UK VFS experience

Before going to the VFS

1. Check your documents

You will submit these original documents:

• Passport (s)
• Printed Visa Application Form
• Graduation Certificate, Academic Records (both might need to be translated)
• Birth Certificate, Family Records (both might need to be translated)
• CAS (number)
• IHS (number)
• Financial Guarantee Statement
• IELTS /& TOEFL
• UK Visa Photos (x2)
• TBC-free Certificate
• << above documents' copy >>

Others:

• Appointment confirmation
• Any special service receipt(s)
• Unconditional offer

All documents that you will submit must be copied, then separate the originals and copies.

You need to put your IHS number on the cover page of your printed Visa Application form. You also need to sign the form and put the date in two places within the form.

If you do not currently have UK Visa/Passport standard photos, you can make them in the VFS photo booth for IDR 45000 (as of June 2015).

2. Rehearse your interview

There are many videos online that will give you some idea what a UK Visa Tier 4 interview will look like. Learn the questions, prepare your answers, and rehearse them.

Generally, you will be asked:

• Your name
• Your date of birth
• Your nationality
• Your reason for choosing the programme/course, the university, and the UK
• How the programme will help your career or whatever you do
• Where you will live in the UK, and why you chose the place
• What you will do after finishing your studies

3. Prepare your travel

The VFS Jakarta is located in one of the most crowded location in Jakarta, so expect traffic jams or late trains/buses, and depart early.

Also, check your documents one more time.

When you are there

The UK Visa VFS centre is located in the 3^rd floor. Take the elevator to access it quickly. Alternatively, you can also take the escalator, but then you will realize that it is actually the 5^th floor.

You will be allowed to enter the VFS centre 10 minutes before your actual appointment schedule.

VFS sketch

Upon entering the centre, you will need to show your passport and appointment receipt where your GWF number is written. Once inside, you need to turn your cellphone off.

There are several other Visa centres located there (Australia, New Zealand, and others). The UK Visa centre is located at the end of the aisle. Before entering you will be asked to show your GWF number once again.

If you paid the VIP Premium Lounge Service, tell the officer that you are applying with for “VL Student” and show them the receipt. You will be taken to the Premium Lounge, and the officer will assist your Visa application submission.

After your documents are taken, you will have to wait for biometric recording (photo and fingerprints).

You will be given a document submission receipt (red small paper). You must bring this receipt when you are going to retrieve your documents later. So do not lose it.

Then you will have to wait for quite sometime before they call you for the interview. The interview is conducted online, that is you will be sitting in front of a computer, wear a headset, and look at both the computer screen and the web camera.

In my case, a woman did the interview. She asked me questions while typing something (possibly my answers). She talked quite fast with heavy accent, but I was able to hear her questions quite clearly. Maybe because I had expected the questions.

The interview itself lasted only 15 minutes top, but waiting for it was a major waste of time. And while I was waiting in the lounge and had a friend to converse, it was cold and I was worried that I might forget my interview rehearseal.

My appointment was at 11.30. I entered the centre at 11.20, and did the interview at around 1.30 pm.

After the interview, I was allowed to go home. But I begged to differ and went back to work instead ಠ_ಠ

Ciao'

A Short Story - My Journey to London

Hi guyssss….. I’m backkkk!

I had been waiting for a lecture this morning and after almost one hour; some of students went out of the class since no lecturer came. Herdy and I finally followed them after trying to understand two Italian guys speaking, which was useless ;-D

I really apologize that you guys must have been waiting for my story for a while. My reason is simply because I’m still adapting with my new chapter of life. Being far from my family is really hard for me. I can’t tell you in words but maybe only mothers who can understand what it is like.

I don’t want to share flowery stories to you guys…. At first, I thought that I had a lot of reasons to motivate me doing this, but after being here, alone, the first question which crossed on my mind was “What am I doing here?” and followed by a lot of similar questions like “Why do I have to leave my son?” “Is this worth it for my family, and my son?”

Aaarrrrghhh… I know those are silly questions and no point at all, but… that happened to me!

Life goes on.. And I have to remember it whenever I’m in tears.. andddd here I am! Starting to write again for you and I thank God that I still have you guys to share my story with.

Journey to London – Part 1

This was my first flight abroad and I was quite nervous. I drank a little because I didn’t want to take a pee in plane’s toilet, and even poop (sorry). First, I have no experience with that and second, I was afraid to sit on the closet since there must be many people sitting on it (they may provide some toilet papers though, but for me yaaa like that lah..)

At the first flight, I sat on a seat near emergency exit door. Consequently, there is no seat in front of my seat and I was confused how to watch tv and enjoy my meals. After observing a passenger next to me, one way to release the tv is by pushing release knob near you right leg and then pull it out and adjust the position until you are comfortable. For the table, open the handhold on your right hand side and pull the folded table out and adjust the position. Those are important lessons for me since I’m too ndeso and katrok! :D

My second flight to London Heathrow was more comfortable for me. I was able to enjoy it more than my first flight. When I arrived at London Heathrow Airport, I found that the rest room really sucks for me. No water for flushing, not like in Indonesia and Abu Dhabi Airport. Thankfully, I brought an empty bottle with me so I filled it with water for flushing. Flushing here means flushing for women yaa! This is also (private) important lesson for me :D

Another lesson is about taxi driver. The driver was not friendly and he drove like crazy, not even better than Indonesian taxi driver. The taxi here drives you to one destination only. At that time, he drove us to my guesthouse and didn’t want to drive a bit far to Herdy’s guesthouse. So Herdy had to geret-geret his suitcase to his guesthouse in the dark! (So sorry bro..)

Finally, I have done my first short story about my trip to London. I have got to go to Uxbridge city center now to open a new account in Lloyd Bank. Be prepared ya for some of you who will depart soon to the UK! Prepare yourself mentally and physically… See you around!

Lots of kisses and hugs,

Dewi

Second Part of My Journey

To my fellow compatriots, this is the second part of my journey from Jakarta to London.

Before I continue, I forgot tell you something else before I went into the waiting room. To anticipate any flight delay which has happened to our friend Rizwan from Batch IV in Abu Dhabi, I decided to buy some US$ at the airport. I would have needed it in case the flight got delayed in Abu Dhabi, to buy some food or water, because the most common currency used in any airport in the world is US$. Even though euro and pounds are sometimes acceptable too, the price on the displayed items is usually in US$. I spent all of my remaining rupiahs to buy US$ and I got US$ 13, which I later did not use.

To answer someone’s question in WA group about bank notes and bank draft: Bank notes is like the money that we can hold in the form of coins or paper, while bank draft is like a piece of paper that order the bank to pay some money to a particular recipient which has been stated on the bank draft itself.

I had no interesting story while in Jakarta – Abu Dhabi flight other than the man who sat next to me offered me to invest in some land investments. He was a businessmen travelling to Jeddah to do umrah. He knows all the high echelons in Jawa Timur I Regional Office. He also had some tax education mobile applications that the wanted to offer to Mbak Nina’s department. Because I am just a low level employee, I couldn’t offer him anything other than my contact details and a prayer that he might become successful in his endeavor relating to DJP.

I have been to Abu Dhabi airport before, but I still forgot that the terminal for my next flight is so far away, thus if you have a heavy luggage that you bring into the cabin, It might be better to use the small trolley that can be found anywhere there. While I was going into the waiting room I got stopped by a woman officer who asked me if I got a laptop. She was not checking for piracy materials, she just scanned it with the machine and because I don’t have any adult content in my documents so I was let go :D. At first, I was confused because not many passengers experience it. I noticed Dewi didn’t have to do it also. After some observation, I was glad, and I found it was natural that my bags and laptop was inspected, because all of the people who got stopped were man and we were all very handsome :D

Again for me, nothing interesting happened in the Abu Dhabi - London flight other than the Bulgarian woman who sat next to me who was sleeping and snoring quite loud during the flight. I had to fill in some immigration form when the plane was almost landed. You can fill it at the airport when you land or in the plane. To fasten your immigration checking process, I suggest you fill it while you are on the plane like I did. The queue was very long but the process is quick so it didn’t take a lot of time to pass it. The process comprise of standard conversation such as, what will you do in the UK and where will you study. The only documents they ask were my passport and the aforementioned immigration form.

Similar to what I did in Jakarta, I had to report that I was bringing a lot of money. If you intend to do that, in Indonesia, just visit this link https://public-online.hmrc.gov.uk/lc/content/xfaforms/profiles/forms.html?contentRoot=repository:///Applications/Customs/1.0/C9011&template=C9011.xdp, fill the form online, and print it twice. I went to the declaration room and give one copy to an officer; they will stamp the other copy that you have to keep, in case you need it to explain that you bring in the cash according to the rule.

I got out and waited for my luggage. Unfortunately, my luggage handler has been broken. But because the suitcase was given to me, I did not feel too upset about it. After hearing about Esra’s missing luggage, I thanked God that my suitcase was only broken, not lost (sorry bro) :D I immediately search for phone card store because I had promised my wife that the first thing I buy would be a UK phone number so our communication will be well maintained. I didn’t find any seller, but it turned out the phone card here is sold in a vending machine. There were many providers, but I think the benefit that I would get were somehow similar, eventually I chose Vodafone.

In the next few days, my partner or I will write the next part of the journey. Right now, I have to cook my cornflake :D

Bye for now fellas.

Kind Regards



Herdy G.G. Pomantow

First Part of My Journey

Jakarta – London, 1^st of SPIRIT MOF Batch V,  Part I

I cannot begin to think where to start this journey. For purposes of maintaining my macho image, I will skip the tear-jerking moments throughout the entire experience :D.

Let’s start with the pre-departure preparation. I used the online check in option provided by Etihad, so I could choose where I would sit in 24 to 2 hours before I departed. There are two flights that I took, the first one is Jakarta – Abu Dhabi and the next one is Abu Dhabi – London, so I choose my seat twice. On the Etihad website, I could see that Dewi had chosen her seat for the latter flight but not for the first flight. I could see that maybe because we had the same ticket number. Most of the seats had already been taken by someone else, so I only had few options. Luckily, there were still some aisle-seats remain in each flight that I could choose. I took it because it is a long flight and I wanted to be able to go to the toilet freely. Some bumps from the flight attendants and a closer observation of them are also expected :D.

Our flight was scheduled to take off at 1.40 am, but to make sure that I had enough time to arrange for everything, I arrived at the airport somewhere before 11 am. Dewi had arrived before that. I met her and we introduce our family to each other. After saying my goodbye to my family, I went to the check in counter. I paid 150,000 rupiahs for the airport tax. I had a feeling that my baggage will be more than 30 kilos and my feeling was justified. I had to move 2 kilos of things from my suitcase and put it in my backpack (there goes the room in my backpack for the plane’s blanket that I intend to take :D).

I was bringing a lot of cash (bank notes and bank draft) because I don’t want to pay for the transfer fee. I had taken a bank draft to pay for my tuition fee and approximately 9,000 pounds in cash for my living cost. According to the rules, I have to declare the money I took with me on a flight to other countries if it is more than 100,000,000 rupiahs and/or its equivalent in other currencies. Therefore, I went looking for the customs office. I found it and the officer told me that I had to fill in some forms and they did not provide it, I had to prepare it myself he said. Customs at the airport is not like the tax office where you could find any form you need. (@Fajar, you should do something about this). I complaint because I had the goodwill to declare something and my beloved country, whose rules I obey, cannot provide me the means I need. He called his boss and he was told to just let me take the cash with me. I wanted to tell him to find the forms for me but because it was midnight I didn’t do it, and also because we work for the same institution and he was quite good-looking :D.

I went to the waiting room after that. I leave the next part to my partner in crime. Take it Dew :D.

Kind Regards


Herdy G.G. Pomantow

The Interview for UK Visa Application

Hi gays… to follow up our WA group conversation, I will tell you my story

I arrived at Kuningan City Mall (near Ambassador Mall in Kuningan, Setiabudi, Jakarta Selatan, separated only by bank NISP building) at 11.20, I rode a motorbike and I parked it on the ground floor. I got in through the west entrance and the UK, Aussie and NZ visa application centre is located on the 2^nd floor (fyi, there is another visa application centre located on the first floor, it is for other European countries such as Italy and Norway, so don’t be fooled like one of my friends who waited for her agent at a visa application centre on the 1^st floor :P). I could take either the lift or escalator. I chose the last one, because I wanted to enjoy the “scenery” there.

First, I went in through a security door and an officer told me that I had to turn my cell phone, so I turned it off (which I later regret). Next, I had to go through another door and take the left alley. Because I didn’t have the photos needed for the application, I took my pic in the photo booth there which is located on the right side of the corridor. I had to pay 45k for it. It was exactly like any other photo booth you can find in the malls. However, when taking my picture, I was told by the machine to look straight forward, close my lips and do not smile (do not try Babeh’s expression ya guys :D). I waited for another minute to get the photos printed and cut.

After taking the photo, there was another door that I had to went through to get in the waiting room. The Australian centre is on the right side, the New Zealand’s is on the middle and I sat on the left side to wait for my turn. First thing that I had to do regarding my application was sign another documents. Because I used an agent’s service, I just had to sit and wait for her to call me to do the signings. After that, I waited for my fingerprints and picture to be taken again in a biometric (mudah2an gak salah inget namanya) room. They called my name through the PA, I got up and walked to the door, I saw a press here button to open the door so I pressed that and open the door. When I went in there, I met a lovely lady who asked me personal questions such as my name and date of birth. Furthermore, she asked me to see a camera because she really wanted to have my picture :D. The next thing I did was to give my fingers to be scanned. My four fingers on the left hand except for thumb, the other four fingers on my right hand, and the last was the two thumbs together.

The interview itself started at 1.30 pm. Lucky for me, because I used IBEC’s service, the agent knew all the employees there and actively questioned them to make sure that I was on the list for the interview, because she said sometimes the employees forgot and the applicants will have to wait for a long time. I was then informed that I was the third applicants to do the interview. I did the interview and then I went back to the office immediately.

Additionally, it is never too late to start your networking. I regret that when I saw Mr. Anggito Abimanyu there I did not talk to him. That was because I met a fellow celebrity :D Well..actually he is not a celebrity, but his wife is Astrid Tiar. Their daughter was so cute. I did not get a chance to talk to my good friend Astrid because she was so jealous to see me with another woman. When she saw us, she decided to go outside and have lunch in their car. Fortunately, her husband is quite good looking and I got to know him. He also used IBEC, because he got an LPDP scholarship. He intended to take his PhD at Newcastle University. We talked about our past and future together. Needless to say, he was very lucky to have known me.

I guess that’s all.

Well maybe there is one unimportant thing that I left out deliberately. It is the interview. The conference room is on the left side from where I was sitting. They told me that the interview will be conducted using Skype, but when I went in there the camera have broken so it was audio only. When I put on the headphone, I was greeted by a woman named Lauren. The things that she asked :

1.       My name and date of birth
2.       My nationality
3.       My reasons for choosing the course, the uni, the UK for my study
4.       The application process, how did I apply, when was it, when did I got accepted, when did I send the supporting docs. (My answer was online and using agent, apply approx 2-3 months prior, got accepted around two weeks ago, and no docs submitted because it was online and I only scanned them and uploaded it into my application)
5.       When did I pay the tuition fee (My answer was not yet, because I got a scholarship and my sponsor will pay the fee after I get my visa)
6.       My future plan after finishing the study (My agent told me to say that I will be back to be a gov employee)
7.       Where will I stay over there (I told her that I will live on campuss)

I guess that’s all that I can remember.

Have a nice day and good luck to us all

Kind Regards


Herdy G.G. Pomantow

Requirements of VISA UK and Scotland Application and Bank Preferences for GBP account

Hope you all are well my friends..

I am writing to provide some information as I promised to some of you. This will be related to VISA application and opening a bank account in GBP.

For VISA application, please find attached below a list of documents required according to IBEC. Maybe some of you are still confused with the details, so let me explain to you for each document.

1. CAS is a document provided by a university which indicates that you are unconditionally accepted by the university. The important thing of this document is CAS number.

2. For the TB X-RAY result, you may perform the TB X-RAY test in Premier Group Hospital (Premier Bintaro Hospital or Premier Jatinegara Hospital) and it is better to have the test right after you get your blue passport (if you are in hurry). The test costs about Rp 585.000,- and it could be reimbursed to PPSDM. So, don't lose the original receipt and better you give it right after you had the test to PPSDM. The test takes only 5-10 minutes and it is only for your chest (thorax rontgen). The result will be finished on the next day. When you get the certificate of the TB result, check the details (date, name, etc) carefully because they make some typos sometimes.

3. IELTS Score, Academic Transcript and Certificate.

Just make sure that the transcript and certificate are in both English and Bahasa Indonesia.

4. All Passports included green passport if you have it. If you use priority service for applying your VISA, you should copy your passport for every page.

5. Pasphoto. In my case, I had printed my photos in BP but unfortunately my agent said that my photos were not proper for VISA and she asked me to make my photo in VFS (VISA Application Center). It costs Rp 45.000,- for 4 photos.

6. Surat Keterangan Kerja is not required for us.

7. Kartu Keluarga and Akte Lahir should be in English and Bahasa Indonesia. You may use IBEC's service for translating your documents. It costs Rp 150.000,- for each page.

8. An airline ticket booking. You can skip it.

9. Sponsorship Letter means Financial Guarantee from PPSDM.

I submitted all of my documents to IBEC and transferred the fee (Rp 6.960.000,-) to their account. The fee was included VISA and IBEC's fee but for the charge of priority service, I had to pay in cash (Rp 2.100.000,-) when I was in VFS. My VISA is currently being processed and I will inform you later about how many days the priority service will take (remind me ya....).

Next, for opening bank account in GBP, I made a GBP account in HSBC. In my opinion, HSBC is the best choice since we can transfer in GBP to another GBP account and withdraw the banknotes in GBP for 1:1. That means our money will not be converted to IDR for doing those transactions. I opened my account in HSBC Pondok Indah branch and it took about 2 weeks until I got my account number. Here the list of documents that I provided to them last time,

1. Fill the from from HSBC

2. ID Card

3. NPWP

4. FC another Buku Tabungan which is in the same address with my ID card (since my address in ID card is different with my NPWP)

5. 3 months bank statement for my current bank account

6. Salary slip

7. Financial Guarantee

Finally, I do really hope that all of the information above would be useful for you. If you want to ask more questions, you can contact me by email, whatsapp or LINE :)

By writing this email, it makes me realize that I am missing you guys and all of our activities in dorm. I can imagine that currently I am sharing this information in dining hall during my dinner time ;_(

Stay health and keep in touch, my friends!

Regards,

Dewi