- Jul 13, 2015
- 17
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- New Delhi
- NOC Code......
- 1112
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 06-09-2015
- AOR Received.
- 30-10-2015
- IELTS Request
- 27-07-2015
- Interview........
- Not reqd
- Passport Req..
- 08-12-2015
- VISA ISSUED...
- 17-12-2015
- LANDED..........
- Mid-2016
I am in the process of replying to my ITA by 22nd Oct. I want to share my story for everyone's benefit and lessons
1. Picking a consultant
I went in for a consultant for my application. The consultant was good for nothing. Except for filling forms, every piece of information I have got is from this group.
Lessons: Until or unless you are superb rich or/and lazy, don't go the consultant way
2. IELTS
I decided to get into EE in March and once consultant was hired, I started to look for IELTS dates. Unfortunately, there were no dates in Bangalore for next 3 months and in a moment of abs stupidity, I booked a slot in Goa. I later learnt that IELTS is a two day thing and it requires you to be in that city for at least 3 days.
For the exam, I really struggled with written section as the last I wrote anything non technical was way back in 2006.
Lessons: a) Book exam slots as early as possible and avoid exams in another city.
b) PLEASE PLEASE start to write using a pen and paper for IELTS. Computer and smartphones have destroyed our ability to write
3. WES Arranging original transcript is next to impossible in some universities using posts/emails. I tried for over 3 months and in the end I had to travel to my university, some 1,000 miles away, to get the transcripts.
Another thing, I am a PGDM in Finance. WES ignored my masters and rated me a bachelor only. I got their mail in the morning mentioning that I was only a bachelor and my master was a not masters in Canada. It meant 32 points and I was shattered. In my emotions, I wrote back to them that i need a review stating that my grad institute is one of the top institute of the country and that PGDM is indeed Masters. 18 days later, I got a mail revising my degree as masters. My point moved to 469 and I got an ITA
Lessons: a) Don't underestimate the complexity of processes. Please start the process to get the original transcripts as soon as you decide for EE
b) PGDM from some institutes in India is considered Masters by WES. The process is arbitrary and luck is important.
3. Letter from past employers
My manager in my previous job had left the organisation. It was a start-up which was/is growing at a CARG of 20%. In 3yrs, I had no idea who to connect to get letters. I had to trace my ex-manager, get a contact in the company, mail her everyday for 3 weeks to get the right letter
Lessons: a) Always be ready for some non-sense even at the easiest of steps
b) Never leave a company on bad terms
4. PoF
Asivad and Anuj are the treasure house of PoF. I thank them everyday I look at my PoF. Please follow their advice.
I had saved everything in my wife's account, who is a co-applicant with me. Post my ITA, my account had average balance of INR 30K while my wife's account had INR 500k. Rest of the savings were in mutual funds. Basically I was screwed.
Thanks to this forum, I learnt about e-stamp, gift deed, sale deed of financial assets. I got a proper paper trail done and now I have the required money in my savings account and I am in a position to explain every paisa in my account.
Lessons: a) If you are main applicant, please save every penny in your account. Use dependents account for expenses
b) Get papers right and be ready to explain every paisa in your account
c) there is some confusion on EPF being a PoF. Play safe. Get the required amount in your savings account and use EPF as extra proof
5. PCC
Should be easy? Not in my case. I applied for PCC at Police commissioner office on Infanty road and the process is actually very easy. However, my wife got an urgent travel plan to US. We got the msg for police verification on the morning of her travel. I went to the police station, sat there for an hour, made sure my wife signed every paper and left the police station only after being assured that the file was cleared.
Thankfully, Bangalore Police was polite and understood my situation.
Lessons: Don't spend your luck in stocks or casinos till you are in EE process. Life can screw you in amazing ways.
This is my story till now. The struggle has just began for me. Way too many miles still to walk before landing. I hope the journey ahead will be better.
Thanks again to this forum, especially to Asivad and Anuj Gupta.
1. Picking a consultant
I went in for a consultant for my application. The consultant was good for nothing. Except for filling forms, every piece of information I have got is from this group.
Lessons: Until or unless you are superb rich or/and lazy, don't go the consultant way
2. IELTS
I decided to get into EE in March and once consultant was hired, I started to look for IELTS dates. Unfortunately, there were no dates in Bangalore for next 3 months and in a moment of abs stupidity, I booked a slot in Goa. I later learnt that IELTS is a two day thing and it requires you to be in that city for at least 3 days.
For the exam, I really struggled with written section as the last I wrote anything non technical was way back in 2006.
Lessons: a) Book exam slots as early as possible and avoid exams in another city.
b) PLEASE PLEASE start to write using a pen and paper for IELTS. Computer and smartphones have destroyed our ability to write
3. WES Arranging original transcript is next to impossible in some universities using posts/emails. I tried for over 3 months and in the end I had to travel to my university, some 1,000 miles away, to get the transcripts.
Another thing, I am a PGDM in Finance. WES ignored my masters and rated me a bachelor only. I got their mail in the morning mentioning that I was only a bachelor and my master was a not masters in Canada. It meant 32 points and I was shattered. In my emotions, I wrote back to them that i need a review stating that my grad institute is one of the top institute of the country and that PGDM is indeed Masters. 18 days later, I got a mail revising my degree as masters. My point moved to 469 and I got an ITA
Lessons: a) Don't underestimate the complexity of processes. Please start the process to get the original transcripts as soon as you decide for EE
b) PGDM from some institutes in India is considered Masters by WES. The process is arbitrary and luck is important.
3. Letter from past employers
My manager in my previous job had left the organisation. It was a start-up which was/is growing at a CARG of 20%. In 3yrs, I had no idea who to connect to get letters. I had to trace my ex-manager, get a contact in the company, mail her everyday for 3 weeks to get the right letter
Lessons: a) Always be ready for some non-sense even at the easiest of steps
b) Never leave a company on bad terms
4. PoF
Asivad and Anuj are the treasure house of PoF. I thank them everyday I look at my PoF. Please follow their advice.
I had saved everything in my wife's account, who is a co-applicant with me. Post my ITA, my account had average balance of INR 30K while my wife's account had INR 500k. Rest of the savings were in mutual funds. Basically I was screwed.
Thanks to this forum, I learnt about e-stamp, gift deed, sale deed of financial assets. I got a proper paper trail done and now I have the required money in my savings account and I am in a position to explain every paisa in my account.
Lessons: a) If you are main applicant, please save every penny in your account. Use dependents account for expenses
b) Get papers right and be ready to explain every paisa in your account
c) there is some confusion on EPF being a PoF. Play safe. Get the required amount in your savings account and use EPF as extra proof
5. PCC
Should be easy? Not in my case. I applied for PCC at Police commissioner office on Infanty road and the process is actually very easy. However, my wife got an urgent travel plan to US. We got the msg for police verification on the morning of her travel. I went to the police station, sat there for an hour, made sure my wife signed every paper and left the police station only after being assured that the file was cleared.
Thankfully, Bangalore Police was polite and understood my situation.
Lessons: Don't spend your luck in stocks or casinos till you are in EE process. Life can screw you in amazing ways.
This is my story till now. The struggle has just began for me. Way too many miles still to walk before landing. I hope the journey ahead will be better.
Thanks again to this forum, especially to Asivad and Anuj Gupta.
