Don't flame me too much but... all these co-sponsers?

[Perry/Elena 0]

Just pointing out that the income requirement isn't for marriage, but for immigration & public benefit purposes, which is why there aren't income requirements, even for foreigners, to get a marriage license.

Most everyone seems to be missing this point completely. In fact this thread showcases why the government requires this.

I am no big government fan at all... but... do understand why we have to go through these "silly hoops".

Is it fair that those of us doing things legally are not allowed to tax the system, when those who do things illegally can? No... Guess that "Life is fair" rule book takes a hit again.

BTW: She is not all that much younger then me...

[justashooter 430]

the OP is flameproof. lots of people on this board do stupid things and tell us about it. getting married when you cannot afford to is one we commonly read about. saying "i can't afford to AOS my phillipine wife and she's just been picked up by border patrol 4 states away" is sure to get a fellow (valsu) laughed at, but the sad part is that his wife did actually spend weeks in jail.

K1 is not cheap. plan ahead and do it only if you can afford to. respect your intended enough to tell them the truth about your situation, and make reasonable decisions as they affect more lives than just your own.

[justashooter 430]

125% is difficult to get by on but it does not tell the whole story. If you have a business there are many deductions that can be written off. This can put you well below the poverty line. When I told my wife that if she worked we could live a decent life . Not the best one but a decent life. She was happy that I would like her to work.Are you involved with a partner that has command of the english language with a job skill say like a nurse that would enable her to find a decent job. One thing that often comes up on the chinese forums that she looks at is the husband who has children and most of that $60,000+ income is spent on HIS former spouse and children. The new wife is in worse shape money wise than someone who is at 125% of the poverty line. Maybe the requirement should be no one who has ever been married and has that monthly support check to write should be allowed to sponser someone. Everyone's situation is different .

chinese women are generally reluctant to take the role of second wife. this is because of the traditional expectations for second wife in chinese society. if a middle aged man with children takes a young second wife in traditional chinese culture her status is below the children. she has no financial status, while they do, and they can treat her like a servant, beating her with sticks and even killing her if she offends them. this kind of behaviour is not common in the current urban population, but is within the cultural memory, and cruelty by the children towards the second wife is still given, if less so in a physical sense.

if a guy in the US makes 60K$ and has 2 children he may be paying up to 25% of his after tax income in child support. spousal support is unusual, unless the man is making big bux and the woman has no work history, and even then it is short term.

[SMR 368]

I'm 22 with a college degree and make well above the poverty line. I had money in the bank for AOS. But does anyone else think that $1010 for adjustment of status is ridiculous? How do they justify that? That's a lot of money.

The whole immigration process has quite damaged my faith in and respect towards the American government. I pay around 20% of my income in federal income taxes. Then there are sales taxes, gas taxes, license tabs, SSI, and medicare taxes. But if you want the government to do something (or in reality, just get out of your way) you have to pay an arm and a leg anyways.

And the whole income requirements wouldn't be a problem if the government didn't have so many entitlement/public benefit programs that I have to pay for but don't get to use since I fell in love with a Russian girl.

[TBoneTX 43,425]

K1 is not cheap. plan ahead and do it only if you can afford to. respect your intended enough to tell them the truth about your situation, and make reasonable decisions as they affect more lives than just your own.

Si, man.

[nycgirl 13]

You cannot help who u fall in love with and when u do you do everything u can to be with them...

so stop trying to get attention by starting this stupid chat thread...

I think that the point is........in the instances of trolling the Internet for foreigners, YOU CAN help whom you fall in love with. OF COURSE YOU CAN. People who go on the internet looking for Foreign wives or husbands, most certainly can help it. They are out there LOOKING for it!!! Its not as if they are meeting at a dinner party or bumping into one another at Starbucks!!

Everyone has a right to be happy, yes. That has been made abundantly clear. ####### happens in life that changes your financial situation, yes. That's true too.

The question remains....... why bring someone over here, when the financial burdens of the immigration process are insurmountable at present?? Why cause a strain to the marriage, and certainly a risk of letting your new spouse drop out of status. Lest we forget the lessons of VALSU!!! But selfish people are like children. They want what they want and they WANT IT NOW!! No consideration for the future!

[emmaline_g 2]

I'm 22 with a college degree and make well above the poverty line. I had money in the bank for AOS. But does anyone else think that $1010 for adjustment of status is ridiculous? How do they justify that? That's a lot of money.

The whole immigration process has quite damaged my faith in and respect towards the American government. I pay around 20% of my income in federal income taxes. Then there are sales taxes, gas taxes, license tabs, SSI, and medicare taxes. But if you want the government to do something (or in reality, just get out of your way) you have to pay an arm and a leg anyways.

And the whole income requirements wouldn't be a problem if the government didn't have so many entitlement/public benefit programs that I have to pay for but don't get to use since I fell in love with a Russian girl.

^^^ Bravo bravoooo *clap clap clap* I agree 100%. Give this guy a prize!!

For the rest of this thread, even in the case where you are NOT trolling the Internet for foreign spouses (a large number of us did NOT meet online or through a service), when you fall in love you need to act like an adult and plan for the future if you want any hope of your relationship surviving.

Nobody is implying that you don't have the right to be happy if you meet a foreigner. HELLO, WE ALL MET FOREIGNERS!!! I do not understand why people are getting so butthurt over this concept of being able to support yourself +1 without assistance before bringing someone into America and getting married. Also let's give a prize to nycgirl for her post.

[Ed+Cindy 1]

Actually I think the same thing often.

I agree 100%.

[lovelight 1]

In my opinion a marriage has a lot to do with responsibility for each other and this includes besides a lot of love financial stability as well...

I agree that love is the most important thing, but love won´t pay your rent and won´t fill your fridge....

when I read all this posts on the vj-website I´m sometimes really surprised how many aliens giving up their existence to go to the US even the USC does not meet the income requirements...I mean wouldn´t it be more clever for the USC to move to the aliens country ?... or is everything about to come to the US ? ....

In my case I give up a well paid und certain job, a great appartement, I give up the chance to see my family and friends when ever I want....that´s a big deal for me....and if I imagine I would do all that with the knowing that we can´t live or hardly live from the money he makes or has....

even my fiance is making well over the poverty line and we have good savings I´m a little concernd....well....we will live in NYC !....so, how people who don´t meet the requirements and need a co-sponsor can deal with that ? I guess I will never understand this...

P.S. I´m also surprised how many people especially in this topic can´t take any critical comments ....

[Susita 175]

I think that the point is........in the instances of trolling the Internet for foreigners, YOU CAN help whom you fall in love with. OF COURSE YOU CAN. People who go on the internet looking for Foreign wives or husbands, most certainly can help it. They are out there LOOKING for it!!! Its not as if they are meeting at a dinner party or bumping into one another at Starbucks!!

I honestly didn't plan on meeting my husband or go out looking for him for that matter either. I was forced by my Spanish composition professor to get an online penpal even though I already know how to read and write in Spanish (it was a requirement). Well guess who wound up being my penpal? He was taking English courses, only thing is that the penpal thing didn't work out for his english skills lol, he got stuck with me instead.

I think a major concern of the poverty line requirements is that if you are below the poverty line you are eligible for certain public assistance programs such as medicaid, Section 8 housing assistance, welfare, etc. I think their concern is having one more person living off the government's resources (taxpayer dollars). Once your husband/wife is a permanent resident they are eligible to participate in these programs. Whether they will or will not accept public assistance, it's always a possibility. I think this is the real dilemma here. I'm kind of on the fence with this one, because there are some cases where I think it's definetely OK, and others in which I don't. But my opinion has no dominion here in the forums, I'm no USCIS employee LOL

[nycgirl 13]

I think that the point is........in the instances of trolling the Internet for foreigners, YOU CAN help whom you fall in love with. OF COURSE YOU CAN. People who go on the internet looking for Foreign wives or husbands, most certainly can help it. They are out there LOOKING for it!!! Its not as if they are meeting at a dinner party or bumping into one another at Starbucks!!

I honestly didn't plan on meeting my husband or go out looking for him for that matter either. I was forced by my Spanish composition professor to get an online penpal even though I already know how to read and write in Spanish (it was a requirement). Well guess who wound up being my penpal? He was taking English courses, only thing is that the penpal thing didn't work out for his english skills lol, he got stuck with me instead.

I think a major concern of the poverty line requirements is that if you are below the poverty line you are eligible for certain public assistance programs such as medicaid, Section 8 housing assistance, welfare, etc. I think their concern is having one more person living off the government's resources (taxpayer dollars). Once your husband/wife is a permanent resident they are eligible to participate in these programs. Whether they will or will not accept public assistance, it's always a possibility. I think this is the real dilemma here. I'm kind of on the fence with this one, because there are some cases where I think it's definetely OK, and others in which I don't. But my opinion has no dominion here in the forums, I'm no USCIS employee LOL

I didn't say everyone who meets on line is trolling for a wife or husband. Certainly there are exceptions. Your story is sweet and unexpected! But lets face it.....when you are trolling, you are trolling!!!! People, you know who you are!!

In any case, I am not sure that this thread was started in order to discuss why the Government has its quotas in place. Their interest in this is very CLEAR. The government doesn't want a USC bringing an immigrant here, when the USC can't even live above the poverty line himself!! (I don't care how much YOU love them, I don't want to pay your welfare!!!). So all the selfish babies who say that nothing is more important than love, please get your head out of the sand. If you are barely scraping by, is it really the responsible thing to do, to accept responsibility for another human being as well (and maybe their kids). I think not. That's the point!!!

[SCFsnoopy 0]

when I read all this posts on the vj-website I´m sometimes really surprised how many aliens giving up their existence to go to the US even the USC does not meet the income requirements...I mean wouldn´t it be more clever for the USC to move to the aliens country ?... or is everything about to come to the US ? ....

In my case I give up a well paid und certain job, a great appartement, I give up the chance to see my family and friends when ever I want....that´s a big deal for me....and if I imagine I would do all that with the knowing that we can´t live or hardly live from the money he makes or has....

That's probably not a bad idea for a lot of couples, I know that my fiance and I considered having him move to Australia (he actually got a job offer while he was here visiting) but in the end decided that having me move to the States was the more ideal situation. I have already lived in the US for some time, I have friends there, I have a life there, so it makes sense for me to go back - it's just easier in the long term. I'm also younger than my fiance (I'm 20, he's turning 27 soon) and not as tied down as he is - the only real thing holding me to Aus is my family, who all love a good excuse to travel anyway. He has his career to think about, and he had only just gotten to a point in his life before he met me where he was happy where he was and had settled and I don't want to uproot him again.

He lives in NYC too, so I know how expensive it is there. But like I said, I'm content with the amount of money he makes (especially with the economy the way it is, he's lucky to have a job at all in his profession) and I'm not without my own resources if push comes to shove. I know he can support both of us with his current income because I lived with him for 3 months and I was unable to work during that time... he's paying even less in rent and other expenses now than he was then so overall we're in a better spot financially than this time last year. Thank god for this forum, which has prepared us with the knowledge of what this whole process costs, and we have been able to get our combined finances in order so that we won't run into any problems when AOS swings around or something unplanned for pops up.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Yes, Love is grand and Love is everything......but one needs money to live and when one is to support another person, then money should play a big big factor into any decision. Yes if you need to temporarily place immigration as a lesser concern, then if you do have True Love, then both willl understand the need to wait. If not, then it wasn't true love to begin with. IMHO

To your point though, love doesn't buy groceries or keep the lights on.

Maybe they should apply the same income requirement to an American marrying another American.

Or go further with it. Make it illegal to get married under say, the age of twenty five. Or if you do marry young you must first be rendered sterile.

[SMR 368]

Yes, Love is grand and Love is everything......but one needs money to live and when one is to support another person, then money should play a big big factor into any decision. Yes if you need to temporarily place immigration as a lesser concern, then if you do have True Love, then both willl understand the need to wait. If not, then it wasn't true love to begin with. IMHO

To your point though, love doesn't buy groceries or keep the lights on.

Maybe they should apply the same income requirement to an American marrying another American.

Or go further with it. Make it illegal to get married under say, the age of twenty five. Or if you do marry young you must first be rendered sterile.

Why do you instantly assume that if a person is young they shouldn't be allowed to get married? I'm 22 (my wife is 24). I don't make a great living but I have a stable job and make more than three times the 125% poverty limit for our family of 2. Of course, my job is only as stable as anyone else's job in this economy, but being young it's easier for me to find another job if need be. I'm just a little miffed as to why you think that making a law that you can't marry under the age of 25 is a good idea. And yes, we do plan on having kids but not until she finishes her degree.

[daboyz 36]

Yes, Love is grand and Love is everything......but one needs money to live and when one is to support another person, then money should play a big big factor into any decision. Yes if you need to temporarily place immigration as a lesser concern, then if you do have True Love, then both willl understand the need to wait. If not, then it wasn't true love to begin with. IMHO

To your point though, love doesn't buy groceries or keep the lights on.

Maybe they should apply the same income requirement to an American marrying another American.

Or go further with it. Make it illegal to get married under say, the age of twenty five. Or if you do marry young you must first be rendered sterile.

Why do you instantly assume that if a person is young they shouldn't be allowed to get married? I'm 22 (my wife is 24). I don't make a great living but I have a stable job and make more than three times the 125% poverty limit for our family of 2. Of course, my job is only as stable as anyone else's job in this economy, but being young it's easier for me to find another job if need be. I'm just a little miffed as to why you think that making a law that you can't marry under the age of 25 is a good idea. And yes, we do plan on having kids but not until she finishes her degree.

I think he was joking.