Rejected for Spouse Visa! NatWest bank statements!

[nbe]

Background: We applied via the Category F route since I am company director of a small business. I more than cover the 18,600 threshold.

So we filed a priority service application from Singapore for UK Spouse Settlement Visa.

We thought we were accepted because we got the "a decision has been made" e-mail and everything was being posted back to us. Today we collect it from VFS and it turns out that it was REJECTED!

Reading the text they said that it was due to the NatWest bank statements for my business account. Basically NatWest wouldn't give me certified copies so I printed them off from online banking instead as several people said they were accepted on this basis. I was assuming they'd correlate the NatWest statements with my personal account statements and see that clearly the payments are legitimate.

Anyway. Rejected. Disaster!

They want us to appeal with could take a very long time from what I understand.

Please, anybody, what is the best course of action?

Is it possible for me to go back to the UK and apply again, in person, on behalf of my wife? This way I could go to NatWest and get the statements straight from the branch.

I am so angry with NatWest.

[PariJ]

Sorry to hear about the rejection. ECO expects the financial documents should be either orginal or certified copy.
Things are different these days ,as ECO reject the applicantion as opposed to contacting us for additional/missing documents.

My spouse's visa application was rejected Feb this year in India on grounds of missing Financial documents (Cat F).I applied again in May rather appealing as the appeal process takes longer time.

I will defer to your judgement interms of next steps.

[85 East]

I've had the same discussion with HSBC who refuse to stamp/certify online printouts as they 'don't know what they will be used for'.

[nbe]

How long do we have to wait before we can reapply?

£1300 down the drain. We aren't going to wait for an appeal it will take months.

[PariJ]

you can re apply as soon you get the underlying documents. you can also appeal in parallel as there is no limitation.

Application for Entry Clearance has to be made in home country or the country where the applicant is domiciled unless the applicant is in UK already.

[Casa]

Do make sure that if you re-apply, all the documents are within the time-scale required. i.e the most recent bank statement and payslip no older than 28 days prior to the date of application.

[nbe]

NatWest are now claiming it is a law/legislation that prevents them doing this. They are joking right?

Reading their rejection wording I get the feeling they didn't even look at the NatWest statement copies I provided. They just read our application form and in the "additional comments" section we wrote a few paragraphs one of which stated that NatWest won't provided certified statements and in the next sentence we explain that we have still included copies and original PDFs on a memory stick.

"However, you state in part 5.1 of Appendix 2 that you are unable to obtain your sponsor's business bank account statements with Natwest".

To be clear, in our application form's part 5.1 of Appendix 2, we wrote this:

"Despite our best efforts, his business bank account with NatWest have been extremely uncooperative in allowing us to obtain certified statements of his business bank account; stating that "[it was no longer allowed for their staff to certify statements.]" Whilst his personal bank account with Nationwide were fantastic. We have therefore attached copies and a USB Memory Drive Stick containing the original PDF files downloaded from online banking."

Is it possible they rejected us based on a misunderstanding? That they assumed/read it incorrectly to think that we haven't actually included any statements from NatWest at all?

[nbe]

Are you saying we CAN reapply, pay the fees again, and run the appeal concurrently so as to get the refund on the first rejected application?

[nbe]

Thinking out loud: Could I fly back to the UK, gathered the required documents (even if it means staging a protest in a NatWest branch) and re-submit there on behalf of my wife who would remain in Singapore?

Thanks people for your support and advice. I feel terrible right now

[PariJ]

you cannot apply EC in UK on behalf of your spouse while your spouse is domiciled outside UK.

reg bank stmts-Kindly ask the people at Natwest to redirect you to the law where it states they should not provide attestation for the copies.Most people just follow the rules as word of mouth.

[Casa]

It could be the case that the ECO missed the submitted bank statements, however the Immigration Rules state:
3.3.4. Bank statements must be on official bank stationery. Alternatively, electronic bank
statements can also be accepted for all bank accounts (the account itself does not have
to be exclusively online) as long as they are either accompanied by a letter from the
bank on its headed stationery confirming that the documents are authentic or which bear
the official stamp of the issuing bank on every page.

[HarryC]

Hmm, interesting debate this.

So i have my account with HSBC and i have chosen to get my statements delivered electronically instead of paper version as its cheaper plus environment friendly.
now i can get the statement wich is PDF available under my account printed on A4 in colour which has got every detail of my account plus my name and HSBC logo at the top.
in the past too when i used to receive paper copies, it looks exactly the same as it will look if i print it off online.

will that be not acceptable and still needs to be stamped?

[HarryC]

Sorry Casa
not quite sure i got that. if i print the statements which is available in a PDF format online in my account, it looks exactly the same to statements which i used to receive in paper copies from bank direct. there is or will be no difference if i print it in colors and looks original. do i still need to get it stamped?

[Casa]

Hmm, interesting debate this.

So i have my account with HSBC and i have chosen to get my statements delivered electronically instead of paper version as its cheaper plus environment friendly.
now i can get the statement wich is PDF available under my account printed on A4 in colour which has got every detail of my account plus my name and HSBC logo at the top.
in the past too when i used to receive paper copies, it looks exactly the same as it will look if i print it off online.

will that be not acceptable and still needs to be stamped?

Debatable. I don't know how they could detect a difference, but maybe other members have submitted these successfully. For the OP nbe I believe you mentioned that you submitted evidence on a USB stick. Case Workers won't accept or use these due to the risk of a virus. For members' general information, they won't accept photos supplied by DVD for the same reason.
* Sorry I was editing while you posted

[HarryC]

i know this is debatable
i will look really stupid in front of bank if i print off electronic statements on color online and if i go to hsbc and ask them to stamp it and when they show me the old paper copies, there will be NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever so they definitely will not stamp it because the printed copies is as good as originals.
it will be hideous if they reject my spouse's visa because of the statements.
can the original person who posted this tell me whether the printed natwest copies had "copies" written on the statement or had the logo missing? Did the printed copies looked like the original you received in post?

Cheers

[nbe]

I downloaded the PDFs from online banking. Printed them in laser colour. And got rejected.

The PDF statements do stay they downloaded from electronic banking on the footer.

[HarryC]

Very strange.
HSBC doesnt say that anywhere and has got my branch address at the footer.
still no reason for them to reject it because it was downloaded electronic banking. unusual !!!

[adnan111]

Copies of statements (i.e statements not physically supplied by the bank) need to have a letter from the bank or be stamped by the bank. It does not matter if the copies are colour or black and white.

[HarryC]

Copies of statements (i.e statements not physically supplied by the bank) need to have a letter from the bank or be stamped by the bank. It does not matter if the copies are colour or black and white.

if the copies printed online electronically and copies physically supplied by the bank have no difference what so ever, on what basis could you ask bank to stamp since it will have the same originality?

[adnan111]

Copies of statements (i.e statements not physically supplied by the bank) need to have a letter from the bank or be stamped by the bank. It does not matter if the copies are colour or black and white.

if the copies printed online electronically and copies physically supplied by the bank have no difference what so ever, on what basis could you ask bank to stamp since it will have the same originality?

The stamping of statements, or a letter makes the copies official as far as an ECO is concerned. Say to the bank you need it for the purpose of visa sponsorship and it is a requirement for the statements to be stamped. I had some problem with the lady in bank not wanting to stamp it, but eventually did but only the first statement, so I hope I don't get caught up by this rule.

There could still be a difference in terms of paper quality and printing quality, even if they look identical.

[nbe]

Do make sure that if you re-apply, all the documents are within the time-scale required. i.e the most recent bank statement and payslip no older than 28 days prior to the date of application.

Thanks for the headups on this but it seems on Category F route that won't matter, see these relevant quotes from the FM-SE:

"(v) Corporate/business bank statements covering the same 12-month period as the Company Tax Return CT600."

"Payslips and P60 (if issued) covering the same period as the Company Tax Return CT600. (ii) Personal bank statements covering the same 12-month period as the Company Tax Return CT600 showing that the salary as a director was paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly."

From this wording it suggests that the bank statements, payslips etc only need to be from the same period as the company tax return.

[Casa]

On the matter of the bank statements, it would seem from the Immigration Rules (guidance for Case Workers on right to refuse) that you should have been given the opportunity to provide bank statements in the required format.
(f) Before making a decision under Appendix FM or this Appendix, the decision-maker may
contact the applicant or their representative in writing or otherwise to request further information
or documents. The material requested must be received at the address specified in the request
within a reasonable timescale specified in the request.


It might be useful to read through Section 9 on financial evidence required when applying as a Director of a limited company:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _final.pdf

[adnan111]

If you apply under category f or g then by the time the tax return is submitted wouldn't the last bank statement be more than 28 days old?

Also if you are a director is it not possible to apply under category A? or do you not have a choice.

[Casa]

nmb's point is that under Category F it appears that bank statements need to cover the period of the Tax return with no requirement for the last statement to be within 28 days of submission. The reason I posted the link to the Immigration Rules is to enable a thorough reading in case anything has been missed when applying under category F as a company Director.

[adnan111]

Ok for clearing up my confusion about the 28 days rule, the second question is whether it is possible for a company director to apply under category A or not under any circumstances?