In Europe, there is an increasing demand for Ukrainian refugees to provide bank statements showing their account balances

Authorities in European countries are increasingly demanding bank statements from Ukrainian refugees to assess their financial situations. This requirement applies to recipients of social assistance and various benefits, such as housing, education, and medical care.

Refugees are being asked to provide a bank statement detailing all their accounts in Ukraine, including transaction history for the last 12 months. European social services hope to determine the actual financial status of individuals.

“I was asked for a bank statement for my Ukrainian account/accounts in October, before receiving social payments. Switzerland pays me just over 700 Swiss francs per month (almost 1:1 with the euro), and another 400 francs for medical insurance. The bank required a statement showing the movement of funds, not just the account balance. I said I have one account, chose the one with fewer funds, and provided data from ‘Privat24,'” said Irina, who resides in Switzerland.

Similar requirements have been reported by Ukrainian women currently living in Estonia, resulting in more adverse outcomes.

“I was asked to report all my earnings in an application and provide a statement for all my bank accounts in Ukraine. I honestly provided all the data for my accounts with ‘PrivatBank’ and monobank. One of them had good turnover, about 20,000 hryvnia per month. Because of this, I was told that I could support myself independently without benefits. They denied me monthly social payments and subsidies for utilities, for which I now have to pay over a thousand euros,” Anna reported.

Germany has also started demanding bank statements, although it is not yet a widespread practice, and there may be exceptions.

“Not everyone is asked for bank statements; I know people who haven’t been asked for them. Many have claimed they lost their cards while fleeing Ukraine and don’t have access to their Ukrainian accounts now. So far, it’s working, and the authorities are understanding. Although I provided a statement for an almost empty Ukrainian account with no transactions, to receive social payments for myself (450 euros) and my children (just over 300 euros). It’s essential for paying rent, daycare, and school. So, we try to meet the authorities’ requests, but I provided a statement for a practically empty Ukrainian account with no transactions,” Elena shared her experience in Germany.

The primary advice given to Ukrainian refugees, particularly those receiving social payments and benefits, is not to disclose accounts with significant balances or large transactions in the last year. It is known that many Ukrainians claim on social assistance applications that they are not employed, but they work unofficially or remotely from Ukraine. European authorities have recognized this, which is why they have started requesting banking information from refugees to identify those working secretly and avoid making payments to them. Lawyers believe that they will soon have even more information to work with.

“This is a careless approach, at least from the perspective of those planning to stay in Europe. Starting from July 2023, a new law (No. 2970-IX) has come into effect, and Ukraine has joined the international Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exchange of information about accounts. Currently, information is exchanged for legal entities, and from 2024, the Ukrainian tax authorities will share data on individuals with over 100 tax authorities worldwide. Automatic data exchange will occur, and authorities of different countries will be able to exchange personal data about individuals who interest them. If Germany or Switzerland, for example, want to know about the real income passing through Ukrainian bank accounts, they will be able to do so. This will be a political decision if Ukraine’s relations with someone in Europe go sour. They could check half of the refugees and catch them in lies (receiving unreported income), depriving them of social benefits, along with the refugees,” say the lawyers.