Refusal of Entry Clearance - Maintenance of Funds (Electronic Bank Statement)

I have applied for entry clearance from Chicago in US and my entry clearance for UK (Tier 1 PBS with HSMP Approval Letter) has been refused with following comments on grounds of maintenance of funds for last three months.

" I acknowledge that you bank statements demonstrate 2800 pounds for last three months however you have provided electronic bank statements which are not signed and stamped by bank."

In my case it was not feasible for me to arrange the 7 days old bank statements because my bank statements belongs to a bank which is overseas and my bank sent me an encrypted bank statements in PDF format to my email id. This statement contains all the information which is required for the VISA application and PDF statement bears the bank logo and bank stationary as background.

In good faith that my statement has all the required information, I submitted my application with the print out in original colors of my encrypted electronic bank statement.

(As a matter of fact i have been maintaing the balance for approximately one year twice the requirement)

Could anyone please guide me in this situation?

Unfortunately, you did not send the specified document. You might have sent what you sent in good faith, and the ECO may have had no doubts that you had the funds required, but there are only limited number of documents you are allowed to provide. You chose to send electronic copies, which in order to be acceptable must be either stamped by the issuing bank, or accompanied by a letter from the bank verifying the authenticity of he statements. This information is stated both in the Tier 1 General Policy Guidance and on the UKBA Website for Maintenance Requirements.

As to how to proceed from here? Make a new application and send either a letter from your bank meeting the criteria in the linked documents, original bank statements, or the same type of electronic copies but stamped by your bank per the guidance. An Admin Review request would be useless as the ECO does not appeared to have erred in reaching their decision.

Many Immigration Consultants offer a document checking service.

Finally, you should be aware that the per Paragraph 202 of the Guidance:

All evidence must be dated no more than one month before the application is  submitted.

rather than the old 7 day rule. With bank statements, only the most recent statement must meet the requirements of 202.

Could anyone please guide me in this situation?

Scan in your refusal notice and send it to Vicky or me.

If this is the only reaosn for refusal then there is almost certainly no point in sending it in.  A new application is the only way.

Vicky

I am also surprised that the case worker wants to get the electronic statements "signed" and stamped, per the comments from refusal letter. Per my undertanding, the guidelines only ask one to get bank statements stamped (not necessarily signed)

You're right - whoever wrote the refusal has used the criteria for electronic payslips, rather than electronic bank statements. Nonetheless, an AR request will still only produce a re-writen refusal letter.

Wow! This has me very nervous. I have my biometrics appointment this Wednesday. I just went online and printed off 3 months worth of bank statements but my bank logo and everything is on there.  When reading what the requested documents are for this, they simply say, "evidence of funds available to you, in the form of detailed bank statements covering at least 3 months"

Will they reject me simply because they are not bank stamped and signed by someone at the bank? The wording they use isn't really specific.

Again....different visas, different rules.  You are applying as a spouse, therefore nothing in this thread has any relevence for you.

Vicky

Hello everybody,
My situation is similar to the one posted at the beginning, or rather worse. I had submitted bank statements that were directly obtained from the bank and the approved visa service Worldbridge confirmed that if it is from the bank then it is ok. But the ECO rejected it thinking it was an online printout (that was the only reason). The bank told me that they don't have seals in the branches normally and since it was directly from the bank, I did not see the need. Now I know better, but too late I guess. I also submitted a certificate of deposit for the past year which is cash on hand and should be valid, but the ECO thought otherwise. I can't reapply becoz my HSMP approval letter expired 2 weeks after the application. I feel bad since this was just a technicality and it screwed me up without any recourse. Could I send in a letter from the bank saying that the original document was valid to the Admin review? Is there any option or I just have to suck it up and let go? What do you think is the best approach if there is anything at all. Garry/Vicky/Others...any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

I'm confused by your reference to an HSMP reference letter.  Was this a Tier 1 application or an HSMP entry clearance application?

Vicky

And it matters, because the rules are different.  Tier 1 is hard and fast, there are certain format for acceptable bank statements and alternative letters.  HSMP Entry Clearence is a different story, but it must have been quite a gap between getting your HSMP Approval Letter and when you applied for entry.

Since T1 came along, HSMP Approval letter holders have had to apply as "Tier 1 - HSMP Approval letter", rather than entry clearance as an HSMP. Therefore they have to satisfy the same maintenance requirements.

Re: the gap - HSMP approval letters are issued with a validity of 6 months, during which time you must apply for E/C.

I don't know how to deal with an overseas bank. Do they have any branches in the US? The reason I ask is that often banks will have operations in other countries if for nothing else than to help move money around. This is especially true with the very large banks. If they have a branch here you might be able to get the letter you need from them.

As for stamping statements or producing letters. As I mentioned in another thread, and others have mentioned previously, most large banks want all certification of accounts to go through a central office. This simplifies things for them, and makes it easier to make sure that they can charge for the service. As such most branch managers will usually refuse to produce the letter. To add to that, the verification letters that they will typically produce are geared for USCIS and have average balance and not minimum balance over a period of time.

One thing that you can try if you go to or talk to a branch manager is to see if they will provide a certified check. Many will not or a reluctant. However, if they can it means that they can certify an account has adequate funds (that is what a certified check is). As such you should be able to force them to produce the required letter. Bring or send the guidance and suggested text to help.

One thing that I seem to gather is that the guidance is written based upon UK banking practices and is not set-up to be accommodating to different countries banking regulations. For instance under the current law in the US banks can electronically sign a statement/certify a statement and it has the same legal standing as a paper copy that is certified. The UK is not obligated to accept this, but it would definitely make things simpler for most Americans if they would. Of course only some banks electronically sign their bank statements.

I had the HSMP approval letter dated sept 29 2008 and I was told to apply for the Entry clearance based on Tier 1 APPLICATION for HSMP approval letter. All points are automatically awarded based on approval letter and the only requirement is to show maintenance funds for Tier 1 visa and thats where I had this issue of not having stamped BANK STATEMENTS. I was told to apply just 3 months within my expected date of travel, so I applied on March 20th and got the refusal letter because of unstamped bank statements (STATEMENTS provided to me by my branch). March 29th is the last date of 6 months and so now reapplication won't work since the approval letter had expired. Any feedback/suggestions. Should I try for an Admin review or just quit? Thanks for your help.

In that case the guidance is clear.  I don't have time to copy and paste all the stuff in here, but read paragraph 204 in the following document: http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/pbs/tier1generalguidance310309.pdf

It says that:

Ad hoc bank statements printed on the bank’s letterhead are admissible as evidence (this excludes mini-statements from cash points).

Was the statements on bank's letterhead and did it contain all the right infromation in paragraph 204?  If it didn't, the administrative review will simply tell you they were following procedure.  If they were ad-hoc statements printed on the bank's letterhead you might have room for argument.

As far as what to do after the expiration of letter, I think the only option available is to apply for a Tier 1 anew, under the new guidelines, unless someone thinks otherwise.