THE SPIRIT !!! (The Process)

After completing my IELTS training and got a good result, I was in the state to decide the university that I wanted.. My office asked me to take Master in Statistics, just like my Bachelor degree.. Yeah, as a civil servant, you should follow your office rules.. At that time, the requirement for master degree that are needed in my office were Statistics, Economic and IT.. How could the office allow me to choose other degree if I had what their needs..Fiuh...

I started to select the universities with statistics program.. My scholarship had limitation, as I the last batch of SPIRIT part I, I must finish the study within a year which is until December 2017.. I can't choose 2 years program. I decided UK as the university country because only UK, a country that has a year program for Statistics.

My choices were Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, St Andrews and Essex University.. I got offers from them.. I was confused to choose, I checked the modules from all of them, I decided go to Essex University.. I knew that 4 of them are the best 100 universities in the world, but I could not neglect the modules. Essex University had the module that I wanted.. so, I got Unconditional Offer from Essex University..Don't forget to ask the Guarantee Letter for your financial support from the Bappenas, because without it, you can't get the Unconditional Offer.

The process before starting the study was (I can say) very long.. We use a system called TRANSPAR, which is the important system for communicating with the Bappenas team. After I got the Unconditional Offer, I needed to do some paper work in the Office. The next steps are :

1. Upload the Unconditional Offer in the TRANSPAR and you will get an email to prepare some documents in your office (Rincian Pembiayaan dari Kampus, Formulir Pra Keberangkatan, Formulir Penempatan Kembali, CV, Foto 3x4 (2 lembar), Surat Tugas Belajar, Surat Perjanjian Dua Pihak (SP2P)). The documents were used to make Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P) in Bappenas. 
2. Prepare Rincian Pembiayaan dari Kampus, Formulir Pra Keberangkatan, Formulir Penempatan Kembali, CV, Foto 3x4 (2 lembar), Surat Tugas Belajar, Surat Perjanjian Dua Pihak (SP2P) in your office. Some letters need to be signed by Sekretaris Utama. I needed 2 weeks for this process. 
3. Ask for Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P) in Bappenas. After got all document from the office, I went to Bappenas to submit them. It was 3 weeks after, I got the Nota Persetujuan and Surat Perjanjian Tiga Pihak (SP3P). This documents were important to recommend your permits in Sekretaris Negara and Kementerian Luar Negeri.
4. Make a KTLN letter in Sekretaris Negara which is a permit from your country to go abroad. Bring all your documents from your office and Bappenas. All of civil servants need this document to travel to other countries. The process is 3 working day, but sometimes it depends on the officer. I made this permit with a help from my colleague in the office (I paid Rp500.000).
5. Make a service passport in Kementerian Luar Negeri. The KTLN letter is important as a recommendation to make a passport. We need to bring photo with white background and copy of SK PNS signed by Kepala Biro Kepegawaian. Since I had a passport before, I didn't need to make it.
6. We also need an Exit Permit in Kementerian Luar Negeri. Exit Permit is a sticker pasted in the passport that prove you are allowed to go abroad using service passport. The exit permit only valid for 2 months.
7. After all the documents complete, we need process the VISA.

To apply the UK Visa we need prepare some document, some documents need to be translated are Birth Certificate and Family Card. The list of documents needed are :

1. Paspor asli (baru dan lama)
2. Hasil tes TBC (asli & fotokopi) – terlampir approved Clinic Test (in Jakarta you can go to RS Premier Jatinegara or Bintaro, but dont forget to make a reservation before come)
3. CV terbaru
4. IELTS asli
5. Ijasah & transkrip (asli dan copy legalisir)
6. CAS Statement (di keluarkan oleh university apabila sudah membayar deposit fee/full fees atau sudah mendapatkan letter of Guarantee)
7. Akte lahir (asli & translation)
8. Kartu keluarga (asli & translation)
9. Letter of Guarantee from Bappenas

The procedure for UK Visa is online, I started with making my account in

https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa. I paid two kind of cost for UK-Visa student, which were $440 for the visa and $301,5 for the IHS (health insurance). All of them was online, by using credit card. After I paid, I got the information about date and time to make an appointment. You must come in your appointment time or we can change the appointment time before.

I had my appointment at 8 August 2016 in VFS Jakarta Visa Application Centre. It is better to come 5 minutes before our time because the securities wouldn't allow you enter the office if you are too early. After entering the office, there were a long queue. I waited again until the officer called my name. I waited more than 2 hours, maybe because it was crowded..But there was advantage too, I did not need to do the interview also.. Basically, to make UK Visa we need to be interviewed by the Officer in the Sheffield online, but the interview only happens from 12 to 15 pm. 

They informed me the result will be in 15 days. I got the email about my UK Visa result in 23 August 2015, which was exactly 15 days. The student visa is valid only for 2 months, we need to collect our BRP after 10 days arrived in the UK. And we use BRP for the rest our time in the UK.

~Always there is a long process before a good thing happens~

KEEP THE SPIRIT