NOA2 Received!!! Question about 134 and personal property

[chrislyse 0]

I asked a similar question about listing house as asset but have ruled that out since i still owe a lot and the value has decreased. Listing the condo is optional if you dont care to have it evaluated as an asset, correct?

The only way we could get family approval was for me to move here to Indonesia so her family could get to know me well enough for their blessing. I just purchased my return ticket to the US last night and when i woke up this morning i had an email that my 129F was approved. My return is not until august so who knows if i'll be back in time to have a job. My old company may hire me back but the economy has declined since I left and its a little unclear.

I'm now getting more concerned about the 134, my dad is going to cosponsor but he doesnt have a lot of income, he does have a house (paid off) a few cars and savings.

I have a decent amount of money left to me from my mom when she passed away (part savings, part in stocks - too bad for me). I also have some 401k savings (is this usable?) What would i need this to add up to, i've seen a lot of people say 3x the assets, but i read in the 134 faq on this site its 5x.

Now the question is, what can i list under the section for "Personal Property"? I have a ridiculous amount of electronics since i was collecting to build a recording studio for the last 10 years, as well as musical instruments, high end stereo equipment/computers, furniture etc. Is any of this valid? I sold my car before moving here to Indonesia since it was already old and i planned to replace it when i returned. And...if this stuff is usable how do you list it? Ballpark figures, do you need a list of the items and receipts (which i probably dont have)?

I also made pretty good money (as a software developer) for the past 3 years, do they even care when they see these as "potential" to get a good job again?

Thanks.

Edited July 1, 2009 by chrislyse

[chrislyse 0]

One other question about co-sponsor, how many years of taxes are required for them to send?

[Ivan in VA 2]

Think maybe you're reading too much into the form. The Gov is merely looking at income to determine if you make 125% above the poverty level. They have a PDF file on the immigration/K1 visa site that shows the scale. There are other post in here concerning this document and the guidelines. Good luck.

[payxibka 10,045]

moving to:

US Embassy and Consulate Discussion

You are almost there and now you have to deal with the embassy. This is the place to post your experiences or questions related to this last step before moving to the US. Topics relating to I-134's, packets sent from consulate and medical & police certificates should be posted here.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I'm sure by now you've read the instructions for the I-134. If so, you realize that the instructions don't say a damn thing about how much your assets must be worth to offset the income requirements. In fact, the instructions don't say a damn thing about the income requirements. Why? Because the I-134 isn't the document that's going to be used to enforce your obligation. That will be the I-864, which you don't submit until you're married and apply for AOS. The I-134 is just used by the consulate to screen you and weigh the likelihood of your fiancee becoming a "public charge". In other words, it's entirely up to the consulate to decide what's enough. This means you should check with the consulate in Indonesia and verify what they want to see on the I-134.

Fortunately, most consulates (it seems) use the I-864 rules, or some variation on that theme.

The I-864 is the document that says you need to meet 125% of the poverty level for your household size. The I-864P is the document that specifies what that level is, in actual dollars, for each household size.

The confusion about 3X or 5X comes from the instructions for the I-864. Actually, it says the total value of the assets must be worth 5X the shortage in income UNLESS you are a US citizen sponsoring a spouse or minor child, in which case the total value must be 3X the shortfall. If you filed a K1 then you fall in the second category.

You can present almost any kind of assets you want. The proviso is that you must be able to convert any asset you list into cash within 12 months "without considerable hardship or financial loss". They might not accept the value of your 401K since you'd probably take a severe penalty for cashing it out (financial loss). A Roth IRA might be a different story. You can probably list your recording gear, if you can come up with a method of valuing them that the consulate would accept. I don't know if comparable listings on eBay would be enough to convince them, though. Perhaps if there's a "blue book" for the recording gear (I'm pretty sure there is such a thing for musical instruments) they might accept that as an authoritative value reference. Short of that, an appraisal by a professional who is actively involved in buying and selling your assets might work. Think like a consular officer who knows jack about musical instruments and recording gear - what would convince you?

If you want some news that might make you even MORE depressed, I recently sold off a bunch of studio gear and instruments. I'm converting my studio back into a bedroom in anticipation of my fiancee coming to the US. It turned out my gear sold for a lot less than I would have thought it was worth, but the total was pretty close to the estimate I got from a friend who owns a music store. Except for vintage and rare gear, a lot of this stuff depreciates faster than computers!