Queen's 2k8 Y! Group in action

Today for the first time I saw a group (Queen's 2008 Y!) so much active.
Mail flew from one side to another.
There were queries, info exchange, suggestions and much more.
The year ahead looks to be a pepply, enthusiastic one!

Good luck champ!

2nd Hawk down: NUS Reject

The 2nd in the series of Rejects (but surely after a successful admit!)

Received the following from NUS today:

From: NUS MBA Online Applications
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 3:10 PM
To: <>
Subject: NUS MBA Application

Dear <>,
Thank you for applying to our MBA program. The Admissions Committee has completed our review of your application for admission to our MBA 2007 intake. Despite your many merits as a candidate, you have not been selected for interview this round. However, we will be re-considering your application in the next and final round.

You will receive a final decision from the Admissions Committee on the outcome of your application no later than May 2007. Due to the overwhelming number of applications, we seek your understanding that we are unable to provide feedback on individual applications.

Thank you for your interest in the NUS MBA.

Regards,
NUS MBA Admission

Work Permit Query & PR Query

I had my Ivey’s interview yesterday and at the start of the interview only, the interviewer told me some thing which made me speechless for sometime. She was a Relationship Manager and involved with companies at Ivey’s for career management.

She told me that we need to have a work permit apart from Study permit to be able to work in Canada after your study. In case you don’t have that the companies will be reluctant to take you or create some problems. So she advised me to start the process of getting a work permit/PR/Landed Immigrant status along with the Study permit. What I knew was that Study visa gives you a work permit of approx 1 year to work after your studies have finished. She told me that this is true but not one yr but a very small time, so work permit is very much required.

I told interviewer that Embassy gives Study permit after being sure that the person is coming back to the home country. If I start my process of work permit, I will not get my study permit. She says she doesn’t know how embassy works and I need to check on it.

What needs to be checked is -

• for point 1 (it will be definitely true as she is involved in this process and hence know about this), what is to be done.
• If one would like to work in US if not just after but some years after the MBA, what is that he needs to do now.

Emmigration Check not Required (ECNR) clearance

For most people, ECNR (Emmigration check not required) is striked off in their passports and the same needs to be cleared. Once the clearance is acquired, one saves some checks which are done on the airport while on international travel.
Though not very much required but its preferred to get it done.

Browsing on the net, there are many discrepancies w.r.t. the documents required for getting an ECNR Clearance. Its better to have the following

• Rs 400 as application fees for ECNR clearance
• Original and xerox of Indian Passport
• Eligibility proof for ECNR Clearance: B.Tech Degree, 10th, 12th degree: both xerox and original
• PAN Card (if applicable)

Related Links:

• Govt of India, Delhi Regional Passport Office: Link
  
• Govt of India, Ministry of External Affairs FAQs: http://passport.gov.in/cpv/faq.htm
• Regional Passport Office, Bangalore FAQs: Link
• Regional Passport Office, Bangalore ECNR Details: http://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/ecnr_ecr.htm

ECNR Form @ Regional Passport Office, Bangalore (Form#2-miscellaneous) : https://passport.gov.in/cpv/miscell.pdf

Ivey's Interview 2 done!

This time for the interview I was alone. That too after a long day at office!
The call came on time on the land-line phone.

The interview started with the interviewer explaining the way the Career Management Team at Ivey works, the work permit issue and Permanent Resident-ship (PR) issue.
She told me that we need to have a work permit apart from Study permit to be able to work in Canada after your study. In case you don’t have that the companies will be reluctant to take you or create some problems. So she advised me to start the process of getting a work permit/PR/Landed Immigrant status along with the Study permit. What I knew was that Study visa gives you a work permit of approx 1 year to work after your studies have finished. She told me that this is true but not one yr but a very small time, so work permit is very much required.
She also told me that we have to make our own effort to get a job. This is different from what I know. I have heard that companies do come. From one of Queen’s people’s mouth I heard-you can get a job but for getting a job of your choice, you will have to work out yourself. I very much agree with the Queen’s statement but am astonished to hear the other statement (one just above it).
I told interviewer that Embassy gives Study permit after being sure that the person is coming back to the home country. If I start my process of work permit, I will not get my study permit. She says she doesn’t know how embassy works and I need to check on it.

This really made me to think seriously about the PR thing. But at that moment, I had to proceed with the interview.

The questions were more or less the same as those were in the last 2 interviews.

The turning points came at the end, when she said that the results of the interview will be out by 4-6 weeks. I hoped that word "weeks" was "days". I asked her then if there can be a third interview. The answer "yes" made me really think about the credibility of the Ivey's program as to what they wanted to test in me.

I told her that the visa processing in India takes time and giving such a small notice time, it will be difficult. She said that her department know about the time it takes for visa processing in different countries.

Let's see what is the outcome of this ordeal.

Is there a third interview in store for me? Time will tell!!

SBI Education Loan details

Visited the SBI's (State Bank of India) St. Marks Road Branch to check out details of Educational Loan

Details:

• Amount of Loan: 20 Lakhs INR
• Loan Processing Time: 1 month (approx) (Valuation of property takes time)
  
• Applicants: Student as main applicant and parents are co-applicants
• Repayment Period: 7 years (max)
• Rate of Interest: 12.5% pa# (Floating)
• Processing Fees/File/Miscellaneous Charges : Nil ^
• Margin money: Didn't check
  
• Security: Tangible property like House as collateral
• Conversion Charge from INR to $: To be checked
  
• Money transfer mode: The money will be transferred directly to the university upon request-takes approx a week. Rs 600 charged every time for draft mode and Rs 1000 for TT mode.
  

# The Rate of Interest is decreased by 1% (i.e. its 11.5%) if the interest is paid during the moratorium period (the time period when the re-payment of loan has not started)
^ SBI collects a cheque of Rs 5000 for processing, but this is returned if the loan facility is availed. In case, the applicant doesn't avail the loan, Rs 5000 are not refunded.

Documents Required:

1. Loan Application form
2. Copy of the offer of acceptance from University
3. Details of expenses from University including Tuition fees, living expenses etc.
   
4. Mark-sheets of 10th, 12th and qualifying degree (e.g. B.Tech)
5. Photograph of applicant (2)
6. IT Return and Form 16 for co-applicants for last 3 years (not for applicant-student)
7. Copy of applicant's passport
   

Certain answers to questions in particular

• Which location should the loan be taken? Preferably at the location where the collateral is there
• Can I get a loan sanctioned for Rs 20 Lakhs, but use only 10 Lakhs? If yes, what about interest? YES, this can be done. The amount which is withdrawn from the sanctioned amount only is calculated for interest [You might need to withdraw a small part of loan initially-can be as small as 50,000. Its like using your credit card the first time to activate it. Check with bank as this can very with bank to bank]
  
• Can I get a loan sanctioned for Rs 20 Lakhs, but withdraw 10 Lakhs now and rest 10 Lakhs after 6 months? If yes, what about interest? YES, this can be done. The interest will start to be calculate only when the amount is withdrawn. e.g. In May, the first 10 Lakhs is withdrawn, the interest will start the time the money has been withdrawn. In December, the second 10 Lakhs is withdrawn, so the interest on the second 10 Lakhs start from December
  

Related Links:

• Education Loan@ SBI : http://www.sbi.co.in/viewsection.jsp?id=0,1,20,118
• Education Loan Application Form @ SBI: http://www.sbi.co.in/downloadfile.jsp?fileid=82
• Education Loan Details from Indian Bank's Association : http://www.iba.org.in/educational_loan.asp
• Education Loan Details of various banks in India: Link

Terms used:
A collateral loan is also called a secured loan. It is a loan obtained from a banking or other financial institution, where in exchange, the creditor may sell that which is offered for collateral if the loan is unpaid. A collateral loan is often offered at a lower interest rate than an unsecured loan, because there is a guarantee of repayment should the borrower default on the loan (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-collateral-loan.htm)

Margin Money: Banks lend out huge money in the form of home loans. Margin money can be best described as an upfront down payment that reassures the lender of the borrower's financial stability and commitment. The upfront down payment can range from as low as five to as high as 15 percent. ( Economic Times Link )

Blunder w.r.t. Canadian Visa photo

• How do you think there can be some difference between Visa photo clicked at Hyderabad and Bangalore when the embassy and the specifications are same?
• Can I say I've come to the right place, the best in Bangalore as they say and still get the wrong photograph?
• Earlier there has been a case-the visa was rejected. Why should i suffer because of your fault?

The above are the few of the many things that I had to shell out apart from money at the photographer's shop when I got the Canadian Visa pic on a "matt" paper. One of my colleagues had confirmed that for her travel to Canada, the travel agent had asked her to get the pics on "glossy" paper as the Visa might get rejected. (The third question above was little far stretched to get the point across ;) )
So finally, gave the order for the Canadian Visa pics to be re-done on a glossy paper.

The specifications for Canadian Visa Photograph are given at http://www.vfs-canada.co.in/photospecifications.html

Apart from this, keep in mind

• The photo should have your face clear
• The photo should have a light background
• The Canadian Embassy wants the negative along (maybe its the only embassy that asks for a negative). So be sure to take the negative even if the photographer denies.
• The photograph should be on a "glossy" paper. Glossy paper is the one which is very common and is soft to touch. The other kind of paper used is "matt" which has rough surface
• Get sufficient photos done as you don't know how many you require and when and where.