Durrani (Entrepreneurs: Bank Letters; Evidential Flexibility): UTIAC 13 Jun 2014

UTIAC (1) The requirements listed in paragraph 41-SD(a)(i) of the Rules are to be construed reasonably and sensibly, in their full context. Approached in this way, the letters required from banks or other financial institutions are not designed to provide, and do not commit them to, any form of guarantee or assurance to any party. Rather, the function of the prescribed letters is to attest to the state of the relevant bank account on the date when they are written and to provide certain other items of information designed to confirm the authenticity of the application for entrepreneurial migrant status and its economic viability. There is no difficulty in the third party bank, with its customer’s consent, expressing its understanding, based on the customer’s instructions, that the use of specified funds in the customer’s bank account/s is contemplated or proposed by the customer for the purpose of financing the applicant’s proposed business venture. Accordingly, there is no substance in the argument that the relevant requirements contained in paragraph 41-SD(a)(i) produce an absurd result and must, therefore, be interpreted in some other manner.
(2) The question of whether a policy exists is one of fact. There is no evidence that some policy on evidential flexibility, independent and freestanding of paragraph 245AA, survived the introduction of that paragraph in the immigration rules.

[2014] UKUT 295 (IAC)
Bailii
England and Wales

Immigration

Updated: 16 December 2021; Ref: scu.534251