Minimising risk of visa refusal- finance and funding

The main reason given by UK Visas and Immigration for Student Visa refusals, is a problem with students evidencing their maintenance requirements. This information can help you minimise the risk of your visa being refused.

Things to think about when preparing your financial documents:

• Make sure that you are holding the correct amount of money necessary. University of South Wales students need to show £1023 per month up to a maximum of 9 months (£9207) for their living costs plus any remaining course fees that have not already been paid and which are shown on their CAS statement.
• Make sure that you are evidencing that the funds have been available to you for the 28 days prior to application, and that the money is not held in a time restricted account- such as a frozen Bank Deposit Certificate
• Make sure your financial evidence is no more than 31 days old on the date you apply for the visa.
• Make sure that the financial documents you are using meet the UKVI requirements.
• Make sure that your financial documents are from a reputable financial institution and that your financial institution is contactable by UKVI.  If UKVI try and contact the financial institution and they cannot verify your documents or do not get a reply, your visa application will be refused.
• Understand that you cannot use financial documents for any family member except for your parents. Using documents for an uncle, brother, sister or close family friend will be refused as not eligible. If you are using your parental bank statements, make sure you are also including your birth certificate (or other official document confirming your relationship) and a letter from them confirming they are supporting you.
• You cannot use the same money twice, or double count your money.  This means if you are paying for the visa fee and Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) from the same account you are using to show your living costs and visa fees, you must have this money in addition to the required maintenance.
• Understand that you cannot usually use a company’s financial documents unless they are a large multinational company who are sponsoring you as an employee (such as Shell Oil for example). You cannot generally use documents for a family owned company as evidence of maintenance requirements.
• Make sure that any educational or other loans are only in your name or the name of your parents.
• Make sure you are checking the current exchange rate if the money you have is not held in British Pounds (GBP). UK Visas and Immigration will expect you to include a currency conversion from OANDA.com. They will use the exchange rate on this website on the date you made your application. If the money converted to GBP does not meet the required amount on that day you will be refused.