Entry Clearance Assistant

Job Description

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
British Consulate-General
845 Third Avenue
New York
NY 10022
Monday 16th October 2006

Christopher Rath: Entry Clearance Assistant

As an Entry Clearance Assistant my role is to perform essential administrative tasks, which ensure that all types of visa applications are processed according to Best Practice. I do this by assuming six responsibilities that are rotated between all the Entry Clearance Assistants with whom I work. These duties are described below.

Information Desk

• Reception duties which include responding to telephone enquiries, passport distribution to applicants and couriers, providing appropriate visa forms and referring Britons to the Consular Officer
• Receiving client’s and consular enquiries
• Liaising with the visa section’s outsourced telephone enquiry service

Mail Processing

• Checking correctness of received applications and taking appropriate action
• Entering received applications onto Proviso, the FCO’s visa management system
• Correlating supporting documentation for Entry Clearance Officer

Cashier

• Identifying the correct visa fee
• Accepting payments from applicants and operating the cash register
• Being responsible for all payments until there are passed to the accounts team
• Preparing visa fee spreadsheets for the accounts team

Visa Registry

• Scheduling visa interviews
• Bringing up deferred applications
• Filing visa application forms (VAFs) and refusal notices

Entry Clearance Writer

• Checking correctness of visa details before printing
• Printing, embossing and inserting visa vignettes into passports
• Being responsible for the safekeeping of visa vignettes

Troubleshooter

• Scanning passports for the refusing or senior entry clearance officer
• Contacting applicants who have sent incomplete applications or included an incorrect fee
• Checking and entering settlement applications onto Proviso