text: if coming from russia to united states do you need severance money in hand to cross through cos toms?   no. no. no. no. no.   if someone tells you this they are scamming you.  you do need to prove that you can be responsible for your costs in teh us, but you can provide aletter stating the you will eb responsible for their costs when teh get here and that will be enough. again, if someone is aksing for money, they are lying.  the us embassy in moscow website has a a list of everyhitn gyou need in detail. note the lack of any mooeny, minus a 100 usd visa fee you can pay the embassy directly.