Affidavit of Support and a New Job

[S. Carlo 0]

Hello everyone!

My fiance and I are tackling the busy process of the K1 visa. He is European, and I am an American. We will be submitting the first part of our petition by this weekend, but I've gotten myself worried about what comes next. Specifically: the affidavit of support.

Because my family is in a money crunch, I don't believe having a co-sponsor is an option. At the current moment, I make a few thousand above the poverty line, but I will be needing to quit my job by December. Ideally, I would love to go spend Christmas with him and stay the entire month of December, and then fly back home by the first week of January and quickly find any sort of reasonably paying job. Note that I'm a recent college graduate, so although being just a little above the poverty line isn't an issue, I won't have any assets or anything extra that could fluff up the paperwork.

I guess I'm worried most about how it will look on the affidavit of support if I have only worked at a job for a very few short months by the time he has his interview and turns in the affidavit of support. Any help, or suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[WandY 430]

Your lack of financial stability and responsibility is a big red flag. Why are you quitting your job? And why would you even consider spending precious resources on international travel? Don't file anything until you have decent, stable employment. You're young and ready to use your education - don't find "any sort of reasonably paying job." Get stable and then file. Time is on your side - money is not. Good luck!

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Agree'd. If you know that you can't find a cosponsor, then you could mess everything up by not being able to find a job. Not all recent college grads just walk into a job.



Also if you're just now applying, current timelines could show that you could easily have the interview in Janurary-Feb-March (Jan Earliest, Feb Average, March if you push it off). My process from filing to interview was 5 months exactly. Granted now we're in the waiting phase for another cosponsor, but over all it was very quick and we even pushed back the interview date by a couple of weeks.

Knowing that you don't have a cosponsor and won't be able to find one, I personally wouldn't risk it. I don't think that most people here would recommend quitting your job to spend a month with your fiance, ESPECIALLY before you do the I-134.


Money is a very important thing in this process, while you might want to spend christmas, you may not want to risk getting a 221g for a cosponsor and spending a year trying to find one, or have to go the marriage route, get married, and then wait another year to be with your fiance.



As a generic statement though: They care about current income, they CAN however use their own discretion to whether or not they feel the job is stable or that your income is stable enough. If they feel that you skirt too close to the line (19,912$ a year for you and your fiance), then you may end up back at square one.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Ash.1101

[S. Carlo 0]

Hi WillandYen and Ash. 1101, thank you for your posts! My current job is only temporary and lasts only until December, as it is a project-based job. I have a enough money saved up, thankfully, so I won't be coming home without some cushion should I go visit him. Irregardless of going to visit him in December or not, I will have to find another job, which is my worry. From what I gather from your posts, though, it seems like a new job would be a big, red flag on the affidavit of support... If we couldn't find a cosponsor and (fingers crossed this won't happen) had to wait until I had spent more time in a new job, how many months do you feel like I should I spend in this new job before we can submit and not raise any flags?

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

Hi WillandYen and Ash. 1101, thank you for your posts! My current job is only temporary and lasts only until December, as it is a project-based job. I have a enough money saved up, thankfully, so I won't be coming home without some cushion should I go visit him. Irregardless of going to visit him in December or not, I will have to find another job, which is my worry. From what I gather from your posts, though, it seems like a new job would be a big, red flag on the affidavit of support... If we couldn't find a cosponsor and (fingers crossed this won't happen) had to wait until I had spent more time in a new job, how many months do you feel like I should I spend in this new job before we can submit and not raise any flags?

A new job won't be a red flag if it follows right after your current job. That's why focusing on getting that new job instead of being with your fiance for a month in December is being advised by the others. If you have savings, then that's great because between immigration expenses, wedding expenses, etc., you're going to need a lot of savings. I echo what the others have said, take really good care of your finances going forward.