Starting k1 petition for OFW? Plus income decisions: Help

[Grantman1987 23]

Hello, I'm new to this and its a pretty complicated situation. I apologize if I'm all over the place. 

 

A) Timing

I recently visited my finance in philippines Feb 2018. After vacation, she returned to Saudi Arabia to finish her ofw contract. Her contract will be finished in March of next year (2019). Should I try starting the k-1 petition immediately, or wait? Im affraid if I petition now and she receives an interview date, she won't be home to attend it. 

 

B) Income

My annual income is around 34k working two dead end jobs. I believe its just above the poverty level requirements. I'm contemplating if I should go back into truck driving (cross country) for 1 year so that I can use the experience and get a good paying local driving job with waste management. It would be good especially for when my fiance comes. The problem is if I go over the road trucking now, it would negatively affect my income (for the first year) and I may not reach the income requirement to bring my fiance here. My other option is to continue working my two jobs, wait until my fiance is approved to come here, then pursue the trucking while she is here. Ultimately the plan is to have a good paying driving job for the city, with benifits, which will be great for my fiance and I. 

Any suggestions, advice, comments or opinions? Thanks

[kris&me 572]

wherever she interviews she will need criminal inestigation reports from her home country and where she has lived for over a year in the last 5 years

 

you only need 100% of poverty guidelines for K1

125% after marriage for AOS

[Grantman1987 23]

3 minutes ago, kris&me said:

wherever she interviews she will need criminal inestigation reports from her home country and where she has lived for over a year in the last 5 years

 

you only need 100% of poverty guidelines for K1

125% after marriage for AOS

Thanks alot, thats something I didn't think about. Maybe she will somehow have to obtain a criminal history from Saudi Arabia. Not sure how to go about doing that since its a very strict country regarding non marriage relationships. 

[Alabamak1 688]

5 minutes ago, Grantman1987 said:

Hello, I'm new to this and its a pretty complicated situation. I apologize if I'm all over the place. 

 

A) Timing

I recently visited my finance in philippines Feb 2018. After vacation, she returned to Saudi Arabia to finish her ofw contract. Her contract will be finished in March of next year (2019). Should I try starting the k-1 petition immediately, or wait? Im affraid if I petition now and she receives an interview date, she won't be home to attend it. 

 

B) Income

My annual income is around 34k working two dead end jobs. I believe its just above the poverty level requirements. I'm contemplating if I should go back into truck driving (cross country) for 1 year so that I can use the experience and get a good paying local driving job with waste management. It would be good especially for when my fiance comes. The problem is if I go over the road trucking now, it would negatively affect my income (for the first year) and I may not reach the income requirement to bring my fiance here. My other option is to continue working my two jobs, wait until my fiance is approved to come here, then pursue the trucking while she is here. Ultimately the plan is to have a good paying driving job for the city, with benifits, which will be great for my fiance and I. 

Any suggestions, advice, comments or opinions? Thanks

Are you looking to get her here with a K1 or a spousal visa? K1 is for peope who get married in the USA and spousal visa for people who are already married. 

Timewise...K1 is taking a long time right now. Around 10 months from beginning till she gets here and going on longer waits. Technically she can apply at the US embassy for her k1 in Saudi Arabia if she is legally residing there. A spousal visa takes longer, but you would have to get married before. I am currently going through a K1 for my fiancee. There is no guarantee on timelines and 34K qualifies for a K1 ans AOS later...(adjustment of status)

Suggestion:  https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/fiancee-visa/visas-fiancees-us-citizens for newbies

[bravagreen 36]

well with the timings i wouldn't advise you to wait  till her contract is over. I would suggest you put in the petition at least 8 months to her contract expiry. that way soon as she is done she don't have to wait a lot of time for the petition to be adjudicated. And with the poverty guideline you are above. 

[Grantman1987 23]

31 minutes ago, Alabamak1 said:

Are you looking to get her here with a K1 or a spousal visa? K1 is for peope who get married in the USA and spousal visa for people who are already married. 

Timewise...K1 is taking a long time right now. Around 10 months from beginning till she gets here and going on longer waits. Technically she can apply at the US embassy for her k1 in Saudi Arabia if she is legally residing there. A spousal visa takes longer, but you would have to get married before. I am currently going through a K1 for my fiancee. There is no guarantee on timelines and 34K qualifies for a K1 ans AOS later...(adjustment of status)

Suggestion:  https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/fiancee-visa/visas-fiancees-us-citizens for newbies

Thank you sir, yes I am looking to get her here with the K1 since it's faster than the spousal visa. Thanks for the info about applying in Saudi. It would depend on if her employer allows her to do it. As of now she doesn't tell her employers about our relationship, and has no plans of informing them when she plans to quit working for them. It's due to the strict government laws there and the attitudes of employers when they know their worker plans to quit.  

[Grantman1987 23]

6 minutes ago, bravagreen said:

well with the timings i wouldn't advise you to wait  till her contract is over. I would suggest you put in the petition at least 8 months to her contract expiry. that way soon as she is done she don't have to wait a lot of time for the petition to be adjudicated. And with the poverty guideline you are above. 

Nice, thank you sir. Do you know what the minimum income would be to meet the guidlines in California? I believe its 32 or 33k. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

9 minutes ago, Grantman1987 said:

Nice, thank you sir. Do you know what the minimum income would be to meet the guidlines in California? I believe its 32 or 33k. 

Either it's CA or anywhere else the guidelines are the same. Which is 125% of federal poverty guidelines.  In order to get a pic from KSA she does not have to disclose a relationship at all. If I were you then I would in about 2 months. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

If she’s legally a resident there she can interview there. 

[Suudsu 66]

36 minutes ago, Grantman1987 said:

Nice, thank you sir. Do you know what the minimum income would be to meet the guidlines in California? I believe its 32 or 33k. 

There's a different rate for Alaska and Hawaii, but everywhere else the rate is the same.

https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p

[Grantman1987 23]

6 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

If she’s legally a resident there she can interview there. 

 

5 minutes ago, Suudsu said:

There's a different rate for Alaska and Hawaii, but everywhere else the rate is the same.

https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p

Thanks alot youguys. Much appreciated.

[Grantman1987 23]

31 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Either it's CA or anywhere else the guidelines are the same. Which is 125% of federal poverty guidelines.  In order to get a pic from KSA she does not have to disclose a relationship at all. If I were you then I would in about 2 months. 

Very good info thanks alot. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

1 minute ago, Grantman1987 said:

Very good info thanks alot. 

PCC not pic sorry autocorrect got me. Where in CA do you live? I just moved to NC from Pasadena in December.

[Grantman1987 23]

10 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

PCC not pic sorry autocorrect got me. Where in CA do you live? I just moved to NC from Pasadena in December.

Thanks alot, what is PCC? Also I just spoke with her about what you suggested. She says even if she doesn't disclose the relationship, her employers would really be questioning her on why she wants to apply for a U.S visa, and wouldn't allow it.

 

Nice, Pasadena isn't too far from me. I live in Costa Mesa. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

39 minutes ago, Grantman1987 said:

Thanks alot, what is PCC? Also I just spoke with her about what you suggested. She says even if she doesn't disclose the relationship, her employers would really be questioning her on why she wants to apply for a U.S visa, and wouldn't allow it.

 

Nice, Pasadena isn't too far from me. I live in Costa Mesa. 

Ahhh ok. What does she do in the KSA? She must work for a strict boss or a Saudi. She wouldn't be applying for but you would be. But you can file for it and mark her place as the Philippines so that she can go back there once her contract is done to do the interview and medical then fly to the USA. My wife was a OFW for 5 years in Qatar so I understand what it's like. The PCC is a police clearance from that country basically like a background check paperwork showing that you did or did not do anything bad in that country while living there. 

 

She will be lucky because there are alot of Filipinos in SoCal. As you know where you live it's mostly Chinese or Vietnamese but she can still shop at their stores and get some Asian food or groceries. Where in the Philippines is she from and have y'all met in person?