Affidavit of Support is one of the list of official documents that may be required from the DV lottery winner when you go to the interview of the diversity visa. Affidavit of Support is also known as the Form I-134.
Not all embassies are requiring this particular document. Some of the embassies and consulates are requiring this document while some are not requiring this documentation.
DV Lottery Affidavit of Support
Who is supposed to fill this form, if the U.S embassy in the country where you are taking the interview, require this form?
Not everybody has the status or is allowed to fill this form. Only the person with green card or a person who is a U.S citizen is required to fill this form, if this form is required.
This form is not a sponsorship form. It is a form which the U.S government believes that if you get the financial difficulties, instead of going to the U.S government to request for financial support, the person who is filling this form will be required, will be responsible for supporting you during that financial hardship.
They prefer or they require a green card holder or U.S citizen to fill this form.
Again, even if you’re U.S citizen or green card holder, will be able to fill this form. They need to know how much your annual income is, and that annual income is related to the poverty guidelines of the poverty line.
If a person who is going to fill that form is single, he/she needs to have e.g $18,000 per year, and then if he’s going to sponsor or to put two or three people, then he/she need to have up to $35,000.
There is a poverty guideline to determine how many people and how much income you need to have. It’s not about the bank statement, it is about the annual income and the annual income is going to be proven by tax return or tax credit, the tax transcript, which will be able to include or say, this is the annual income of someone according to the IRS.
What is the challenge of getting this one?
People are assuming, if you are hosting me, you have to fill this form. No, you can have a person A as a host and person B can be the person filling the Affidavit of Support, if the embers in your account is requiring the affidavit of support.
The host is any person giving you the address or the place to stay. A host can be an international student. A host can be a person visiting America. A host can be any person with a non-immigrant visa. But the person filling the feeling the affidavit of support must be a green card holder or a U.S citizen with a certain required income.
The challenge usually is rising based on the following things to get someone to fill that form:
- Not everyone who is in America will have the income which will meet the poverty guidelines, if is adding you and your derivatives in that particular list. Though the person can be above the poverty line based on their income.
But if, for example you and your spouse and two children, that is four people on top of their salary or the top of their income, that will be difficult to find people who will be able to do that.
- The fact that the tax return or the tax credit has the social security number, why then should I give you the document which has social security of myself, my wife and three children?
He/she may not want to know what it will be used in those information and say no to you. So that is a challenge. Some people, they don’t like to share either how much they make or sometimes the exact social security number in that particular context.
Some of the embassies, they know that because of such reasons, they allow the person (the sponsor) to send it directly to the embassy. So if the country where you are, the embassy requires that, you can ask the embassy if they can give you the particular email so that the person can send that information directly to the embassy.
The person will be confident to send that information directly to the embassy than to you, because he/she do not know how you are going to handle Social Security Number, whether it’s going to be compromised or not. So that is a challenge in that particular case.
But the best way to avoid this issue, for instance, if the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, requires affidavit of support and the embassy Tanzania does not doesn’t require, you have difficulties completing the form or you cannot get the affidavit of support, then you can move the interview location from Kenya, to Tanzania, then you are not required to provide the affidavit of support, and that will be the quick solution for that.
In all, the affidavit of support is not required in all embassies. But if your embassy requires it, you must go with it. If you don’t go with that particular affidavit of support, they are not going to deny you the visa, they will give you the time.
Maybe you have four weeks or five weeks or six weeks to go and bring this documentation so that they can give you the visa, or they are not going to give you the visa, if you completely fail to bring that document in the countries where the affidavit of support is a requirement.
DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice. If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please contact an immigration professional/officer or a licensed attorney.