WMA Class 4 CoC

Course Title: 

STCW III/1 Engineer Officer of the Watch (EOOW) Examination Route for Experienced Seafarers. It is also popularly known as Class 4 FG CoC.

University location:

90 minutes drive from London Heathrow airport. Solent University is located in the heart of the city of Southampton.

Course Start Dates:

Batches: 3 times a year (Aug / Dec / Mar)

▪️ 21 August 2023 Distance Learning – 18 September 2023 – Campus Phase.

▪️ 04 December 2023 Distance Learning – 15 January 2024 – Campus Phase.

▪️ 25 March 2024 Distance Learning – 22 April 2024 – Campus Phase.

Course Duration:

Your duration of stay in the UK will be 6 months so that you can get a minimum of 2 – 3 attempts at the written exams in the UK. You will have 1 month of online learning before you leave for the UK for the campus phase. 

Procedure to obtain EOOW CoC: 

▪️ Apply for the UK MNTB Training Record Book (TRB) and Letter of Initial Assessment (LIA).

▪️ Complete a minimum of 9 months of sea time after issuance of the MNTB TRB whilst completing the MNTB TRB and workbook onboard ship. You can do more than 9 months’ sea time also for e.g., 18 months after issuance of LIA but less than 9 months after issuance of LIA will not be accepted for issuance of the MCA eligibility letter (NoE).

▪️ IELTS English test – As your visa duration is of 6 months only, hence IELTS is NOT required for you.

▪️ Proceed to the UK University for your course. You will need to clear the following exams in the UK:

🔺️MCA orals.

🔺️Workshop Skills.

🔺️ EK Motor & EK General, EK Control, Science A and Science B written exams.

🔺️Complete the following MCA-approved STCW advanced courses and ancillary short courses: 

➡️AFF 

➡️MFA

➡️PSCRB

➡️High Voltage

➡️HELM. 

▪️Apply for your UK STCW III/1 EOOW CoC. 

It takes about 3 weeks for the MCA to issue your CoC after you have cleared all your written exams, a workshop skills test,  MCA orals, and STCW advanced and ancillary courses. MCA will courier the CoC to you.

How to apply for the  UK MNTB TRB:

▪️ You need to have completed a minimum of 24 months of sea time as an Oiler / Motorman or Fitter to apply for the UK MNTB TRB. Wiper sea time will ONLY be counted provided the nature of duties on the Chief Engineer (C/E) testimonial is mentioned as IVb i.e., first assistant to the main watchkeeper on Main Engine (M/E) and Boiler duties. If the C/E testimonial mentions the nature of duties as IVc i.e., 2nd Assistant then Wiper sea time will not be counted. You should have stamps on the CDC and C/E testimonials for the sea time to be counted. If you do not have the C/E testimonials, then that sea time will not be counted. In such a case, you can request your company to give you a company sea time letter for each ship individually in the C/E testimonial format on the company letterhead. The C/E signature will be replaced by the Ship Superintendent’s signature on the company sea time letter. You also need to have STCW III/4 Watch Rating Certificate. If you do not have it from your country’s maritime administration, you can get the Panama watchkeeping certificate also.

Please email or WhatsApp the following documents to us to apply for the UK MNTB TRB:

▪️ University application form. See University Application Form at the bottom of this page. Take a B&W printout of the first 2 pages of the PDF file, fill it up by pen, sign it, and send it to us by email or WhatsApp.

▪️ Passport first page and address page.

▪️ CDC first page and all sea service stamp pages.

▪️ STCW basic courses – PST + PSSR + FPFF + EFA.

▪️ STCW III/4 Watch Rating Certificate.

▪️ Valid Medical Fitness Certificate.

▪️ C/E testimonials for at least 24 months sea time.

▪️ Payment of £210 for issuance of the MNTB TRB and Letter of Initial Assessment (LIA).

Once you have submitted the above documents to us, we will explain the online payment procedure on how to pay to the University.

It will take 2 – 3 weeks to receive your MNTB TRB and LIA after all documents and payment have been submitted to the University. For Indian students, the TRB will come to our office in Mumbai, and we will courier the TRB to your address in India. If you reside in a different country, the University will directly courier the TRB to you through DHL and the University will charge £40 extra towards DHL courier charges.

Fees payment timeline:

The sequence of tuition fee payment to the University is as explained below:

▪️ Initial payment of £210 is made to apply for the MNTB TRB and LIA.

▪️ The student then completes a minimum of 9 months (or more) sea time after the date of issuance of the LIA. He will then book a seat with the University by making a non-refundable payment of £1,000 to the University. The payment of £1,000 is made to the same University bank account where the student earlier paid £210 for the issuance of the MNTB TRB and LIA. Kindly note that this payment of £1,000 is non-refundable if you decide to withdraw from the course later. This deposit money of £1,000 can however be transferred up to 2 years forward in the name of the student for the same course in the same University but not in the name of any other friend / relative or for any other course. For e.g., if you booked for the September 2022 EOOW course, you could then transfer the deposit up to September 2024 for the same EOOW course, not beyond that. Your admission letter will come by email in about 3 weeks’ time after the deposit payment of £1,000 has been made to the University. This deposit payment of £1,000 will be deducted from your total tuition fees of £7,895.

▪️The student pays 50% of the course fees (including the seat booking payment of UK £1,000) before he can start the initial one-month online learning. This will be  £3,950 including the seat booking deposit of UK £1,000. If a student desires, he can opt to pay the full fee of £7,895 before the online study commencement also.

▪️The remaining balance 50% of the course tuition fees will be paid to the University after receiving the UK visa.

▪️The University will only take the tuition fees from the student. The remaining money for food, accommodation, flight tickets, visas, MCA STCW courses, MCA NoE, etc., remains with the student and the student pays as and when they use those services.

Visa Show Money:

The money to be shown for the visa has the following x2 parts:

▪️ Course fees: £7,895

▪️ Living expenses for 6 months: £6,138

The total show money for the visa is £14,033 including any tuition fees already paid to the University.

For Indian students, if 1£ = 105 INR, the show money will be around 14.75 Lakhs INR. It is always better to show an additional 50,000 INR for any currency fluctuations that may happen.

If you wish, you can pay the full tuition fee of  £7,895 before the visa application also. If you do that, then the show money for the visa will be £6,138 only.

This is advisable if you can show only for e.g., £6,138 savings from your ship’s salary, and the balance money is being arranged from friends/relatives / other sources, etc. The money borrowed from friends/relatives should be used to pay off the full tuition fees whilst the savings from your own salary in your bank account should be shown for the UK visa purpose. The visa officer will likely not ask for the source of funds for the money already paid to the University. However, the visa officer will want to see documentary evidence of the source of funds for the money that you will be showing towards living expenses when you apply for the UK visa. Most short-term visa refusals happen because the visa officer is not convinced of the source of funds for the money shown when applying for the UK visa. Hence, it is very important that the money that you earn from ships salary is maintained in your bank account and not given away to friends/relatives. Visa officers will not accept the logic that you gave the ship’s salary money to your friends and that they have returned this money back to you.

Total Expenses:

▪️ TRB + LIA: £210

▪️ Tuition Fees: £7,895

▪️ MCA NoE: £220

▪️ Exam Fees: £380

▪️ Living Expenses for 6 months: £2,100 in an off-campus shared budget accommodation. 

▪️ Flight ticket: £600

▪️ Visa fees: £100

▪️ MCA, UK approved STCW advanced courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB) + High Voltage and HELM: £1,700 if done in India.

TOTAL: £13,205

At £ = 105 INR, this works out to 13.85 Lakhs INR.

Overseas students who are coming to India for 6 weeks to do the MCA, STCW  courses may include an additional cost of £1,000 towards their expenses for doing the MCA courses in India.

Carrying Spouse and Children to the UK:

Your wife and children can accompany you to the UK on a VISITOR VISA (not dependent visa) for a maximum of 6 months period. Spouse and children are not allowed to work in the UK on a visitor visa. There is no IELTS English test requirement for spouse and child. The visitor visa application fee is £120 per applicant. You will have to show an extra £4,080 per family member who wishes to accompany you to the UK. For e.g., if wife and one child are accompanying you to the UK, then you must show £8,160 extra funds for their visas. You can show this money in your own bank account or spouse account for their visas. There is no additional document required from the University for your spouse and child visitor visa application. Your spouse will require her passport and marriage certificate at the time of visa application. The child will need to submit his passport and birth certificate at the time of visa application. We will assist you with the spouse and child visitor visa application procedure.

Passing Exams in the UK:

During your stay of 6 months in the UK, you will get 2 – 3 attempts at the written exams. In 2 – 3 attempts, around 85% – 90% of the students would have cleared their exams. 10 – 15% of students who do not clear their exams in 2 – 3 attempts will have to return back to their country as the visa would expire in 6 months. Also, visit visas cannot be extended in the UK. You will then have to re-apply for a UK visitor visa to travel to the UK for about 3 – 4 days to appear for your re-sit exams and come back to your home country. When you re-apply for your UK visitor visa, you will need to show around £2,000 funds in your bank account as you are going for a very short duration. The actual expenses incurred for your 2nd trip including your flight ticket, visa fees, exam fees and 3 – 4 days of stay in the UK will cost an additional £1,000 approximately. Eventually, every student will clear their EOOW CoC. Some students will clear on their 1st trip to the UK (i.e., in 2 – 3 attempts) whilst some students may take a 2nd trip to the UK to clear their exams and obtain the EOOW CoC.

Accommodation:

Off-campus accommodation is available about 5 – 10 minutes walking distance from the University. We will share the contact details of the landlords with you before your travel to the UK and you can then contact them directly on WhatsApp. Expect to spend about £350 per month on food and accommodation when living in a shared house with other students on a conservative budget. It will take about 3 – 4 days to arrange your accommodation on arrival in the UK.

Travelling to Southampton:

You will fly to London Heathrow (LHR) airport and then take a coach / bus to Southampton. We will do your flight ticket bookings if you want us to do or else you can do yourself online on various travel portals. The bus journey time will be around 90 minutes. The coach / bus starts from LHR airport to Southampton, and you can book the ticket on:

www.nationalexpress.com 

Educational Loan / Personal Loan:

For Indian seafarers, many banks in India do provide Educational Loans and Personal Loans. Although loans are never guaranteed, around 70% of our students are able to get an educational / personal loan. We will give you contact details if you wish to apply for educational / personal loans. For overseas students, Indian banks can’t offer educational loans and hence you will need to apply for the same with banks in your respective countries.

Around 300+ students go annually to Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton, UK for their Deck and Engine CoC courses. These students are from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, Nigeria, Kenya, etc. We will introduce you to the other students who will be doing the same course as you in the same batch.

If you have any queries, please revert on phone, e-mail or WhatsApp.

Contact Details:

Kunal Anshuman

Springdale India

529, Mastermind 4,

Royal Palms, Aarey Colony,

Goregaon E, Mumbai – 400 065

Maharashtra, INDIA.

Email: kunal.anshuman@springdaleindia.com

www.ukcoc.in 

File Attachments:

1. EOOW Application Form

2. Documents for MNTB TRB application

3. University Bank Details

4. EOOW Course Fees

5. MCA NoE procedure