Visa Applications

As you all know my journey lead me home to finalize my decision about working in the UK and enjoy the company of my long lost friends and summer in Edmonton. After Danny's stay in Edmonton I whole heartily stand by my conviction that it is time to travel to Europe.

In the following posts are some of my experiences with visa applications that I have faced over the years.

UK TIER 5 WORK MOBILITY VISA: Level of difficulty 4/5
An immense amount of work went into gathering all the information and paper work together to even be qualified to apply. It took me months. Then funds and reading pages upon pages of 'how to/what you should know' off of the UK boarder Agency website.

Requirements: Application, Self Assessment Forms, Biometrics (90CAD), Official Bank Statement, Photos, Fee (190 Pounds = Approx 340 CAD, Maintenance (1600 Pounds= Approx 2550CAD), Passport, Appointment with a Visa application personnel

Now I wait for two weeks.....if approved and granted a working visa for the UK, I would get 24 months working visa but I can only work for 12 months of it. Lucky for me I have some travel plans placed in the middle of the 2 years.

In comparison to all the other visas that I have ever had to apply for this one was the more headache inducing one I have ever come across.

CHINA WORKING VISA: Level of difficulty 2/5
This is different than the usual working visa a normal traveler would apply for since I was going to teach English, I had a sponser. The school sends their sponsorship paper work to you then you take them to the visa office. Since I wasn't located in Edmonton at the time (where you would have to send them or drop off the application in Calgary) I was lucky enough to have been in Vancouver where they have a visa application centre right in the city.

Requirements: Application, Sponsorship papers (Orginials), Passport, Fee (30CAD), Photos

It took 4 working days, you could drop in anytime and pick up but the hours at this particular visa office was a bit unheard of. Something like you could only apply from 9am-noon and pick up is from noon-2pm....and if I recall correctly they are closed one of the working days during Mon-Fri.

CHINA TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
This visa is what I would have assumed the standard for all visa applications should be like so I didn't run into any big surprises.

Reqirements: Application, Passport, Fee (30-120CAD-depending on the duration of your stay) Photos

As for myself doing this in China from HK is really quick about 4 days 220HKD. In Canada it took awhile longer I cannot even remeber the turn around time anymore I believe without the rush fee it would take 7-14 days.

THAILAND TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
First off you don't need to pay if you are from Canada for a visa, if you fly in you automatically get a 29 day visa into Thailand. If coming into the country from land you get 14 days no problem-O.

Requirements: Photos, Passport, Application

When I wanted to get a new visa we traveled through into Laos straight the Thai Consulate(remember kids you have to leave the country to apply for a visa)  from there I photocopied my paper work and my passport. After standing in a line for awhile your application gets checked, filed with a bunch of other applications and you get a tiny little receipt for your next day pick up. The next day you just show up with your ticket and you wait luckly this room had someone of what we woulc call AC.

Done and Done I got a double entry for 3 months at a time = 6 months travel time for free.

LAOS, VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
Each visa listed only takes a couple days to get whilst traveling abroad so you can be backpacking/partying while you are waiting for your visa to come back around. Mind you the locations 'visa application centres/travel agencies' in South East Asia are very questionable. Espeically if you are someone who doesn't like handing your passport (your most impoartant documentation while traveling) to someone who runs off one computer and a sign on the wall stating the prices with sufficent but not the best English skills while playing WOW [most likely] with their shandles kicked off.

Requirements: Photos, Passport, Application, Fee (approx 30CAD)

All of them took about 3-4 days each. I do need to mention that for the Cambodia and the Laos visa if I remember correctly you have about 3 month gap to use these visas. For Vietnam on the other hand you only have a month before your visa expires.

If you have any questions, message me.