EC Refused Islamabad, Pakistan - Moderators Please help

[syedleo]

My EC application has been refused on the grounds that I dont have enough available funds. I applied for myself and the family. The only problem was that I declared my available funds in the form of Travellers Cheques instead of a bank statment. I send a letter from my employer stating my salary and included a cover letter mentioning that half of my salary is paid via cheque whereas the half is paid to me in cash. I included the cover sheets of traveller cheques and photocopied couple of them as evidence showing my signature on it.

This is what the EC officer has stated in his refusal letter:

I accept that Work Permits UK have issued you a Highly Skilled Migrant Letter.

You have applied with your wife and 2 young children to accompany you to the uk as your dependents. The only evidence of the funds that you have available is one bank statement, a number of travellers cheque receipts amounting to US $26,000/- and a photocopy of two unused travellers cheques. I note that your montly declared income is Rs 69,375/-. I have reviewed the bank statement, which covers the 6 month period and shows a relatively modest amount of funds available to you to maintain and accomodate yourself and your dependants in the united kingdom.

The evidence in relation to the travellers cheque that you have provided does not conclusively demonstate that you have sufficient funds available to you to maintain and accomodate you and your dependents adequately without recourse to public funds. There is no evidence that these cheques were actually issued to you, there is no evidence towards the origin of these funds. In addition, there is no evidence to show these cheques are yet to be cashed apart from the 2 photocopied traveller cheques amounting to US $ 200/-. You claim that you have no assets or property that drives you income and your bank statement does not substantiate your claimed monthly income. Therefore, it is unclear how you obtained these funds. I am aware that your wife is not in employment and you have 2 young children to financially support. Had you provided additional evidence towards the origin of the original funds, which were used to allegedly convert to US dollars, it may have shown that you could maintain and accomodate yourself and your family in the united kingdom.

I also mentioned in my cover letter that I am more then happy to take any necessary steps to satisfy the officer regarding my available funds but looks like he never read my cover letter. He could have asked me to photocopy the remaining traveller cheques as additional proof or I was more then happy to travel to Islamabad to show them to him personally. I found it not safe at all to hand it over to BHC designated courier service here and they also refused to take responsibility of any loss.

Moderators/Members please provide your feedback on my problem from your valuable experience. They have given me right of appeal which I read from the forum is gonna take too much time. My HSMP letter will be expiring on 6th August and I am preparing to file a fresh application.

[Ali_UK]

Hi,

Sad to know about ur refusal. I would suggest to reapply with proper bank statements etc.Appeal will take long time and i wont think that you will get a positive outcome based on the information you provided. BHC usually looks for bank statement with money coming in regularly.

How log it took u to get a response from BHC from maling of ur application to getting a reply from BHC. I also got HSMP approval and coming to Isb to apply for EC.

Good luck and keep us posted

Regards

Ali

[syedleo]

Ali, it took me 15 days in total to apply and get a response from BHC.

[ShoaibJaved]

The most credible way of showing funds is via bank statements. Or provide enough evidence to enable the case officer to track the travellers cheques to you. Does your tax returns include the amount received via travellers cheques?

[umerhoustan]

what if applicant deposit fairly large amount little before applying for EC. Is there any requirement that the amount should be in your bank account for certain duration like 6 months before applying ... etc.

and for single person how many pounds are credible enough.

[ShoaibJaved]

Its is alright to have fairly large amount to be deposited in your account prior to EC provided that the source of that influx can be traced and related to you. For example I sold my car and deposited around 3.5K in the account few days before applying for EC but I provided the sales receipt and photocopy of the car's registration book to prove that the amount credited to my account is coming from a credible source.

For a single person anything above 4K is more than enough.But if you are running on a tight budget (like 2-3K) then do provide details of your expected finances and also try to list down the oppertunities in your field (like, job advertisements) to make the case worker feel that you will not stay out of work for a long period.