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School of Oriental and African Studies
London

How can a pre-sessional student open a bank account before the university enrollment?

I'm an international student and going to study the pre-sessional course before enrolling in MSc program. Is it possible for SOAS to issue me a certification letter before the registration day? Since I need to use a bank statement as the evidence of my funds for the VISA extension, opening a bank account real early would be beneficial to me. If yes, what office of the university should I contact with? Thank you.

PS. I already sent an e-mail to ask the postgraduate admission, but the answer I got didn't help me at all. They suggest me to print off my online offer letter and use it instead of a bank letter from the university, but they did not guarantee that it will work. All this reassures me that the admin stuffs at SOAS is really the worst. - -''

Reply 1
Avatar for iberz
iberz
8
Original post by Yawee.butrkw
I'm an international student and going to study the pre-sessional course before enrolling in MSc program. Is it possible for SOAS to issue me a certification letter before the registration day? Since I need to use a bank statement as the evidence of my funds for the VISA extension, opening a bank account real early would be beneficial to me. If yes, what office of the university should I contact with? Thank you.

PS. I already sent an e-mail to ask the postgraduate admission, but the answer I got didn't help me at all. They suggest me to print off my online offer letter and use it instead of a bank letter from the university, but they did not guarantee that it will work. All this reassures me that the admin stuffs at SOAS is really the worst. - -''



Although I am not an international student, I had a similar issue before I enrolled because I want to make my account into a student account for obvious reasons. I ended up just using my unconditional offer letter from UCAS who run admissions for undergrads. That worked for me, even though it was not a proper statement of registration.

So I would imagine your offer letter may be sufficient unless the bank clerk was being abit difficult.

Now, if that fails or you need something more concrete, I would say your first point of call is the registry office.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/

They deal with those sort of queries. I would also recommend you give them a ring as opposed to emailing them. SOAS admin is improving but they still have limited staff handling alot of requests so don't wait for an email, phone them direct and make sure they can give you proper solutions to your problem.
School of Oriental and African Studies
London
Reply 2
Avatar for Yawee.butrkw
Yawee.butrkw
OP
3
Original post by iberz
Although I am not an international student, I had a similar issue before I enrolled because I want to make my account into a student account for obvious reasons. I ended up just using my unconditional offer letter from UCAS who run admissions for undergrads. That worked for me, even though it was not a proper statement of registration.

So I would imagine your offer letter may be sufficient unless the bank clerk was being abit difficult.

Now, if that fails or you need something more concrete, I would say your first point of call is the registry office.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/

They deal with those sort of queries. I would also recommend you give them a ring as opposed to emailing them. SOAS admin is improving but they still have limited staff handling alot of requests so don't wait for an email, phone them direct and make sure they can give you proper solutions to your problem.


Oh, thank you really. That makes me less nervous for starting my MA.
Original post by iberz
Although I am not an international student, I had a similar issue before I enrolled because I want to make my account into a student account for obvious reasons. I ended up just using my unconditional offer letter from UCAS who run admissions for undergrads. That worked for me, even though it was not a proper statement of registration.

So I would imagine your offer letter may be sufficient unless the bank clerk was being abit difficult.

Now, if that fails or you need something more concrete, I would say your first point of call is the registry office.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/

They deal with those sort of queries. I would also recommend you give them a ring as opposed to emailing them. SOAS admin is improving but they still have limited staff handling alot of requests so don't wait for an email, phone them direct and make sure they can give you proper solutions to your problem.




Phoning the IFCELS department would be your best bet. l have enclosed their contact details for you.

But before you get all irate, please bare in mind that the administration staff at Soas are not in a position to go above any regulations governing the procurement of a bank account for international students.
The requirements for international students who are from the EU, differs greatly to the requirements for international students from outside the EU. So, even though a UCAS application may have worked for a particular student, l am very doubtful if this would work for non EU international students. You say that you need the bank statement for your visa extension, but, the thing is, you must be domiciled in the UK already to require a visa extension. You can only get a visa extension if you already have a visa. So why do you not already have a bank account? What visa do you already have that needs extending, even before you've started your studies, or have you already commenced your studies at Soas? If that is the case, then simple going to the top floor of the Faber building and asking for a bank letter, would suffice.
[h="4"]Contact IFCELS:[/h] Telephone:020 7898 4800Fax:020 7898 4809E-mail:[email protected]

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