Does a Ghana citizen need $3000 in hand to travel to the USA?

12/26/2016 12:03:37 PM

Aside from the obvious answer by RedGrittyBrick (‘this story just screams “scam” with every fibre’) there is a second reason why this cannot be true.

Immigration officers and visa approvers don’t just require visitors to have access to a certain amount of funds $x. They want to know

  • which funds you have
  • how you acquired them
  • what your ratio of income/spendings is
  • whether the entire story checks out

From a visa processing centre’s point of view, somebody saying ‘I can afford this trip, I have $3000 in cash’ is just as good as saying ‘please perform a thorough background check on me and my accounts, it is very likely that I got this money non-legitimately.’

There are a number of questions and answers on this site that relate to the topic and funds parking is one of the most-stated key words in that regard. Many visa applicants that see themselves as genuine travellers attempt to enhance their chances of visa approval by just parking a large amount of money in their account without explanation. And the standard answer by the visa processors is ‘We cannot be sure that you have access to those funds during your trip’ or some variation thereof (including rejecting the visa).

Arriving at the actual immigration check at your first port of entry to the United States with $3000 cash in hand is really just a variant of funds parking and will raise about 6000 red flags with the immigration officer. Thus, they will likely go back home with those $3000 unless they can prove it’s legitimately their’s (very hard) or the immigration officer can find a reason to confiscate the money (and still send them back).

12/25/2016 10:58:18 AM

I’m from Nigeria but live in the US now. This has scam written all over it. Do NOT send her a dime! All you need to travel is your ticket, passport, a visa, and maybe a few dollars.

12/26/2016 10:44:04 AM

No, this is a well-known scam. It is absolutely characteristic of this type of criminal fraud that the fraudster invents a series of reasons to send them money – usually by wire-transfer or similar means.

See also

Credit:stackoverflow.com

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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