One common question I get from most people who contact me over the phone, messenger or even in person is what should be the "end balance" of the bank statement when he will apply for a visa. Here's is what I think and it is completely my personal opinion! I have used headings so that you know what you are about, but it's BEST if you just read the whole article in one flow ignoring headings.
Is there a specific requirement for your visa application?
For a few visas such as Thailand, India, etc. there is a set amount which is mentioned in the visa requirement, i.e. BDT 60,000 for Thai Visa or BDT 20,000 for Indian Visa application. Now here, the equation is simple! Just have that amount to fulfil the 'minimum' requirement. Having this minimum amount will at least allow you to submit your application, but does not ensure you will receive the visa or not.
What purpose does your Bank Statement serve?
However, for most visas, there is no specific amount mentioned in the list of requirement including tier 4 visas such as the USA, Canada, UK, Schengen, Australia, etc and your bank statement/s in such cases serve 2 purposes, i.e. to prove your financial ability to visit the said destination/s as well as your socioeconomic status in your country of residence.
But, if you think just because you do not have BDT 10 lakhs in your account hence you cannot apply for a Tier 4 visa such as USA, Schengen, Australia, etc, you are wrong!
How your Bank Statement should be?
Ideally, your personal saving statement should reflect your income and savings, and should at least cover your cost of travel and stay in the destination country for the said period of stay. For example, you are a service holder who gets paid BDT 1,00,000 per month as salary. So, annually your income should be around BDT 12,00,000. Now you will also have expenses such as housing, food, clothing, transport, etc., so suppose your expense is around BDT 50,000 per month. This means your savings per month is around 50,000 and annually your saving should be around BDT 6,00,000.
In this case, your statement should reflect the above i.e. your salary coming in and your expenses going out, therefore the rest is in your account as Savings, however, in Bangladesh most people are paid in cash, so what ends up happening is self-deposits to your bank account. Now if your saving after income (coming in) and expenses (going out) is around BDT 30,000 to 40,000 every month and your ideal bank statement should reflect an amount of BDT 5,00,000 to 10,00,000 depending on the period for which you are doing that job.
What mistake most of us commit w.r.t. Bank Statement?
But sadly, for most of us, that is not the case, and we end up depositing a big amount just before applying for the visa and this creates doubts in the mind of visa officers if this amount 'actually' belongs to you and they have good reasons to assume it's NOT, as we don't substantiate such deposits with other papers such as your Tax Papers, Salary Slips, etc.
My Opinion & Advice:
According to me, keeping in mind the following can actually help you have so-called a 'good' bank statement at least for visa purpose:
1. Have consistent savings (not random deposits being made just before your visa application) 2. Savings accounts ideally should not have huge highs and lows (for such transaction it is advisable to use your business' current account) 3. Salary being deposited in the account (for service holder) is an advantage for any visa application as it clearly shows the source of fund 4. You should ideally have at least twice the amount of your tour expenses (for example, for UK / Canada/ Australia you need to clearly mention how much fund you are going to spend, so your account should ideally have at least twice that amount).
Hope this post is of some help to anyone applying for visas in the near future.
You can read both country-specific & general visa guidelines under Visa Guideline section of Guy With The Green Passport. Link is given here: https://www.guywiththegreenpassport.net/visa
Misconceptions cleared
If thats the case, you should ideally deposit only the monthly savings amount to your savings account and add other documents like Salary Statement, Salary Certificate to prove how much salary you receive.
If i get my salary in hand, how can i deposit it to bank? From other (relatives) account to my savings account or i i need to do it by myself