Hi everyone,

I received official bank statements for both my and my co-sponsor's bank accounts today, stating our current balances and when the accounts were opened. My banker did not include a figure of the total amount deposited in the past year as he said that would be a tedious task, and instead included all of our bank statements for the last year. My co-sponsor has 2 checking and 2 savings accounts with this bank, so including all of these statements would be a bit ridiculous as it is quite a bit of paper and I'm skeptical that they would even be looked at.

Should I just exclude the statements and include the letter from the bank with our current balances and dates the accounts were opened?

This is being used as supporting evidence, along with our tax return forms and letter from employer.

Thank you for your input!

Do you need the assets to make up for a shortfall in income?

Alone, I would, although I don't think my assets would make up for it. My co-sponsor does not, and I think his tax returns and account balances alone will show that he has more than adequate income.

Someone just PM'd me and told me the visa could be rejected for this and that my bank sucks...thanks for the encouragement.

Don't always believe what you get via PM's. I submitted no asset information and was not refused.

They probably want to see your account information since you fall short. For the Co/sponsor it wouldn't matter if they already meet the Poverty guidelines.

If you have enough income to satisfy 125% of Poverty Guideline for 2008, I wouldn't bother submitting Bank Letters/Statements and having a co-sponsor. If you don't meet income requirement, but your co-sponsor does, neither of you need to submit bank balances. If the latter is the case, I would think that it would be sufficient if you submitted balance letters without statements (as they are not required, but are "additional" evidence of your ability to support).

With my personal experience (visa granted Apr 15 2008), I agree with fwaguy. We did not provide anything but transcripts from last 3 years federal tax returns and job letter. My income for last 3 years had been consistent and there was no question about finances in interview for my sister and her family. Had I provided bank balance, I would have to have my wife file I-864A, because she is a joint owner. I didn't want to unnecessarily have another person sponsor it if it was not needed.

See another of my post relevant to this discussion: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=118356&view=findpost&p=1699975

If you are interested in ordering FREE tax transcripts from IRS, see my other post: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=112818&view=findpost&p=1619731

Hope this helps.

Sanjiv Patel