‘My bank statement is genuine, why was my visa application refused’ – Question from reader

Bank Statements are vital documents when it comes to visa applications. Applicants must convince visa officers that they have enough funds for their trip.

Yes, you can be denied a visa even if you have a genuine bank statement with enough funds. Bank statements go beyond the account balance. In this article, Jetsanza.com highlights some of the factors that could cause a visa application to be denied despite having enough money sitting in the bank.

Your genuine bank statement caused your visa refusal because of one or more of the following:

Source of income

Having billions in your account isn’t the deal when it comes to visa applications. Consulars are interested in the source of income of the funds in your account. The UK, for instance, want to know where each pesewa or cent came from. So if you print your statement and include it in your application without evidence of how funds were generated, it’s like not including one at all.

How then do you prove source of funds? : You are best to answer this. You know where you got your monies from, and you should be able to provide documents as evidence. If you are an employee working for a company, you can prove this by including your payslips and even your Letter of Appointment (Employment Letter). If you are self-employed, you have to prove that you run legitimate business by adding business registration documents. The transactions in the accounts can also be supported by some of the company’ receipts and invoices. If you have too many transactions, you can include a few of the receipts and invoices to back that you have a running business.

Purpose of sponsorship not making sense

Your application can be refused if there are doubts about the person sponsoring your travel. If you are a student and someone other than your parents or guardian is sponsoring your trip, you should explain why the person has an interest in your travel. The Visa Officers are already aware that people go around begging for bank statements to support their visa applications. So if someone is genuinely sponsoring your trip, you should explain why the person is doing so. Failure to explain may see you in the same bracket with those who beg strangers for bank statements.

If your spouse or parents are paying for your trip, you need no explanation.

Suspicious transactions

Some people dump monies into their account to make a visa application. These deposits can cause your application to be denied. If funds are genuinely yours, then there’s no need to bring all into one account before the visa application. You can print multiple statements rather than trying to bring all your funds into one account few days to your application.

Everyone who assesses your application will assume that funds are not yours and won’t be genuinely available for your travel.

If for genuine reasons huge deposits hit your account, include evidence of the source of those funds. If you won a lottery, include copy of your ticket, if you had an investment maturing, add evidence. If you just took money from someone to have a good balance, then you are not far from being denied.

Funds not enough

As explained in the previous article, ENOUGH FUNDS is subjective. What is enough for George could be small for Enoch. So what you see as ENOUGH FUNDS may be very small based on your circumstances. How then do you determine how much bank balance is enough for you? Read ‘Bank Statement For Visa Application: How Much Balance Is Enough‘.