How many bank statements for a UK visa: 28 days for students and Skilled Workers, 6 months for spouse visas, and how far back your translations need to go.
How many bank statements you need for a UK visa depends almost entirely on the route. A student shows 28 days. A spouse visa sponsor on a salary shows six months, sometimes twelve. A visitor has no fixed period at all. Get the number wrong in one direction and the application falls short; get it wrong in the other and you pay to translate months nobody asked for. This guide goes route by route through how far back your statements need to go, what the closing date has to be, and how to translate only the pages that count.
Students and Skilled Workers show funds held for 28 consecutive days, ending within 31 days of the application. Spouse and partner visa sponsors relying on a salary show six months of statements, or twelve if they've been with their employer for less than six months. Visitors have no fixed period, but statements more than a year old aren't useful.
The number isn't set by your bank or by habit; each route's rules say what period the money or income has to cover. That's why the same person can need one statement for a student visa and a stack for a spouse visa. Our general bank statement translation guide covers what caseworkers check on each page. This post is about how many pages there are to check.
One rule applies across every route: if a statement isn't in English or Welsh, paragraph 39B of the Immigration Rules requires the original plus a full translation that can be independently verified. So every month you send is a month you translate, and the period in the rules is the period you pay for.
Enough to show the required money held for at least 28 days in a row, with the end of that period within 31 days of the date you apply. Usually that's one or two monthly statements.
The amount is £1,529 a month in London or £1,171 a month outside London, for up to nine months, plus any course fees still owed on your CAS. Appendix Finance says the evidence must cover the whole holding period and the most recent piece must be dated within 31 days before you apply. If your bank issues statements on the 15th of each month, the 28 days might straddle two statements, and you need both.
You don't need to show money at all if you've been in the UK with a valid visa for 12 months or more, and some nationalities don't have to submit it up front. If the money is in a parent's account, you'll also need proof of the relationship and the parent's written consent, which our student visa translation service can translate together with the statements.
If you need to show funds, statements covering 28 consecutive days with at least £1,270 in the account throughout, with day 28 within 31 days of applying. You don't need any if your sponsor certifies maintenance or you've been in the UK on a valid visa for 12 months.
This is the route where the best number of bank statements is often zero. If your employer fills in the sponsor certifies maintenance section on your certificate of sponsorship, you skip the funds evidence entirely, and with it the translation. Ask your employer before you order anything.
If you do need to show the money and it's in an account abroad, translate the statement or statements that cover the 28-day window and nothing older. Bringing family adds to the amount, and our guide to Skilled Worker dependants' documents covers what they need. The Kontoauszug from three years ago, however tidy, adds nothing.
If the sponsor relies on a salary and has been with their current employer for at least six months, six months of personal bank statements matching six months of payslips. If they've been with the employer for less than six months, the evidence also has to show the income over the previous 12 months.
Appendix FM-SE asks for personal bank statements covering the same period as the payslips, so the salary can be seen arriving each month. The minimum income for new applicants is £29,000 a year. Six monthly statements is the normal minimum for a salaried sponsor, and if the statements are in French, Spanish or Urdu, that's six statements to translate. Our payslip translation guide explains how the payslips, employer letter and statements fit together.
The twelve-month version is for sponsors who changed jobs recently. They show the current job and the earnings over the previous year, which can double the paperwork. Self-employed sponsors have a different set of rules again, built around full financial years and tax evidence, so check the guidance for that route before counting months.
Statements showing the savings held throughout the six months before the date of application. If savings are making up a shortfall in income, the rules ask for £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall.
Cash savings are evidenced by time, not by a single balance. The money has to have been there for the full six months, so the statements need to cover the whole period without a gap, and a large deposit two months ago will need explaining. If the savings are spread over several accounts, each account needs its own six months.
That's where the page count climbs. A savings account with two transactions a year prints on a page per statement. A current account doing double duty as the savings account can run to several pages a month, every one of which gets translated. If you can, rely on the account with the quietest history. Our bank statement translation service handles long runs of statements in one order.
There's no fixed number. The visitor guidance asks for financial documents that clearly show you have access to the funds and where the money came from, and lists statements issued more than a year before you apply as documents not to send.
A visitor isn't measured against a threshold. The caseworker wants to see that the trip is affordable and that your finances make sense, so a few recent months that show your income arriving and a balance that covers the trip usually do more than a year of statements. A sudden large deposit just before applying, with nothing to explain it, does the opposite.
If someone else is paying for your trip, the evidence shifts to them: their funds, your relationship and, where relevant, their status in the UK. Our visitor visa translation guide covers the rest of the file.
Certified translation is £15.59 per page, delivered within 24 business hours, or £29.99 per page for same-day rush. The cost depends on the number of pages, so translate only the period your route requires.
Start from the rule, not the folder. Work out the period your route asks for, find the statements that cover it, and stop there. A student needs the statements covering 28 days; a spouse sponsor needs six months. Translating an extra year just in case doesn't strengthen an application, it just makes it longer to read.
If your bank can issue a monthly statement instead of a long transaction export, ask for it: the page count is often much lower. Put all the statements in one order so the account holder's name, account number and currency appear the same way on every page. Every document includes two free revisions. You can get an instant quote by uploading the statements, and we'll count the pages before you pay.
About the author
Felipe Menendez
Head of Translation, VisaDocTranslation
Felipe leads the translation team at VisaDocTranslation, overseeing certified translations for UK visa, Home Office and HMCTS submissions. He sets the quality standards every translation is checked against and writes about what UKVI caseworkers actually look for.
More about our teamFor student and Skilled Worker funds, the most recent piece of evidence must be dated within 31 days before you apply. For spouse visas, the six months count back from the date of application, so apply soon after your latest statement.
Yes. Paragraph 39B asks for a full translation, so every page of a statement you submit gets translated, including the transaction lines. Keep pages down by choosing which statements to submit, not by translating part of one.
The statement is translated with the amounts exactly as printed. For student and Skilled Worker funds, Appendix Finance converts foreign currency at the OANDA spot rate on the date you apply, so check the balance in pounds before you submit.
For spouse and partner visas, Appendix FM-SE says electronic statements need a letter from the bank confirming they're genuine or the bank's stamp on every page. Other routes don't set the same rule, but the evidence must still be verifiable.
Only if you're relying on their money or income. On a spouse visa, the statements belong to whoever's salary or savings you're counting. On a student visa, money in a parent's account can count with proof of the relationship and the parent's written consent.
UKVI-accepted certified translations from £15.59 per page. Statement of accuracy included. 24-hour delivery.
Foreign bank statements translated line by line — balances, transaction descriptions and bank stamps — for UKVI funds evidence and UK mortgage affordability checks. From £15.59 per page.
Bank statements, payslips, tax returns, pension statements, company accounts and more — translated and certified for UKVI, UK mortgage lenders, accountants and courts. From £15.59 per page.
Academic document translations for UK student visas. Accepted by UKVI, universities, and UCAS.
Everything you need translated for your spouse visa — marriage certificates, financial evidence, and relationship proof.
Do WhatsApp messages help a spouse visa when you live apart? How much weight UKVI gives chats, what to pair them with, and how call logs get translated.
Kontoauszug translation for a UK visa: Buchungstag and Wertstellung, Lastschrift and Gutschrift lines, Umsatzübersicht printouts and which months to send.
When a UK visa needs a foreign tax return translated: self-employed and director income, pensions, and what an avis d'imposition or Steuerbescheid proves.