DV Interview: Let us discuss on the host, the sponsor, and the documents that you should get from the host or the sponsor.
About the sponsor
A “sponsor” is any person in the United States who has agreed to take all the responsibilities of catering for you in terms of finances. They have agreed that they will commit some portion of their income or their wealth to cater for your needs as you start life in the United States.
Therefore, they must prove to the embassy that they are willing to sponsor you, and they do that by providing documents that we shall learn as we progress in this guide. That person that agrees to take care of all your needs as you start life in the United States, both financially, the person is called the sponsor.
On the other hand, the “host” simply means someone who has given or provided you with an address. The address that you used in your DS-260, the permanent address in the United States. The person that gave you that address is regarded as your host because he or she will be hosting your documents.
Remember, once you land in the United States, the green card and the Social Security number and any other document will be sent to you via that mail address. So that person offering you that address to host your documents is called the host.
The host can be the person that receives you and gives you some accommodation when you land in the United States, if you don’t have one of your own. The person that receives you and gives you where to stay as you start life, then that is your host. You are a guest to him or her.
Based on that argument, the sponsor and the host seems to intermarry, but they are totally different. The sponsor supports you in terms of finances, and the host only gives you the address and sometimes may give you a place to stay when you land in the United States.
Another point to note is that, your host can be your sponsor. The person hosting you also decides to take care of you in terms of the finances, and therefore he or she becomes your sponsor.
One person can take those two responsibilities or one responsibility, sponsoring may be taken by another person and the hosting responsibility be taken by a different person.
To understand which documents you’re supposed to get and from who. The sponsor, the one committing some finances to sponsor you, is the one who is supposed to produce the following documents and give them to you. Because during the interview, you will be required to present these documents as a proof of financial support.
Remember, you can be your own host as well as your own sponsor. You can sponsor yourself and you can host yourself maybe by renting an Airbnb or a hotel room and also having enough savings in your bank that can take you through as you start life in the United States.
In the case that another person takes the responsibilities, then that person who is your sponsor must provide you with the following document to present as proof of financial support.
The first document is the correctly filled Form I-134
The sponsor has to correctly fill that document and then email it to you for you to print it and sign it before presenting it at the interview. Together with that Form I-134, there are other documents that should accompany it to make it a complete document, such as:
- The tax compliance form
Note that for an individual to qualify to sponsor an immigrant, that individual has to have complied with the tax laws, and that mean they should have completely filed their returns. They should have paid their taxes.
Therefore, tax documents are needed. If the sponsor is employed in the U.S, he or she will present the W-2 form to you as the tax compliance form. He/she will send document to you, for you to print it.
The second thing is that the sponsor has to provide some form of identity.
He or she might give you a copy of the green card if he/she is an LPR i.e a green card holder or a national ID if they are the citizens of the United States.
In that case, either a driver’s license or the passport bio data page. They should provide whichever of those identity documents together with the ones mentioned above.
Another document your sponsor will provide is his/her recent pay slips
The recent pay slips from the sponsor should be presented to you before you attend the interview.
Having outlined all those documents, you should note that all those documents must be printed out and be presented as a hard copy, no soft copies. You will not be allowed into the embassy with any phone or any tablet or whichever the gadget. Print them and file them well in hard copy format.
For the documents from the host, the host needs not to give you anything or any type of documents. You don’t need anything from the host unless your host is your sponsor. If your host is your sponsor, then they should provide you with those financial support documents.
But if you have a different host from the sponsor, the host gives you nothing, but the sponsor provides you with all those documents.
I believe this guide have answered questions about the host and the sponsor, and the documents that you are required.
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