Proof of funds for Express Entry

@aditya_bisht

as per my understanding. it should be fine as long as there’s no surge in money transfer within last 6 month into your savings account. which could look like funds were transferred just to show it to IRCC.

I’m facing a similar situation. I am the primary applicant and my husband transferred a lump sum amount in our joint saving account. I’ve been depositing money every month in that account. We’ve parked our funds there for the purpose of immigration. Will that lump sum amount be of any concern since its transferred from my husbands account into our joint account? Also I am the primary account holder of that joint account and i hold a different salary account. Hope I’ve not confused you too much.

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I think it should be fine. There was no need to transfer to a joint account though. It would make sense to show the bank statement for those accounts as well so that you can assure it was an internal transfer.

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Hello,

So I was laid off earlier this year and had to move back to my home country recently. I have checking account, credit cards and loans in the US but no credit history in my home country.

So basically, only credit history I have in my home country is the checking account opened since July 2018 for work. I’m saving right now and I will have the minimum funds in 3 months. But is it okay to apply then when the account is still fairly young, or do I have to wait until its been more than 6 months old?

Also, do I need to pay off all credit card balances and loans I have in the US before I apply? It’s not that much but will delay my application.

CIC doesn’t check credit history but your account balance (irrespective of which country the bank is located in). As long as the total sum of liquid cash is more than minimum required in Canadian dollars, they don’t care where the account is located or how old it is. They do care if you suddenly received a big sum of money (that some may potentially borrow) which is why they ask for 6 months of history.

If you have 6 months or more of statements in US then provide that summary and whatever statements you have for home country’s account. You don’t have to wait for longer, apart from getting the balance upto the mark. You will need to show that you have access to both, the US accounts as well as the home country accounts when you apply. A recent letter from your banks stating this along with other details should be good enough. To take care of the new bank account, you can mention this detail in Letter of explanation.

You don’t need to pay off any credit cards or loans before you apply. But keep in mind that you need to maintain the min balance both during application as well as during landing (usually the gap between these is 4-5 months at a minimum) so keep that in mind.

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Hey guys, I searched the forum to see if this information was already present but couldn’t find any.

For proof of funds, is it OK to show account balances from robot-advising companies such as Wealthfront or Betterment? These are essentially equity investments (ETFs) that can be liquidated immediately but wanted to see if anyone else has done this before. Thanks.

You should be able to. As long as you can get statements, you should be fine.

Very well summarized @vignesh.pr. So regarding 401k statements will be good enough? For example for bank accounts ofcourse will get an official letter but for 401k which is through another institution will statements be good enough?

Hi All,
Today I went to BoFa branch near me and asked for proof of funds letter. I showed them the CIC requirements. Strangely they said that California law only allows 3 months of balance to be shown. How true is that is my question? Has anyone else in California faced this? However, I told them that 6 months is mandatory as per CIC requirements and they noted that down and said they will try their best to get a 6 month balance. Secondly, they said they will be mailing it to me by Wednesday and they were clueless when I asked if they could send it to me electronically. Since I do have time I agreed to it. Another question I have is how did you all show 401K? Will the statement be enough? My 401k is with Voya Financial. Do I need to request a letter from them just like BoFa?

Question regarding showing proof of funds balance from Bank of America. what has worked with express entry
getting pdfs of bank statements ok or how do we wotj with BOFA to get 6 months balance>?

  1. 401K statements from the respective financial institutions will suffice as proof of funds

  2. With BoFA they have changed the process. Ask them so verification of deposit statement (that’s what we got initially) we got one earlier and then went back for a more recent one. At that time the mama her gave us a link where we can request it. Ask them to provide you that. For us, she just took a screenshot of our balances from the screen, highlighted the fields that were important and then attested it.

Thanks a lot for your respone @vignesh.pr. Regarding BoFa they have told me they will mail me by Wednesday. However, if I feel something is missing I will probably follow the procedure you did.

I went to a BofA branch in Fremont. They said the “verification letter” format is standard and that it cannot be customized. However, the relationship manager I met with asked if I wanted 3 month, 6 month or 12 month average balance. So, it looked like I had options. It was a different story with Chase Bank though. Chase said they would only give 12 month average balance - they infact claimed that the inability to customize is what makes it more authentic - weird!.

Also, the BofA letter only had 4 digits of the account number (security reasons!!) and also did not specify the branch from where I got it. Chase however put the representative’s name and contact information in the letter. I got the hard copies right away at both banks.

PS: BofA guy said he’s making a special emergency request on my behalf to get it right away, otherwise it would take about a week or so apparently and will be sent in post.

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Thanks @rangarajanm for sharing your experience. I think it all depends on the experience of the Representative on that given day. Also my area East San Jose doesnt have that many Indians. So I guess this branch close to me didnt really know about this. But she did say they sent out a request just like @vignesh.pr mentioned. I will receive it by mail on Thursday. Lets see how it goes. If something is missing I will try to get it corrected or if they are not able to will get a letter or something signed by them they cant do it. That should suffice I guess. My deadline to submit everything is Oct 22 so I am not that worried.

Got confused regarding your first point regarding 401k @vignesh.pr . You mean online statements will work or just like BoFA I need to go to Voya financials? I am not sure if they do that. I actually have enough funds in my BoA account and got official letter as well but just for sense of security I also want to include 401k. So will the online statement for 401k be good enough? Thanks again.

Online statements will work. Here is my $0.02 cents on financials for everyone in general:

  1. Liquid funds equivalent or great than the required amount is a must
  2. Credit card debt, car loans, house mortgage do not go against your case. They do not subtract debt from liquid cash and see if the balance is sufficient.
  3. 401K, Stocks, ESPP balance etc, all add to the overall financial profile of the candidate. This means, the officer when reviewing your case will realize that you are not a fiscal risk on their system. It provides an overall network of that person. Online statements are sufficient for this.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks a lot @vignesh.pr. This is very helpful info for everyone

  1. You can show the 6 months average balance by showing bank statements. My bank letter had an “average yearly deposit” but no “average last 6 months balance.” Adding a cover letter stating the average (and maybe monthly balance) with conversion to CAD will be convenient for CIC.

  2. You should be getting montly/quarterly/semi-annual statements from your company, and you can also download statements from your 401k provider account.

The format of the 6 months balance is not as important as the fact that you’ve actually provided proof of this balance (bank statements etc). The 6 months balance is for them to make sure you haven’t borrowed the money. If you present it nicely with a cover letter and make it easier for the adjudicating officer to go through that it will be good.

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Thanks a lot @avj for your suggestions. Yes, I will be adding a cover letter as there are few things which the bank letter does not provide for example:-

  • Full account numbers (only last 4 digits provided in the letter): I will back these up with statements for 6 months

  • Amount in USD: I will be converting into CAD as you mentioned based on exchange rate on the day I got my bank letter

Also I will then add 401k statements for last several quarters to show how funds have grown and will let them know in the cover letter that I plan to liquidate them upon leaving USA.
Thanks a lot you guys. I feel more confident about proof of funds documentation.

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Hello ! So for car loan,house loans and credit cards. statements are enough(which can be easily downloaded ) , no need to get letters for these. is that correct ?
And do i need to provide CAD equivalent for these as well ?
thank you for your help.