UKBA releases their acceptable/non acceptable Financial Institution list for Student Visas from India… Plays safe!

THE UK kicked an own goal that it’s still struggling to recover from, with long-term damage done by government proposals to restrict international students…(The Australian in an article titled UK VISA PROPOSAL AN OWN GOAL)

While you can have your own interpretations to the UKBA changes which I have already termed as simply driven by political agendas and not by real sense. They may have been initiated due to some real issues but the extremes to which they extended have not just landed International students with little option but to drop UK from their options… but has landed UK providers with angry accountants…

This blog is about something that has been finally made available. UKBA had promised that by July of this year they would release the list of acceptable and unacceptable financial institutions. They have now in late-October finally released the list…

The list seems to be no real startle and will not cause much furore at all.

UKBA states on their site…

24 October 2011 

In June 2011, we announced that we would be publishing a list of financial institutions which we consider, on the basis of experience, do not verify financial statements to our satisfaction. Today we are publishing an initial list of financial institutions that fall under this category. 

We will use the list when verifying maintenance funds under Tier 4 of the points-based system. An applicant will receive no points for maintenance if they submit documents showing that the funds are held in a financial institution on the list. 

The list forms part of the reforms to the student immigration route. The change is to ensure that we can verify that student visa applicants hold the required maintenance funds to support themselves and pay for their course in the UK.

We will give a 30-day notice period from the date when a financial institution is first listed before the new rule takes effect. This will enable applicants to make the necessary financial arrangements, so that they can provide financial documentation which meets the new requirements.

The list will be kept under review, and we will make additions or deletions as appropriate. 

We will continue to verify financial information from financial institutions not on the list, on a case-by-case basis. We may refuse applications on the basis of these individual checks.

List of acceptable/unacceptable financial institutions is on this link.