Post
by Vayu » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:46 pm
Guys, I have been a passive user of this and the old forum and it has been very helpful. So its time I gave something back. I used to go by the name of Samran, but that name doesn't want to work on this new board.
But I digress.
Anyway, as the subject line suggests, I got my approval for my under 28 HSMP today in the mail.
A couple of vital stats:
Nationality - Australian/Thai dual nationality
Age - 27 at application (28 now)
When applied: 13 Jan 2004
Aproved: 19 March 2004
Got letter in the mail: 26th March in Australia
So a little over 2 month wait for those who have applications in the backlog. My application number was in the low 11,000's
A bit more info about my application.
- Job: Economist/Analyst.
- Education: B.Economics (honours) from a top tier Australian university (15 POINTS)
- Income: Cause I worked in SE Asia (Thailand) and earned a little over 14,000 pounds per year. (35 POINTS)
- No of years expereince: In total, 4.5 years claimed, including 1 year specalist expereince in my last job. Consisting of 3.5 years following graduation, working for the Thai government as a consultant, and before that with an international consulting firm. I also included a futher 12 months worth of vacation internships with various companies and counted that as "graduate level". (50 POINTS)
What my application contained; What I claimed and how I proved it: (alhough I don't know how I was scored me, this is what I did):
- Cover letter, summarising my income, work expereince and past employers. This also included a table of contents for the application.
- Copy of my resume to put things into context
- Completed Application form (under 28)
- Notarised copy of my passport.
- Letter from all my employers previous and present, outling my position and duties, all using company letter heads.
- As I claimed specialist level points, I got a letter from the deputy permanent secretary of the ministry I worked for, vouching for my "specialist" economic role, and outling that role which was essentially working on regulatory economics.
- For my income, I included:
1) a letter from my last employer stating my income level.
2) translation of my Thai tax return from the past year. I had this translation officially translated, and I got the British Embassy in Bangkok to notarise/legalise this translation for me.
3) Photocopies of my paycheques
4) My actual bank passbooks and statements, where I highlighted deposits of my salary over the past 12 months
5) An original copy of my contract.
To prove that I was employable in the UK, copied about 6 or 7 job advertisments from the Economist Magaizine, which stated job descriptions and potential salary.
All my documents and letters contained phone and contact details, if the HSMP wished to follow up on them.
Many of the documents I actually drafted myself. I sent them off to previous employers, saving them time. This also ensured I had control of what was put in the letters. Of course, everything was factually correct and they had the opportunity to change things if they wanted. In all cases, they were happy to put my version on an offical company letter head and they sent it back to me.
All this was put into a bound folder, with plastic sleves. Each section was separated with tabs to make it "easy" for the HSMP offical to find things.
Anyway, so thats how I did it. Hopefully it has been helpful. Please feel free to ask any questions publically, and I'll be happy to answer them. PLEASE DO NOT PM ME THOUGH, AS I WONT REPLY. We need to share this info with everyone.
Cheers
Samran/Vayu