The Evidence of support Answers
Dear Pals in the house,
Haven browsed through the various rooms on this Website, i came up with answers to the question of the Evidence of Support issues i raised earlier. I guess this should apply to us too, as Bangladash and Nigeria are both 3rd world countries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zahid474
Hi all,
I am a DV-2008 winner from Bangladesh. My NL no is AS00001xxx. Is Affidavit of Support is a must. I don't have any relative in USA who can give me Affidavit of Support. Is there any alternative of Affidavit of Support ? Please suggest me.
Dear Zahid,
Basically what is important is that you have to be able to show that you can support yourself and your family and that you will not become a burden to the government after you go to the US.
There are any 1 of these 3 ways in which you can do that –
1) Get a job offer from somebody in the US.
2) Get an “affidavit of support” from somebody who lives in the US and is either a US citizen or a Green Card holder
3) Show bank records that show you have a reasonable amount of money which you will be able to take to the US when you go.
For most people who are not already in the US, option 1 (job offer) will not be possible in most cases.
There are some countries where it is difficult or impossible for the US embassy to confirm the truth of bank statements and bank records submitted by applicants. There are also countries in which it is not possible for those who are immigrating to take their own money with them due to exchange control rules. In such countries option 3 will also not be available, and in practice, the only alternative left will be to get an affidavit of support.
I don’t think that this will be the case in Bangladesh and most probably you will have the option of submitting bank statements to show that you can support yourself after going to the US. The reason I say this is that otherwise this issue would have already come up in this forum!
If you want to be absolutely sure you can just phone the US Embassy in Dhaka and ask them whether they accept bank statements or whether an affidavit of support is a must.
If you are submitting bank statements to show that you will be able to support yourself after going to the US, then there is no absolute fixed amount. It depends on the circumstances of the person and the opinion of the officer conducting the interview.
I’ve read that for somebody who is a professional and has a university degree, they are lenient on this matter and are prepared to accept a lower amount. So you have an advantage there!
Also I’ve read that the amount expected is 125% of the official US poverty level. (But please note that I've haven't seen any official state department document that confirms this. So it has the status of a rumour Also I’ve read that they are often stricter than that for immigrants from wealthier countries.)
You can find the official US poverty level here –
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/07poverty.shtml
If we take a family of 3 for example, the US government will officially consider that family to be “poor” if they have to live on less than 17,170 dollars per year. 125% of that figure is 21,465 dollars. So if you can show that you have that much money in the bank you should be fine.
However this is not a “rule”. It all depends on the opinion of the visa officer. Because you are a professional and a university graduate, there is a chance that he might even be willing to accept an amount lower than that.
Even if you cannot show cash in the bank, you can also show some property that you own and say that you intend to sell it and take the money with you if you get a visa. But showing cash in the bank will be more advantageous.
In general, since everything depends on the opinion of the officer conducting the interview, the only “rule” is that “the more you show the better”. The more money you can show in the bank, the more assets you can show, the better it is.
Also as LucyMo said, there is no need for a relative in the US. Anybody who is a US citizen or a green card holder can give an affidavit of support. But ofcourse only someone who is a relative or a very close friend will be willing to do that for someone else!
In my own opinion, one should get to read the whole thread, as it very important. Go to: Affidavit of support, under the general Lottery Visa - DV, dated 30th August 2007 and started by zahid474. In addition, go to Affidavit of support,Big QUESTON.? dated 31st August 2007 and started by N.RAJI. You'll see the importance of having a combination of your Bank Statements and Affidavit of Support from someone with a good job in the U.S. This can be supplemented with all other evidences of support.
