Who is payingQuestion 3 of 11
“Who is paying for your trip?”
The short answer
Your son in the US can pay for the trip. The State Department says another person may cover some or all of the costs. But you qualify on your own ties at home, "rather than assurances from U.S. family and friends." It also says a letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support "is not needed" and "is not one of the factors used in determining whether to issue or deny the visa."
The advice going around
The thick file of the son's papers
Parents arrive carrying their son's salary slips, his bank statements and an Affidavit of Support, on the understanding that his money is what is being weighed. Someone else is allowed to pay, and the State Department says so plainly. But the people applying still qualify on what they have at home, and the invitation letter is not among the things the decision is made on.
At the window
The same question, answered two ways
What most people say
“My son, sir! Look at this… his letter, his bank statement, his salary slip, his…”
What works
“Sir, our son pays for the tickets. Our house, his pension, our daughter. All in Bhavnagar.”
A son can pay. But they’re the ones going home. Their ties matter, not his letter.
His inner voice · episode 3
So keep the answer simple: who pays, and what brings you home.
Check it yourself
What the embassy actually publishes
Someone else is allowed to pay for a US visitor's trip
If you cannot cover all the costs for your trip, you may show evidence that another person will cover some or all costs for your trip.
Read 13 October 2026
A US visa applicant qualifies on their own ties at home, not on family in America
Visa applicants must qualify based on their ties abroad/to their home country, rather than assurances from U.S. family and friends.
Read 13 October 2026
An invitation letter is not one of the things a US visitor visa is decided on
A letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support is not needed to apply for a visitor visa. If you choose to bring a letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support to your interview, please remember it is not one of the factors used in determining whether to issue or deny the visa.
Read 13 October 2026
A job, a house, a family and a bank account are the examples the service gives of ties
Some examples of ties can be a job, a house, a family, a bank account.
Read 13 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
This page names no minimum bank balance, because no official page states one. It also does not quote the DS-160 on who is paying, since that field is only visible inside the live form.
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