UK visitor visa financial circumstance

Question

I am inviting my sister-in-law to visit after a denial last year (Denial letter attached). I am at a loss on how to accurately represent her finances.

She is a trader who earns and spends mostly in cash which obviously is not shown in her bank statement. No invoices, receipt or any record to prove her earning or expenses in cash. She now spends around 70,000NGN in cash monthly.

The 3 month bank statement she would submit for the new application has an opening balance of 734,000

Credit 1,243,000
Debit 1,078,000

Most of the debits were for purchase of the food stuff she sells and not personal expenses because her expenses are in cash. Her husband sorts out the bills (they live in their own house).

The credits are from her sales.

How best can her financial circumstance be explained?

Based on her bank statements, what can be projected to be her yearly income?

Many thanks for your help.

Refusal letter:

REASONS FOR REFUSAL NRA v 1.0

You have applied for a visa to visit the UK.In deciding whether you meet the requirements of Appendix V: of the Immigration Rules for visitors (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor- rules), I have considered:
• your application and any additional relevant information you have provided with it
•  your immigration history

The decision

I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraph(s) V4.2 of Appendix V because:

You intend to visit the UK for 21 days for the purpose of meeting family tourism. In assessing your application, I have considered the information provided, personal and financial circumstances and the credibility of your trip in the context of its timing andyour stated intentions.

I note your visit is sponsored by your sister in law. I acknowledge the documents submitted to demonstrate funding, however it is your personal circumstances that are paramount while assessing your application.

You state that you are self-employed earning 900,000.00 NGN (£896.03) a year and that you spend 50,000.00 NGN on monthly expenditure. I acknowledge you have provided documents such as bank statements in support of your application. However, the information provided does not demonstrate the level of income your business generates or the income you receive from it. I am not satisfied that you have accurately portrayed your personal circumstances. This in turn leads me to doubt your intentions and credibility in wanting to travel on this occasion.

Also the bank statement you have provided does not reflect your claimed income and I am unable to determine the origin of the deposits made into the account and whether they are related to your claimed business income, and you have not provided any details on your application of the source of these deposits either.

As a result I am therefore not satisfied that you have provided an accurate reflection of your financial circumstances as stated on your application. I have taken into consideration all the remaining supporting information you have enclosed in support of your application.

I am not satisfied your intentions for wishing to visit the UK at this time or that your current personal and financial circumstances in country of residency are as stated by you.

Given the above I am not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry for a purpose that is permitted under the visitor route and that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit.

Your application is therefore refused under paragraph V 4.2 (a), (c) of the Immigration Rules.

Rate of exchange £1 = 1,004.43 NGN reference www.oanda.com on 05/12/2023)

I tried to work out how to explain her financial circumstances.

Answer 1

No invoices, receipt or any record to prove her earning or expenses in cash.

This implies that her income is untaxed, potentially tax evasion. Consulates generally refuse to recognize this type of income (this is a common issue for people who are officially paid a low salary, and are handed the rest as cash).

How best can her financial circumstance be explained?

Based on her bank statements, what can be projected to be her yearly income?

Your best option would be to get invoices and issue receipts for all costs, doing proper bookkeeping for her business, and as such having a sum that is documented and representative. We cannot project any amount, she must keep her own records and give a roughly accurate amount.

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It's very hard to understand her yearly income from the information you provided, but the amount is overall very low, it'd be hard to justify a 21 day visit to the UK when one makes ~900GBP/yr, and even if that's off by a factor of 10, it's still hard to justify it. I know the value of saving up for a long time to visit a place you wanted to see, but this is not something that visa workers are very friendly to. I don't know if she could qualify for a visa even if she had 10x the income that UK assessed.

Answer 2

Remember that financials are there to prove multiple things:

• Usually, that the applicant has the means to pay for the trip. Let's consider this is not the case here as there is a sponsor covering the whole cost (if that's indeed the case).
• But also that the applicant's situation warrants a return home at the end of the planned visit (so-called "ties to the home country").

Even if her income had increased to 2 million NGN, with the drop in value of the NGN, that's still less than £1000 per year. And it's not even clear if that's the amount of money she receives (but out of which there are business expenses), or if that's what actually goes into her pocket at the end of the month.

Remember that the minimum wage in the UK is around £1800 per month for a full time job. That's 20 times her income.

This means that even if she worked illegally and was paid much much less than the official minimum wage, she would still earn a lot more than she currently does.

This gives her a very strong incentive to overstay and work illegally. I'm sorry to say that means no visa, case closed.

In other circumstances we would probably recommend she makes sure that all income and expenses go through her bank account, that she correctly file accounts, tax returns, etc, to have a decent paper trail.

But here you can just forget about it. She will never get a visitor visa unless her circumstances change dramatically or there is something seriously incorrect in the picture you painted (e.g. this is just a hobby job and she is actually supported by her husband who has a decent situation, for instance).