Financial requirement for DV Lottery

[Luck1012 0]

Hi all,

 

I have been looking into the DV lottery for some time now, one thing that has stumped me is the financial requirement. I have been told that in order to be eligible you must prove that you have 125% of the poverty line in assets or show a job offer and if you cannot show either of those you need a sponsor to sign an affidavit of support. I am wondering what are ways around that because 125% of the poverty line is a lot of money(that I do not have available all at once, and apparently you cannot use your house or car to meet the requirement), I do not have family in the US so I am unable to get an affidavit of support, so my only option is to get a job offer. How can I get a job offer if I am not legally permitted to live in the US? Also I heard that some consulates don't ask anything about finance, if anyone has experience with the DV Lottery in Montreal can they please advise me.

 

Thanks

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

There's no hard and fast rule about what you need to show, and you have been somewhat (but not completely) misinformed. The only "rule" is that you can't become a public charge, but how you meet this can vary massively on an individual basis. All the above that you mentioned are helpful, but they are not always or even often required, and in certain cases they may not even be sufficient. For example: a retired couple with health problems would eat through a bank balance of 125% the poverty line very quickly, and if that's all they have to their name they'd probably be refused. By contrast, a 22 year old with no savings or affidavit but with an IT or engineering degree would probably face no problems at all as finding a decent job would probably be quite easy.

 

So: The interviewing officer needs to be satisfied that you won't become a public charge. The above items can help, but if you are still of an age where you can show you have a number of years of work ahead of you, especially if you have a decent qualification or experience, you should be able to get a DV visa without any of them. And by the way if you have assets that meet or exceed the poverty guideline such as a house, you can certainly use them, on the expectation that you'd liquidate such assets (or use them to generate income) once you move to the US.

 

 

[Luck1012 0]

4 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

There's no hard and fast rule about what you need to show, and you have been somewhat (but not completely) misinformed. The only "rule" is that you can't become a public charge, but how you meet this can vary massively on an individual basis. All the above that you mentioned are helpful, but they are not always or even often required, and in certain cases they may not even be sufficient. For example: a retired couple with health problems would eat through a bank balance of 125% the poverty line very quickly, and if that's all they have to their name they'd probably be refused. By contrast, a 22 year old with no savings or affidavit but with an IT or engineering degree would probably face no problems at all as finding a decent job would probably be quite easy.

 

So: The interviewing officer needs to be satisfied that you won't become a public charge. The above items can help, but if you are still of an age where you can show you have a number of years of work ahead of you, especially if you have a decent qualification or experience, you should be able to get a DV visa without any of them. And by the way if you have assets that meet or exceed the poverty guideline such as a house, you can certainly use them, on the expectation that you'd liquidate such assets (or use them to generate income) once you move to the US.

 

 

Thanks for your answer, another question I have is how can you get a US address before you move to the US (I believe one is required when filling out DS-260) I've seen some people use mail forwarders but others recommend against it, any suggestions?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Just now, Luck1012 said:

Thanks for your answer, another question I have is how can you get a US address before you move to the US (I believe one is required when filling out DS-260) I've seen some people use mail forwarders but others recommend against it, any suggestions?

They don't accept mail forwarders. If you don't have a friend whose address you can use, the normal suggestion is to list a hotel address in the meanwhile just so you can submit the DS for,. You can change the address at your interview, or even when you actually enter the US...as you will presumably have somewhere to stay by that stage, even if temporary. 

[Luck1012 0]

6 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

There's no hard and fast rule about what you need to show, and you have been somewhat (but not completely) misinformed. The only "rule" is that you can't become a public charge, but how you meet this can vary massively on an individual basis. All the above that you mentioned are helpful, but they are not always or even often required, and in certain cases they may not even be sufficient. For example: a retired couple with health problems would eat through a bank balance of 125% the poverty line very quickly, and if that's all they have to their name they'd probably be refused. By contrast, a 22 year old with no savings or affidavit but with an IT or engineering degree would probably face no problems at all as finding a decent job would probably be quite easy.

 

So: The interviewing officer needs to be satisfied that you won't become a public charge. The above items can help, but if you are still of an age where you can show you have a number of years of work ahead of you, especially if you have a decent qualification or experience, you should be able to get a DV visa without any of them. And by the way if you have assets that meet or exceed the poverty guideline such as a house, you can certainly use them, on the expectation that you'd liquidate such assets (or use them to generate income) once you move to the US.

 

 

One more thing, Will having a job offer help your case and if so are there ways to get a job offer before having the visa issued

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

9 hours ago, Luck1012 said:

One more thing, Will having a job offer help your case and if so are there ways to get a job offer before having the visa issued

Yes, and yes but it's not that easy unless you're in a high demand occupation. Go online, apply for jobs and see what happens.