The difficult transition I’m talking about wasn’t mental or emotional- it was all external. A week before the day I had booked my flight (September 17), I received an email from the UK consulate in New York that my visa application had been deferred. I sprang out of my bed and had a near panic attack as I was explaining what was happening to my mother. I was leaving in one week. I quickly read the rest of it and saw what I had to do.
- Submit a BRAND NEW visa application
- Pay the fees and book a biometric data appointment, again
- Pay the immigration health surcharge with the new visa application
- Email the reference numbers to the consulate
Waiting is the worst. We had already paid for rush processing and shipping, a whopping $300, which didn’t include the surcharge or visa. What had happened was, I paid the surcharge and started the application before the visa office changed its system, where you pay your surcharge with the application, rather than on a separate website.
Patience is a Virtue.
When your mom goes to study abroad first
The days leading up to this were so stressful because I didn’t know if I would even be able to leave or not, or if we had to change my flight. We had emailed, called, filed forms but still, nothing. That Wednesday, my visa was processed. On Thursday, it said it had been printed but no indication as to whether or not it had shipped. At 1:30 PM I tracked down the UPS shipping number and it had only left New York. I wasn’t going to leave that day, but since my mom also booked her flight, we decided she shouldn’t miss it. Instead of sending me off that day, we sent my mom off. Oh, the irony.
Bye bye Changalangs, see you all next year!
MELODY TIENYUN 
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