Hi, I’m Shourjomoy, an IMG from India, and I’ve recently received my PLAB 2 visitor visa to the UK. In this blog, I will tell you about the various steps involved in applying for a PLAB-2 visa and provide tips to ensure you can successfully get your visa. In this blog, I’m going to cover the following topics:
• What kind of visa do you require for PLAB 2
• How to apply for a PLAB-2 visa
• Documents you need to provide
• Visa Cover Letter
• Biometrics appointment
• Visa processing time
What kind of visa do I need?
You need a Standard Visitor Visa to sit the PLAB-2 exam in the UK. The basic cost of this visa is £100, and the period of validity is 6 months. You can also attend a short recreational course in the UK during your stay (this is the kind of course that the PLAB 2 academies provide in the UK, so you can ideally include this in your itinerary on your cover letter).
So how do I apply for a PLAB-2 visa?
Before I get to the main procedure, an important point to remember is that you can’t apply for the visa more than 3 months before your intended travel date. Once you’ve entered the three-month window for the application, you can follow these steps to finish and submit your application:
• First, you need to visit the gov.uk “Visa and Immigration” webpage. A quick google search should be enough. From the top of the page, choose “Visit the UK”, then “Visit the UK as a Standard Visitor”. You can “Check if you need a UK visa”, which is the first link provided on the page because different countries have different privileges.
• Once you’ve read through the page, at the bottom, you’ll find a link to apply for the visa online.
• The link will take you to an online form that is broken into several sections, through which you can save and progress, so there’s no necessity to finish the entire form in one sitting. Take your time, and fill in all the details carefully. You can also go back to points to edit any mistakes you might have made. I also recommend downloading PDFs of the form-in-progress so that you can check your details as you go along.
• Once you’ve completed the form, you’ll need to make the payment of £100, which is the standard fee for the Visitor visa.
• This should take you to another page, VFSglobal in my case (might differ by country), which mediates the process of collecting the documents and sending the application, as well as the biometrics appointment.
• On the VFSglobal page, you have the option to upload your documents (PDFs preferably) and to take additional services like Priority Visa, which costs an additional £250 (I’ll come to why you might consider this option later on).
But wait, what Documents do I need?
Your standard visitor visa application should contain the following main categories of documents:
• Proof Of Identity: Copies of passport and Aadhar Card (National Identification Card)
• Documents Supporting Purpose of Visit: Your PLAB 2 booking confirmation from GMC UK, your PLAB 2 recreational course booking confirmation, and an accommodation booking letter (or invitation letter from the owner of the accommodation you’ll be staying at during your stay).
• Documents Supporting Professional Status: Medical College Final year mark sheet, your PLAB 1 passing letter, your Internship Completion Certificate, IELTS Academic Test Report Form, Certificate for Full Registration from your state medical council, and your Original Degree Certificate.
• Documents related to Financial Sponsorship and Evidence of ties to Home Country: Sponsor’s letter of support, sponsor’s bank statements of the last 6 months, sponsor’s Income tax return form for the FY 21-22, copies of parents’ passports and national ID cards, and a copy of your Birth Certificate.
• Evidence of Home Address: Home electricity bill (preferably within the last 3 months.
Admittedly, this is an exhaustive list of documents I’ve mentioned here, and you might not need to provide all of them. However, given that this is quite a costly affair, and visa applications often get rejected, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Personally, I provided all of the abovementioned documents.
Aside from these, you’ll require a visa cover letter as well.
Okay, so what’s a Cover Letter?
A cover letter is a letter you need to provide along with the visa application summarizing your application and the purpose of the visit. In general, it should contain the following sections:
• A general paragraph explaining your background and the purpose of the visit
• An overall timeline of your educational qualifications and present employment
• Ties to your home country (your parents’ names, their occupations, your home address)
• Details of financial sponsorship for your trip (duration of visit, planned total expenses, how much your sponsor has in their accounts)
• Your planned accommodation in the UK (with address)
• Your itinerary
• A summary of your application
• A list of the documents you wish to provide under the subheadings I’ve mentioned previously.
Now, what’s a biometrics appointment?
Once you’ve submitted the visa application, and uploaded all the documents at VFSglobal, you can book a biometrics appointment with a VFSglobal centre in your city. I’d suggest booking an appointment at least 4-5 days in advance so that you have enough time to modify your cover letter or add to your list of documents you want to provide.
You need to upload all the documents within 24 hours prior to your appointment time, so its essential to give yourself the time. The appointment itself will only take around 15-20 minutes, and your part of the work is officially complete!
That’s great, but when will I actually get my visa?
Good question. So, the standard pathway (the standard £100 fee process) can take anywhere between 1-3 months, depending on the demand for UK visas globally at that moment. If you require the visa quicker, you can take the Priority service at VFSglobal, taking your total visa application cost to £350, guaranteeing that you receive the visa within 7 working days.
Cool, so any final tips for the process?
• Be honest about your itinerary, and make sure your accommodation booking period accounts for the entire intended period of stay in the UK.
• Make sure your sponsor has at least 3-4 times the total intended expenses in their bank account (you can provide statements from savings accounts as well as fixed deposits).
• Some people suggest not mentioning the academy course on your application. I did mention it, and it wasn’t an issue for me. Just make sure you describe the course correctly.
• If you apply by the standard pathway, apply as soon as possible within the 3-month window because it might take a while to receive the visa.
• You can consider taking the document scanning service to ensure that you can modify your document list even at the biometrics appointment.
If you need any more help or tips, I’m happy to help at trewlink.com. You can register at Trewlink using this link https://trewlink.com?referrer=sho776696.
Good luck!
Shourjomoy