Help me please

[beccajameel 0]

Hello and first off I want to thank you for opening this and taking the time to look it over. My fiancee is in Jordan right now and I am in the USA. We are frustrated with the being apart from each other and although I am trying my best to get all the paperwork together to do his K1, everything seems to be falling apart. I was let go from my job right before leaving to see him last month which has slowed the process to begin with. We have heard that if you stay in the foreign country it speeds up the process. Can anyone tell me if this is true? I just really am having issues being apart from him, and would rather stay with him until he can come here but am not quite sure if this is reasonable. I do need income equally over 24,000 yearly correct? Or am I confused regarding this? I also was confused as to who needed to be the financial sponser. Can someone else do this so I can file and speed the proces along? Or do I need to wait until I have found another jopb that provides 24,000 + yearly before I can? I appreciate any or all help / advice you could provide. Thanks!

[Otto 83]

Ok... slow down...

First - whether the US Citizen is in the US or in another country doesn't speed up nor slow down the K1 process. Might make the waiting a little better is all.

Secondly - you, the US Citizen is always going to be the Sponsor - some folks end up obtaining a co-sponsor (if/when their income isn't sufficient) but there's no speeding up/slowing down here either. The sponsor must meet 125% of the 2009 Federal Poverty Guidelines for their household size (Google "2009 Federal Poverty Guidelines" and figure out your minimum). You will need to meet this requirement and show evidence of it for the eventual interview (which doesn't come until the petition is approved and sent to the Consulate/Embassy).

Best to carefully go over the GUIDES - it is all laid out there, including a Flowchart.

[LuckyDucky 0]

First - whether the US Citizen is in the US or in another country doesn't speed up nor slow down the K1 process. Might make the waiting a little better is all.

Secondly - you, the US Citizen is always going to be the Sponsor - some folks end up obtaining a co-sponsor (if/when their income isn't sufficient) but there's no speeding up/slowing down here either. The sponsor must meet 125% of the 2009 Federal Poverty Guidelines for their household size (Google "2009 Federal Poverty Guidelines" and figure out your minimum). You will need to meet this requirement and show evidence of it for the eventual interview (which doesn't come until the petition is approved and sent to the Consulate/Embassy).

Best to carefully go over the GUIDES - it is all laid out there, including a Flowchart.

Karin und Otto pretty much covered everything.

Just to expand a little on the second point. As Karin und Otto said, you need to meet 125% of the 2009 Federal Poverty Guidelines. I think if you are military, you only have to meet 100% of the Federal Poverty guidelines.

Poverty guidelines are dependent on which state you live in (48 contiguous states vs. Alaska or Hawaii) and how many people are in your household.

I see that you're from Oregon and assuming it'll just be the two of you in the house, then you'll need $18,213. If you have a child, then there's 3 of you, which bumps it up to $22,888, etc.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Filing for a spousal visa is faster when the USC lives abroad as you can file directly with the local embassy, that is probably what has you confused. It cuts down the wait from 8+ months to 6-8 weeks in most cases (see my timeline below). However, you need to be resident in the foreign country for 6 months before filing, so this really only cuts down the time for those already living abroad.

[V-G-1 1]

Hi Becca-- I agree with everything above--however just want to add on to the financial part.

This is only going to come up when the petition for K1 is approved, and case transferred to the embassy, whereupon your fiance will be looking for a Form 134 from you--which is an affidavit of support.

This is when your problem will arise---but rest easy, there is a solution....its called co-sponsor--each co-sponsor would have to file a supplemental I-134 for the fiance--best to get a close friend, brother, sister, parent.....then you'll be all set.