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I applied for a visiting visa (priority) from Japan (where I currently live and work) to the UK for 5 days and it got it denied under provisions 4.2 (a, c, e). I am Ukrainian and before coming to the UK to visit my boyfriend, I planned on visiting my home country and departing directly from there.

The refusal letter says:

The decision

I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraph(s) V4.2 of Appendix V: Immigration Rules for Visitors because:

  • You have applied for a leave to enter to visit the UK for 5 days for tourism.
  • In order to be able to make a decision on whether or not to grant you entry clearance in this category I have taken into account your stated circumstances in Japan, the reasons for your visit, and your proposed travel arrangements. You have declared that you are employed as a Business operations manager and that you earn 1745.00 GBP per month from all sources of employment after tax.
  • In support of your application you have submitted a letter from [redacted]. You also submit an additional bank certification which shows a balance dated 2018.9.14. Bank letters only show the balance of an account on one day and do not show the financial commitment of an applicant nor do they show the source of any funds in an account. In the absence of evidence as to the source of these funds I cannot be satisfied that this bank statement is a true reflection of your current financial circumstances and that these funds will remain genuinely available to you for your exclusive use for the duration of your trip.
  • I must take into account your personal and economic circumstances when coming to my decision. On the evidence provided I am not satisfied that you have established that your circumstances are as stated and that your economic ties to Japan have been demonstrated to ensure you intend a genuine visit or that you would seek to leave the UK at the end of the limited period stated by you. I am therefore not satisfied that you meet the requirements of Paragraph 4.2 (a) and (c) Nor am I satisfied that the statement presented represents a true reflection of your financial circumstances and that the funds seen will be available to you as stated 4.2 (e)

Future applications

Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered on their individual merits; however, you are likely to be refused unless the circumstances of your application change.

In relation to this decision there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.

The documents I provided:

  • my personal information and my boyfriend’s information, showing that he has a UK student visa;
  • boyfriend’s invitation letter and explanation of our relationship (how he knows me, how long we have been together and who I am for him);
  • proof of my residence in Japan (a rent contract) and my partner’s residence in the UK (his rent contract);
  • my bank certificate with 2700£;
  • pay-slips showing my monthly earnings of 1750£ (after tax) and one pay-slip with a bonus stated (monthly total: 3500£);
  • employment certificate from January 2017 to June 2021 (when my Japanese work visa is expiring);
  • letter of leave from work;
  • tour plan;
  • bought tickets to Ukraine and to Japan (from the 8th of October and to the 29th of October) and booked tickets for the UK (18th-22nd of October);

The thing that I planned on attaching to my application were my bank statements. I have applied to get them, but my bank (now over 3 weeks) still hasn’t sent them to me, this is why I applied without them. Which I absolutely understand the reason for visa denial.

Since I do not have time to apply from Japan, I plan on applying from Ukraine.

My question: since I doubt I will get my bank statements till then, I thought about stating my uncle as my sponsor, who has sufficient funds and bank statements. This is the quickest way to get the document that seems to be the reason of my denial.

Obviously I plan on explaining why I cannot provide my own bank statements.

Can anyone help me understand if this is a good way to go around this? Is what I plan on doing increase my chances of getting the visa? If so - what kind of documents do I need to show from my uncles side?

Update: I managed to get my bank statements today visa post (after 3 weeks of waiting). Problem is, the amount of money stated on the bank balance certificate (2700£) is different from the one mentioned on the bank statement paper (2200£ as of August the 31st). I had applied for the bank transactions and as I was waiting for them, the amount changed from 2200£ to 2700£. By the time I reapply again, 28 days will pass, so I guess it’s pointless to submit the transactions received?

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  • 1
    Thank you both for the reply! I might be able to get the statements in a few days, but, when reapplying, the bank statements will indicate, that it covers a period from January till the start of September. But I will already be applying in October. Would that be a problem? Because it will be impossible for me to provide them till then, given that I will be reapplying from Ukraine.
    – Anna D
    Sep 24, 2018 at 5:13
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    Please see this excellent question/answer for background information about why you should provide your bank statements and what they are looking for in those statememts.
    – RedBaron
    Sep 24, 2018 at 5:35
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    Does your bank allow you to access your account online? You might be able to print statements. Or perhaps visiting a branch and asking for the statements to be given to you immediately could speed up the process.
    – Zach Lipton
    Sep 24, 2018 at 6:25
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    Also, my bank doesn’t allow me to access my transactions online. I asked them to print them in front of me the same day, but they explained, that “because of procedures” it will take around 7 days.
    – Anna D
    Sep 24, 2018 at 6:44
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    Which bank do you use? If you can't access your records online, which most banks allow these days, can you not make copies of your 通帳 after updating it at an ATM or something at the very least?
    – さりげない告白
    Sep 25, 2018 at 6:38

5 Answers 5

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52

You need your bank statements.

Since you are decently employed with an ongoing work visa for Japan, suddenly switching to saying your uncle will pay for everything and still not showing your own financial circumstances makes your application much weaker as well as inconsistent with the previous application and I can only presume it will be rejected.

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Your uncle is irrelevant. If you claim to have a bank account but persist in withholding the statements, whatever the reason, the ECO will conclude that you're hiding something and refuse your application.

You already have one refusal. A second refusal will make life very much harder. Do what you have to do, but get the statements.

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The UK immigration service will refuse you on absolutely anything they can, so I suggest including the following information in addition to what you already provided:

  • The bank statements you plan to include, ideally going back several months. You may be able to get them by visiting the bank in person. If they offer to print them out have them stamped as authentic.

  • A copy of the refusal letter and a cover letter saying that you understand the decision and have included additional information to address the issues raised.

Don't change your story, stick with your original plan. If you try to say that someone else will cover your costs they will just use it against you, claiming that it isn't clear what you are planning to do.

If possible take some legal advice by getting your application checked first. I know it's very expensive but it's worth it. Your boyfriend in the UK best placed to do this, as you really need a UK lawyer who is familiar with the system.

I'm afraid it is very difficult to get a UK visa at the best of times.

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    Sometimes it appears that it’s very difficult to get a U.K. visa, but when one looks at the refusal reasons it’s often evident that the application had deficiencies that meant it was doomed to failure from the start. Basic errors, missing essential documents, failure to read relevant guides etc. In the year to June 2018, the U.K. granted over 2.7m visit visas, and 88% of applications were successful gov.uk/government/publications/…
    – Traveller
    Sep 25, 2018 at 14:23
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    The issue is that the UK will refuse on any possible grounds, often lies about the availability of appeals and generally makes the whole process as difficult to understand and use as possible. Note that the 88% figure doesn't include people who decided not to even apply after taking legal advice.
    – user
    Sep 25, 2018 at 15:19
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    Unfortunately TSE only sees the negative situations - after all, it’s highly unlikely anyone will post a question asking why they were approved. My own partner, who is Cuban therefore not high up on most countries’ ‘preferred visitor’ list, has been successful both times he applied. I don’t share your views on U.K. prejudice against applicants, although I do think that those whose level of English is low may be at a disadvantage when trying to follow the extensive guidance available.
    – Traveller
    Sep 25, 2018 at 15:50
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    65 pages is quite extensive assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/… and that’s not counting the Supporting Documents Guide, or indeed the Immigration Rules themselves.
    – Traveller
    Sep 25, 2018 at 16:44
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    The UK should be a lot tougher on their entry standards, not more loose. Of course mistakes are made, but overall more people are allowed in who end up breaking the terms of their visa than are rejected who would not have done so.
    – jwenting
    Sep 26, 2018 at 7:18
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You really need bank statements going back at least six months and covering the entire period from start to finish. A year's worth of statements would be better. What they're interested in seeing is not the balance on any given date, but the pattern of balances on your bank account over a period of time.

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Interesting problem. I took my Japanese wife to London for sightseeing during our stay in the Netherlands without any prior arrangements (since she has already cleared the EU border at that point and Brexit didn't exist). They gave us some stern looks and tried really hard to pretend we still have borders inside of the EU (ridiculous, we don't), but let us in without checking anything.

Once you are inside of Europe, you should be able to travel freely within the EU. Especially with a Japanese passport, which are well regarded globally. In case you are not Japanese, a rental contract doesn't mean much, you should supplement it with your work visa as evidence.

Regarding the financials, they just want to know you have enough money available during your stay to support yourself. they can't see the transactions going in and out of your back account. If you show up at the border with 1700GBP you can't tell me that this is not sufficient evidence that you have this money directly available to sustain yourself. That or show them your contract at your employer, clearly showing your income and its duration, with bank statements as backup.

One potential red flag for them might be flying to Ukraine, I myself would wonder what business you have there, since eastern Europe doesn't quite have the best reputation among western countries.

The rules regarding tourist entry into countries are largely the same across the world, and if you can provide evidence that shows you can support yourself, your accommodation(s) and plans once in the UK, you should be good to go.

I believe technically it's not even a visa, there are just some rules for entry to the country under visa exemption and they need to know you will leave and won't burden the country.

... It just dawned on me that if you have a EU passport there should be no trouble going tot he UK to begin with, since you have the right to free travel within the EU zone (until they leave, of course).

It seems to me that just showing up at the border (with supporting evidence) should work (I understand that this is scary), but that depends on which passport you carry. My wife used to work at a travel agency and recommended this approach to me when I came to japan the first time, and I've been flying this way for the past 5 years.

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