Student Residence Permit and The Embassy

Most of the countries are taking a VISA (a sticker in the passport) as a residence pass in their country, but Finland choose to use personal identification permit, something like IC card for the foreigner. You though the function of residence permit is same as VISA? No, you are totally wrong. Once you holding their residence permit, you are a part of the Finland until the expiry date of your permit. You will have the same benefits as Finnish people, you can get the same treatment there, you won't be excluded in their events. It is also more convenient, you no need to bring your passport all they way you go because the VISA is in there (you won't choose to tear it out right?), you just carry the residence permit in your purse like how you bring your IC in Malaysia.

Actually the process of application is very fast, most of the time waste at queuing, you queue to wait for your turn. I queued for about three weeks, and they processed my visa at 12 Dec, accepted at 19 Dec, then it arrived Malaysia at 21 Dec. For US, they will send the passport to the address that you wrote when applying VISA, but for Finland, you have to visit the embassy again to collect your permit. You no need to bring any documents there because when you show them your face, they know who are you and will give you the permit after you sign on the photocopy of your permit as their reference. (Only applicable if the receptionist knows you haha!)

By the way, the embassy located at the Menara MCA, Jalan Ampang, Level 5. Once you go out from the lift, you will see a financial management office, next to it is Finland Embassy. The embassy looks like inner security room of a bank. Thick metal door with a doorbell. Once you ring it, the door will buzz and you need to pull it hard to open it (it is heavy). I lean my whole body on it to open it at the first time haha. There is only one Malaysian receptionist, and their inner office i could see a few Finnish and most of Malaysian. The embassy is just an office big, not something that I expected... a huge building with grand architecture design, royally looking...-- No. It is just an office with a heavy metal door.

Once your permit arrived, you should receive a call from the receptionist. She will tell you to pick up the permit at embassy. Just to be safe, call them every week to check if your permit arrived once you received an email for accepting your application. While mine have no problem... but my senior's case is, the embassy did not call him to pick up his permit, and he rushed there three days before his departure. (I called them so many times until they remember my name...)

It is a shame that I forget to take picture of the inner design of embassy, and I also wonder am I allow to take photo inside...? Should it remain confidential or what?

The signboard(?) at the outer wall of Menara MCA

This shield-like logo found beside the metal door

I Get An Offer!

I received email from both ISEP and the institute from Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. You just need to wait for the PPAF and IIS to come and complete the PPAF, which you need to reupload some document that you did on the ISEP page, as the ISEP is just a middle-man between you and the institute there, sometimes the institute do not get much information from ISEP. Then you will also start to process passport and visa things once your insurances is done. Person-in-charge will buy the insurances for all of us, go don't worry much about this. Just make sure whatever she asked, you respond as fast as you could. Different institute will have different type of doing stuff. As for my friends from Orenda also, Fatiha going to Univeristy of East Tennessee, US received an e-manual regarding all of the information she needed whether it is about the orientation program or the culture, expenses and everything she need to know. Chiang Kai Huei received a hard copy from University of South Indiana, US which they post it to him. a huge and heavy manual. While I received nothing, since I am the first ISEP student that will go to their institute, kind of like white rat. They are so passive, if I don't ask, they wont answer. This is quite disturbing as do they assume that I know everything without people teach me? This is not coded in gene ok? Self-learning is also not applicable here as there is no model for me to mirroring.

I explore myself and found out that I need to apply for my housing, so I went to the page and click on one of the option, then found out that i need to pay about 290 euros first. As i mention, we no need to pay for housing as it includes in ISEP benefits, so I email them and ask what happened now. 

Upper message is one of the question I asked regarding housing, and they reply me this...

Second part of the email. I can see that they are in chaos...

This is the first problem that i faced... this actually bothered me for a week and I am quite worried, if they insisted that I need to pay the rental, then every month 290 euros... no I can't imagine how would it be. It is really a huge relieve when they said it is actually their miscommunication problem.

Then the PPAF and IIS finished, my health insurances safely arrived (?) to me also, so I immediately apply my visa online via enterfinland.fi The document needed are passport pdf, evidence of acceptance letter from Finland institute, means of support, reasons, and so on. After online application, you need to go to Finland Embassy to prove your identity and have your finger print. Before that, remember to bank in to their account and bring the receipt along with the attachment. I paid RM1400.

This is the website for online visa application. You need to create an account before you apply. Choose First Residence Permit, then choose Student Residence Permit for our case. 

Apply it as early as possible since the visa normally need 6 weeks to proceed (for finland), US case is faster, but US need to interview when you apply, Finland no need. When you go to embassy there, you can contact person-in-charge and ask her to prepare a car for you, but allow her 3 days to book the car for you. The driver will send you to the embassy and wait for you, send you back too. 

After you submit it online, you still need to print all the attachment and the form of online application out, bring it to the embassy and hand in one more times. That time, the person there told me my insurances coverage not enough as they said they need 100k euros, but mine only 25k US dollar. I was like going to speak bad words as no matter how I explained that is the one and only one insurances I can buy for my ISEP, they still told me I need to buy extra one, maybe private insurances company such as APA or AIG. I quite worried as I am afraid my visa could not proceed, but you know what, my senior do not face this problem when he went to Finland. I asked my senior, Khairul Izwan about this, he has no idea, nor do Kak Asiah (person-in-charge) know. I confirmed with them, so with this problem, can my visa proceed? Luckily they told me still can proceed, just maybe later the Finland Govrn there will send me an email about this. Relieved! If like that, I will wait until they email me.

Just a few days ago, I received an email from Finland, and I though is my insurances problem, but no! It is about my means of support. They requested me to send evidence to prove that I have 1170 euros in my bank account plus evidence that I have at least 560 euros per month to cover my living expenses. God knows I send them three document about my benefits, which coverage is 650 euros per month!! I still left less than 20 days before departure, and now they ask me something like that. You know the most funny is, they said any enquiries can email them. When I email, they auto-reply me stated that they already received and in order to make sure high-efficent, they won't reply message. WT... i called embassy in Malaysia, they do not know about this (what!?), Kak Asiah also don't know, Khairul also don't know... Luckily, just now the person work there email me about this, and say it was their miscalculation. Can I curse?

I wonder why my VISA application so many problems... and most of them are either miscommunication or miscalculation. When I feel relieved, I feel I want to punch them in face too. My Visa was accepted and now just waiting for it to deliver to Malaysia's Finland embassy. 

Oh yah by the way, I joined the fb group for incoming spring term 2017 exchange student in abo akademi university. I just got to know something called Student Union card from Khairul too... they did not tell me about this. Student Union Card is something that we should apply if we want our life easier and get discount when buying things there.

Applying ISEP

I know ISEP at my Orientation Week, when they show us the video about our senior and also picture of seniors that went ISEP. They persuade us to apply for it, and I personally like to go travel very very much! SO i applied.

When I went to the taklimat, boom!!! Mind blown. OMG there are so many steps to do. You know what? I saw my friends' face all turn green. Well I guess mine maybe not better than them. Almost break down that time when I open the page and saw more than 200 universities available and I need to filter it one by one, from language requirement to course provided. From the benefits to living cost. This process really took a long time, and I struggled for almost one sem. I though I couldn't make it, but I went through it. At that time, I met Dr Hazalizah (my KJ) several times, Kak Asiah (person-in-charge) many times thru email, and Dr Nurul Ain (my academic reference). I had my laguage proficiency interview by Dr Raja (TESL lecturer) and I suggest her, she is the most easy interviewer among the rest. Choose her if she is one of the interviewer.

Then the essay part, haha this one funny,. I have my friend backup me. I wrote the essay, and she checked it since I tend to make a lot of grammar mistake. Actually I took about two months to complete the essay as I want to make it perfect, as perfect as possible. I take back my english level when SPM (my legend time hahaha😆) and rocked my brain hard, then my friend will help me in correct the grammar error. I edit and edit for several times and upload it because the due date is tomorrow... if not, i will continue edit it until i satisfied. This is one of the paragraph...
"Overall, the reasons I want to take part in ISEP is because I hope to displace my ignorance with enlightenment on the subtleties of a different way of life, even if it is not too entirely different from my own now. I would say that this is one of the most exciting decisions I have made in my life"
Even i look back at my own essay now, I couldn't believe that it was once from my brain.

The applying part is very tortured for me... as I like to settle things fast and in once, but this one I could only settle it one by one, at a very slow pace... That was really torture! 

When you are applying, you think that nothing is more complicated than these.... yah i think that too, not until I started my step two...

About ISEP

I guess I should update my progress of ISEP here, as a reference for those interested and also my personal refresh.

Before I start, I want to mention that without passion and determination, applying ISEP will be very suffer as it involve a lot of parties and need to refer a lot of people, need to do a lot of documentation task and emails. Lots of student give up half way just because the procedure is too hectic and the process is too long. The price you pay is also big, you need to mentally prepare that you might need to extend sem in some rare cases. Not only during application, when you come back to UPSI, you still have a lots of cleaning to do, transfer credits and so on. You have to be very independent as most of the problems you face when applying you need to settle on your own. Although we will receive some scholarship there, either it is in voucher form, invoice form, or bank in, we still need to invest money before going there (unless you are not going to their winter season). Because my tern will go at Jan-May, so it is still winter. We need to buy winter clothing and it is not cheap in Malaysia. Seniors suggest e to buy at Family Bundle in Ampang, but they went to US, mine is Finland, a lot more colder than US, so I choose to refer my senior that went to Finland, and he suggested Universal Traveller(UT) and Sox World. I personally suggest you to buy from UT too if you have the budget (Or Winter Times, more expensive!), but if don't have, maybe can try Uniqlo or Terranova. For clothing, I spend almost a thousand. Think carefully before apply. Yet, ISEP really brings benefits and it is very shame if we don't apply.

This is how the ISEP page looks like. To sign in, click the "log in" at upper right, or directly go to sat.isep.org

So first let me brief a bit what is ISEP. ISEP is acronym for International Student Exchange Program, as it's name says the function so I just skip it. ISEP is not the only organization that serves exchange student, but also include ERASMUS and so on. Something that UPSI student should cherish, UPSI is the one and only one Malaysia's institute that participate in ISEP. In the other word, only UPSI student can apply for ISEP (hurray!) Yet, before you apply make sure to ask your dean / KJ as they might forbid you for applying...(especially education program) The website: http://isepstudyabroad.org   or   http://sat.isep.org

To apply ISEP, First you need to be sem 2, and you need to attend a taklimat held by bahagian akademik 3 every sem. The venue will be inform once you email to the person-in-charge for registration. Timetable will be announce at upsi portal, so stay alert! When you attend the taklimat, person-in-charge will teach you all the steps and open an ISEP account for you, which you will frequently visit and fill in the document needed in the account.

As i mention first, documentation process takes a long time. I just briefly explain a bit here, the rest when you attend taklimat you will know all.

After log in, this is what you will see

There are six section you need to fill in, and each section will have sub-section.

1) Participant Profile
- Biographical Information (name, gender, address, citizenship)
- Dependents ( just select "NO" if you don't have a child)
- Emergency Contact
- Academic Information (Your major, minor, expected graduation date, list of classes taken, terms for ISEP and so on)
- Terms and Condition ( look thru it before accept)

2) Host Request List
For this process, you need to filter all the universities available for UPSI and email them one by one to get the information about the list of benefits they give, qualification to apply and so on. Some university / country need certain language requirement such as Australia, England... they need TOEFL or IELTS. Japan or Germany, France, Spain they need their language level certificate. Be patient when gathering the information as this process will take most of the sem (almost one sem). Fill in at least 10 institute. Mostly go to US, or Korea.

3) Course Request List
This process you need to contact their academic department / education service or whatever they called that in charge for academic part. You need to ask them the course syllabus (UPSI called it RI). Even though the subject you take have the same name with subject in UPSI, but sometimes the syllabus is not same, this will cause problem when you come back, maybe you cannot transfer credits. This step is very crucial as you need to print out the RI and meet your Ketua Jabatan (KJ) and ask them whether you can take this subject or not. If can, ask them to sign on the RI if they agree you can take the subject as an evidence. (sometimes they quite forgetful). Fill in the courses you want to take at every institute you apply just now.

4) Documentation
- Language Proficiency (you need to interview at UPSI by TESL lecturer to test your english ability to speak with confident and grammatically correct)
- Personal Statement (you need to write an essay with 300-350 words. This is the question I get, maybe they won't change question?  "ISEP is unique because it offers the opportunity for full immersion in the host culture. However, it is your responsibility to make the most of this experience. Introduce yourself and explain your academic goals for studying abroad and for integrating into the host culture. What specific situations from your past (i.e., coursework, job experience, travel, intercultural experience) have helped you prepare to accomplish these goals?")
- Academic Reference (you need to find a lecturer that is at least Dr title to be your academic reference, or we called it PA - Penasihat Akademik. They will received an email to rate you. Remember to find somebody that is quick and not lazy... they need to upload one document, if they did not upload, you will not be accept by the ISEP)
- Passport (upload your passport pdf of the identification page. If you don't have a passport yet, just check the box indicate that you are processing)
- Transcript (latest final result)
- Additional Information (no need)

5) Coordinator Reference
(no need, not your job)

6) Application Fee
(no need)

This is just the first step. When all these settle, and you shall get an answer from ISEP at the first few weeks of next semester. Then you can proceed to the second step. You need to fill in the form that person-in-charge email you so that academic there can help you to buy insurances. The university that accept you will contact you soon. There is the time where you can ask question about the institute, academic and so on. You will have a guidelines (or maybe not) that teach you how to apply visa.

You will start to settle things such as your housing there, bank, visa, at that semester. The rest I will share later in my own experience post.

The benefits of applying ISEP are, it actually opens your eyes that let you see how good is other countries in academic area. You can compare between two countries, having vacation while studying where your housing and meals are provided (in other word, free!). You can meet new friends that have different language, skin, hair and races. You do not need to pay for the tuition fee there, UPSI will pay for you, and all you need to do is pay the tuition fee at UPSI (around RM1500 per sem that we need to pay every sem). UPSI will pay for your VISA, passport and flight ticket too, You just need to pay for your own personal expenses such as vacation, transport fee, books and so on. While there are cons too. Like my case, I am going to Finland which is an Europe country, that the education system is totally different. It is hard to transfer credits and I might not even transfer one of them, so I am at high risk of extend sem, but I think it does not bother me much as the experience itself worth a lot. Not to mention the time consuming procedure, when you come back UPSI still got a lot of things to settle, sometimes it might drag until sem 8 also haven't settle. Even though you do not need to pay much. but if you go to Spring term, you still need to buy winter cloths as January still consider winter if you go to western country. Europe country even worst as like Finland 365 days are cold, January can reach -30. Winter cloths not cheap in Malaysia... in Universal Traveller, one coat alone cost you about RM300 cheapest.