<p>Daughter is leaving next Thurs. for a year abroad & just got an email last nite
saying student visa is being "investigated", no info other than it may take
several weeks. This is supposed to take 5 days. She sent in all biometric info
over a week ago, did the application over a month agoand has contacted the liaison at the London University she is attending. </p>
<p>Any suggestions?? We (husband and I) are also leaving w/ her so we have
major expenses here & of course she would be missing classes. The phone # for the British Con. does not give you a
living person. Any suggestions, any helpful names?? Nancy</p>
<p>I'd contact the international office at the host university asap as well as the liaison. They will probably know what this implies (i.e. if they've been warned about extra checks being made) and will be able to advise you about how to proceed and how long it's likely to take.
The immigration information on this site might also be of use:
[url=<a href="http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/student/index.php%5DUKCISA%5B/url">http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/student/index.php]UKCISA[/url</a>]
UKCOSA is an organisation that tries to help international students in the UK and is generally well-informed and up-to-date on these issues as they work closely with UK immigration. THey offer phone advice:
Outside the UK: +44 20 7107 9922
The Advice Line is open from Monday to Friday, 1300 - 1600 hours (UK time).
Hope this might help and I'd keep trying the phone number they've given you for visa queries.</p>
<p>Thanks Bewildered,
Things are looking quite grim now since it appears that the Brit. Visa Office
is very backlogged, the London liaison cannot even fax any documents since
the lines are very busy! And I was told that visiting the Brit. office in NY in person will get us nowhere. However, we will try. What's annoying is that
their website still states that 5 days is the norm!!
Any other suggestions are welcome.</p>
<p>A member of my family went through this recently with regard to a work visa. </p>
<p>We didn't go to the Consulate in person. We did phone--no live people. Figured out the name of an actual employee, left message. It was never returned. Let messages on general help line. Messages were never returned. </p>
<p>Found a fax number. Sent fax. It finally went through after many attempts. It has never been answered. </p>
<p>The outside service--which costs $--won't help if your application is pending. </p>
<p>Individual involved missed flight. The day before, scrambled to rebook. Couldn't give a new date. </p>
<p>Finally got an email message saying the visa had been sent via overnight mail. Visa came the day after the original flight date. </p>
<p>It was, to put it mildly, frustrating. I know I'm not helping here, but just wanted to let you know that even if you get a real name--I didn't know the person, just figured one out--it seems that every call goes directly to voice mail. Calls will not be returned. </p>
<p>Oh my goodness, I had no idea this was going on. Our son has a flight booked for next Tuesday to London, and we're hoping the visa arrives by the end of this week. Did you go to NYC?</p>
<p>Well, we got it just now via UPS . Don't know if it was luck or the fax sent Friday by D's London school liaison. We did spend Monday trying to get
attention at the NY office of the Brit.Cons. which was a dead end as we expected since even a letter cannot get thru security let alone a person!
We had used a law firm when husband & I needed a work visa in Jan. but even
they could not assist with the biometrics appmt. scheduling which was a roadblock .(We ended up driving to the closest NJ office without an appmt but
this did not work this past August in NY)
Kathiep, processing took 2 weeks from day the NY office received
biometrics for D.Good luck. Nancy</p>
<p>Two weeks will be the day he leaves.... We did include a note asking them to rush it and sent along a copy of his flight info so they could see that. I'll get son to send an e-mail to his advisor tonight. Thanks!</p>
<p>nancy, glad there was a happy ending; kathie, fingers crossed for you. Let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>D also had a difficult experience getting her UK student visa. It is almost impossible to get a live human being at any of the phone numbers. And yes, scheduling the biometrics drove D up a tree. </p>
<p>Good luck to your D, nancy, and your S, kathie! My D leaves TOMORROW.</p>
<p>I called son's college in the UK today (son works 8-5) and talked to someone in the study abroad office. She said that she would e-mail the consulate, "straightaway" after we finished our conversation and that they didn't respond to phone calls. I gave her all of son's info (visa application number, flight number, etc.) and we're hoping for the best. Son said the British consulate called him at work on his cell phone but he couldn't answer it because he was working at a machine and was in the middle of something. When he called the number back he got a recording with no option of leaving a message. </p>
<p>I've also made an appointment with the US passport agency in NYC to see about getting a duplicate passport. The aggravating thing is that son doesn't really need a visa but the school strongly recommended it and he wanted the option to work part-time if he could. </p>
<p>And another plug for STA travel- because we booked with them it will only cost $35 to change his flight as long as he flies on a weekday or $110 for a weekend flight AND he can do the change as late as two hours before his scheduled flight! Hopefully we'll either get a duplicate passport or a visa by Tuesday.</p>
<p>same issues here last fall -- we ended up paying a company $100 to walk the student visa application into the consulate office in California. When we paid the money for the "information service", their only suggestion was to personally visit the office in California and wait to see someone. They didn't seem to think that the 22 hours drive was a stumbling block to this suggestion.</p>
<p>Passport and Visa came today while we were packing. Son is right now in the air on his way to England. We were actually at the passport agency in Philadelphia seconds away from declaring the original passport lost and buying another one. Son checked his e-mail on his IPhone and there was a message from the consulate saying the passport and visa had been shipped!</p>
<p>BTW, that's the new standard alternative; declare the original one that's being held hostage lost (there's a place to explain), get another one and the visa will still be valid.</p>
<p>Harriet,
Small world. My son's best friend from College is doing a study abroad at the University of Edinburgh and son is planning to visit.</p>
<p>Son skyped us yesterday and showed us his room on his webcam. The English students hadn't arrived yet and the international students are spread out with none in his dorm. It was fun talking with him and seeing him at the same time.</p>