Bank statements for a UK visa: what UKVI requires, and the translation

Two separate questions get conflated in this topic: whether the statement itself meets UKVI’s formal requirements, and how to translate it. Guides almost always answer only the second — which is how people end up refused while holding a flawless translation of a document that was never going to work. Start with the first.

Three routes, three different rules

The UK immigration system has no single “six months of statements” requirement. The rules depend on the application:

Route	Where it is set out	Logic of the evidence
Partner / family visa	Appendix FM-SE	statements for the same period as the payslips; typically six months
Student visa	Appendix Finance	funds held for 28 consecutive days; document no older than 31 days
Standard visitor visa	Appendix V	no specified evidence list — the statement evidences financial standing

Hence the first piece of practical advice: do not assemble a “universal” file. A statement that fits a student application perfectly may lack what a partner application needs, and the reverse.

What UKVI requires of the statement itself

This is the part almost nobody explains, and it is where refusals begin. Under Appendix FM-SE bank statements must:

• come from a financial institution to which Appendix Finance applies;
• be on the bank’s official stationery — or, where electronic, be accompanied by a letter from the bank or carry the bank’s official stamp on every page.

Separately, Home Office guidance describes mini ATM statements as unacceptable. Screenshots from a mobile app are out too, and a PDF downloaded from online banking with no stamp or covering letter sits in the same risk zone.

One more detail rarely mentioned: as a general rule documents are submitted as originals unless Appendix FM-SE expressly provides otherwise.

Partner visa: six months, 28 days, and matching the payslips

For the most common case — salaried employment — the evidence has two parts that must line up:

1. Payslips for the six months before the application (or the shorter period you have held the current job). They must be original formal payslips showing the employer’s name, or be accompanied by a letter from the employer on headed paper signed by a senior official.
2. Bank statements for the same period, showing the salary paid into an account in your name or held jointly with your partner.

Two rules break more cases than anything else:

• The 28-day rule. Where Appendix FM-SE requires evidence for a period ending with the date of application, that evidence must be dated no earlier than 28 days before the application. A statement pulled “in advance” two months before filing no longer qualifies.
• Matching amounts. Gross income from a payslip is only counted where the statement shows the corresponding net amount arriving. If the credits are not visible, only what the statement shows is counted.

Student visa: days, not months

The student route runs on different and precise arithmetic:

• the most recent financial document is dated no earlier than 31 days before the application (FIN 7.1);
• the 28-day period is counted back from the closing balance on that document (FIN 7.2);
• the evidence must cover the whole of that period (FIN 7.3).

GOV.UK’s own worked example: for an application submitted on 1 January, the funds must be in the account throughout the 28-day period ending on 1 December. The key point is that the balance must not drop below the required level on any single day in that window — one brief dip voids the whole evidence.

Statements, passbooks, certificates of deposit and bank letters are accepted. Mini ATM statements are not.

Visitor visa: fewer requirements, fewer guarantees

A standard visitor visa has no specified evidence list — which means not “nothing is needed” but “the caseworker weighs everything together”. In practice applicants submit a statement for the last few months showing regular income and that the trip is affordable. There is no formal “three or six months” line in the rules, and sources that quote one are describing practice rather than the rules.

Whose account, whose money

A question that arises in almost every application: can you show funds held in someone else’s account?

For a partner visa, Appendix FM-SE expressly allows an account in the applicant’s name, in the partner’s name, or a joint account of the couple — provided the statement shows the salary arriving. A sibling’s, parents’ or employer’s account does not satisfy that requirement.

For a student visa the logic differs: funds may sit in the applicant’s account or in that of a parent or legal guardian, but the file then needs documents evidencing the relationship plus written consent to use the money. This is where a birth certificate translation is most often required — and where surname spellings must match the passports.

For a visitor visa a third party may fund the trip, but then the caseworker looks at their statement and at the explanation of the connection. The less obvious the connection, the more documents need translating, so showing your own funds is sometimes simply cheaper.

One rule holds across all three: the account you show must be at an institution to which Appendix Finance applies. A statement from a payment service that is not formally a bank will not serve as evidence, however good the translation.

Translation: four elements, no notary

The translation requirement in Appendix FM-SE is unambiguous: a document not in English or Welsh is submitted in the original together with a full translation that the decision-maker can independently verify. The translation must carry:

1. the date;
2. confirmation that it is an accurate translation;
3. the full name and signature of the translator or an authorised official of the translation company;
4. contact details for the translator or company (required by GOV.UK guidance).

No notary appears in that list, and nothing requires the translator to be in the UK. That is exactly why a properly prepared translation from Ukraine works for UKVI; the mechanics of certified translation are covered in documents for the UK: Home Office and banks.

And the essential point: a translation does not repair a document. If the statement carries no bank stamp, no translation will substitute for one.

Ukrainian banks: where the file breaks

• A PDF with no stamp. The most common reason for redoing the work. Order the statement with the bank’s stamp on every page or with a covering letter.
• A statement in Ukrainian full of local abbreviations. Transaction types, counterparties and payment references are translated in full — the caseworker should not have to guess what a shorthand salary credit means.
• Hryvnia with no explanation. Amounts stay in hryvnia; the translation states the currency and the caseworker converts at their own rate. Converting to pounds inside the translation is not translation.
• Different surnames. Where the Latin spelling on the statement does not match the passport, evidence the link with a separate document. You can check the official transliteration with our transliteration tool.

Common mistakes

• An app screenshot instead of a bank statement. Not accepted.
• A statement obtained long before filing. The partner route has the 28-day rule, the student route 31 days.
• Statements and payslips covering different periods. Appendix FM-SE requires them to match.
• A balance dip inside the 28-day window (student visa). The evidence will not count.
• Notarizing “to be safe”. Wasted money and time: UKVI does not require it.
• Translating only the “important” pages. The period is read continuously.

What to do this week

1. Identify your route — partner, student or visitor — and open the relevant rules: Appendix FM-SE or Appendix Finance.
2. Order a statement from the bank for the required period, stamped on every page or with a covering letter, and check its date against the 28-day or 31-day rule.
3. For a student application, check the balance day by day inside the 28-day window, not just the closing figure.
4. Send us the statement PDF — we will calculate the exact volume (by characters, not sheets) and prepare a translation carrying all four elements of a certified translation.

English translation starts at UAH 300 per standard page (1,800 characters with spaces) and agency certification is UAH 100 per document; current figures are on the prices page. We deliver the finished file as scans by email, which is all a visa application needs — no trip to Kyiv. If certificates, a diploma or a police clearance certificate are also in the file, see the destination overview for the United Kingdom and our document translation page.