Stories of a Visa Application - Context

Fast forward to Part I: http://ocavusoglu.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/stories-of-visa-application-part-i.html
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This story mainly takes place in the countries of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and Turkey. It is the story of Omer Cavusoglu's (born 03.08.1985, Istanbul) application for the UK Post-Study Work Visa and spans through the period of October 2008 and onwards.


The Visa: The Points Based System Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) (INF 25); in short, the Post-Study Work Visa, was introduced in the UK in 2008. It is somewhat the updated version of a previously similar scheme, that was called the International Graduate Scheme (IGS). It allows for non-British and non-EU immigrants who have completed a University Degree (Undergraduate, Master's, PhD.) in the UK to earn a 2-year long work and residence permit. As far as I know, this is one of the greatest advantages of studying in the UK as in many other countries your chances of extending your stay depends solely on finding a sponsor through finding a job, whereas the Post-Study Work Visa is intended to give you up to 2-years of permission to find this job after completing studies


The application process: There are two ways to apply for this visa:

1. Apply within the UK: You can apply for this visa whilst you are still in the UK, before your current visa runs out. In my case, this means I can apply for this visa within the UK before 05.01.2009.

2. Apply from outside the UK: You can apply for this visa from the country of your home residence. In my case this means I can apply for this visa from Turkey.

In either case, the applicants are eligible to apply for the Post-Study Work visa within 1-year from when they receive their UK-University Degree.

I have received this degree on 21 November 2008. Therefore, regardless of where I apply, I have until 21 November 2009 to do so, in order to obtain this type of Visa.


The application pack: This consist mainly of the following:


1. The Application Form: For applicants within the UK, this is a 47-page document, a lot of which consists of answering 'No' to questions like 'Have you ever tried to assault the Queen of the UK?', 'Have you ever thought about becoming a terrorist?' which the British formalise as 'any deeds that would suggest that you are not a decent citizen'. Apart from these funny bits and all other regular visa application information, the Form is quite straightforward and easy.


2. The UK-Degree: This is the Degree you obtaion from your University or Institution that states What you studied from When till When, in Which city and country and How were you awarded this qualification. Obviously, the Who question is also answered as your name proudly stands scattered around this Degree paper:

Omer Cavusoglu obtained his MSc. in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science on 21 November 2008. He has completed his course requirements, commencing on 1 October 2007 and ending on 1 October 2008. Bla bla bla bla....


3. Proof of evidence for your funds (Maintenance): The most tricky, cruel, blasphemical, troublemaking part of the application. The qualities of this Sub-Heading is directly related or affected by the decisions you make (or you are forced to make) for where you make your applicaton. The procedure is as follows:

You have to prove you have (and have had) sufficient funds in a bank account that clearly states your name. The general rule is that, on the day of application, you have to prove you have had the sufficient funds for at least 3 months. This means that if you are applying on 15 December 2008, your proof of evidence must consist of a Bank Letter OR your Account Movements OR Account Pass Books stating you have had sufficient funds on every single day between 15 September 2008 and 15 December 2008.

!! However, because Post-Study Work Visa was only introduced recently, the Home Office allowed until 31 October 2008, that those apply before 31 October had to show only a 1-month of sufficient funds. This was a special clause but a very important one. Keep this small note in your minds as it is essential for the story and I will refer back to this quite often. !!

The Amount of the Funds: Depending on where you apply, the amount of funds you have to prove for this 3-month period varies:

A. If you apply within the UK, you are obliged to show you have had £800 in your bank account for 3 months.

B. If you apply from outside the UK, you are obliged to show you have had £2,800 in your bank account for 3 months.

This section B is also extremely vital and I will refer back to it quite a lot of times, too.


4. Rest of the Documents: The generic documents you have to include for almost all applications such as Photos


5. Application Fee: Yet another very essential element of the story. This will be discussed in detail within the story. The basic information you have to bear in mind is that this is just one of those regular Application Fees you have to submit with your application and is non-refundable whatever the result of your application is.


From here on, I may pass on to the Story.

Stories of a Visa Application - Introduction

There are many things I have been looking forward to share in this space.

My recent experiences at the Manu Chao concert in Kentish Town(16.12.2008); some useful information on reports I have written about Istanbul and Haydarpaşa for my research work (17.12.2008); the Twisted Christmas event at the Barbican Centre (11.12.2008); a visit to Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture City for 2008 (07.12.2008) and some insight into the 'Digital Cities' exhibition at the New London Architecture; and there have been many commitments (eg. BoltArt December issue) I have been postponing due to some ambiguities in my Visa Application process for a new work and residence visa in the UK.

Having just arrived back in Istanbul to try a different route to get this visa, I have been confronted with more bad news in the last few hours.

Therefore, I have decided to dedicate this space, for the time being, to write about what I have so far been through in this visa application process. This will both help me keep track of what has happened (which may be useful if I ever decide to sue the State of UK), and help whoever is interested to learn about this process in detail. I hope it is also useful for people to become aware of some practical details of what sort of pain many people go through, confronted with visa regulations, rights of travel, and any other circumstance regarding immigration.

There will be new text each time I get an update on an essential input.

Life is when you look down the drain at N+2 years of age at the bathroom of your girlfriend's flatshare (which is a fragile bathroom of a 4-girl flatshare I remind you), and think "I never thought I would even end up in this X city of this Y country of the world, and have a girlfriend of a completely 'opposite' but yet so affiliated culture when I was only N years of age"...

So, the calculation is:

2 years down the road, and you end up in a completely random sewereage entrance point that you didn't imagine of, and you're happy with your 0.5 alcohol concentration in the blood and the friends in the 5 m2 British kitchen modern design 2m. away from where you are, having a happy conversation surrounded by architecture put initially up for an Southeastern Asian household.

In essence... It's all about beauty of life.

aus Berlin

Warschauer Strasse'de bir gecenin ardindan, 22.10.2008 - saat 03:00 sulari, Frankfurter Tor civarlarinda bir yerlerde, ne ictigimi hatirlayamadigim minik bir barda doldurdugum bindunya kafa'yla yazilmis bir seyler...

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Hayat inanilmaz bir sey. Sag gozunun ucunda Fernsehturm'un diyagonal isiklari. Karsinda Sovyetik bir blok, neoklasiksel facade ile. 6gen cizgili sokak lambasinin arkasinda, 8 katli bir bina, 35 metre eninde, neredeyse butun Karl-Marx Allee ve kesinlikle Strasse der Pariser Kommune hakim. Ufak balkonlari ortasinda, Viyana'nin palasina benzer ideolojik ve estetik kaygisiyla. Mini mini komik cumbalari var 20 yil once Dogu Berlinlilerin ucuz dikis makinalariyla nakis islerken pencere kenarinda cekirdek citlettikleri cunku DDR sosyalizmi hic bir zaman cinsiyetleri denklestirme derdinde degildi 5-yillik devlet iktisadi planlama programlarinda. Komik minik bulutlar parca parca uzaklasirken gecenin karanliginda, der Himmel uber Berlin'e bakarak aldim ilhamimi...

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Some bullshit I've scribbled down my some 0.20 Blood alcohol concentration in the middle of the night in east Berlin. Sorry, it's only in Turkish for the time being...

Slaughtered Lamb in London, Farringdon

On the first day of the Kurban Bayrami (Eid al-Adha, The Festival of Sacrifice), one of the major Islamic holidays, millions of animals have been sacrificed, in some places, rather very unhygienically or unaesthetically. Families migrated across towns, villages, neighbourhoods in cities to come together, gather for lunch and evening meals and give each other presents and some "pocket money".

On a completely different agenda, ironically resembling the main activity of the Kurban Bayrami, I went to a pub called "Slaughtered Lamb" on Great Sutton Street near Farringdon in London last night. It is a well looked-after, cosy and large pub where people gather for evening meals and drinks, before heading home or to one of the most popular clubs of London in the area. However, if you go down the stairs in the pub, just before the toilets, on your right side, you would have the chance to walk into one of the coziest live music venues I have ever seen in London.

The downstairs of Slaughtered Lamb hosts many events, mainly produced by the London Electroacoustic club. The music room consists of a small bar, a small stage, 5-6 large leather couches, and 2 wall-side niche-like seating spots. The walls are made of bricks, painted black across the room. Together with the black leather couches and the dim light, the colors are quite dark inside, but the atmosphere is far from anything depressing.

On a very mellow evening, with only an audience of handful of people we saw two consecutive acts. Sam Beer is a folk singer/songwriter based in London, playing his harmonica and acoustic guitar, singing shyly into the decent crowd, and is recording his first album.

The second act was the cheerful, beautiful Alice McLaughlin who could not keep her feet still nor sit in her small chair, and stood up after the first song, singing the rest of her tunes dancing and jumping around on the carpet. She has, in the past, appeared as a guest singer with Oi Va Voi, a UK based Yiddish band with Hungarian origins. Alice's vocals were something extraordinary in the sweetest sense, added to her humble gestures through her show.

Both downstairs and upstairs of Slaughtered Lamb offer for a very nice evening-out, even on Mondays. It is one of those pubs in London, named after god knows what, but the experience of the place will probably keep you far from some sacrifice of animals elsewhere.

Homecoming!

As of yesterday, a (un)fortunate series of events unfolded in such a way that I decided to go back to Turkey (for at least a good month's time) around mid-December.

Here's a copy from an email I sent to a friend that might help reveal the secret:


The "lovely" London School of Economics has disappointed me greatly.

I wanted to apply for the Post-Study Worker scheme (Tier 1) to get a residence/work permit and I made the application before the 30 October 2008 deadline, by when the Home Office (the guys who will give me the Visa) only had a 1-month backtrack of my bank account (to prove that I have money to stay in their country). Otherwise they have 3-months backtrack and I hadn't had sufficient funds back then to cover a 3-month period (I didn't have money in my bank account counting 3 months back from October).

Therefore I urged LSE (actually almost begged them, emailing back and forth for 10 days, emailing them even from a remote village in noth Slovakia) to provide me a letter by 30 Oct. 2008 saying I completed my courses, I passed them and I'll get my diploma (they don't even have to tell my grades). I know that this request of mine was put before their official release of grades but on the LSE website, at a "Post-Study Work Visa" section, they were saying that they could provide such a letter if our Board of Examiners (people who read our essays, exams and Thesis who are objective, meaning Prof. outside the LSE) met by 30 Oct (and for my Department, they met 17 Oct.) This means by that day they finalise my grades (not officially stamped but my degree is finalised).

Anyhow, they gave me a shitty letter instead of a letter that confirmed I passed (I even suspected for a few weeks that they didn't give me a letter because I faield) and the Home Office (guys who give me the visa) refused my application. To my further dislike, 2 days ago, LSE prepared that fucking letter saying "Omer has passed his courses on 1 November 2008 (2 days after I applied!!) and will receive his Diploma). And this is so disgraceful because, actually I already learned all of my grades officially already 1 week ago!!

This meant I'd apply again now, and spend all of December stucj here (because my passport would be kept there), but i found out yesterday that on 27 November 2008, they changed a rule! An imporntant one!! Nationals of Turkey, and some other countries that have signed the European Social Rights Charter are exempt from paying visa fees (they are considered almost as EU members because they abide by Human Rights rules set by a European Commission, and right of work and right of travel are amongst them).

However, because the UK doesn't abide by all European laws (they want to stand out in the crowd, only that they don't know they're not a world-wide respected empire anymore), I think they took an initiative to lift this exemption and rip us off £400 for each application, considering the financial crisis they're going through.

This means that, now, if I have to apply again, I pay either £400 (applying within the UK) or the Turkish Lira equivalent of £205, if applied in Istanbul. Considering the fact that, it is cheaper back home, and that I would be saving up on renting (because I was about to move houses this Friday but hadn't paid any rent or deposit yet) and that over the Christmas and new Year's, I will bore myself to death instead of finding any jobs (come on, who will sit at recruitment desks of companies in a city like London that is sinking to the depths of the economical world?), I decided I'll go back home in 2 weeks time and apply from there...

I know, this is a bit confusing already, but such is my life! If you want to hear the story again, clarified by vocals and my body expressions, then we'll have the chance to go for a coffee or beer soon in London, or in Istanbul..