Tielburg's Xue Ruo

Author: Lou Xilin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: On August 17, 2005, the result of constantly hitting a wall finally came to an end, and I could only accept this unexpected outcome. I needed to explain to many friends, but it was too complicated, so I’ll just record the whole story here for my own review. I just received the news that my visa was rejected. The reason is that the entire visa application process cannot exceed 13 weeks, and I submitted the NESO Certificate late (which I absolutely don’t believe—my application materials were submitted in early July). Alright, let’s start from the beginning. This whole thing was nothing but trouble.
Late April, Shanghai. I received a notification to exchange to Tilburg, and I happened to take the materials that needed my parents’ signatures back to school (this was probably the only thing I got done in one go).
May, Hong Kong. I selected courses on the host university’s website. After selecting them, I had to save and print them, but every time I clicked save, it said “The page cannot be displayed.” After repeated attempts, I had no choice but to submit the half-finished form with the (a bad omen, I guess). Then I went to submit my photo, birth certificate, and English test score copies, but the originals were in a express envelope. Before I could clean up my things and head back to Shanghai, my mom threw the envelope away as an empty one. It seems everything related to this was unlucky.
June, Shanghai. I had to book insurance and submit a bank deposit certificate for 6,000 euros. I submitted one, which the bank had frozen for three months. In the bank’s fixed format, it was written as “XXXX deposit until September XX,” meaning the money was available from the day the certificate was issued until three months later. Soon after, I received a reply saying the certificate must include the bank’s address and phone number, and they added, “September hasn’t arrived yet,” meaning they wanted to know how much money I had now (both frustrating and funny). I guess the exchange program coordinator at the university had never seen a Chinese bank certificate (which turned out to be true after I checked), but the immigration office definitely had. If I had actually submitted it to them, it might have worked.
There was nothing I could do—since it didn’t pass the school’s review, I had to redo it. Changing the date was easy, but all bank deposit certificates in China don’t include the address or phone number. In the end, they just gave me a business card to resolve it (sigh!). I submitted it to the school again, explaining that there was nothing I could do—it’s the same across the country. The school gave in (they even came back and said they wanted a “Bank Statement” instead of a “Certificate of Deposit,” etc.).