Parents complain of slow UK student visas
published : 20 Sep 2021 at 09:00
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham and Anucha Charoenpo
Some Thai students have experienced slow visa approvals and a drastic increase in costs after the United Kingdom placed Thailand on a Covid-19 restriction travel list, their parents say.
The delays in visa processing have resulted in frustration among students and parents whose children are unable to return to class in the UK in time, they say.
Some are unable to get visas before their return date despite the fact they have booked their hotels for quarantine.
The mother of a first-year university student said her child has waited for VFS Global, a visa outsourcing company, to process their request for a month, without success. The normal process should take about 15 days.
Her daughter graduated from a UK high school and wants to start her university education this year. She has all the documents she needs and booked the state quarantine package before applying for a visa.
Her application was submitted about a month ago before the UK put Thailand on its travel "red list" on Aug 30.
"Her visa is still being processed," the mother said, adding that another of her daughters applied for a student visa for the United States and received a visa in one day.
VFS Global told her she could pay 45,000 baht to speed up the process and get her visa within a day, or 10,000 baht to get it done in seven days.
Meanwhile, one 18-year-old student is waiting to see if the UK government will consider making Thailand an "amber" country, so he does not need to pay the 90,000-plus baht for state quarantine. He hopes to quarantine himself at his university dormitory.
In a reply to a Bangkok Post email sent via the British Embassy in Bangkok to the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), the UKVI said: "The Home Office is currently experiencing high demand for visas from students meaning that, in some cases, it may take longer to process applications. We apologise for any inconvenience. VFS Global do not make visa decisions. All visa decisions are made by UK Visas and Immigration [UKVI]."
Up until June this year, over 2,100 Thais were granted a student visa to the UK.
Vocabulary
- delay (noun): causing to happen at a later time; happening at a later time than expected - การเลื่อน, ช้ากว่าปกติ
- demand: the amount of a product or service that people want - ความต้องการ
- despite (prep): used to show that something happened or is true although something else might have happened to prevent it; used to show that somebody did not intend to do the thing mentioned - ถึงอย่างไรก็ตาม, ทั้ง ๆ ที่
- dormitory: a large building in or near a college or university, where students live - หอพัก
- drastic: having a very big effect - มีผลกระทบอย่างใหญ่หลวง
- frustration: an annoyed or discouraged feeling because you cannot do or have what you want - ความผิดหวัง, ความไม่พอใจ
- inconvenience: an annoying problem or situation, especially one that forces you to make an extra effort to do something - ความไม่สะดวกสบาย ความลำบาก
- outsourcing: if a company outsources, it pays to have part of its work done by another company - จัดจ้างคนภายนอก
- process (verb): to deal with a document, set of information, etc. officially so that something can happen - ทำให้ผ่านกระบวนการ,ปฏิบัติการ,จัดการ
- speed up (verb): make go faster -
- submitted: formally given to someone so they can make a decision about it - ยื่นเอกสารเพื่อการพิจารณา
- success (noun): achieving the goals you wanted to achieve or made a lot of money - มีผลสำเร็จ, ประสบผลสำเร็จ, ประสบชัยชนะ
