Banking and Visa

Written September 7, 2005 in Coming to London

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I finally got my Letter of Acceptance on Saturday. With that, it’s time to clear the troublesome administrative issues. I hope the other ICers got their letters too.

HSBC Student Account

I did my HSBC Student Account at Claymore Plaza today. Sharifah was processed my application, and she was very professional. Everything was done in an orderly manner, and explained to me in the simplest terms. As it would take about 3 weeks to get it done in London, I decided to spend 3 weeks in Singapore to get it, so that I would get the account set up before I left for London. Saves a ton of trouble there. Gonna get a SOLO card with it, but I heard it’s not as good, so might change to a SWITCH card. 1 down.

Visa

One whole day wasted at the Visa Office today. I reached there at 1.45pm, and meet Siew Shin there. The queue was quite long, about 10 people in front of me. By the time I finished, it was nearly 4.30. What a huge waste of time! Some people clearly didn’t bother reading the instructions before applying. Many people in front of me spent so much time filling in forms (that should already have been filled up before), getting photocopies (that should already been zapped) etc etc etc. I just felt like bitching. If I took the time and responsibility to make sure I had everything needed, why couldn’t everyone else? The lady at the counter was so pleased that I had everything filled in nicely and correctly that she commented, “Finally one person today that got everything right.” Man, she must have had one hell of a day. Oh, I meet Gerald and Jasmine there today too!