Financial Issue and Joint Sponsor question

[kat10kat2 6]

Hello, this is my first time on this site and i would like some advice.

 

I am a US Citizen living in California and my fiance is from England. I have yet to apply because I am worried about the providing evidence of financial support part of the process. I am currently a student, and the only time I ever had a job was a seasonal position that i only had for the summer. I did not make enough that i was required to file taxes, so i dont know what i would do when filling out the I-134 form. has anyone had a experience like this? 

 

I do have someone willing to do a joint sponsor, but can only family do it? She is my half-sister's half sister.

 

Sorry if I did not make much sense!

[LILI&FERRA 84]

Anyone over 18 can be a co sponsor and they do not have to be family. As long as they make over 125% property line they that person will be good. 

[Boiler 43,618]

London allows you to self sponsor.

[JFH 12,189]

It won't be a problem from a procedural aspect but if you are not even making $20,000 a year how do you plan to keep 2 people in California on your small income? You do realise he won't be able to work for many months and after you marry you will have to pay over $1000 in additional fees for him to get his green card? 

 

So from a practical aspect it could be a problem. You might want to consider getting married and filing a spousal visa. It's cheaper, you don't have additional fees when he arrives, and he will be able to work immediately. 

[kat10kat2 6]

41 minutes ago, JFH said:

It won't be a problem from a procedural aspect but if you are not even making $20,000 a year how do you plan to keep 2 people in California on your small income? You do realise he won't be able to work for many months and after you marry you will have to pay over $1000 in additional fees for him to get his green card? 

 

So from a practical aspect it could be a problem. You might want to consider getting married and filing a spousal visa. It's cheaper, you don't have additional fees when he arrives, and he will be able to work immediately. 

For living in California part, that isnt an issue. I currently live with my dad and he does not mind if we both live there until we get on our feet etc. I do plan on getting a job soon, the issue is that i hadnt done my taxes because of a lack of job, so i was not sure how it would work when filing the form (as in do i put unemployed etc). I do get finanicial aid for school so i do have a few thousand put aside. As for the getting married and filing for a spousal visa, is it cheaper? When i looked up the fees, it seemed like it was more expensive. Though, i heard the k-1 is faster. I wasnt sure which route would be better to take, the k-1 or the spousal visa

[JFH 12,189]

14 minutes ago, kat10kat2 said:

For living in California part, that isnt an issue. I currently live with my dad and he does not mind if we both live there until we get on our feet etc. I do plan on getting a job soon, the issue is that i hadnt done my taxes because of a lack of job, so i was not sure how it would work when filing the form (as in do i put unemployed etc). I do get finanicial aid for school so i do have a few thousand put aside. As for the getting married and filing for a spousal visa, is it cheaper? When i looked up the fees, it seemed like it was more expensive. Though, i heard the k-1 is faster. I wasnt sure which route would be better to take, the k-1 or the spousal visa

The initial filing fee is a little more expensive for the spousal visa but once he arrives, that's it. Whereas with the K-1 you have over $1200 to pay after you get married (and that's before he can start working). There is a few months difference in processing time. But what's a few months in the rest of your lives? For us, an additional couple of months processing time was a no-brainer when I could work right away instead of being  unemployed for upwards of 4 months. I started work less than 2 weeks after I moved here. I make over $70,000 a year so 4 months out of work would have "cost" us $24,000. Plus my employer pays my healthcare premiums in full - had I not been working I'd have had to pay a few hundred a month out of my own pocket.