Visa Processing

The last few weeks were very hectic as I had officially resigned from my job, and had to pack my bags (and 8 years worth lugguage) and bring it back home. Needless to say, goodbyes are not really my speciality. But now that I am at home, I realised how much more work I have to do. 

Meanwhile, I have applied for the Canadian Student's Visa. The one-stop shop for Visa related details is VFS-Canada. 

The Canadian Visa processing consists of the following stages:

- Supporting Documents collection by the candidate 

- Application and Passport Submission

- Health Check up request from the High Commission, and resubmission of the passport upon completion of the same.

- Interview (if need arises)

- Receipt of the stamped passport! 

To be honest, I was very concerned about the visa processing, but based on my experience, I can safely state that this is the easiest stage. Once your documents are in place, the visa processing pretty must goes in auto-pilot mode. 

Supporting Documents collection by the candidate: 

This, by far, is the most rigorous part of the visa application stage. I call it rigorous because it takes about 1 full day to get all your documents in place. Some of the documents that are needed are:

- A CA certificate that evaluates all your (and your sponsor's) assets. This is inclusive of property, monetory savings, investments, education loan, and a host of other assets. For a sample certificate, please email me at g.shivnarayan@gmail.com and I can share a certificate.

- An affidavit that states that your sponsors are willing to sponsor you. Again, email me for a sample.

- Your bank loan sanction letter (if you have applied for an education loan). 

- Family banking records for the past 24 months (bank books and statements, accompanied by bank certificates dated within last three months)

- Income Tax documents for yourself and your parents (for past 2 years) (Form 16s that belong to you and your sponsor).

- Proof of employment from each of your parent's and your employer (salary fund statement, provident funds statement, employment contracts). Please also provide letters of employment from each of your parent's employer, including the company's full name, the address and the telephone number of the employer/supervisor, the length of service and the salary details). Basically, a copy of your offer letter, most recent salary hike / promotion letter, offer letters of previous organizations.

- A copy of the checklist is present in the VFS site.

Application and Passport Submission

The IMM1294B (or the student information form), Personal information form are the two forms that we need to fill. In addition, we have to sign a consent form and a student questionnaire form. The student questionnaire form has a few questions like why you are pursuing the course, why Canada, and what are your career plans. These are questions that can be answered from your SoP / essays. 

Upon submission of the passport, one has to make a payment of about Rs 6000. This includes the consulate charges and VFS charges. Please note that I submitted 2 passport size photographs (2 Inches X 1.5 Inches) along with the first package.

Health Check up request from the High Commission, and resubmission of the passport upon completion of the same

After about a week of submission, I received a letter from the High Commission requesting me to perform a heath checkup. The letter also had my passport attached. The health checkup again consists of three stages: A general health checkup (Height, weight, eyes, medical situation etc), a blood and urine test for HIV and a few other diseases and an X-Ray test. I had to submit 2 passport sized photographs along with their negative. Getting a negative can be a little difficult in this age of digital photography. I had to run to atleast 6 studios and pay a bomb to get a negative. But more on that later. :)

The health checkup was hazzle free. Upon completion of the tests, I resubmitted the passport to the VFS office. Again, I had to fill a form that listed the documents I was submitting. 

Interview (if need arises)

The interview stage is not a mandatory stage. If the High Commission deems it necessary to conduct an interview, then one has to travel to Delhi. So far, none in my batch had to undergo an interview. 

Receipt of the stamped passport

At the time of posting, I have not yet received my stamped passport. But, I understand that the stamping takes about 1 week from the time of re-submission of the passport. Shall update the post with the documents I received with the stamped passport soon.