The incredibly confusing, frustrating process of applying for a UK Visa

My very first post...and it has nothing to do with food. But it is to do with travelling! I thought I would blog about applying for UK visas, purely because when I had to do it I found the whole process really confusing and complicated, and no-one out there could tell me exactly what I needed to do. There are a couple of numbers you can ring to ask questions but they both cost - one is $3.30 per min, the other is $12 per call, no matter the length of the call. I ended up ringing the $12 line twice during our application process. They were helpful, but the questions only took a minuter or two to answer, making me wish I'd rung the other line! There should be some FAQ on the British website, it would save a lot of time (and our money!). But of course, they don't really want to help you out with stuff like that, they want you to pay as much money as possible. Grrr.

Anyway, here are the steps I took:

1. Applied for a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa online. (http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/ApplyNow.aspx) The questions are pretty straightforward, just make sure you are applying for the right visa (I had issues with this at the start, it was freaking confusing) !

2. Once you have applied online, you need to book your biometrics appointment. You can book it in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. We went to Wellington, they were very nice. You need to pay for this online using a credit card. 'Biometrics' is a fancy term for them stamping your paperwork, taking your fingerprints and taking a passport-type photo. This literally takes less than 2 minutes.

3. Print your visa application and biometrics appointment sheet and take these (along with your passport) to your biometrics appointment.

4. Once you have been to your biometrics appointment, you can send your application away, along with your passport, 2x passport sized photos and a copy of your bank statement (showing you have more than 1800GBP in your bank account). At the biometrics appointment they will have given you a sheet with this information and the address you need to send your paperwork to. You need to courier it, but make sure it is NOT a signature-needed courier bag. You also need to include a self-addressed courier bag with your application for them to send your passports back to you.

5. Wait with baited breath! When your application is accepted they send you an email telling you so.

Also, something else that I needed to know that no-one else could tell you.

- You can post-date your visa application for 3 months from the date of when you are applying. e.g. if you apply on the 1st of January you can post-date it to the 1st of April. You can then enter the country anytime after the 1st of April.

Anyway, this is a really boring post but I'm hoping that it might help someone who is struggling with their UK visa application as I did!

Cheerio