# Bank statement : stamped AND signed? Or just stamped?



## Canuck15 (Sep 21, 2016)

Hi all,

Hope you can answer this quick q please....

When we submit the six months worth of bank statements for the financial requirement does:

1. The bank statements have to be original?

2. Do they have to be stamped AND signed?

If so - is there a link anyone can provide that I can show to the bank please?

3. Would stamped print outs [ on each page ]from the bank itself suffice?

The bank is have said they will only stamp the statements that they printed out for me but will not sign if required. 

4. If a signed copy required, will a letter from the bank on letter headed paper about our account satisfactory? 



Please help! Thank you!


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

This is what FM-SE says about bank statements:

(v) be:
(1) on official bank stationery; or
(2) electronic bank statements which 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.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigra...endix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence


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## Canuck15 (Sep 21, 2016)

nyclon said:


> This is what FM-SE says about bank statements:
> 
> (v) be:
> (1) on official bank stationery; or
> ...


Thank you very much nyclon, I appreciate it very much!


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## sukubutsu (Mar 27, 2014)

The problem with this, and I've always wondered, is that the original bank statements i.e. bank statements sent by the bank by post look pretty much identical to the online printed bank statements (save for the 2 punched holes on the mailed version which frankly, I can duplicate on printed statements).

Will the ECO be able to tell the difference between printed statements and originals? I've saved every last piece of mail since I moved to the UK on my initial leave to remain/enter but now I'm wondering if I should get the bank statements stamped anyway, to err on the safe side? Opinions anyone?


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## ctyler (Feb 21, 2016)

My husband has gone "paperless", so we didn't have any original bank statements. The ones we printed online had a huge *duplicate* sign as a watermark. We took all the printed ones to the bank and asked them to stamp, sign and date each page, plus give us a letter stating the account details and that they have stamped and signed each page.


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## ctyler (Feb 21, 2016)

And, please, do not attempt to "pretend they're original". That's fraud, and if you're caught, that would be a huuuuge problem. Sometimes you can ask the bank to send you the original bank statements home, for a small charge.


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## sukubutsu (Mar 27, 2014)

Sorry, I definitely didn't mean that I want to duplicate them. 

It was more like a concern the ECO could say that they didn't believe that they were originals because as far as my bank statements are concerned, online or posted they look identical. No watermark or anything to distinguish between the two.


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## Nel&Jimmy (Jul 25, 2016)

sukubutsu said:


> Sorry, I definitely didn't mean that I want to duplicate them.
> 
> It was more like a concern the ECO could say that they didn't believe that they were originals because as far as my bank statements are concerned, online or posted they look identical. No watermark or anything to distinguish between the two.


I think the fact that so many people only have electronic bank statements now makes this requirement harder to comply with. We needed to submit 3 years' worth of statements, for four different bank accounts - some statements had as many as eight pages for one month, so it was a LOT! I've had online statements only for about 10 years, so I can't produce 'originals'. I was in the USA when we applied, and my bank accounts are in the UK, and last time I looked, there's no Barclays Bank in the southern states of the USA, so I couldn't take statements to a local branch to get them stamped. I called Barclays to explain what we needed - the ONLY solution they could provide was to print out ALL the statements for the whole period, for all four accounts, and send them to us. Each statement would have 'copy statement' written on the top. They couldn't offer any kind of certification or stamping of statements, because I'm in the USA and they're not. If I was in the UK, they wouldn't be able to stamp or certify the statements I'd received electronically then printed out. They could, if necessary, provide a letter of credit, to confirm that I hold the accounts with them, but that's all. So we went with submitting the print outs of the online statements (they're exactly as a standard hard copy Barclays statement would be, but just in mono as my printer isn't colour). I had so many sleepless nights over this, especially reading the regulations about bank statements on the forum. The immigration advisor we engaged to check the application before we submitted it, didn't mention the need for certifiying the bank statements or providing 'originals'. Fortunately for us, UKVI accepted the documents we'd submitted - I assume, because we'd provided so much information about my business, and everything cross-referenced correctly. 

If we were doing it again, I'd order the 'copy statements' from Barclays Bank, so they're on the right colour paper, just to allow myself some sleep during the four month wait ;-) And I'd recommend that anyone preparing their application now reads the official guidance on bank statements, and then calls their bank to ask them to provide whatever is needed. 
Nel


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