Use the instructions applicable to each person’s actual filing or visa process. Under the current official framework, each eligible joining spouse or unmarried child under 21 requires a separate nonrefundable US$15,000 processing fee and, after successful vetting, a US$1 million gift. Re-verify these terms before any money moves.
Build a person-specific evidence list
Identify passports, relationship records and other requested documents and their languages. Note which translations are complete and accepted for the relevant purpose. Paying the family gift amounts does not cure an ineligible relationship or remove a missing document requirement.
The family arithmetic is per person, not per household. Under the current official framework each eligible joining spouse and each unmarried child under 21 carries a separate nonrefundable US$15,000 processing fee and, after successful vetting, a separate US$1 million gift to the U.S. government. Whether someone qualifies as a joining family member depends on the relationship qualifying at the relevant time, so a twenty-first birthday or a change in marital status is a date that matters as much as any figure. The relationship also has to be documented in its own right: payment records evidence a transfer and say nothing about whether the relationship exists.
Hypothetical example: a bicycle-frame owner plans to bring a spouse and three children, one of whom turns 21 during the expected processing window. Four separate processing fees and four separate gifts are potentially in issue, and the eldest child’s derivative eligibility may close before the family’s own timeline does. That is a sequencing and eligibility problem, and paying earlier in the hope of outrunning it is not the answer.
Build one evidence list per person, keeping each person’s relationship proof, vetting outcome and payment record together. Because per-person terms may change, confirm them on the official program page before any family payment is instructed or made.