Tag Archives: Affidavit of Support

There are documents that you need as the principal applicant and documents that are needed by the derivatives for DV Interview. Some are needed by the principal applicants and will not be needed by the derivatives. Read this guide to the end and understand this.

Specific Proof Documents For Principal Applicant For DV Interview

Below are those documents needed by the principal applicant for DV interview:

Birth certificate: The original birth certificate, and the notarized one.

Passport: This passport should be valid, it should be valid beyond six months after the interview.

Marriage Certificate: This document is for those married principal applicants, they need the marriage certificate, both the original and the notarized. Some few consulates will not request of the notarized, but you need the notarized marriage certificate as a requirement.

Police Clarence Certificate: The principal applicant will need the Police Clarence Certificate. Read this guide on the Police Clarence Certificate.

There are four places from where you will need the Police Clarence Certificate.

1. The first place is the country of your birth. If you have lived in the country and you are above the 16 years of age in the country of your birth, then you need a police clearance certificate from that country, even if at the moment you’re not living in your country of birth.
2. The second place is all the past countries that you’ve lived for more than 12 months, if you are above the age of 16.
3. The third one is the country of current residence, the country in which you are living at the moment and you have lived for more than six. If you have lived for more than six months in the current country of residence, you need the police clearance certificate. This is the country in which you are not born.
4. The fourth one, this one does not depend on the time you’ve lived there. If you have ever been convicted in a country, regardless of the time that you’ve lived there, even if it is one week or one day or two weeks or one month or three months, you need to get a police clearance certificate from that country.

Academic Documents

The other document needed by the principal applicant are the academic documents. For the high school diploma, you have to notarize it. Any other academic document above high school, it’s not a must that you notarize, but for the high school, it is a must.

Second Notification Letter

The other document that the principal applicant need is the second notification letter printed in hard copy.

Confirmation Page of the DS-260 form

The other document is the confirmation page of the DS-260 form printed in hard copy. Read more on Confirmation Page of the DS-260 form here.

Court Records: The other document is the court records. If you have ever been convicted, you need the court records, notarized.

Military Document: If you’ve ever served in a military, you need those notarized documents.

There are other documents that are needed by the principal applicant, but they are not listed in the checklist, and they are very important documents.

• Translated Documents

The first one is a notarized copy of the translated documents. If the embassy you are attending your interview is in a different language from the language in your country, the language in which your documents are printed, then you need to translate the documents and they should be notarized. That applies to the principal applicants that are doing their interviews on different country that has different language system from what their documents are printed in.

• Affidavit of Support

The other one that you would need is the Affidavit of Support. The Affidavit of Support needed for the diversity visa is the Form I-134, not Form I-864.

Yes the diversity visa is an immigrant visa, but for this, the document needed is Form I-134. It is Form I-134, not I-864. The accompanying documents to the Form I-134 are:

• the tax transcript,
• form of identification for the sponsor (either the passport, the naturalization document, the driver’s license, etc) and
• the recent pay slips.

Form DS-5535

The other document required for some few embassies is the form DS-5535. This form is not a must because it is a form for additional information that you could have left when filling the DS-260 form, like the social media account, the relative information and everything. But it’s not a must in some embassies. You are free to go with it, just to be safe, if your embassy has that habit of requesting for that.

Then some few embassies in Africa as well, we require an affidavit to show that you are single, if you’re not a married main applicant. If you are a single, they require some certificate from the government registry to prove that you are single.

For the principal applicant, those were the main documents that are needed for their DV interview.

Specific Proof Documents For The Derivatives For DV Interview

On the side of the derivatives, there are documents that the principal should have, but the derivatives should not. Below is outline of what they will need:

• They will need the birth certificate, original and notarized.
• They will need the passports.
• They will need the police clearance certificate, if they are above the age of 16, and they will follow all the instructions about the police clearance certificate.
• They will have their confirmation pages printed in hard copy. As the principal applicant, you also need to print the confirmation pages for the derivatives because they will need those documents.

In Conclusion

Emphasizing on the affidavit of support, the affidavit of support is only needed by the principal applicant. The derivatives, they don’t need to have that document. Because the affidavit of support, as filled by the sponsor, it has the principal applicant and the derivatives listed in there. So only one affidavit of support for the principal applicant, and it will stand for the derivatives.

I hope you’ve gotten what is needed as per the document.

Question: My parents name are misspelled on my birth certificate, should i get a new one?

Answer: Yes if possible.

Question: Do I still need to fill affidavit of support form I-134 for the interview if I am sponsoring myself as a dv winner?

Answer: No, just get the bank statements to show your savings.

Question: If someone goes to the dv interview with the transcripts, meaning he’s still at the university, is he still required to present the notary certificate for the transcripts at the university?

Answer: No, just use your high school certificate, just simply. No difference.

Question: What if your host is one of your family members, do you need that I-134 form??

Answer: Yes, you need it and rest of documents required.

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.

There have been several questions revolving around getting a spouse, about the names and how they affect the DV lottery. We have several types of affidavits that you might come across during the DV lottery process.

Types of Affidavits

Below are 4 major types of affidavits that you might come across during the DV lottery process.

• Affidavit of Name

The first one being an affidavit of name. The affidavit of name becomes important when you have issues regarding your names or the names that you use.

If you have names on one document differing from those on the other document, and those documents are critical in the DV lottery, then you need to confirm to the embassy or the relevant bodies that you are the same person with those different names, like for example, if you have two names on one document and three names, that is the two plus a different one on the other document, then you have to show them that you are the same person with those names, and you do so by acquiring an affidavit of name.

Another way: Maybe your name is incorrectly spelled on some documents, while on others it is correctly spelled. For example, you have a name that has an “I”, but on another document it has not. How do you merge the two?

For you to prove that you are the same person with those incorrectly spelled names, what you need to acquire is an affidavit of name.

Another issue is when you have changed your name. Maybe some individual along the way, they can decide to change the name because of one reason or the other. So after changing the names, then you need to prove to the consulate or the embassy or the consular officer that you changed the names. And that’s why there are different names on different documents.

Anything that makes your name differ from another one on your document, you only need to acquire an affidavit of name for that matter.

• Affidavit of Marriage

The other affidavit that we have is an affidavit of marriage. You applied for the DV lottery, but at the time of application, you had someone that you call your spouse, but you are not holding anything to prove your relationship, your union, and therefore you get selected and you are preparing to get to the interview.

In this scenario, you are supposed to get the marriage certificate, that is without a doubt. Even if you don’t have, you need to get. And how do you get? This is by getting an affidavit of marriage that you will use to prove to the relevant body of your country, that is the registrar of Marriages, and then they go ahead to issue the marriage certificate.

So that same document that you used to get this marriage certificate, the affidavit of marriage, that same document, you are needed or you are required to come with it during the interview. That is among the proof documents that will second your marriage certificate. So you go with the original marriage certificate, the certified copy, the affidavit of marriage. You go with those three documents.

Also, maybe you got the marriage certificate after getting selected, that means you need to prove on another level of your existence relationship, even before you applied for the DV lottery. What are the things to prove your union, before the application? You might use many things like the photos, bank statements, the joint accounts, many things that you did together even before this. Something to solidify that this marriage is not a fraud. It is legitimate.

So you need to go with the affidavit of marriage, the marriage certificate, both the original and the certified. And also you go with the things to prove that this is legitimate and not fraud.

• Affidavit of Support

The other affidavit that you need is an affidavit of support. You might need the affidavit of support, though it’s not needed by all embassies. But majority of the embassies will request of the affidavit of support.

It is better that you have one, if you are not sure that your embassy is one of those that don’t request. So just get it and be with it. In case you asked for it, then you provide.

What is an affidavit of support?

This is the document that you get from someone who has agreed to give you sponsorship once you land in the United States. This might be your host or someone else apart from your host, the one that agrees to give you monetary support or financial support as you start life in the new country.

It will simply prove to the consulate that you are able to sustain yourself as you begin life there, and you cannot become a public charge. By becoming a public charge, what it simply means is becoming dependent on the public or on the government for support, depending on the food stamps, for example.

So you will need the affidavit of support to prove to the consular officer that you are able to sustain yourself and you will not become dependent on the public.

• Affidavit of Birth

The other affidavit that some countries will require you to have is the affidavit of birth. For example, if you come from the East Africa, the country called Somalia, all individuals from Somalia will by default be scheduled for their interviews at the Nairobi Embassy and what the Nairobi embassy needs from the people coming from Somalia, the Somali, is an affidavit of birth, not the certificate of birth.

So you come with the certificate of birth together with the affidavit of birth. Those two documents, what they trust is the affidavit of birth. So some embassies will ask for the affidavit of birth on top of the birth certificate, especially for the foreigners, people not from the same country where the embassy is.

Those are just four types of affidavits that you might come across in the DV process.

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.

Today, we will learn about the Form I-134 and Form I-864. What are they used for and which one do we require for the diversity visa lottery?

These two forms are both the Affidavit of Support. It is very important to understand the differences between these two terms and which one you are going to use for the diversity visa lottery.

Ways in which you can migrate to the United States

There are two modes or two ways in which you can go to the United States.

• The first way or the first mode is the temporary stay.

This means that you are going to the United States for just a short period of time, maybe to visit a friend or a family or maybe to tour. It’s just a short time. In this case, you use a temporary visa, which is called non Immigrant Visa.

• Another mode in which you are going to the United States is for a permanent residence.

You are immigrating to the United States and you’re intending to live in the United States as long as you want, or permanently. For this instance, you have to obtain the immigrant visa.

In both of these two ways, you will need to provide or to assure the United States government that you are able to sustain yourself within that time. In both this case, you’ll need to provide the Affidavit of Support.

So which of the form do you use in which situation?

For the temporary visit or the short term visit, you will require to provide the Affidavit of Support, the Form I-134.

This is a smaller version of the Form I-864, and it’s not legally bound, though it is recommended by the United States government.

When you are going for a permanent stay or a long stay, you require to provide the Affidavit of Support, form I-864. This is a form that legally bounds your sponsor that he or she will provide full financial support for you as you stay over there in the United States.

For the temporary or the short visit, you require Form I-134 as the Affidavit of Support, and for a long stay, permanent residence, you require the Form I-864.

Which of these two forms (Form I-134 and Form I-864) do you require for Diversity Visa Lottery?

Note: When you are moving for a permanent stay, where you are required to have form I-864, it means that someone has petitioned for your green card visa and that person is willing to support you.

For example, a spouse may want to petition for his or her spouse to come to the United States, or a parent may petition for the Green card for their children, or some job employer would petition for a Green card visa for you to go and work with them in the United States.

When we come to the diversity visa lottery, it is unique and it is different from the other visas. It is a permanent residence status visa, it is different from the other immigrant visa.

In this case, no one is petitioning for your green card. It is a lottery by the United States government.

In other words, it is the United States that is supposed to sponsor you to petition for your green card. But you are not required to provide any financial support document or any affidavit of support. It is not a recommendation in the diversity visa lottery.

But most embassies request for the affidavit of support, form I-134 because you are immigrating to the United States for the first time, and it means you don’t know that place.

You are new to the United States, and therefore you don’t have any means, so they will need you to have or to prove to the United States government that you’re not going to become a public charge, that you have some way of supporting yourself for a short time as you pick up or as you take on the life in the United States.

After you have sought for a sponsor, it is not the sponsor who petitioned for your Green card.

You just found a sponsor and the sponsor has agreed to sponsor you, and it is for a short time, maybe a month or two or so, for you to start life in the United States.

Therefore, for the diversity visa lottery, you will require the Form I-134. Even though it is not a requirement, it’s not mandatory.

Prepare the Form I-134 before your interview and go with it to the interview, in case the consular officer asks for one, you will have it.

I hope this information has been very informative to you.

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.