from any bank payable to VFS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. which is payable in KL only (no surcharge needed)

3.  Current passport and previous passport (up to 10 years) 

• You will need the previous passport to include the dates of your previous oversea trip

4. 2 UK passport size photograph  (Passport Photo Requirement)

• You will need 1 photo for TB (Tuberculosis) test certificate + 1 photo for visa application form
• In my case, I printed extra for future use. It can be use in UK since this is passport photo with UK standard requirement. 

5. CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies) Number 

• Your education provider/universities will give you the relevant details in the CAS letter once you fulfill their requirements
• CAS letter is extremely important and it carry about 30 points for your Tier 4 visa application. 

CAS letter looks something like this. *** I highlighted some part for privacy purposes***

6. Education supporting documents

•  Original IELTS result certificate. 

--> This does vary from institution to institution. In my case, I am transferring from University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus to the UK campus, I do not need to provide IELTS certificate as we have been accessed in the university. However again, this does vary from institution to another. 

• Original & certified academic transcripts as stated in your CAS letter 
• ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) certificate. This is not required by everyone. Do check if you need it before applying for the visa. You can check it by clicking HERE
• Financial Supporting Documents

- You will need to show that you have paid your course fee for the first year or a full course fee. This vary from institution to another. Some university may require you to pay a certain amount of deposit. If your university does not require you to pay the course fee for the first year then you will need to proof that you have the total amount of course fee for the first year in your bank account. 

- You will also need to show that you have enough money to support yourself for a maximum period of 9 months. 

• 1265 £ per month if you are spending more than half of your study time in London (Total of 11385 £) 
• 1015 £ per month if you are spending more than half of your study time outside of London (Total of 9135 £) 

Ways to proof your financial:

1. Bank account in your own name. 

- You can include bank statement or a letter from your bank stating the funds required for your studies (first year tuition fee + 9 months maintenance fee). This funds needs to be held for 28 consecutive days & can be withdrawn at any time.  

- Please do make sure that the document has bank letterhead with logo, your name, account number, type of account, date of stement and opening and closing balance for the last 28 days. 

- All pages in the bank statement must be stamped & signed by a bank personnel/officer. 

2. Fixed Deposit in your own name 

- You can also used FD as a financial proof. 

- Make sure it's untouched for the previous 28 days & can be withdrawn at any time. 

- Standard requirements as bank statement applied. 

3. Sponsorship

- Evidence of an official sponsor or government sponsor. 

- You must provide an official letter of confirmation containing the organisation's official stamp. 

- The official confirmation letter must contain your name, the official financial sponsor name, contact information, date of letter issued, the length of sponsorship and the amount of money that the sponsor is giving you. 

4. Money held by your parent(s) or legal guardian(s). 

- Some of us might be relying on money held by parent(s) or legal guardian(s). Hence it is a must that we show that we are related to our parent(s) or legal guardian(s). 

- There are few ways that we can proof this: 

(a) Birth certificate showing name of you & your parent(s). Make sure that it's in English or bilingual version. 

PS: I am aware that most of us have our birth certificate in Bahasa Malaysia version. You can either get it translated in the state or federal court official translator/government accredited private translator. The court translator will usually charge you around RM 20 - 25. 

*** I advise you to go to JPN (Jabatan Pendidikan Negara) or UTC and get the bilingual birth certificate. It's fast and cheap. It will only cost you RM 5.00 to request for a bilingual birth certificate. 

(b) Certificate of adoption showing names of both parent(s)

- You must also include a consent letter that show your parent(s)/legal guardian has given their permission for you to use this money. 

• Tuberculosis (TB) Test Result 

- All Malaysian applying for Tier 4 visa MUST be tested for TB. 

- You can check for approved test clinic HERE

- Do bring along 1 passport size photo and passport when you are doing the test. 

- The fees should be around RM 220-250 as of now. 

- Make sure you call in to make appointment to avoid long queue. 

* I personally got mine done at Life Care Diagnostic Medical Centre, Bangsar South.  I choose Bangsar because you don't need to make appointment and you will receive the test result in the same day. 

Once you gather all the relevant documents and pay your visa fee it is then time for you to book your appointment online to submit the documents and apply your BRP (Biometric Residence Permit) at the visa centre. 

DURING APPOINTMENT DAY: 

• You will be going to VFS Global in Wisma MCA Kuala Lumpur to submit all the documents. You can also submit the documents elsewhere besides the one in Wisma MCA. Kindly refer HERE for further information. 
• Do arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time & bring all the relevant documents along. 

Incase if you forget, the documents are: 

1. Appointment Booking Confirmation Letter 
2. Passport & previous passport 
3. CAS letter 
4. Printed & signed visa application form. 
5. Proof of payment for visa application 
6. Proof of payment for IHS Surcharge 
7. Email containing summary of IHS Reference Number 
8. TB certificate. They will not need your X-ray obtain from the TB test. Hence, just keep it at home. Remember to get a photocopy for your TB certificate as they will need 1 copy of it. 
9. Education supporting documents (whatever documents that you are going to provide to support your application such as IELTS certificate, financial proof, ATAS if you need it, academic transcripts and etc). Do refer again at the education supporting documents section if you need more information. 
10. 1 X Passport Photo (UK requirements 45 mm height x 35 mm width with white background). You will not need it if you had it paste on the visa application form. 

• The visa submission takes only about 15-20 minutes. After that you will be waiting to submit your biometric procedure. 
• Before submitting the documents, one of the staff will ask you whether you are choose to self collect your passport to pay an additional fee of RM 40 to get it courier to your house. 
• You will receive an email when the decision have been made to your visa application. At this point, you will not know if your visa have been approved or rejected. The only way to know the result is to get your passport back. You have to be patience with this.
• The waiting time for the decision and passport should takes about 15 days (including Saturday & Sunday). If you are in urgent need of your passport, I strongly urge you to use Priority Service at an additional fee of RM 840. 

After waiting for about 10 days, I received an email from VFS Global regarding collection of passport. Usually it takes about 15 days in total but I received mine in just 10 days without using priority service. I will then need to head to the respective address entered in the application to collect my BRP (Biometric Residence Permit). 

Feel free to ask me anything if you have any questions regarding this topic. I am not pro in this but I will try my best to share what I know about this topic. Good luck applying! 
Have a nice day!