Bank Certificate for Visa Application: What to Ask For

Quick Answer: A bank certificate for a visa application, also called a balance confirmation or solvency letter, is a signed letter on bank letterhead that states your name, account number, balance, currency and the date. Request it from your branch or relationship manager, using the exact wording the visa checklist asks for. Many offices still want statements alongside it.

A bank balance certificate is a short letter from your bank confirming how much money is in your account on a particular date. Visa offices use it as proof that you can pay for your stay. It differs from a bank statement, which shows transactions over months; some checklists want the letter, some the statements, and many want both.

Certificate or statement: which does the visa office want?

Read the document checklist literally. The words used tell you which document is meant:

The two documents answer different questions. A statement shows where the money came from and whether it has stayed put; a certificate is a formal, signed confirmation of the figure. Officers looking for borrowed or recently parked funds will read the statements. Our guide to bank statements for a visa application covers what they look for in the transactions.

What should a bank balance certificate state?

Requirements are set by each country, so use the official checklist as your template. Canada's Express Entry guidance is one of the most specific published examples and is a good model of what a thorough letter contains. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the proof of funds letters must come from each bank or financial institution where you hold an account, printed on the institution's letterhead, and must include:

• the institution's contact information: address, telephone number and email address,
• your name,
• your outstanding debts, such as credit card debts and loans,
• and for each current banking and investment account: the account number, the date it was opened, the current balance, and the average balance for the past six months.

Even where a country asks for less, those items are a sensible baseline. To them, add what most offices expect of any official letter:

1. Date of issue, and the date the balance refers to if different.
2. Currency of each balance, written out (for example "Indian rupees" or "INR").
3. Signature of an authorized bank officer, with name and title.
4. Bank stamp or seal, if the country's guidance mentions one.
5. Account type, such as savings, current or fixed deposit, because some offices treat locked deposits differently from instant-access money.

How long must the money have been there?

A certificate shows a balance on one day. Some visas also care how long the balance has been held, and that changes what you need.

The UK's Student visa money rules are a clear example. You must have held the required money for at least 28 days in a row, and the end of that 28-day period must be within 31 days of the date you apply. GOV.UK's own illustration: apply on 1 January and you must show the funds were in your account for at least the 28-day period ending on 1 December. A single-day certificate cannot prove a 28-day holding on its own, so either statements or a letter that covers the whole period are needed. People who have been in the UK on a valid visa for at least 12 months on the application date are exempt from showing the money.

Canada's six-month average balance requirement works the same way: it lets the officer see whether money appeared shortly before the letter was written.

How do you request one from your bank?

Most banks issue balance letters at a branch or through a relationship manager; some offer them through online banking or the app. Fees and turnaround vary, so ask both when you request it. Make the request specific:

Please issue a balance confirmation letter on bank letterhead for my visa application to [country]. Include my full name as on my passport, account numbers [list], account type, date opened, current balance in [currency] as at [date], the average balance for the past six months, any loans or credit card balances with you, the bank's address, phone number and email, and the signature and stamp of an authorized officer.

Bring your passport so the name can be copied exactly. A letter in "A. Kumar" will not match a passport reading "Arjun Kumar" as easily as one that spells it out. If you are applying online, ask whether the bank can also send a digitally signed PDF, and scan the paper original in colour so the stamp and signature stay readable.

If your bank is online-only and has no branch, check what its proof-of-account documents actually say. Our guide to the Wise bank statement shows the statement and proof-of-account documents one digital provider produces.

Which account should you use?

• The account the money has been in longest. Moving funds into a new account just before applying resets the holding history that statements and averages show.
• An account in your own name, unless your visa category explicitly allows sponsors. Joint accounts with a spouse are accepted in some systems; Canada, for example, lets you count money in a joint account with an accompanying spouse.
• Accessible money. IRCC says you must be able to legally access the funds, cannot use equity in property and cannot borrow the money from another person. Other countries apply similar logic to locked deposits and loans.
• One letter per institution. If your funds are spread across banks, each bank issues its own letter; Canada's guidance asks for letters from every institution where you hold an account.

Common reasons a certificate is rejected

• It is dated outside the window the visa office allows.
• The name does not match the passport.
• It shows a balance but the checklist asked for statements covering a period.
• It was not signed, or the signatory's name and title are missing.
• The balance dropped or jumped sharply in the statements submitted alongside it, without explanation.

Before you submit, line up the certificate against your statements. If you need to total balances across months or calculate a six-month average yourself, statements in a spreadsheet make that arithmetic quick; QuickBankConvert turns PDF statements into CSV or Excel rows with a running balance column you can average. See pricing for limits, and keep the bank's own PDFs as the documents you submit.

If you are applying for a US immigrant visa, USA.gov's immigrant visa page is the official starting point for the process and its document requirements. If your next step is getting fresh statements, our note on obtaining a current bank statement explains what "current" usually means to a reviewer.

Related guides

• How to prepare bank statements for a visa application
• Get a current bank statement: what counts and how
• Wise bank statement: PDF, Excel and proof of account