What exactly is being paid, to whom, at what point relative to assessment, and what is recoverable if the outcome is unfavourable. Answers should come from official material, not from an intermediary.
Ask what is recoverable, and get it in the official text
The published description has referred to a nonrefundable processing fee per person and a gift to the U.S. government, stated at different levels for individual and corporate arrangements, with additional per-person amounts for eligible family members. Rather than relying on those figures as remembered, the household should confirm each of them at the point of decision.
The structural questions matter as much as the numbers: a gift is not recoverable capital, a fee described as nonrefundable is spent regardless of outcome, and neither payment purchases a result. A Douro-Dummer household should therefore record the total as committed expenditure rather than as an asset, and should ask directly what circumstances, if any, produce a refund — accepting only an answer that can be found in the official material.