questions about social welfare assistance and K-1 visa

[ekah 0]

hello....i am new and have a question about receiving social welfare assistance such as food stamps during the I 129F process.

I have been living with my partner outside of the united states for the last 4 years. A year ago we had a child and have decided to move ourselves to the u.s. We were told by the U.S. embassy in Santiago, Chile (father and fiance is Chilean) that I needed to begin this process from the u.s.

As of recently my one year old daughter and I are back in Kansas.......and very far from Papi.(not happy about the forced separation) I am gathering all of the information necessary to mail in the I 129F this week.

My question is......As I am now a young, single mother, newly arriving to the United States again with very little money due to currency exchange (i am arriving with latin american money not dollars), and without job.....I am looking to seek help from social services such as food stamps. But I am very worried that this may affect my chances of bringing my fiance and father of my daughter here. Does anyone know if this would affect our case?

I have looked at all of the paperwork and it seems as though they dont ask if the u.s. citizen has used social welfare services. I am already planning on having my mother help us with the affidavit of support as to sponsor him and his coming to the states.

please, any information will help!

triste and awaiting massive loads of paperwork and tramite

[ekah 0]

oh, and one more question.....can the fact that we have a child together possibly speed the process or am I just dreaming?

thank you!!!!!!!!

[tglea 0]

I'm not entirely sure about taking welfare. But the instructions for the I-864(the form you will need for AOS and you should follow the guidelines of this even when using the I-134 for the visa interview) say that receiving means tested(welfare) income does not disqualify someone from being a sponsor but that money can not be counted as income for the purposes of meeting the poverty guidelines. So if your mother is going to be a co-sponsor and she makes enough, then you should be ok.

You didn't have to return to the US to start this process. You can't start it at an embassy or consulate in another country but you could have mailed the petition from Chile.

My fiancee and I have child together and I can't say for sure if it sped up the process. However, from the date of receipt of the NOA1 to the letter from the consulate stating they are ready for her interview was a little less than 4 months. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast. I was expecting at least 6-8 months.

[ekah 0]

I'm not entirely sure about taking welfare. But the instructions for the I-864(the form you will need for AOS and you should follow the guidelines of this even when using the I-134 for the visa interview) say that receiving means tested(welfare) income does not disqualify someone from being a sponsor but that money can not be counted as income for the purposes of meeting the poverty guidelines. So if your mother is going to be a co-sponsor and she makes enough, then you should be ok.

You didn't have to return to the US to start this process. You can't start it at an embassy or consulate in another country but you could have mailed the petition from Chile.

My fiancee and I have child together and I can't say for sure if it sped up the process. However, from the date of receipt of the NOA1 to the letter from the consulate stating they are ready for her interview was a little less than 4 months. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast. I was expecting at least 6-8 months.

thank you so much!

ahhhhh.... four months seems like a lifetime!!! my daughter is searching all over the house for her papi.....jeje I guess i just need to get used to the fact that this process takes time. this is hard to swallow.

I have realized recently that the information that we were given in Chile was not correct. Of course we could have mailed the packet from chile but the woman that we were in contact with from the embassy told me in email's that i needed to be in my birth country to begin the petition.?!

thanks again

[Hell0W0rld 10]

I'm not entirely sure about taking welfare. But the instructions for the I-864(the form you will need for AOS and you should follow the guidelines of this even when using the I-134 for the visa interview) say that receiving means tested(welfare) income does not disqualify someone from being a sponsor but that money can not be counted as income for the purposes of meeting the poverty guidelines. So if your mother is going to be a co-sponsor and she makes enough, then you should be ok.

You didn't have to return to the US to start this process. You can't start it at an embassy or consulate in another country but you could have mailed the petition from Chile.

My fiancee and I have child together and I can't say for sure if it sped up the process. However, from the date of receipt of the NOA1 to the letter from the consulate stating they are ready for her interview was a little less than 4 months. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast. I was expecting at least 6-8 months.

thank you so much!

ahhhhh.... four months seems like a lifetime!!! my daughter is searching all over the house for her papi.....jeje I guess i just need to get used to the fact that this process takes time. this is hard to swallow.

I have realized recently that the information that we were given in Chile was not correct. Of course we could have mailed the packet from chile but the woman that we were in contact with from the embassy told me in email's that i needed to be in my birth country to begin the petition.?!

thanks again

that woman is wrong, you can start this process abroad, but you have to make sure that the petition arrives to the right place and someone is at home to receive mails...

anyway, read this guide to get started, this will reduce the confusion...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;page=k1guide

[tglea 0]

I'm not entirely sure about taking welfare. But the instructions for the I-864(the form you will need for AOS and you should follow the guidelines of this even when using the I-134 for the visa interview) say that receiving means tested(welfare) income does not disqualify someone from being a sponsor but that money can not be counted as income for the purposes of meeting the poverty guidelines. So if your mother is going to be a co-sponsor and she makes enough, then you should be ok.

You didn't have to return to the US to start this process. You can't start it at an embassy or consulate in another country but you could have mailed the petition from Chile.

My fiancee and I have child together and I can't say for sure if it sped up the process. However, from the date of receipt of the NOA1 to the letter from the consulate stating they are ready for her interview was a little less than 4 months. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast. I was expecting at least 6-8 months.

thank you so much!

ahhhhh.... four months seems like a lifetime!!! my daughter is searching all over the house for her papi.....jeje I guess i just need to get used to the fact that this process takes time. this is hard to swallow.

I have realized recently that the information that we were given in Chile was not correct. Of course we could have mailed the packet from chile but the woman that we were in contact with from the embassy told me in email's that i needed to be in my birth country to begin the petition.?!

thanks again

Yep! You will get a lot of wrong information from people that you think should know what the hell they are talking about. Lawyers included!!!! Ask your questions here on VJ and look through the guides and example forms. I made the mistake of hiring an attorney to start the petition and it was the worst money I think I've ever spent. He didn't know what the hell he was talking about and gave me some incorrect information, and I gave him too much money to basically mail some papers. Obviously, that was before I discovered VJ.com and realized the process isn't that hard. I told him to take a flying leap a while ago and decided I could handle everything myself. Good luck and don't forget to read the guides and use the example forms when you are filling out your forms.