Who is payingQuestion 10 of 11
“Can I see your bank statement?”
The short answer
If an agent offers to put money in your account for the interview, say no. Money that isn’t yours is false information, and the U.S. Embassy in India says: "Intentionally submitting false information either on the application itself or during the visa interview can lead to a finding of a permanent ineligibility."
The advice going around
The agent will arrange the bank balance
An agent offers to put money into the account for a few weeks so the statement looks right on the day. The account holder is the one answerable for it. The embassy's published position is that intentionally false information can lead to a finding of permanent ineligibility, and it does not matter that the figure sat in a real account.
At the window
The same question, answered two ways
What most people say
“Fifty lakh! Visa pakka!”
What works
“Sorry, sir. Our own savings are six lakh, plus his pension, and our son pays for the tickets.”
Money that isn’t yours is false information. That can mean no visa, ever.
His inner voice · episode 10
Show what is really yours: your own savings, your pension, and who is paying for the trip. The State Department says another person can cover some or all of the costs.
Check it yourself
What the embassy actually publishes
The applicant, not the agent, is answerable for what the application says
You alone are responsible for the accuracy of the information in your application.
Read 23 October 2026
Giving false information at a US visa interview can make you permanently ineligible
Intentionally submitting false information either on the application itself or during the visa interview can lead to a finding of a permanent ineligibility.
Read 23 October 2026
Someone else is allowed to pay for a US visitor's trip
you may show evidence that another person will cover some or all costs
Read 23 October 2026
The rule behind it
What the law actually says
A US visa application starts from the assumption that you intend to stay
The officer does not start from neutral. The law tells them to assume you intend to stay, and the burden is on you to show otherwise. That is why almost every question is a way of asking the same thing: what brings you back.
Every alien [ … ] shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa [ … ] that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status.
What we can and cannot do
We are licensed for Canada (RCIC R710507). We help with US visitor visa applications, and for US legal advice a US-licensed immigration attorney is the person to ask.
Where this stops
What this page does not claim
No official page states how much money a visitor needs, so this page names no figure as enough. The embassy's warning about fake financial packages is written about students, so it is not quoted here at parents.
Keep going
The rest of the interview
Before the window
Send us the file before the interview, not after.
We read the DS-160 against what the officer will ask, tell you which answers are doing you harm, and say plainly where the gaps are. If the honest answer is that nothing is wrong, we say that too.
Three fields · about 30 seconds