Good Service

My visa arrived today.

Tomorrow is a busy day, but I have company!

Bike fixed up for flight.
Wind-proof gloves.
Pick out glasses.
Packing clothes and books.
Room cleaning.
Used bookstore to get rid of the box of used books.
Laundry. Lotsa laundry.

Must Be A Slow Season...

Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued. Please allow a minimum of 3 working days for your documents to be sent to you and also before tracking your package with our office.

Woot!

And I've booked a flight for 20 Jan, 2008. $400 with taxes, insurance, etc.

I'm committed. Hopefully I don't have another panic attack like this morning.

Update on Red Tape

My visa has made it to the British High Commission and I've received and email to that effect.

Processing of your application starts now and normally takes 5 working days for straightforward non-settlement applications. [...] If your application has been approved, you will receive further notification when the visa has been issued. You should allow a minimum of 3 working days for your documents to be sent to you by Priority Courier and also before tracking your package. Doing the math, that means it should be posted back to me next Wednesday and will not likely be in my hands before the following Monday (the 21st). That tanks the hope to fly on the 20th.

OSAP, meanwhile, received my supporting documentation on Christmas Eve, and has sat on it since then. I called today, and the reply was "Oh yes, we got those in December. I'll update your file now." Thanks, OSAP. Top-notch service there. The papers will print this weekend. (Why not sooner? It's just hitting "print" on the computer.) They will be mailed next Thursday. (What, the post doesn't get sent out every day?) Presumably I'll get them the following week.

Your bloody slow incompetence has added another week to my waiting, OSAP. I'm sure you don't care two figs for the fact that I'm paying through the freaking nose for housing I can't use, and I won't even be on campus when the term's payment is due. I can't book my flights, and the cost is going up every day. You're a bunch of bloody-minded devils, you are!

Sorry, folks, bad day over here.

The Same the World Over

I should have been more careful. I've been applying for student loans for seven (eight?) years now. I've submitted two SSHRC applications and one Ontario Graduate Scholarship. I am not unfamiliar with the arcane and draconian regulations that one must adhere to. Actually, by now I should be actively seeking out the ways in which they trip you up. 1.42" margins? BAM! Helvetica font? BAM! 35x45mm passport photo? Err...

You see, Canadian passport photos are a different size from British ones. If you see the requirement "one passport-sized photograph," naturally you would go and get a passport-sized photograph taken. You can probably be forgiven for not realising this is not the normal Canadian size. I know I never took a ruler to my old passport pics.

But alas, our photos are bigger. Too big for a British visa application.

It's a fortunate thing that your generic and sketchy mall "4 photos in 3 minutes!" photo booth takes, you guessed it, 35x45mm pictures. So all my efforts to have a decent photograph for once are in vain.

I guess I still have the pictures.

Oh, and my application has now been submitted.

Visa, visa, bo-bisa...

I submitted my visa application today, and I get fingerprinted tomorrow. Aie.

I've now dedicated ~$600 to this, and I feel committed. No backing out now. Anxiety level: high.

Alrighty, off to make photocopies and get passport-like photos taken.

Baffling Visa Requests

When you apply for a visa to the UK, the online form asks if you have ever had a passport in the past. When you say "yes," it asks what happened to it, and the identification number and issuing location, if possible. Problem is, if it expired and you chucked it, you don't have the information in all likelihood. And even though it says "if possible," it won't let you proceed until you enter the information.

Don't throw out your old passport, if you ever plan to apply for a visa.

Also, be warned that they ask for a huge amount of information (eg. In one field, they asked for my educational history since I was 11. My ages, my schools, the location, the years, graduation date, and what degree/diploma I earned.) and give you a teeny maximum character limit. You will be maddened.

The last time I post from work!

Last shift! Woo! I'm so very ready for a break.

It feels very fitting to be ending now, with the new year. I spent New Year's Eve at Daybreak, and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the passage of time. Despite all the unfamiliar faces, it still felt like home. The Taizé service was much too short, and had me in tears by the end, wishing that I was still a member of the community.

I've discovered in the years since I left that many people in disability services have never heard of l'Arche, and that is a darn big crying shame. Although perhaps it is to my advantage, as someone else might have been inspired to investigate my research area before now. It was telling, to me, that when I explained my ideas, people there actually listened. There was none of the usual "They were persecuted as witches right? They thought they were demon-possessed! Didn't they kill them at birth?" reaction that I have gotten over and over at Oaklands. It was quite remarkable, and very refreshing! Because of the mindset l'Arche encourages, people there didn't immediately assume folks with mental impairments were always treated and regarded poorly. I do wish more people were aware of l'Arche, and its wonderful mission.

The service felt time-out-of-time. Kairos. I can't explain it, but if you ever find yourself in Toronto on a Friday night, and are looking for a more meaningful experience than the bars downtown, I highly recommend visiting.

Moving on to a more mundane topic, I have begun making lists in earnest. Lists for things I need to do to be able to leave. Things I need to pack. Paperwork I need to copy and account for. People I want to visit again before I go. Things I need to arrange for arriving and ensuring residence. Medical appointments I need to book before leaving. Things I need to do once I am housed, in order to settle. Dominoes and more dominoes. I think this morning I will make my medical calls (dentist, optometrist (Jan 09), chiropodist, family doctor [medical records copy, immunisations and prescriptions], TB x-ray). Huzzah* for being insured again! Then, after I have slept, I will get some photocopying done (all school paperwork/letters, all ID and money-related cards, degrees, visa forms). I think that's enough for one day!

Later this week, I will be in Toronto for visa stuffs (you have to get fingerprinted) and visiting. Go me!



* Did you know that Firefox's spellcheck rejects "hurray," but not "huzzah"?

"Dear Ms Legit...."

My acceptance letter came today. I am officially IN, and all I need now is my OSAP assessment and a trip into Toronto to get fingerprinted.

After all these months of waiting, things are finally beginning to move fast, very fast. If I get my biometrics done on the 2nd, and post the visa application on the 2nd, it could conceivably be back to me by the 11th, and I could be at York no more than one week into term. After all the frustration and waiting... I want things to slow down again.

Setting up the next domino chain

Time to start thinking visa. Here's my to-do list.

• Go to the CAA and get a passport photo taken. Remember to not look like doofus, as in past two occasions.
  
• Fill out VAF1 form.
  
• Write cheque for fee.
  
• Make copies of degrees. Make copies of funding proof.
  
• Write "a letter stating [my] intentions on completion of [my] course".
  

I will do the paperwork tomorrow night at work, and get my photocopies and photo done shortly thereafter. Hurry, hurry, OSAP and York paperwork!

The first post with information useful to others!

Today I began exploring visa options. Thankfully, it looks like it's not too complicated. Complicated, yes, but not obscene.

Studying in the UK - A helpful page. And I mean that with all the understatement my frail human body can contain.

Only the Ottawa consulate deals with visas. To get a visa, I need to have:

• printed and signed e-application VAF1.
  
• the appropriate fee, which is non-refundable (see Fees leaflet)
  
• your original valid passport
  
• one recent passport size photograph taken in Canada (less than 6 months old). The photo must: show the full face centred in the middle of the photo; be clear and of good quality; be taken against a light background; be printed on normal photographic paper; be 45mm x 35mm in size; and be black and white or colour. Note: Professional digital photographs are acceptable.
  
• a letter of unconditional acceptance from the school/college in the UK confirming the duration of your course and course fees
  
• evidence of sufficient funds to show you can meet the cost of the course and accommodation and maintain yourself (e.g. recent bank statements, line of credit/bank loan, scholarship/bursary documents)
  
• a letter stating your intentions on completion of your course
  
• copies of any relevant diplomas or educational certificates which you hold. Please note that if originals are required, we will contact you.

So this means I need to get to the credit union tout de suite and arrange a line of credit. And apply for OSAP (again). Then, with money arranged, contact York to prove I can pay, and get the unconditional offer. With that in hand, and copies of my finances, and my passport, and all the other paperwork, I will apply for a visa.

Visas take 5 days to process, normally, and then they mail everything back to you. I am very, very glad not to have to go to Ottawa to get it. And also very glad about the benefits of this visa:

• A UK student visa provides validity for the full period of study plus unlimited entries.
  
• A UK student visa provides a work entitlement: 20 hours per week and full time during the holidays.
  
• A UK student visa provides the opportunity to switch into work permit or highly skilled migrant categories after graduation
  
• In addition to all these benefits, the new International Graduates Scheme enables all graduates/postgraduates to remain in the UK for 12 months (2 years in Scotland).
  

So it's going to be a lot of running around. A lot of red tape. But it's clear and direct and doable.