My timeline is as follows:
1) 28th July- I received the India Merit Undergraduate Scholarship from the University of Sheffield, which reduced my tuition fees from GBP 20,000 to GBP 7000 (please note, this is below the tuition fees an average British student pays, hence, I would probably not be the cash cow international student they want entering their country.
2) 03 August - Did my TB test.
3) 04 August - Submitted my application at VFS along with my parents' tourist visa applications to help me settle.
4) 17th August - Both my parents received their tourist visas.
5) 21st August - I received an email from Sheffield saying they did not receive any of my financial documents and to send them within 5 days.
6) 22nd August - Received an email from VFS stating that there was a technical issue ON THEIR PART and requested us to scan the documents and send them.
7) 22nd August - Sent ALL documents in 4 email as the email had size restrictions.
26th August - Received an email saying that 15 days processing deadline cannot be met.9) 22nd September - Received an email saying a decision has been made on my application.
10) 28th September - Received my passport along with a refusal of visa.
Reasons for Refusal
Point: “ You submitted a copy of a bank statement page from TSB. However, this page only shows transactions upto 04 October 2016 and I am not satisfied that this statement confirms what the closing balance was at a relative time as detailed above and furthermore, this document does not confirm who the account holder was”.
My Reply:
· The LATEST bank statement of State Bank of India from 1 Feb 2017 to 1 August 2017, and application was made 3 DAYS LATER on 4 August, 2017. No bank statement of 2016 October was submitted with application or as a scanned copy. Which document are they referring to?
· TSB, referred to, is unknown to us. On google, apparently it is some random local British bank we have never even come across. We don’t possess any such account. We did not submit any document of TSB dated October 2016.
· My father, is the main account holder of State Bank of India. MY FATHER’S NAME IS CLEARLY ON TOP-LEFT HAND SIDE OF EVERY PAGE OF THE ATTACHMENT SHOWING PRIMARY PROOF OF FUNDS. This is directly from the salary account of a premier Government of India Institution.
· The document has 14 pages and not 1 page. Did they not scroll down to check other pages? Or is it another document they are referring to, not mine?
In spite of academic selection by the University of Sheffield that found me a suitable candidate for the India Merit Undergraduate Scholarship, the Home Office has decided to reject my application on baseless grounds. This is most disappointing for academics in general and me in particular.
The bank proof I provided has basic banking terms which any finance trained person will understand. As a country built on its financial sector, it is appalling to find that UK clearance department has read it wrongly and also have not been careful in documentation process, which has resulted in wrong documents being referred to. It seems to me in the SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS they kept my application for processing, no one checked my bank statement thoroughly enough to analyse my father’s financial information accurately.
I am not going for administrative review as I am highly insulted by this callous attitude. The decision was not only made on false grounds but also so late that any re-appeal mechanism would take me beyond the university late entry date. I have no doubt that this partly stems from the fact that post-Brexit UK does not want to spend precious money on hard-working international students and instead, wants to spoon-feed the mediocre students who already are spared from any competition through their student finances.
I am DISGUSTED by the sorry state of affairs of this godforsaken country and looking back at this process, I may consider it a blessing in disguise to be omitted from such an inefficient and dull system. Clearly, the people sitting in the entry clearance offices, and the officers themselves are duds.
The UK has become a culture of mediocrity, and when a country fails even in the most menial of clerical jobs, that's when you know it's headed for disaster.