Rant: How NOT to apply a work permit to the UK

Owned......

Being very frustrated is a polite way to describe the whole process of applying for a UK work permit in Malaysia of late, no thanks to the recent economy meltdown and idiots trying their luck at UK and leaving the legitimate folks getting punished for doing the right thing. If this does not bother you check out the following headlines links:

Student Visa numbers soar after new rules take effect by BBC, 22 November 2009

UK unhappy over Malaysians, The Sun Malaysia 20 October 2009

My case was much pretty straight forward: records clean, never being denied entry/deported anywhere, studied in Australia for 2 years, have tonnes of money in the bank, was loyal to the company for 2 years+, was on a London business trip in February this year for a month and I had a UK work permit back in 2008 applied successfully with almost no effort. What could possibly go wrong this time round? Well it went wrong… like twice, rejected by the High Commission.

Well, for one its the damn new process thanks to our folks who ‘jump ship’ and whole new heaps of requirements sprang up and prolly an excuse to curb non-EU folks from invading the UK job market illegally I guess. Fair enough, so lets do this the right way shall we and it was a painful process. I’ve submitted close to 20 odd type of documents as per required e.g. VAF9 form, Passports, old passports, bank statements, payslips, EA form, employment letters for the past 3 years, certificates and academic scripts, proof of old work permit, secondment letter, salary build up letter, flight and lodging confirmation, maintenance and sponsorship letter, etc….. and to top it off you have to make a photocopy of each supporting document. Poor trees Rinse and repeat will the latest updates if you got rejected. Lesson learnt: Don’t get rejected in the first place.

Two, one of my main annoyance being our Malaysian banking system here. For one there is no standardize way of getting your bank statements. YellowBank (not real bank name) will initially push you to use their web statements and they will print it and get it certified true copy, however that’s not what was wanted for work permit applications. The UK work permit requirement is to have statements showing the end balance of each month to proof you have at least 800 pounds sterling for the last recent 3 months. So YellowBank staff can’t get that in the format I wanted and asked me to fill up a form for a paid statement if I want it that way. Done. Mobilization told me to be on the save side get a 6 months statement instead. Fine. Went back to my KL branch near where I stayed and they said no can do. If I want to get a 6 months statement, I could only get it from my home branch (where I opened my account) which is Seremban (my hometown). WTF. Great, I ask could I transfer my account over? YellowBank says no can do, the process is I’ll have to close off my YellowBank account in Seremban…. then open one here in KL. But then would I get my past 6 months statement in KL then? Nope… wiped clean slate. Gahhhhh one of the largest bank in Malaysia with a sophisticated banking system can’t do an account transfer?…. *slaps forehead and start up car to head down Seremban* Lesson learnt: Open a bank account wherever you are located or being relocated. Save the ass pain of dealing with difficult banking red tape.

Three, oddly my application rejection revolves around my payslips and incidently my company don’t use the old school carbon copy payslips since we are a ERP consulting firm so therefore our payslips should be ‘high tech’ so its web based, paperless, go green and have it anytime anywhere. Guess some people didn’t catchup with the times…… SO, on my first submission, it was printed out on white paper on company header with an official company stamped, signed and date by my HR manager. REJECT. Reason being? I need a supporting letter to proof my certified true copies are indeed true copies since its printed on plain paper. Gaaahhh kk fine. Mobilization did not advice me on that bit. Initial technical fault even though the agent advice me otherwise, I did not heed it since I have the reassurance from mobilization its going to be ok. Back to Seremban and the drawing board. SECOND submission, everything is bulletproof except the fact the supporting letter that is needed this time was backdated August 2009, a typo I spotted and questioned if its possible to get this corrected. Mobilization said its fine as its just a letter to support our HR manager have the authority to certified that my documents are indeed true copies (what you mean I am a fake? Guess everyone’s a suspect till proven innocent these days). And besides, the VP is away and will take another week for another new signed supporting letter. Fine and off it goes, 5 days later… REJECT. They nailed my application on technicalities again that because my supporting letter was backdated, therefore my latest 2 months payslips got disqualified.. again, WTF!!!!. Lesson Learnt: Get it ALL right the first time, take the advice from the experts with a pinch of salt (and work permit applications) and the devil is always in the details. Also be prepared to waste alot of $$$ (visa apps are around RM1k to 2.5k a pop), time  (waiting for your sponsorship / maintenance letter from your UK counterpart to proof you are indeed going to work and your bank statement takes 3 days) and energy getting this put together for the umpteen time.

*Side note: Oddly enough, someone else in my company applied around the same time with the same backdated supporting letter and his work permit got approved. Discrimination or selective persecution? Or hogwash all together. I won’t know.

Four, now I understand why folks who are working/on holiday abroad rarely speak about it … in the event this didn’t turn out right, they’ll have to make press statement rather than repeat themselves Well, hope third times the lucky charm.