Hi all,
Here's my response for AR. Please provide your feedback and let me know if I am missing something or if something is not clear to you. Thanks!
Date: 25th September 2010
To,
The Administrative Review Department
The British Deputy High Commission
New Delhi
Post Reference no. xxxxxx
Dear Sir or Madam:
My name is Rachna Shah. I have recently been denied an Entry Clearance Visa for Tier 1 General visa application filed with the VFS Receipt # ……………
I believe the decision to refuse my entry clearance application may have been incorrect. There may be certain discrepancies and errors in my application review and I would like to request for an administrative review. Please find below a detailed clarification addressing all concerns put forth in my application.
I have claimed 10 points under Maintenance Funds section. As proof of maintenance, I have provided a Union Bank of India statement. The ECO has denied those points stating that the Union Bank of India statement does not have the bank logo and therefore cannot be considered as proof of maintenance.
The following support documents submitted with the application verify my claims:
1. Certified Union Bank of India statement (printed by the bank using a Dot- Matrix printer. Union bank of India only uses Dot-matrix printers and have provided the bank statement using their standard procedure) having official stamp of bank on each page, signed by the bank manager, with address of the bank along with their contact details. The statement attached included all details such as Name, address, date when the statement was generated, customer ID, account number, and all showing all transactions covering 15 month period from 01st June 2009 to 23rd Sept 2010. The bank statement was also laminated to avoid tearing, as the paper used was fragile.
2. Union Bank of India letter on the official letter head of the bank stating my name, address, account number, date since when account maintained and stating that a bank statement for 15-month period from 01st June 2009 to 23rd Sept 2010 has been enclosed for your reference. This letter was also signed by the bank manager and has bank contact details, including email address and phone number.
Clarifications:
1. In order to earn points for maintenance for the claimed of 27th June 2010 to 27th Sept 2010, I submitted certified Union bank of India bank statement printed by the bank with the official stamp of the bank and signature of the branch manager on every page. This was as per the published guidance at the following link
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... intenance/ which states the following:
Personal bank or building society statements:
These should clearly show:
your name;
your account number;
the date of the statement (dated no more than 1 month prior to the date you submit your application);
the financial institutions name and logo;
transactions covering the three month period;
that there are sufficient funds present in the account (the balance must always be at least £2800). The balance should not fall below the required minimum at any time during the 3 month period.
Ad hoc bank statements printed on the bank's letterhead are admissible as evidence (this excludes mini-statements from cash points). If you wish to submit electronic bank statements from an on-line account these must contain all of the details listed above. In addition you will need to provide a supporting letter from your bank, on company-headed paper, confirming the authenticity of the statements provided. This must be dated no more than 1 month prior to the date of the application. Alternatively an electronic bank statement bearing the official stamp of the bank in question will be accepted. The stamp should appear on every page of the statement. Statements which simply show the balance in the account on a particular day are not sufficient.
It is mentioned that - Alternatively, the kind of statements I have submitted at the time of application will be accepted.
2. Additionally, the UKBA website (
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... intenance/) also mentions the similar and is as following:
Accounts held with other banks
If you have a bank account that does not operate exclusively online but you receive your bank statements electronically and you wish to use these statements as evidence of funds for maintenance, you should provide:
• Electronic bank statements printed at the bank on their official stationary; or
• Electronic statements printed by the applicant and bearing the official stamp of the bank in question. This stamp should appear on every page of the statements; or
• A supporting letter from the bank, on the banks company headed paper, confirming the authenticity of the statements.
In light of this, I meet the requirement of providing a bank statement with stamp and signature on each page AND additionally also provided a letter from the bank authenticating my details in the bank statement (name, address, account number, closing balance, and mention about 15 month bank statement enclosed). The bank statement I submitted originally was returned back to me. I am aware that as per guidelines no additional documents can be submitted with the administrative review. However, I am re-attaching my previously provided bank statement to be considered along with the bank letter from Union Bank of India and a photocopy of the letter from the bank submitted previously, to verify the funds.
3. I would also like to bring your kind attention to the following publication on administration review by the House of Commons which states (point number 149 and 150 on the following link:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... /21711.htm)
The Points Based System relies heavily on applicants providing documentary evidence for the various attributes, such as bank statements and qualifications certificates. Problems with providing the required documentation in some parts of the world were mentioned during our Indian visit. Visa officials in Delhi told us that they had encountered difficulties with paperwork relating to salary in countries such as India and China, where it is not standard practice to pay salaries directly into employees' bank accounts. This meant that some applicants did not have the bank slips required to prove evidence of salary or maintenance.[174] The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants was similarly exercised over the prohibition on submitting additional or clarifying documentation, criticizing that under the system:
Innocent oversight cannot be made good by a commonsense approach that permits the submission of fresh evidence…experience shows that in most cases the right decision is promoted through the production of further evidence, the need for which is often not appreciated until notification of an adverse decision clarifies quite what material is perceived as inadequate by the entry clearance officer.[175]
We agree that an administrative review on objective criteria will be more transparent and easier to administer. However, requiring a new application and a fresh fee for failing to furnish the UK Border Agency with rigidly defined types of paperwork is palpably unfair. This is particularly the case for applicants from countries in which the use of documents such as pay slips is not common practice. That some applicants are unable to meet the documentation requirements through circumstances beyond their control is apparent from our conversations with UK Border Agency officials in New Delhi. We therefore recommend that applicants should be able to submit additional documentation, if it is requested, without having to make an entirely fresh application and pay another fee.
4. I would also like to bring your kind attention about genuineness of documents, as stated at the link:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... es/part6a/ which states the following:
If the Entry Clearance Officer or Secretary of State has reasonable cause to doubt the genuineness of any document submitted by an applicant which is, or which purports to be, a specified document under Part 6A or Appendices A to C, or E of these Rules and having taken reasonable steps to verify the document, is unable to verify that it is genuine, the document will be discounted for the purposes of this application.
In light of this, if even after the official letter from the bank you have doubts/concerns about the statement, I would request you to please contact my bank directly to verify what they have already stated.
Having provided all the above clarifications I humbly urge ECO to re-consider my application and grant me the points I deserve under Maintenance Funds section and thereby re-evaluating this application to my favor.
If you require any more documents or need to contact me directly, please feel free to email me at
rachnachaudhary@gmail.com or call my mobile at xxxxxx.
Thanking you.
Sincerely,
Rachna Shah
Visa rejected because of bank logo missing in just _one_ month's statement.