Documents required for your Visa Interview
All the information given below is the result of some very hard work done by lots of other MS aspirants :) I'm just the messenger here :) Thank You very Much Ajay Nadarajan for sharing this!! :)
Document required
- Savings Account – complete passbook or a computer generated printout (last 6 months)
- Fixed deposits
- LIC Policies
- Mutual Funds
- Shares and/or Bonds
- PF
- GPF
- Tax returns – for the past 3 years
Property Documents
- Residential Documents
- Commercial
- Ancestral
- Farm Land
All business documents
- Registration of the company
- Memorandum of Article
- Business Card
- Current Account Statement
- Proof of any investments
- Chartered Accountant’s Report
All educational documents
- Degree
- School certificate
- GRE/GMAT/SAT
- TOEFL/IELTS
Work Experience
- Joining letter
- Relieving letter
- Salary slips
LIQUID FUNDS:
Liquid Funds are those funds which are at your instant disposal. The following is a list of sources which can be shown as Liquid Funds along with the necessary documents required for each of them.
1) Savings Accounts:
This is considered as good as cash in hand.
But few people actually store huge amounts of money in Savings Accounts for obvious reasons. You will most likely be transferring money from a non-liquid source into your savings account to show for the visa interview. In this case carry documents as proof of transactions.
In any case, be prepared to justify any significant deposits in your Savings Account with necessary documents
Documents Required: Original Passbooks with transactions of at least last 6 months, Bank statement (optional), Proof of significant transactions
Note: Some banks do not provide passbooks. In this case, you can do either of the following:
a) Get a printed transaction history of the past 6 months from the bank (Recommended)
b) If you have Internet banking, print the bank statements over the past 6 months.
2) Fixed Deposits:
A fixed deposit is a long term deposit with a bank which yields a higher rate of interest. You can show either the Principal Amount or the Current Amount of a Fixed Deposit as Liquid Cash. Current amount will be higher than Principal Amount due to accrued interest, but will require an official bank statement as proof.
The Maturity Amount of a Fixed Deposit cannot be considered as Liquid Funds unless the Maturity Date is before the time when you will need the funds.
Documents Required: Original Receipts, Bank Statements for Current Value
3) Bank Loans:
A bank loan which has already been sanctioned can be shown as Liquid Funds. Maximum Bank Loan available in India = Rs. 20 Lakhs
Be ready to explain what was used as collateral to obtain the loan, if required.
I would strongly advise against showing a loan from a foreign bank as source of funds.
Documents: Original Loan Sanction Letter with the name of the university mentioned
4) Scholarships:
Any monetary scholarship is also counted as Liquid Funds. These can be granted by various organizations, both from India and abroad. Make sure you are prepared to explain how you were eligible for the scholarship and your ties with the awarding organization.
Documents: Original Scholarship Letter, Documents proving ties with the awarding organization (especially for caste specific trusts etc.)
NON - LIQUID FUNDS:
These are funds which are not available instantly, but can be made available in the near future if required.
1) Provident Funds:
There are several provident funds and it is beyond the scope of this document to discuss each one of those in detail.
Provident funds will pay you a certain amount of money at a given date. A percentage of this final amount is immediately available. Only this percentage can be shown as Liquid Funds. The rest is counted as Non-Liquid Funds.
There are also Public Provident Funds (PPF). Funds available through PPF can be shown as Liquid Funds.
Documents: Original Passbooks or Original Statements as applicable
2) Policies:
All policies are considered as Non-Liquid Funds.
Documents: Original Policy Letter
3) National Savings Certificate:
NSC's are Non-Liquid Funds.
Documents: Original Certificates
4) Bonds:
There are again several kinds of bonds and each of them will have specific conditions. Unless you dissolve these bonds and transfer them to savings accounts, they are counted as Non-Liquid.
Documents: Original Bond Certificates
5) Shares:
The value of these assets is constantly fluctuating and hence have to be shown as Non-Liquid Assets. I would recommend you calculate the value of the shares approximately one week prior to the Visa Interview. You can do this yourself also and do not need to pay any professional to do it.
Documents: Original Share Certificates (if possible), DMAT Account Statement
6) Mutual Fund Investments:
These are also constantly fluctuating in value and to be shown as Non-Liquid Assets.
Documents: Original Mutual Fund Investment document, Investment Portfolio (if you are investing through an agency)
7) Other Investments:
Any other investments not covered above or later can be counted as Non-Liquid Assets only.
Documents: As per investment
NOTE: Most of the above Non-Liquid Assets can be dissolved into Liquid Funds. If you do so, make sure you carry the necessary proofs for the dissolution of these assets so that you can explain the influx of Liquid Funds in your Savings Account.
PROPERTY:
Property is not directly included in Non-Liquid Assets since you will rarely be selling property to generate funds.
While it is not compulsory to show property, it is highly recommended. There are two reasons:
a) It shows strong ties to your home country.
b) In case you are falling short of funds for 2nd year onwards, you can show property as collateral for loan.
Documents: Original Proof of Ownership, Evaluation Certificate from a Registered Evaluator (Optional, Will cost money to obtain)
ANNUAL INCOME:
Along with all the above assets, you will also need to show the annual income of your sponsors. This is generally required to prove that your sponsors can sustain themselves while providing money for your education.
The annual income may include income from one of your Liquid assets such as FD Interest, or pay-offs from other investments. In this case, make sure that their income excluding these sources is sufficient.
Documents: Income Tax Returns of the past 3 years of each sponsor. If IT Returns of the current year have not been filed, carry salary slips, bills, receipts or any other proof of income over the past year as applicable.
How do I show these funds to the VO?
There are two ways:
1) Prepare a consolidated statement in tabular format. It should have three columns - Asset, Value in Rupees, and Value in Dollars. Have four separate sections for all the above four forms of funds.
2) Prepare a Fund Flow Statement. State the funds required for your education semester-wise and the source of funds for each semester. So you will have three columns - Semester, Funds required, and Source of Funds
I would recommend option 1, since I have heard cases where VO's get suspicious about involvement of a counselor on seeing a Fund Flow Statement.
You do not need to get these documents from any CA. You can make them yourself.
What other documents do I need from my sponsor?
The most important document you will need from your sponsor is an Affidavit of Support. Mention only the amount of Liquid Funds made available by each sponsor on the Affidavit. Do not mention Non-Liquid Funds.
Cheers,
Karthik Venkatachalapathi