Claim: UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has issued a notice rejecting financial documents from nine Pakistani banks and three English Language Tests as part of the visa application process.
Fact: UKVI has made no such announcement. The viral notice is false and appears to be doctored.
On 10 June 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user “Aurangzeb Ali ASAD” posted a photo of a notice seemingly from UKVI with the following caption:
“UK visa & immigration have been rejected financial documents of 9-Pakistani BANKS as part of visa application process.
- ABL
- Askari Bank
- Bank Alfalah
- Bank Islami
- Faysal Bank
- HBL
- JS Bank
- MCB Islamic
- UBL”
The caption reiterates what’s purportedly being announced by the UK Visas and Immigration in the pictured notice.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search to ascertain whether any credible news source had reported on this announcement, however, it did not show any relevant results.
We then searched the United Kingdom’s official government website, specifically the Visas and Immigration page, and its News and communications page but failed to find the viral notice and any relevant announcements.
Upon closer inspection of the viral notice, Soch Fact Check took note of multiple discrepancies that indicate that the image is doctored. Firstly the top section of the notice shows the personalised letterhead of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). As compared to the original logo of the UKVI, the letterhead looks compressed and pixelated indicating it has likely been copy-pasted or edited onto the notice. The second thing we noticed was the change in font colour for the title, date, overview, and note subheadings. The body of the text is in black but these sections of the notice are in purple, which does not match UKVI’s standard format.
Typically when the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) releases news and communications, announcing new regulations, policy papers, etc it is published on a page on the government’s official website. It does not contain a letterhead or look like a letter notice. This notice on “New Measures to tackle student visa abuse,” is an example of a communications release from the UKVI.
Moreover, on 13 June 2024, the British High Commission in Pakistan confirmed that the notice is false in a post on their official X account. The post contains a picture of the viral notice with the word “FAKE!” stamped across it in red, along with the following caption, “We are aware of a fake document being shared, pretending to be from UK Visas and Immigration, claiming certain banks and English Language Tests are banned from UK student visa applications. If you receive it, please delete it, don’t share it, and let the person know it is a fake.”
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the same claim had been shared on Facebook here, here, and here.
Conclusion: A viral notice claiming that UK Visas and Immigration has announced it will reject financial documents from nine banks in Pakistan and three English Language tests as part of the visa application process is false. The UKVI has not made any such announcement, and the British High Commission in Pakistan has confirmed that the notice is fake.
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