Prospective student visa! Help please!

Hi! I am an American who has been accepted into postgraduate MA programs at King's College, City University London, Brunel University, and Goldsmiths. I'm heavily leaning towards King's but my offer at all schools is still conditional; I have to formally notify them of my graduation from my American university by the end of August.

My best friend and boyfriend live in London. I am planning on going to London in early May to live with them for the summer as I get ready to officially enrol on a course. I was hoping to apply for a prospective student visa here to travel to the UK so I don't have to come back to America and then back to the UK when I do the Tier 4 visa. As my offers are all conditional I believe that this is allowed, so long as I decide on one once I'm there and then apply to switch to tier 4 over the summer while in London. I realize this will be more expensive and I am fine with this.

I know people have done this before and was just hoping for some help with my visa application! Since this is just the prospective student visa and not the tier 4 yet, I don't have to show that I have funds for the entire year of studies right? Just enough for the summer to support myself? I can show mine and my parent's bank statements as well as a letter from my friend saying that I can stay rent-free at her flat with her. Will this be okay? And what other documents should I include? Just the letter, the bank statements, and my acceptances from the unis? I just want to make sure they get accepted. I plan to do the priority service as I only have 5 weeks before I plan to go to London.

Any help would be amazing!!! Thanks so much in advance. X

Hi,

What you have sounds almost enough....

Does your friend own the property? If not, it may be good to get consent from the landlord to allow you to stay there.

Bank statements, definitely

Letters from Unis, definitely

If you're relying on your parents to support you, a letter from them confirming that fact

And, no, you don't have to show money to see you through your studies - just for the prospective student visa initially.

Hope this helps 

Hi Steve! Thanks so much for your response! I just have 2 questions that if you could answer ASAP I would be really appreciative:

1) is the landlord confirmation essential? I'm not only going to be staying with her but also traveling around and staying with other London based friends at their homes. I just wanted her to be my 'home base' so to speak.

2) I'm so confused about applying online; I am just not sure which form to fill out. Could you point me in the right direction? I'm spending a lot of money on the priority service, and I don't want to fill out the wrong form by mistake. I thought it was VAF3A but when I went to apply online that wasn't available.

Your friend will need to provide her tenancy agreement showing the basis on which she occupies the property so it depends on what's in the tenancy agreement about visitors. If it allows for it (most do) then you might be OK without the letter from the landlord but it's best to check.

It is the VAF3A form which can be found here
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/visas/vaf3a.pdf

but this isn't the actual form you'll use - it's an online form. It can be good to use the VAF3A though, so you have everything ready for the online form. It can be a little tricky when you get to the online form.

Go to www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk > Apply for a visa > Accept Ts & Cs & click continue > Enter email address and set up a password > Go to next screen....

Enter current location (United States) > Enter State > Enter Country of Nationality > Type of visa = Visit > Purpose of application = Special Visitor >Type of Application = (Special) Prospective Student

Hope this makes sense! I've tried to screenshot it below but not sure if it will work!

Thanks so much, you're so helpful. However, now i'm having a major issue. I just went to apply... I filled out the entire visa application and submitted it, set up a time and date for my biometrics appointment (not for a whole week! That was the first one they had so I'm worried).... and then tried to go to the next step: paying the $141 fee through WorldPay.

This keeps coming up:
There may have been a problem connecting to WorldPay.  You will need to click the Cancel button to continue with your application.

I cannot get through to the payment step. I don't know what's happening but I'm really worried here. Do you have any suggestions? Just wait it out? Try from another computer? I've already tried on Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.

Thanks x

Hi again

Probably best to wait and try again. Their payment system is probably down. As if its not stressful enough for you!

Hi! I am an American who has been accepted into postgraduate MA programs at King's College, City University London, Brunel University, and Goldsmiths.

Don't have much helpful to add, just thought I'd say hello as I'm also an American that had the choice between accepting Kings, City, and Goldsmiths!

I went in Goldsmiths in the end. Let me know if you have any questions (or maybe you've already decided, and are just going to 'use' the prospective student visa to be able to stay the summer without returning stateside, in this case

Don't have much helpful to add, just thought I'd say hello as I'm also an American that had the choice between accepting Kings, City, and Goldsmiths!

I went in Goldsmiths in the end. Let me know if you have any questions (or maybe you've already decided, and are just going to 'use' the prospective student visa to be able to stay the summer without returning stateside, in this case

Hi! What did you study at Goldsmiths and what made you choose them? I'm thinking Kings definitely but I want to use the prospective student visa to tour the unis and figure it out for sure as I didn't have the time to do it when I was actually in London last fall and busy with exams!