Income test under Trump proposal places tougher hurdles for families to get green cards

[JFH 12,189]

10 minutes ago, Mrsjackson said:

Sorry I accidentally quoted you and now have to type in here so this is actually just a general question for everyone. Does anyone know of a couple being denied when the petitioner only just met the 125% poverty line? 

 

Also, I wonder if USCIS takes into consideration where you live. For example, yes a couple in Seattle might not be able to live on $40k but in rural Washington that’ll get you pretty far. I know it’s about “totality of circumstances” so I wonder if they look at your income in conjunction with where you live to determine if it’s enough? Or is it more black and white than that? 

We are in the Cascades and $40k would be a struggle here too....

 

There have been several cases where the spouse made the borderline amount to qualify for 125% of the federal poverty line but ygecrmbsssy gave them a 221(g) requesting a joint sponsor. The CO calls the shots on that. 

[geowrian 22,335]

12 minutes ago, Mrsjackson said:

Does anyone know of a couple being denied when the petitioner only just met the 125% poverty line?  

I can't point to a specific case off-hand, but I've seen plenty of RFIEs and 221gs requesting a joint sponsor many times when somebody was borderline.

I've also seen approvals in those cases.

[Mrsjackson 300]

12 minutes ago, JFH said:

We are in the Cascades and $40k would be a struggle here too....

 

There have been several cases where the spouse made the borderline amount to qualify for 125% of the federal poverty line but ygecrmbsssy gave them a 221(g) requesting a joint sponsor. The CO calls the shots on that. 

I’m on the island and 40k is great so it of course depends where you are. Just wondering if the CO would acknowledge/care about that. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Mrsjackson

[NikLR 13,220]

Theres no way we would live where we do if we lived on 40k a year combined.  Colorado is far too expensive for that.  We're barely middle class here. 

[Ben & Katy 168]

On 10/11/2018 at 12:28 PM, Jemera said:

If this new guideline goes through, it doesn't take into account USC who married and lived abroad for many years then come back for whatever reason and have 0  or close to 0 reported income for the past few years due to waver of income earned overseas. In my case, I had been living in my husband's country where we married. I had to come home to care for a sick parent and now I'm waiting and waiting, unable to work outside the home because I have a full load caring for my dad. Fortunately, I have assets and rental income that I pay taxes on to put me over 125% but if it was 250%? Yeah, I would have had to choose between helping my dad or staying in Singapore with my husband. My husband does have a job waiting for him here but we can't count that future income since they are not the sponsor. I think USC who have been married abroad for over a set number of years (5?10?) and are returning home should be in a separate category anyway because our situation is quite different. Many countries give breaks to returning citizens, just not the US.

I can definetely agree with this.  Count US citizens living abroad for so many years in a separate category.