The Visa Has Landed

After around 6 months, I finally got a UK visa. A page on my passport has got the stamp of approval.

It was a long time coming. I applied under the HSMP category (because I'm a skilled migrant, of course), and at the time the rules and regulations were going through a big overhaul. Unfortunately I applied under the old rules for the HSMP category, meaning my application had to be processed by the British Home Office in the UK. They spent 5 LONG MONTHS processing applications that were lodged before mine (about 2 months worth of applications). Finally they reached my application, and in a matter of days, they gave me a letter stating that I was approved under the HSMP scheme.

Woohoo. I finally got a letter stating that I can apply for entry clearance. So I submitted another application for entry clearance, this time to the British High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand. Fortunately, their application turnover was much faster than British Home Office. In just 3 weeks, I got my passport back, complete with a page sized stamp.

At last I have a visa. I can get a job (well I already have one), I can get paid in pounds, I can stay in the UK for 3 years. But the wait was more than I could bear. The new HSMP scheme, named Tier-1, was implemented shortly after I lodged my HSMP application. The advantage of Tier-1 is that applications do not need to be processed in the UK, and there is only one application step, as opposed to the two-stage application procedure I was required to undertake.

Talk about unfair! Especially when a few people I know applied for UK visas under the new Tier-1 scheme, and got their visas in a matter of weeks. Oh, the injustice of it all!