Let’s start from the beginning. In Architecture in the UK there is a 3 years bacholers degree, a one year internship, a two years post graduate degree and then a series of work study and tests. When I first moved to the UK the idea was when | was done the bacholers degree I would get what was then known as a post graduate visa where I could get a visa to do my years internship, I would then switch back to a student visa where I would do my part two and go from there, whether at that point I went back to the states to work or stayed in the uk was up to the future to hold.

In April of this they abolished the post graduate visa. And unfortunately one could not apply for this visa till they had graduated of which I did not due to June. So for months I’ve been looking for what to do next. I’ve gone to my international advisors office, student services, undergraduate office, the dean of architecture, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and the Embassy, getting various answers and routes for months. The RIBA has since cut it all down to this is what other universities in the UK are doing with the new situation, and basically what it comes down to is that the university gives you what is called a CAS number and you extend your student visa for this year out and the diploma unit in one quick blow.

Perfect right? No. My university currently does not want to give me said CAS number. The issue is there has to be a certain level of monitoring from the university during this period. Many universities including the ones the RIBA have asked, are already doing a course in which they monitor your year out helping you fill out the necessary forms. My university has no such course, so they are refusing to give me such a number. I’ve been talking to the RIBA about just how much needs to be monitored as they talk directly to the boarder agency, and to the architecture section of my university on how to set up some basic type of monitoring in order to get the officials at the university to give me said CAS number. The architecture department has been quite helpful through this all but there is still a serious uncertainty of if they will go through with it.

So what happens if I don’t get a visa you ask? Well fuck if I know thats for sure. I honestly don’t even know how I’ll afford a plane home, never mind getting set back up in the states. I guess that’s the main reason why this all so ugly... I guess all I can ask from you at this point is wishes for the best and things to distract my mind from all this worrying.