Verify the official terms on the day and understand the order of events before committing to a sale timetable. The processing fee is paid first and is nonrefundable, vetting follows, and the gift comes after vetting rather than before it, so the funds are not all needed at the same moment.
Learn the order of events before fixing a sale date
Hypothetical example: Clemence plans to sell her Wickham business and wants the proceeds to land exactly when the programme needs them. The sequence is what she should map first. A nonrefundable processing fee of US$15,000 per person is paid at the outset.
Vetting follows and takes as long as it takes; no published figure should be treated as a guarantee of duration, and no adviser can commit to one. Only after vetting does the gift fall due, US$1,000,000 where an individual makes it or US$2,000,000 where a corporate sponsor does, paid by the applicant to the U.S. government.
Because the programme is recent and its terms may be amended, she should re-verify them on the official government page immediately before each step and keep dated copies. Giving notice, listing a house or committing to a closing date on the strength of an expected timetable is the mistake this sequence is meant to prevent.