Don’t you get annoyed when agents and consultancies over-charge you for the Cyprus student visa processing?
If you do, then this article is for you.
In this article, I will explain everything you need to know about Cyprus student visa processing without paying too much money to the agents.
Interested?
Read the article till the end.
I don’t hate agents. No, I don’t.
I just hate the way they do their businesses.
What business, you say?
Getting innocent students inside their vicious trap, telling them only 10% of the truth, and getting a huge amount of money from the colleges as a commission.
Are all the agents the same? Do they all follow the same business strategies?
No, they aren’t.
No, they don’t.
Some of them are trustworthy. Even though they charge the same amount of money as others, they tell you the whole reality of student life in Cyprus.
When you see the real picture of how your life will be in Cyprus, you will have an option to decide.
Good agents don’t only care about the money but also care about your future.
Unfortunately, it’s very rare to find those agents or consultants these days.
Most of the time, your agents lie to you.
Don’t fall into their trap.
Read here in detail about things your agents say about Cyprus that you mustn’t trust.
If only my agent had told me the truth, I wouldn’t have come to Cyprus on a student visa.
Only after coming to Cyprus, I realized that I really didn’t need an agent in the first place. I could have done all the processing by myself and save at least 3000 Euro.
Today in this article, I will guide you on how you can apply to Cyprus on a student visa without getting trapped by an agent.
But this process isn’t easy.
Agents make things easier. They help you with the documentation. But if you apply on your own, you have to do the documentation all by yourself.
Make sure you are up for it.
Select a college and know about their visa requirements
First of all, you need to choose a college in Cyprus. If you can afford it, go look for a university, but universities are expensive than colleges.
Read here about the top 5 universities in Cyprus for foreign students if you are interested.
Select a college, go to their official website, check for their contact details, and contact them.
Ask them what documents do they need. They will be needing some essential documents from you to provide you an offer letter.
Also, ask them about the available intakes.
Following are the documents they will usually tell you to prepare and send:
- School Level Certificates
- Higher Secondary School Level Certificates
- If you are applying for a Master’s, you also have to provide Bachelor’s Level Certificates.
- IELTS certificate
- Citizenship scan copy
- Passport scan copy
- Passport size photos scanned copies.
If they need some more documents than these, they will let you know.
Read here about the top 16 best colleges in Cyprus for International students.
Be your own agent
Aashish, are you crazy?
I am looking for a better way to apply for my student visa, and you are telling me to become an agent now?
Have you gone mad?
No, I haven’t.
You can be your own agent too. When you contact the college, they will ask you who your agent is?
You have to tell them that you are applying on your own.
Some of the colleges are OK with this, but many colleges don’t accept this proposal. They don’t allow students to apply on their own single-handedly.
If they say you can, then it’s good for you.
If they say you can’t, ahh, what a bad luck.
When you tell them you want to apply without an agent, they will ask you to go to an agent because they don’t have to get into any trouble.
They have their own reasons, obviously.
The college might already have an agent in your country who has worked for them previously. So the college will tell you to go to them and apply from them.
Eventually, the agent will overcharge you the fee, and you are doomed.
The main purpose of this article is to guide you on how “Not-to-get-trapped-by-an-agent,” but the college is sending you to an agent.
Didn’t want an agent … told the college that you would apply on your own … the college didn’t agree … the college sent you to an agent … the agent took the commission money.
See how you have come to a full circle.
But don’t worry.
Every problem comes with a solution.
Here is how you fix it.
Make your own agent
Do I open a consultancy now? Do I keep people in the office, make them agents and pay them, just so that I could save around 3000 Euro for the Cyprus student visa?
Lol, you are so funny.
No, you don’t do that.
When I said make your own agent, I didn’t mean you to open a business and hire people.
What I meant was, “find someone in Cyprus who could work as an agent for you so that you don’t need to go to the agents in your country.”
Confused?
Let me make things clear to you.
The college said you couldn’t apply on your own, and you need an agent. But the college didn’t say the agent has to be from your country.
This means the agent can be from Cyprus too.
If you are applying for Cyprus, chances are you already have someone in Cyprus.
Be it a friend, a relative, or someone you already know.
But also stay aware of them too.
You trust them blindly, and they shove a knife on your back.
So only trust them when you can really “trust” them.
Ask them if they are ready to help you.
Just to know if they are trustworthy, ask them a simple question.
How much is the college fee in Cyprus?
If their answer is around 2300 Euro, then you can trust them.
If they say the college fee is around 4600 Euro, then they are lying. Trusting them would be your biggest mistake.
College fees range from 2000 Euro to 2500 Euro a year. Other than that amount goes directly into the agent’s bank account.
To know more in detail, read this article about “how much is the actual college fee in Cyprus?”
Sending your friend to the college as an agent
Ok, now, what do you do?
Let’s say your friend agree on helping you.
First of all, he has to go to the college you want to apply to.
He has to go and meet with the admission department. He needs to tell them that he wants to bring students to this college.
The college never says no.
They will ask your friend some questions, and they will agree on collaborating with him.
Why not, right? Somebody is bringing them money, so why would they say “NO” to it.
They will give your friend a form, where he has to fill in all your details and submit it back to them.
Your friend might have to give some amount of money to the college as a security deposit, so you should probably give it back to him in the future.
It won’t be more than 100 – 150 Euros.
Now, you need an offer letter. As I said above, you have to send all your academic documents to the college for them to provide you with an offer letter.
As your friend is there now, you can send it to him. He can go and submit them to the college.
Once you receive your offer letter, your further documentation for Cyprus student visa processing begins.
What are the basic documents requirement?
Cyprus doesn’t need too many documents to provide a visa to a student. The documentation process is much easier for Cyprus.
Here are the major documents that you will need to prepare:
- Academic Documents
- IELTS Certificate
- Medical Certificate
- Bank Statement
- Police Report or Police Clearance Certificate
- NOC (No Objection Certificate from foreign ministry)
If you want to know better about these documents, I suggest you read this article about “Cyprus student visa requirements” where I have explained everything in detail.
Also, if you are from one of these countries mentioned below, you can click on the link and check the article. These articles have a step-by-step guide on how to apply to Cyprus on a student visa from your country.
All these documents have to be attested in your country from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It’s not compulsory for everyone, though. Things might be different in your country.
Your friend in Cyprus would have all the information about all the documents that you need to prepare. So start preparing documents following up on his suggestions.
Sending documents to the college
When you have all the required documents prepared, you need to bring them to the Cyprus Consulate/Cyprus Embassy in your country.
They need to analyze and stamp your documents before you send them to Cyprus.
Choose DHL to courier your documents. They are more reliable and faster than other services.
You can courier the documents to your friend’s address or directly to the college.
I suggest you send it to your friend first.
If there is some issue, then it’s better to fix it before sending the documents to the college.
Your friend can then take the documents and submit them to the college.
Related article: Pros and Cons Of Studying In Cyprus For International Students
Waiting for the visa
You have prepared all the documents and sent them to college. What do you do now?
You wait for the visa.
It takes somewhere from 2 to 3 months for your Cyprus student visa to get issued.
When you get your visa, the college will inform your friend. Also, if you have given them your mail address, they will probably mail you and give you the good news.
Sending money to the college
You haven’t sent the college fee yet.
Also, you shouldn’t send it before getting your visa. Keep this in mind. When you apply from an agent, they tell you that it’s compulsory to send the college fee in order to get the visa.
No, it’s not. They are lying.
Now, you have your visa, so you need to send the college fee.
You have to send it from the same bank from where you have prepared the bank statement.
You have to go to your bank and tell the bank you need to send the money to the college. They will give you a form to fill in.
In the form, you need to fill in the details of your college, and their bank account number, with some other necessary information.
How much do you send?
You send whatever your college has told you to send, which will be between 4500 and 5200 Euro.
Wait; what?
Above in the article, you told us that the college fee is only between 2000 Euro to 2500 Euro a year, but now you are saying we have to pay 4500 Euro to 5200 Euro? What’s this? I’m confused?
Let me just clear your confusion.
Your friend knows that you are his friend. You know that he is your friend. But the college doesn’t know that you guys are friends.
Got it?
According to the college, your friend is an agent. So when this agent brings students to the college, they are obligated to give him a commission.
Now, they can’t give him a commission from their fee structure, so they add the commission in the fee itself.
Suppose their fee is 2500 Euro, and they will take extra 500 Euro as a security visa deposit, which means the college should have 3000 Euro. Don’t worry; when you go back home after you finish your studies, they will give you your 500 Euro back.
Now the college has to pay the agent too. So they will pay 2000 Euro to him, not from their 3000 Euro, but from the additional fee.
College fee = 3000 Euro
Agent’s commission = 2000 Euro
Total amount a student should pay = 3000 (fee) + 2000 (commission) = 5000 Euro.
Hence, your college fee becomes 5000 Euro.
Now here is the plot twist.
You send 5000 Euro to the college. When you reach Cyprus and get registered, your friend gets his commission, i.e., 2000 Euro.
He can take that money from the college and give it back to you.
You get your 2000 Euro back.
What if you don’t have anyone in Cyprus?
This can also happen, right? You mightn’t have anyone in Cyprus. What would you do at that time?
If that situation comes, you need to go to an agent in your country.
If you have followed the article until now, you know the actual college fee in Cyprus, things agents say about Cyprus that you mustn’t trust, and the required documentation for a Cyprus student visa.
You have information about Cyprus now.
Agents can’t fool you because you know how to answer them.
Go to the agents and tell them that you will only pay 200 Euro or 500 Euro as the commission fee, nothing more than that.
At first, they might say, “No.”
All you have to do is, say Thank you and start walking out the door.
They need money to run a business. These hungry agents won’t even let go of 1 Euro.
They will tell you to sit down and try to negotiate.
You have to stick to your rate. If they say they are ok with that amount, apply from them.
If they say they can’t, just walk out the door and find another agent who can work on your rate.
Sooner or later, you will find someone. Just be patience.
Conclusion
These agents get a commission from the college, and they also take money from you as their service charge too.
College commission = Around 2000 Euro
Their service charge = Around 1000 Euro
See my friend; I just saved your 3000 Euro.
That’s a good amount of money. Use it wisely.
I wish you all the best for your future.
I suggest you read the following articles to know better about the Cyprus student visa.
How Much Can An International Student Earn In Cyprus?
Can You Bring Your Spouse On A Dependent Visa With Your Cyprus Student Visa?
Will Cyprus ever join the Schengen Zone?
Where to Look For A Job In Cyprus as An International Student?
Can You Visit The EU Countries With A Cyprus Student Visa?
Message to agents:
If you are an agent reading this article, I just want to tell you a few things.
You know how much time and effort it takes for a middle-class family to save or arrange 3000 Euro?
And, you just take it from them on a snap.
I am not saying you shouldn’t charge anything, but you can charge less.
Charge 1000 Euro rather than 3000 as your service fee.
Don’t try to build your house by destroying others.
Be someone whom everyone admires. Not the one who lives in curses.
Cheers!
