For most fortunate ISSAS who have been waiting a long time to enter the UK, the
effect of a visa is considered to be “good news”. It means “getting ready and going”,
leaving at once what they have been doing and starting on a long and challenging
journey. Such moving away from the familiar may seem trivial and neither the UK
government nor Greenside University systems aid students in this transition process
as one student commented.
Neither the UK government nor the University is bothered about the journey we had. No one seems to show any interest in us. I guess we have to live and learn everything in a hard way.
[Student 35, Nigeria]
The home airport is the first place where the validity of the visa is checked. ISSAS,
like any other passengers travelling abroad, have to go through security checks, body
searches, X-ray machines and a third search if they are flying to the UK. Due to the
9/11 bombings in America, and the 7/7 London bombings, new sets of border
controls have been put in place in every country, in particular the Western countries.
With such tight borders, it is not uncommon to go through the passport controls three
times at the home airport to ensure the students have valid visas and are not carrying
anything dangerous. One student commented that she experienced three checks:
The first check in South Africa is to make sure you are not bringing any bombs to the airport and going to blow up the airport or the security at the home country. The second check is that you are not a threat to the aeroplane
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and fellow passengers and the third one is that you can comply with the UK regulation and not be a threat to the UK.
[Student 21, South Africa]
Because of the excitement of getting a visa and leaving the country, some students
do not check properly whether their student visa has a seal or not. As a result when
they arrive at the airport they are not allowed to board a plane. One disappointed
student stated that:
I was issued a visa by the British Embassy in my country but they forgot to put a seal in my visa. When I arrived at the Airport check-in, I was refused a boarding pass. I had to collect my suitcase, hire a taxi back to the British Embassy to get a seal on my visa. Although I had missed the flight, I told the officials at the British Embassy that I could not wait for another day because my course had already started, so they arranged for me another flight to the
UK.
[Student 25, Uganda]
The issue raised by Student 25 can be seen as incompetence on the part of the British
Embassy for not issuing the visa with a seal, but it is also incumbent on the student
to check. It seems the student had to pay unexpected expenses which were not
reimbursed by the Embassy despite it being their oversight in the first place. Such
situations show clearly how the potential students are less informed about the kind of
visa they are issued with. The universities have a duty of care for students coming to
study with them but that often does not happen and the students are alone to face the
different challenges.
The departure fee is another issue, which if ISSAS have no relatives or friends that
have travelled before, they may not be aware of it.
I did not know about the departure fee. I did not even have the money to pay. This caused me so much stress because even my father, who had escorted me, did not have any money on him. I had to dig for money I had sealed and hidden to pay for my tuition fee. I almost missed my flight.
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Such experience of a Zambian student is not uncommon for ISSAS students who
have never had an opportunity of leaving the country or who do not have bank
accounts. Being at the airport is like being in a “no man’s land” (Bridges, 2003) where things seem to be unreal. It feels as if one is shut off from the outside world
with no free will, and one can neither go back nor forward, unless one is being told to do so or when the announcement says, “board your plane.” One has to rush in the queue not knowing what to expect in the aeroplane, a challenge for the ISSAS
students in this study. The boarding of the plane and leaving the country marks the
end of the home transition and the beginning of another transition. This is echoed by
Bridges (2003) who argues that once one transition ends a new transition
commences. In the context of ISSAS, the first hurdle of leaving the country, which is
epitomised by gaining a visa, is over but there awaits another challenge at the ISSAS
destination in terms of the validity of their visa and other documentation. It opens up
another dimension of the ISSAS transition process, as one student summed up the
feelings:
I had never flown out of my country before, hence I was filled with many feelings about the journey and what was awaiting me. I was coming to England. I had wanted to come to the UK a number of times but never had an opportunity or the money. When the opportunity emerged, I did not let it slip through my fingers. So I proudly boarded the plane, put my head down, and closed my eyes as we flew off leaving my beloved motherland Africa.
[Student 5, Zambia]
Clearly, Student 5 talks about all the apprehension that comes with a new experience
of leaving the familiar and the associated loss of moving forward. Bridges (2003), as
noted in Chapter 2, talks about the fear of letting go of the old situation and the
strong attachment to the past, which seems to be in line with the ISSAS experiences.
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excitement of leaving Africa for the first time to embrace new and transitional
challenges (ibid).
Having gone through the decision-making process about where to study, making the
application and being successful, students are now faced with challenges that will
make the transition a reality.