H4-F1 RFE - "Ability to Pay"

[ram32901]

Hi All ,

 

Background- 

 

My wife started her studies at Tier 1  university  in Jan and we applied for H4-F1 visa conversion in July. College took initiative  and we followed their steps for application process.As part of  it we submitted all the required documents. Coming to sponsorship my wife's parents are primary sponsors and added myself as secondary sponsor but with no affidavit of support ( Probably a mistake here - College did not want me to do it).

 

So financial documents we submitted as per college guidelines are -

 

1.Graduate school financial certificate signed off by Bank officials and my wife's parent's stating that 40000$ will be available for her course of

   study.

2. Bank letter provided by me ( Spouse H1-B) with available balance of 5000$ .

 

Along with these all other required documents for application process were submitted.University first year expenses listed on I-20 is  30,000$ +

 

We had all documents with us like bank statements and Fixed Deposits  but  unfortunately college did not accept it saying it will confuse them.

 

RFE

 

"The documentation submitted does not clearly establish that you will have the necessary funds of 30,000+ immediately available to pay for your first year of tution and living expenses. A bank letter or simple statement will not suffice and should be supported by additional documentary evidence.

 

Please submit evidence that you have immediate funds available to pay for your tuition and living expenses for first year of study as indicated on your SEVIS certificate of Eligibility for Non Immigratnt student status  such evidence includes but not limited to:

 

money in checking or savings account ( statements should include all transactions ).

-other cash assests or

- affidavit of support from sponsor."

 

 

Question -

 

1. My wife parents have genuine FD's amounting 40000$ and willing to convert to liquid cash in savings or checking to show the proof but not sure if this is necessary . Are FD's considered as liquid cash or cash assets as mentioned?. We are anyhow planning to to convert them and make them available to bank but will that make any difference?. 

 

2. Here is list of evidence i'm planning to submit - Are these proof evidence  good enough?.

 

My wife''s parent's affidavit of support , bank letter and bank statements amounting to  40000$ and FD's worth of XXXX$.

My ( Spouse -H1 B) affidavit of support , bank letter  and bank statements amounting to 10000$.

 

We have required amount to support studies and show the proof but for some reason ( probably not providing bank statements and affidavit of support from me )  had an impact for creating RFE.

 

I will appreciate any feedback as soon as possible. We are planning to approach attorney to keep things clear and straight.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jairichi]

Hi All ,

 

Background- 

 

My wife started her studies at Tier 1  university  in Jan and we applied for H4-F1 visa conversion in July. College took initiative  and we followed their steps for application process.As part of  it we submitted all the required documents. Coming to sponsorship my wife's parents are primary sponsors and added myself as secondary sponsor but with no affidavit of support ( Probably a mistake here - College did not want me to do it).

 

So financial documents we submitted as per college guidelines are -

 

1.Graduate school financial certificate signed off by Bank officials and my wife's parent's stating that 40000$ will be available for her course of

   study.

2. Bank letter provided by me ( Spouse H1-B) with available balance of 5000$ .

 

Along with these all other required documents for application process were submitted.University first year expenses listed on I-20 is  30,000$ +

 

We had all documents with us like bank statements and Fixed Deposits  but  unfortunately college did not accept it saying it will confuse them.

 

RFE

 

"The documentation submitted does not clearly establish that you will have the necessary funds of 30,000+ immediately available to pay for your first year of tution and living expenses. A bank letter or simple statement will not suffice and should be supported by additional documentary evidence.

 

Please submit evidence that you have immediate funds available to pay for your tuition and living expenses for first year of study as indicated on your SEVIS certificate of Eligibility for Non Immigratnt student status  such evidence includes but not limited to:

 

money in checking or savings account ( statements should include all transactions ).

-other cash assests or

- affidavit of support from sponsor."

 

 

Question -

 

1. My wife parents have genuine FD's amounting 40000$ and willing to convert to liquid cash in savings or checking to show the proof but not sure if this is necessary . Are FD's considered as liquid cash or cash assets as mentioned?. We are anyhow planning to to convert them and make them available to bank but will that make any difference?. 

 

2. Here is list of evidence i'm planning to submit - Are these proof evidence  good enough?.

 

My wife''s parent's affidavit of support , bank letter and bank statements amounting to  40000$ and FD's worth of XXXX$.

My ( Spouse -H1 B) affidavit of support , bank letter  and bank statements amounting to 10000$.

 

We have required amount to support studies and show the proof but for some reason ( probably not providing bank statements and affidavit of support from me )  had an impact for creating RFE.

 

I will appreciate any feedback as soon as possible. We are planning to approach attorney to keep things clear and straight.

 

Thank you

I believe an F1 status is very important for your wife as I believe she wants to work on OPT. If so why don't you hire an immigration attorney to handle RFE?

[catx]

The key statements in the RFE are the "necessary funds ... immediately available" and "a bank letter or simple statement will not suffice". 

 

For financial support (1) the money needs to be in checking and/or savings account(s) ("immediately available") versus investments and/or investment type accounts such as mutual funds, retirement accounts, etc., and (2) the documentation typically needs to be official detailed bank statements from the checking and/or savings account(s) for the past 90 days showing all transactions signed by a bank officer.  At least that is what I have had to provide to two different universities for my son and daughter for their I-20s.  Not providing an affidavit of support from yourself is not a problem if your wife's parent's financial support was sufficient for the required amount.

 

I am surprised that the college accepted the provided financial support documentation.  I went through something similar when we did the first I-20 for my son, and the university told us right away that the financial support must be from checking and/or savings account(s) and the documentation was not sufficient (needed to show all transactions for the past 90 days) to issue an I-20.  We addressed these issues and resubmitted the financial documentation and received an I-20 without a problem.

[itsmeusa]

From my experience of applying for my brother's student visa, I know for sure that

 

1. University or US Consulate would want us to show bank letter, along with bank statements (for last couple of months) to show ready cash available i.e. liquid cash. I know this is not practical. They don't consider FD (or other financial assets like house, land, shared etc) as liquid cash.

2. The list given here should suffice if you are able to show minimum $30,000 cash.

 

It doesn't matter whether you try to show liquid cash from one sponsor or two sponsors, but the success rate of approval increases if you show it with one sponsor.

 

My bro went to ****. I had shown 2 years of expenses as liquid cash. Somehow I was able to manage that. So we didn't face any issues with university or US Consulate.