Do the 28 days have to be the 28 days immediately before I apply?

Not exactly. Under Appendix Finance FIN 7.2, the 28-day holding period is counted back from the closing balance date on your most recently dated piece of financial evidence, and that evidence must itself be dated within 31 days of applying (FIN 7.1). In practice this means the last day covered by your bank statement needs to fall within 31 days of your application date, and the balance cannot have dropped below £2,530 at any point in the 28 days counting back from that closing date.

My bank account is jointly held with a family member. Does that still count?

Yes. FIN 8.1 allows funds held in a personal account "including current, deposit, savings" that can be accessed immediately, and a joint account held with someone else qualifies. The applicant still needs to be able to show control of the funds, so keep the statement showing your name on the account.

Will a printout from my online banking app work instead of a branch-issued document?

We do not know. GOV.UK's Appendix Finance sets the rules for the funds themselves, but it does not list which specific document formats it will accept as evidence, and we have not found a page that says whether a self-printed statement is treated the same as one issued and stamped at a branch. Check GOV.UK's current guidance, or ask UKVI directly, before relying on a printout alone.

Should I keep more than £2,530 in the account because of the exchange rate?

Yes. Appendix Finance FIN 1.1 converts money held in a foreign currency into pounds "using the spot exchange rate which appears on www.oanda.com for the date of the application." Your statement shows yen, so the pound value of the same balance moves with the exchange rate until the day you apply. Keeping a clear margin above £2,530 for all 28 days protects you against that movement.

Does the translation need to cover every line of the statement, or just the closing balance?

GOV.UK asks the translator to confirm that the translation is "a true and accurate translation of the original document," not of a summary or an extract. The Home Office's guide to supporting documents is more direct still: a document not in English or Welsh "must be accompanied by a full translation that can be independently verified by the Home Office." We translate every entry on the pages you submit, in the same layout as the original, so a reviewing officer can check the running balance across the full 28-day period rather than trusting a single figure.

How soon after getting the statement from my bank should I order the translation?

As soon as you have it. The 31 days are counted from the last date your statement covers, not from the date you receive the translation, so every day spent waiting comes out of that window. We deliver within 48 hours of payment confirmation, which normally leaves comfortable room.

Guide

The bank statement you need to translate for a UK Youth Mobility Scheme visa

Japan Translations · Certified document translation only · Last reviewed 2 October 2026

For a UK Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) visa you need to show £2,530 held for 28 days in a row. For most applicants in Japan, that evidence is a Japanese bank document, and it needs a certified English translation. What to do, in order:

Ask your bank for a transaction history, not only a balance certificate. A balance certificate shows a single day; the 28 days are shown by a history that covers the whole period.
Make sure the history runs up to a recent date, and apply within 31 days of the last date it covers. If you are using a passbook, update it at an ATM before you photograph it. A passbook whose last entry is months old does not cover the period UKVI looks at.
Keep well over £2,530 in the account for all 28 days. UKVI converts a yen balance into pounds at the exchange rate for the date you apply, so the pound value changes until then.
Check that your name, the bank's name, and the account number appear on what you send. Where they are printed differs by bank, and the pages of a passbook that list the entries may not show them, so include the page that does.
Have it translated with a certificate stating that the translation is accurate, the date, and the translator's full name, signature, and contact details. We translate every entry for $24.95 per original page and deliver within 48 hours of payment.

Each point has its own section with the rule behind it and the sources. Acceptance is decided by UKVI; following these points should meet the requirements as GOV.UK states them.

The financial requirement: £2,530 held for 28 consecutive days

Immigration Rules Appendix Youth Mobility Scheme sets the amount and the holding period directly: "The applicant must have funds of £ 2,530" (YMS 5.1), and "the applicant must show that they have held the required level of funds for a 28-day period and as specified in Appendix Finance" (YMS 5.2). GOV.UK's eligibility page states the same requirement in plainer terms: "You will need to have had the money available for at least 28 days in a row. Day 28 must be within 31 days of applying for this visa."

Appendix Finance supplies the mechanics. FIN 7.1 requires the most recently dated piece of financial evidence to be dated within 31 days before the date of application, and FIN 7.2 states that the 28-day holding period is calculated "by counting back from the date of the closing balance on the most recently dated piece of financial evidence." FIN 7.3 adds that the evidence "must cover the whole period of time for which the funds must be held." A single-day balance certificate cannot show that the balance stayed above £2,530 across those 28 days. A transaction history covering the full period can.

In practice, the closing date of your statement is day 28, and you apply within 31 days of it. The date the bank issues the document does not extend that window: a history for May printed in August still ends on 31 May. Ask the bank for a history that runs up to the day you request it, or as close to it as the bank allows.

Which account qualifies

FIN 8.1 allows "any form of personal bank or building society account (including current, deposit, savings, pension from which the funds can be withdrawn or investment account) provided the account allows the funds to be accessed immediately," and a joint account in your name qualifies. FIN 8.2 rules out funds that cannot be withdrawn immediately: shares, bonds, a credit card's available limit, and a pension that cannot be drawn on demand are not accepted as evidence, regardless of the notice period involved.

If your account holds Japanese yen, as most personal accounts in Japan do, FIN 1.1 sets the conversion: money in a foreign currency is converted into pounds "using the spot exchange rate which appears on www.oanda.com for the date of the application." The yen figures on your statement stay the same, but their value in pounds moves with the exchange rate until you apply, so keep a clear margin above £2,530.

What a Japanese bank issues, and what it is called

Japanese banks do not issue a document called a "bank statement" in English. The transaction history that covers a 28-day period goes under different names depending on the bank, and all of them are issued in Japanese. Documents we have translated for this purpose include Japan Post Bank's 通常貯金預払状況調書 (ordinary savings transaction statement), a shinkin bank's 預金取引履歴照会票 (deposit transaction history inquiry form), MUFG Bank's 取引推移一覧表 (transaction summary list), Japan Post Bank's 通帳未記入金内訳書 (statement of entries not yet recorded in the passbook), and passbook pages updated through 通帳記入 (passbook updating) at an ATM or counter.

If you send passbook pages, check whether they show the bank's name, your name, and the account number. On the passbooks and printouts we have translated, the pages listing the entries did not always carry them. A translation can only show what is printed on the original, so if those details are on a different page, photograph that page too and we will translate it with the rest.

A separate document, 預金残高証明書 (certificate of deposit balance), confirms the balance as of one specific date rather than a running history. Japan Post Bank will issue this certificate of balance in English at the counter for a fee of 1,100 yen, with the balance stated in Japanese yen, but it shows only a single date and cannot by itself demonstrate 28 consecutive days of holding. Whether a printed copy of an online banking statement is accepted in place of a branch-issued document is not addressed on GOV.UK, so we cannot confirm it either way; requesting a document at a branch counter is the safer route.

What UKVI requires of the translation

The Youth Mobility Scheme documents page states plainly: "You'll need to provide a certified translation of any documents that are not in English or Welsh." GOV.UK's "Certifying a document" guidance sets out what that certification must contain: the translator's written confirmation that it is "a true and accurate translation of the original document," the date of the translation, and the translator's full name and contact details. The Home Office's own supporting-document guidance for visitor visas, which describes the same certification standard used across UK visa categories, adds that the translation must also carry "the translator's full name and signature." Both the "Certifying a document" page and the supporting-document guidance place the confirmation with the translator, and the latter asks for a translation the Home Office can verify independently, so translating and certifying your own bank statement does not fit what they describe. Neither sets an accreditation or location requirement for a translator when you apply from outside the UK.

Separately from the GOV.UK wording, several applicants who have ordered from us have sent this checklist before ordering, drawn from their own research rather than quoted from a single GOV.UK page. It overlaps with the GOV.UK requirements but is not identical to them, so we list it on its own terms alongside how our certificate addresses each point:

Confirmation that the translation is a true and accurate translation of the original document The certificate carries this confirmation in the wording GOV.UK asks for.
The date of the translation The date the translation was completed is stated on the certificate.
The full name and signature of the translator or an authorised official of the translation company The translator’s full name and handwritten signature appear on the certificate.
The contact details of the translator or translation company Reachable contact details are on the certificate, so the Home Office can verify the translation independently.

Whether a submission is accepted is always the decision of the authority receiving it. Confirm the current requirements on GOV.UK before you apply.

What you receive, and what it costs

Translation of a Japanese bank document is $24.95 per original page. Every order includes the full translation plus a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy, delivered by email in PDF and Word formats within 48 hours of payment confirmation.

On the order form, give us the spelling of your name exactly as it appears in your passport. We use that spelling throughout the translation so the account holder named on the statement reads as the same person as the applicant on your visa. What we do not do is alter how the original document itself is printed: names, memo fields, and any other entries are translated exactly as they appear on the original, even where the phrasing looks inconsistent, because changing the original's content would contradict the accuracy our certificate is signed to confirm.

Ordering a translation for a YMS application

Because the 31 days are counted from the last date your statement covers, request the document from the bank once your 28 days are up and send it to us straight away. Clear photos taken with a phone are fine; we check that every page is legible before we quote. On the order form, select United Kingdom as the destination country, "UKVI / Home Office — applying from outside the UK" as the receiving authority (or the inside-the-UK option if that applies to you), and Bank statement as the document type. The form does not ask about notarization for UKVI, since UKVI's standard requirement is a certified translation rather than a notarized one.

Start your order on the order form.

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Questions applicants ask about proof of funds

Do the 28 days have to be the 28 days immediately before I apply? Not exactly. Under Appendix Finance FIN 7.2, the 28-day holding period is counted back from the closing balance date on your most recently dated piece of financial evidence, and that evidence must itself be dated within 31 days of applying (FIN 7.1). In practice this means the last day covered by your bank statement needs to fall within 31 days of your application date, and the balance cannot have dropped below £2,530 at any point in the 28 days counting back from that closing date.
My bank account is jointly held with a family member. Does that still count? Yes. FIN 8.1 allows funds held in a personal account "including current, deposit, savings" that can be accessed immediately, and a joint account held with someone else qualifies. The applicant still needs to be able to show control of the funds, so keep the statement showing your name on the account.
Will a printout from my online banking app work instead of a branch-issued document? We do not know. GOV.UK's Appendix Finance sets the rules for the funds themselves, but it does not list which specific document formats it will accept as evidence, and we have not found a page that says whether a self-printed statement is treated the same as one issued and stamped at a branch. Check GOV.UK's current guidance, or ask UKVI directly, before relying on a printout alone.
Should I keep more than £2,530 in the account because of the exchange rate? Yes. Appendix Finance FIN 1.1 converts money held in a foreign currency into pounds "using the spot exchange rate which appears on www.oanda.com for the date of the application." Your statement shows yen, so the pound value of the same balance moves with the exchange rate until the day you apply. Keeping a clear margin above £2,530 for all 28 days protects you against that movement.
Does the translation need to cover every line of the statement, or just the closing balance? GOV.UK asks the translator to confirm that the translation is "a true and accurate translation of the original document," not of a summary or an extract. The Home Office's guide to supporting documents is more direct still: a document not in English or Welsh "must be accompanied by a full translation that can be independently verified by the Home Office." We translate every entry on the pages you submit, in the same layout as the original, so a reviewing officer can check the running balance across the full 28-day period rather than trusting a single figure.
How soon after getting the statement from my bank should I order the translation? As soon as you have it. The 31 days are counted from the last date your statement covers, not from the date you receive the translation, so every day spent waiting comes out of that window. We deliver within 48 hours of payment confirmation, which normally leaves comfortable room.

Fees, processing time, and other requirements

Japan's allocation for 2026 is 6,000 places, and Japanese nationals apply directly without a ballot (the ballot for Japan ended on 31 January 2024). The application fee is £340, and the Immigration Health Surcharge is £776 per year of the visa. GOV.UK states that applicants usually get a decision within three weeks. The required documents are a valid passport and the bank statement; Japan is not on the list of countries that need a tuberculosis test.

Sources (last reviewed September 2026; Appendix Finance October 2026)

Amounts, allocations, and fees can change. Check GOV.UK's current guidance before you apply.

Bank statement translation is $24.95 per original page, delivered in PDF and Word formats within 48 hours of payment. Get a fixed quote.

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