Urgent help needed - original IELTS cert not received in tim

Hi guys,

I really need some help. My fiance has been accepted to do an MSc in London in September, but he was 0.5 short of the IELTS score, so he must do a pre-sessional course which begins on 7th August. We have managed to get a priority appointment with the visa application office here in Rio for tomorrow morning. However, his original IELTS certificate hasn't been received yet. The results were published online on 25th July and the British Council here in Brazil have told us it can take up to 13 days(!) to receive the original. This would take us up to the 7th August, the day he's supposed to be in London. The uni are quite strict on attendance and so have put on his CAS statement that the latest they'll accept him is on 11th August.

Does anyone have any idea what we can do about the IELTS certificate? I've written a cover letter explaining why we don't have the original, I've included dates and also the TRF number that the uni used to confirm the results, but I know for visas they're very strict about the original certificates.

Please help, any ideas welcome.

I do not believe you actually need the hard copy document see here

https://www.gov.uk/.../list_of_approved ... 1_07_14...