You’ve decided to further your education in another country – now it’s time to get that little stamp that will let you board the plane: your visa.
By Craig Falck for Africa Report
Photograph: © Vkoletic | Dreamstime.com
Studying overseas is a big decision to make. You basically pack up your life in South Africa and move to another world, one that can be quite scary, intimidating and definitely not what you’re used to. But before all that can happen, you need to get yourself a visa that will let you study in another country.
Each and every country obviously has its own rules and regulations when it comes to study visas. The United States, for example, has three study-visa tiers. These have been put into place because there are different types of studying (theoretical, practical and vocational studying) and, obviously, the country wants to make sure that you are telling the truth about your studying.
Then next step is to visit the country’s official embassy website in your country and either download the visa application form or fill it out online. Each have their pros and cons… Printing the form out will let you complete it in your own time and you can fix mistakes and have time to find info that you don’t keep within arm’s reach, but these applications can contain upwards of 50 pages and that’s a lot of printing. Filling the forms out online means they’re digital and immediately processed, but you will need every single bit of information on hand and if something goes wrong with the process (we’ve all hit that reload button and gone “Noooooo!”) you will have to start over.
When filling out these visa applications, you will need to be 100 percent honest. Countries like the United States have become paranoid over national security in recent times (and rightfully so), so the smallest deviation from the truth (if you were caught stealing bubble gum in Grade 1, write it down because they will find out) in the slightest is reason enough to decline your application. There may be certain documents that you will be asked to submit, such as a proof of emergency funds, acceptance to an education institution in the country, proof of a residence at which you will stay, so have those on hand in digital form. Once you have completed the form, you will be asked to book an interview with an embassy official. During this interview, your application will be reviewed and you will be asked more questions about your application for a visa.
Hopefully everything checks out and you’ll be on your way to get an education overseas in no time.
