I-134 Affidavit Question - Unemployed student petitioner and co-sponsor

[fishe23a 240]

I cannot financially sponsor my fiancée, as I am currently an unemployed graduate student. I have not had an income due to being in graduate school since fall of 2013. I know she will have to bring an I-134 to the interview from both myself (petitioner and therefore sponsor) and my father, who is my co-sponsor. He is aware he will need to provide several years of tax returns, W2s/pay stubs, letter from his employer, and bank account balance statements, etc.

My question is what I am supposed to submit as the sponsor. Do I have to show why I need a co-sponsor? To prove that I cannot alone sponsor her, hence why my father is the co-sponsor? I have one tax return from 2015 as I received a sizeable scholarship that was considered taxable income, and I can include this. I did not file 2014 taxes and will not be filing 2016 taxes. I can also include letters from my school showing cost of tuition and the amount I have received in tuition and living expense loans yearly from 2013. And I can show bank statements with balances reflecting living expense deposits from my lender. But...that is just about it. Is this serviceable? Or do I even need to include these things when it's clear my co-sponsor is capable...?

[A'n'L 735]

No, you don't need to prove that you do not qualify to sponsor. For AOS (later) you'll need to show that you have filed taxes or were legally exempt from doing so.

[yuna628 9,528]

I cannot financially sponsor my fiancée, as I am currently an unemployed graduate student. I have not had an income due to being in graduate school since fall of 2013. I know she will have to bring an I-134 to the interview from both myself (petitioner and therefore sponsor) and my father, who is my co-sponsor. He is aware he will need to provide several years of tax returns, W2s/pay stubs, letter from his employer, and bank account balance statements, etc.

My question is what I am supposed to submit as the sponsor. Do I have to show why I need a co-sponsor? To prove that I cannot alone sponsor her, hence why my father is the co-sponsor? I have one tax return from 2015 as I received a sizeable scholarship that was considered taxable income, and I can include this. I did not file 2014 taxes and will not be filing 2016 taxes. I can also include letters from my school showing cost of tuition and the amount I have received in tuition and living expense loans yearly from 2013. And I can show bank statements with balances reflecting living expense deposits from my lender. But...that is just about it. Is this serviceable? Or do I even need to include these things when it's clear my co-sponsor is capable...?

Hi there,

We used a cosponsor for our London specific case. I can assure you of several things:

You (yes YOU) do not need to provide an I-134. Since you have no income you will have no involvement in the financial portion that London will want to see. Therefore what your finance will need to bring to their interview is the following financial documents:

• I-134 from the cosponsor (your father)
• a letter from your father's employer stating how much they make and what they do. signed and dated by employer.
• the father's most recent tax transcript (that's right - no multiple tax forms. just a single most recent tax transcript which can be ordered from the IRS). It's the easiest and most efficient way to provide information to London.

• in lieu of any of these documents the father could also provide a bunch of paystubs, or w2s. if they are using assets then they will need to provide evidence of that. however if no assets or savings are being used then don't worry about that. in fact if just going by salary alone, none of the asset or savings info need to be filled out on the I-134.

London does not need heavy proof, nor do they need multiple complicated ways of proving it. They like employer letters, and have been known to accept on just such a letter alone. Personally we used an I-134 from our cosponsor, their tax transcript, and employer letter. During the interview they asked a few questions about our cosponsor such as our relationship etc. All was acceptable and easy.

Remember though that a K1 is a two-fold process. Once your fiancé has their K1, enters the US, and you marry, you must file for AOS. That is where the more heavy financials come into play. In that instance, if you are still going to use a cosponsor by that time, BOTH you and the cosponsor would each complete your own I-864 (a more complicated form than the I-134). Your father would provide their last 3 tax transcripts, employer letter, and about six months worth of paystubs with their form. You on the other hand, if still not employed or filing taxes will provide a simple letter explaining your non-working situation and that you are not required to pay taxes since you earn no income with your form. You can explain what year you did pay taxes and provide a tax transcript to attest to that fact. The case worker will review all of this information.

Edited December 27, 2016 by yuna628

[fishe23a 240]

yuna628 - Thank you SO much for this extremely detailed and very helpful response! I have been fretting over putting this together and now my mind is totally at ease. Thank you, thank you.

[Bren & Seigo 24]

On 12/28/2016 at 1:19 AM, yuna628 said:

Hi there,

We used a cosponsor for our London specific case. I can assure you of several things:

You (yes YOU) do not need to provide an I-134. Since you have no income you will have no involvement in the financial portion that London will want to see. Therefore what your finance will need to bring to their interview is the following financial documents:

• I-134 from the cosponsor (your father)
• a letter from your father's employer stating how much they make and what they do. signed and dated by employer.
• the father's most recent tax transcript (that's right - no multiple tax forms. just a single most recent tax transcript which can be ordered from the IRS). It's the easiest and most efficient way to provide information to London.

• in lieu of any of these documents the father could also provide a bunch of paystubs, or w2s. if they are using assets then they will need to provide evidence of that. however if no assets or savings are being used then don't worry about that. in fact if just going by salary alone, none of the asset or savings info need to be filled out on the I-134.

London does not need heavy proof, nor do they need multiple complicated ways of proving it. They like employer letters, and have been known to accept on just such a letter alone. Personally we used an I-134 from our cosponsor, their tax transcript, and employer letter. During the interview they asked a few questions about our cosponsor such as our relationship etc. All was acceptable and easy.

Remember though that a K1 is a two-fold process. Once your fiancé has their K1, enters the US, and you marry, you must file for AOS. That is where the more heavy financials come into play. In that instance, if you are still going to use a cosponsor by that time, BOTH you and the cosponsor would each complete your own I-864 (a more complicated form than the I-134). Your father would provide their last 3 tax transcripts, employer letter, and about six months worth of paystubs with their form. You on the other hand, if still not employed or filing taxes will provide a simple letter explaining your non-working situation and that you are not required to pay taxes since you earn no income with your form. You can explain what year you did pay taxes and provide a tax transcript to attest to that fact. The case worker will review all of this information.

Does anyone know if the Tokyo embassy is simmilar to this? I am also an unemployed student and I have been studying in Japan for the past 4 years. Do I need to submit a form for both me AND the co-sponsor (My father), or will just the co-sponsor's information be enough?

 

[SparklePony 238]

You always need to submit your own paperwork. Regardless of you being unemployed and not earning income, you're still the main sponsor and as such need to provide your paperwork. 

[CiaraE 0]

On 5/5/2017 at 9:38 AM, Bren & Seigo said:

Does anyone know if the Tokyo embassy is simmilar to this? I am also an unemployed student and I have been studying in Japan for the past 4 years. Do I need to submit a form for both me AND the co-sponsor (My father), or will just the co-sponsor's information be enough?

 

I’m also searching for this information, I can’t find the answer anywhere. The Tokyo embassy doesn’t have any information that I can find about information about cosponsors. Where you able to get an answer?