Visa

Got my visa, after 3 trips to London. Since it was really hard to find information about visas in advance, the following might be useful for others getting visas for Bangladesh in the UK...

There are at least four types of visa: tourist, business, research, and student. Tourist visas seem the easiest to get, are for up to 2 months, and I don't think anything is required - although according to the High Commission website you need something like a letter confirming your reservation with a hotel. For a business visa (up to 6 months) you need a letter confirming you work for a UK company, and possibly a letter from a company/organisation in Bangladesh as well. For a student visa I think you just need a letter of invitation from the university in Bangladesh. For a research visa you need a letter from the Bangladesh Ministry of Education. I asked for a research visa but was gently persuaded to apply for a student visa instead... I complied not wanting to quibble about whether my primary purpose is really 'research' or 'study'. Student visa options were single-entry 3 months (around £40), double-entry 6 months (around £50), or multiple entry 1 year (around £70 I think). Be prepared for multiple trips to the Commission.

A somewhat stressful last day in UK, packing and hauling my stuff in to the loft took most of the day, still have a few things to do and might try to get a few hours sleep before my 4.40am taxi.