Visitor Visa sponsor letter (to consulate) - medical insurance

[sonu10]

Hello,

I'm a US citizen sponsoring (visitor visa) sister-in-law from India. I understand what the required documentation is.

In letter to consulate and I-134 Item 11), i need to state what type of contribution/care i'll be doing for the relative. immihelp and other websites state that i need to put down "medical insurance / healthcare" needs of the relative.

Am I required to put this down? If I don't put it, could be there be a problem in getting visitor visa for the sister-in-law? Basically since healthcare/insurance costs are so high, i don't want to put down this term and create possible issue in future?

Please advise. Thanks.

[immihelp]

It is really up to you what you would like to support or not. At the same time, it is up to the consular officer whether to give visa or not.

Either way, you can't ignore the possibility of the visitor getting sick or injured while visiting the U.S. and their healthcare costs. You must consider how they will be taken care of, one way or another. Either you will have to pay them, or the visitor will have to pay them or you can have the insurance company pay the covered expenses. There is no way to avoid it.

[sonu10]

Reply

Hi,

I understand its upto me. The thing is - the relative will come with health insurance when visiting US. That's why I don't want to mention healthcare cost.

The real quesiton is - do you think it'll make a difference in getting visa? i.e. if not mentioned, will it count against my relative?

[immihelp]

Practically, when you are sponsoring someone, you are agreeing to all of their expenses while in the U.S.

In reality, most sponsors buy the insurance from the U.S. based company for their visiting relative. Therefore, they mention that in I-134. Look at https://www.insubuy.com for many different U.S. based visitors insurance plans.

If the insurance that they/you buy is not enough or does not cover, there are still healthcare costs that someone needs to pay, either you or the sponsor.