Proof of Funds & Financial Documents for I-20

Before answering how to show funds for I-20, let us understand why proof of funds is even required. When you have your admissions and select a particular college to attend, you need to sort your finances out to see how you can survive the financial pressure that you will be exposed to. The visa officer asks for your proof of financial support for an F-1 visa to ensure: 

• You can cover your expenses while you study in the US.
• There isn’t immense financial pressure on your mind that would affect your education, and you won’t start to find illegal ways to cope with it.
• Your reason for going to the US is clear, i.e., to study on your F1 visa, and there are no other alternative reasons.

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Suggested: How to Plan Financially for Your US Student Visa? 

So, how much money should I show for I-20? The proof of funds for an F-1 visa that needs to be shown is very much dependent on the program that you are choosing. When you justify your eligibility for studying at a particular university, there’s an amount that you need to show to the university officials, and when proven, an I-20 is generated. 

Any amount equal to or exceeding the I-20 amount shown is fine, which covers the living and tuition fees for the first year of university. Also keep in mind that proof of financial support for an F-1 visa holds the key to getting hold of your F1 visa.

Suggested: What is the Difference between J1 and F1 Student Visa? 

Now coming to answering the most important question- “How much money to show for I-20?” 

When showing the bank statement for a US student visa, you need to show a minimum fund requirement of one year of tuition fees along with one year of living costs for international students in the USA. Other F-1 visa financial requirements include documents such as I-20 proof of funds.

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There can be many ways to prove that you are eligible to stay in the US while you are studying your course. The US visa officer makes sure that you have funds that can be liquidated easily if required, and hence they prefer funds that are easily convertible to liquid funds to bear the expenses that would occur. Here are Some of the financial documents that are required for the I-20: 

• Personal or sponsor’s bank statements.
• Provident funds.
• Fixed Deposit.
• Scholarship proof.
• Loan sanction letter.

Suggested: What to do after receiving your I20?

Let us now move forward to understand each of these F-1 visa financial requirements briefly: 

Personal or Sponsor’s Bank Statements

The bank statement of your account or your sponsor’s bank statement, coupled with the “Affidavit of Support,” can provide concrete evidence of you covering your expenses in the US.

Provident Funds

Provident funds are the funds that are stored in an account by an employer and are provided to the employee as a lump sum after the tenure of their work comes to an end. Documents for provident funds can very well be shown as financial proof for an F-1 visa. 

Fixed Deposit

A fixed deposit is an account from which you can’t take out money on a regular basis and have to break the whole FD if you want to get the funds in it. It provides a higher interest rate to investors than a savings account. This type of fund can be shown as proof of funds for an F-1 visa because the deposit can be liquidated into cash easily and the value is going to be constant throughout.

Suggested: How to Plan Financially for Your US Student Visa? 

Scholarship Proof

If you have attained any scholarship of some sort by the university itself or the government of your own home country, that can be shown as proof of financial support for an F-1 visa, which will reduce the amount that needs to be shown in the visa interview and sometimes waive off your whole tuition fee.

Loan Sanction Letter

The most preferred mode of how to show funds for I-20 is in the form of a loan sanction letter. After taking a loan from any known national or international lender they give a loan sanction letter which can be shown to get your I-20 form and to clear the visa interview as well. 

Suggested: How to Get Your F1 US Student Visa? 

The US doesn’t prefer some types of funds as I-20 proof of funds. These include:

Stocks/Bonds

Stocks are very unbalanced, and one day they might increase or decrease depending on the market. This essentially means that you are dependent on a very unbalanced source of funds. For instance: one day you might have 45,000 USD in stocks, and the other day it might go down, leaving you with a lesser amount than you were with yesterday.

Real Estate

Real estate property is tough to convert into liquid cash, and that makes it one of the most non-preferred proofs of funds.

Solvency Letter

A solvency letter is again just a dependency letter that either the student or their sponsor is earning that amount of money, and hence the student can pay off the fee and afford the living expenses too.

Gold, Cars, Any property that you own

Gold, cars, or any property that you own that has a high value might also not be preferred because the market for it is not fixed and has a floating value. Meaning the gold that you own today might be of high value, but due to some reason the market value of it might fall, and it is also hard to liquidate these assets into money.

Suggested: Showing Your Finances for an F1 Student Visa Interview! 

If the required funds aren’t sufficient, the visa officer would reject your visa, and there would be a statement given in which a section is stated that has reasons as to why your visa might have been rejected. The visa officer would then pass you a slip and ask you to reappear for the visa interview. You can only apply for another visa interview after 13 days of your previous unsuccessful visa interview. But a point to be noted here is that it becomes very hard to get a slot for a visa interview during the peak season because there will be many students applying for the same.

Your student visa can be rejected more than once. The reason for the rejection of your US study visa can either be the same as the previous one or it can even be a new reason. The student must confirm and verify the reason for rejection before applying again. You can apply for a study visa up to 3 months before your date of arrival in the US.

Overall, be bold and confident, and have a smile when appearing for the visa interview. Even if your visa gets rejected, don’t lose hope, prepare better the next time you are giving the interview, have your errors rectified, and find a solution to your reason for rejection. All in all, if you have read this blog and have honest F-1 visa financial requirements, you can rest assured that you will rock your interview and will be flying to the US soon. 

Being overwhelmed while taking such a huge step is normal, and if you are still confused about how to apply for a student visa for the USA, you can connect with our Yocket Counsellors for help! With a personal counselor helping you out with profile building and application processes, the counseling is curated just for you.