Finally the wait is over!!!
This is an imported version of the original post. The actual post was posted on September 2, 2009.
Yesterday, after more than a month, my UK Student Visa finally arrived. The scary thing is that it arrived just at the very last minute. I was almost ready to cancel my ticket and re-plan my travel itinerary, when it finally showed up and spared me the travails.
I have put up a photo of the visa with all my personal details covered (pardon me for this). All the captions are self-explanatory, but I am including a brief summary of the various fields.
1) Visa Number: The unique number each visa carries with it.
2) Place of Issue: The British High Commission from where the visa was issued.
2) Valid from: The day from which you are allowed to enter UK.
3) Valid until: The day till which you are allowed to stay within UK.
4) Number of Entries: The number of times you are allowed to enter and exit the country within the validity period without needing to apply for a fresh visa. (MULT means multiple times.)
5) Type: The type of visa issued. Here it is Tier 4 General student visa. This field also notes the License Number of the sponsor, generally the University.
6) Name, Passport Number, Sex, DOB and Nationality are quite obvious.
7) Obsrv: Here, they spell out the restrictions imposed in the visa. For example, I am not allowed to have any access to public funds, which are generally reserved for Citizens and other permanent residents. They also mention here whether one is allowed to work or not. I am required to follow the Work/Business guidelines meant of the Tier 4 Visa catagory. (No more than 20 hrs of work during the term time and full time work during the vacations). This is the place where they also mention whether you need to register with the police on arrival or not. (Apparently, I don’t)
8) Number of Dependents: If you are accompanied by your family or relatives, then this section includes their details and other information.
