“I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends”

The final necessary documentation has officially arrived...and at least for now a disaster has been averted. This allows us to finally submit our Visa application for approval. But, we are not totally out of the clear yet. We are still asking for quite the miracle. According to the average statistics on the UK VISA website the table below shows the processing times, which does not include the time it takes to have the Visa mailed to the New York Visa office and back.

Points Based System Visas	2 days	3 days	5 days	10 days	15 days	40 days	60 days	Total decisions made
PBS Tier 4	13%	21%	63%	93%	98%	99%	100%	2452

So, if we get the Visa application mailed off tomorrow morning the 10^th of September we have...about 5 working days for it to process and be sent back to us in order for me to make my September 20^th Induction (Trevor's is the 19^th, but he has been given permission to be absent). In other words, about a 63% chance of having our Visa by that time...and I have never been much of a gambler, I mean I don't even buy scratch off tickets. And my education is not something I am interested in gambling with. But, hopefully, now that I can tell my school it should really in all statistical likelihood not take more than 10 days for the Visa to come in, maybe they can be a little more lenient. Plus, even if I can't make it to Orientation I can make it to classes starting the 27^th. To me, this seems as though it should be negotiable with my University, so cross your fingers.

Also, with the time crunch comes short-notice flights. So when the visa gets here, we leave. It may mean we will only be giving everyone, and ourselves, about a 24 hour notice if that. So, we are going to have to keep everything we own packed up and ready to fly.   

Putting all logistics aside though, while this Visa process has been painful to say the least, we are so lucky to have such incredibly supportive friends, and family. They are the ones that are truly making all this possible. We have received notes from so many people checking up on us along the way, and encouraging us while we are down, which has been 99% of this Visa process. Additionally, some of Trevor's very adamant and wonderful work colleagues and friends that have been pushing, emailing, and calling ALL those in charge of the Visa's to get our applications pushed through as quickly as possible, they have been absolutely invaluable to us. Not to mention, Trevor's “research group” are providing us with a very generous “welcome package”, with some necessary items for the house like bedding, a toaster, and food. Which I have personally been stressed over...since I am kind of the over-thinker of the two of us (well that and I cannot personally live without a toaster...ask Trevor, I am a toast freak). So, a special thanks to all of you who have been reading the blog, giving us hope, and sacrificing your time and money to make life that much easier for us...we are very fortunate to have you in our lives.