Refusal of Entry Clearance & Administrative Review

[cyberK13]

Dear all,

I am from Malaysia and had submitted my Tier 1 application on 17th-September-2008 through the local Malaysian UK Visa Office. I received the Refusal of Entry Clearance reply on 14th-October-2008.

Below is the excerpt from the Refusal of Entry Clearance I had received:

Entry Clearance Officer’s reasons and supporting evidence

ECO Comment: The maintenance requirement under Appendix C requires that you have £2,800 in funds available for at least 3 months and the policy guidance states that the evidence of these funds must be from no more than 7 days before the application is made. You have provided:

- Your bank statements that show funds in excess of the required £2,800 but these statements are only to 6 September 2008 which is not within the required 7 days. These copies were stamped by the bank on 16 September 2008 but the statements concerned show funds only to 6 September 2008.

I am therefore not satisfied from the evidence that you qualify for the points claimed for maintenance and therefore that you meet the requirements of Paragraph 245C.

The bank statements (for the months of July 2008, August 2008 and September 2008) that were provided together with the initial Tier 1 application was obtained from the bank on 16th September 2008 (stamped). However, each statement was dated on the 6th of the month (i.e. September statement date is 6-Sep-2008, August statement is 6-Aug-2008 and so forth).

I had gone to the bank and checked with the officer and she has explained the statement date reflects the date on which their computer information system updates the details of the particular account monthly from the date the account is opened with the bank. The officer has provided me an official letter (on bank letterhead) as well the latest October statement (also dated 6th October 2008). Both documents are stamped 28th-October-2008.

I have the opportunity to request for an Administrative Review and plan to submit the request to the local British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on 4th November 2008 (next Tuesday). I understand that I will not be able to provide any new documents but will alert the ECO that I have the two documents above if required.

Appreciate anybody’s opinion on whether the above explanation is a strong justification for the entry clearance officer to overturn the refusal decision (Note: I meet all other requirements).

Also, I would be sincerely grateful if anyone could share any similar experiences you had been through with regards to a Refusal of Entry Clearance and/or the Administrative Review process under Tier 1 (General) Application.

Thank You.

Sincerely,

Calvin (Malaysia)

[niw2]

The bank statements (for the months of July 2008, August 2008 and September 2008) that were provided together with the initial Tier 1 application was obtained from the bank on 16th September 2008 (stamped). However, each statement was dated on the 6th of the month

So the statements you submitted with your application only showed your transactions and account balance up until 6 September 2008? Unfortunately, if you applied on or after 16 September 2008, these would not suffice. You should have obtained an interim statement from the bank that showed your transactions and account balance between 6 September 2008 and 16 September 2008.

As you know, you cannot submit new documents on review, so I do not see that it will be easy to overturn the original decision which was, frustratingly, a valid decision.

[cooolz]

Do we have any special case wherein we can have more than 7 days between bank statement date and application date ?

For others it best if you synchronise your application date with your bank statement date. Better perform a transaction (e.g a withdrawal ) from your account a day before statement date.

Check with the bank whether they issue interim statements? Most banks have fixed cycle of printing the statements.

[cyberK13]

thanks for the replies coolz / niw2.

As u said most banks have fixed cycle of printing their statements and my bank were not able to provide an interim statement.

It is my oversight for not getting the proper dates to sync up and like you said , such a minor but unfortunately justifiable reason for refusal.

However, since the bank has provided an explanation for the dates on the bank statements, with plenty (x100) of hope, I will try to justify my case during the administrative review.

[niw2]

I am always surprised when I hear how poor the service is in some banks outside this country (New Zealand). Here, bank staff will usually provide you with any documentation you need, even if it is something they have never had to produce in the past (eg. letters to accompany Tier 1 applications confirming maintenance funds).

The interim statement I got for my application was not on letterhead, since letterhead statements are only 'produced' by the bank computer system once per month (ie. on the fixed cycle). To overcome this, the bank staff kindly stamped and signed the plain-paper statement, and provided me with a letter on bank letterhead confirming the statement's validity and explaining why it was not on letterhead.

If your bank cannot do something similar to the above, you will indeed have to synchronise your tier 1 application with the date your bank issues you your monthly statement.