No. Living-cost savings are planning, not qualification. The individual principal pays a nonrefundable US$15,000 processing fee and, after successful vetting and only when instructed, makes the US$1,000,000 gift. Labelling an account "relocation" or "administrative" changes nothing; the actual requirements and use of funds govern.
Separating household budget from program payments
Two ledgers help. One holds the program payments: US$15,000 per person in processing fees, a US$1,000,000 gift for the principal and US$1,000,000 for each joining spouse or unmarried child under 21 — a couple reaching US$2,030,000 and a family of four US$4,060,000. The other holds rent, schooling and travel.
Other government, medical and professional costs sit outside both, and only the US$15,000 is explicitly nonrefundable. Hypothetical example: a role at a newborn screening laboratory would begin in the autumn, and the household plans to draw on the same account for the relocation and for the program payments because the money is in one place. Split the account before the first payment rather than reconciling afterwards.
Write down, for each planned payment, the amount, the payee and the date it becomes due, and mark which are refundable in any circumstance; the US$15,000 processing fee is expressly not. Remember also which direction the money travels: the applicant pays, the gift goes to the U.S. government when instructed, and no part of it returns as a dividend, an interest or an ownership stake.