Do I need to show proof of funds? If yes, how exactly?

Question

I owned a business years ago. Income from that came from US banks to my bank in middle east. I currently keep most of my liquid assets in US firms. I funded my US accounts from middle east banks. So governments can see the transaction history until the origin, assuming they have enough clearance.

While applying for visas, touristic or national visas, they ask for proof of funds and statements.

Is it enough if I just show my US account statements? If not what else can I provide? In my home country, there's no personal tax filing like they do in the US. I filed and paid taxes through my company as an entity, years ago. The way it works is after paying taxes on your income and file relevant documents, you transfer the money from your company bank account to your personal account. That's it. No more reporting or filing. I currently don't work. I live off of my assets. So no tax filing papers, no employment records, just financial account statements.

Also while I'm here I have a few more questions.

1. Can I just print out the statement (since maybe they can call the firm and verify my ID & account as a government entity) or does it need to be apostilled? Needing apostille would be annoying since they'd have to come all the way from the US every time I need a visa.

2. Should I redact my account number? Idk how many people will see those numbers in the embassy and if that could create a security problem for me. Most workers here have much less than me so it might put a target on my back.

3. If they need to see my spending habits, would it be weird to show my US credit card statements? I mostly use those since local cards offer worse points and user protection.

I'm asking in general but say for a UK tourist visa or a national visa for a schengen member or any difficult to get visas.

Answer 1

My answer will focus specifically on Schengen.

Generally they just ask you to show enough funds for the trip that's motivating your request for a visa, per requirements of the country that will grant your visa. For the Netherlands, for example, you need 55€ per person per day.

The proof of funds can be done through several means, including:

• Pre-loaded travel cards (e.g. Visa TravelMoney, Travelex Money Card)
• Credit card statements showing your spending limit
• Traveler's cheques (which nobody uses anymore)
• Cash

Some other things that they also accept as partial proof of funds but will not be sufficient for complete proof (but might be able to let you go through carrying less cash or cash-equivalents)

• Prepaid accommodations (hotel, hostel, AirBnb, campsites, etc.)
• Prepaid transport (train and bus tickets, for example)

The more you can prove that you have a planned trip and made your arrangements beforehand, the better.

If you're from a country that has unstable exchange rate for the local currency, they're very understanding with pre-loaded travel cards carrying high amounts of currency, as this is a form of protecting yourself from exchange rate fluctuation before the trip.