Do public assistance programs impact the CR-1 negatively?

[visaaa111 7]

I am a US citizen who has returned to California. My wife is a South Korean citizen who is awaiting the CR-1 process to finish so she can come join me. 

The situation is this: I am currently in between jobs and have a very stable job lined up. I am awaiting clearance for it because it requires many levels of approval before I get my final job offer. 

In the meantime, I signed up for Medicaid (Medi-cal) and CalFresh (food stamps) since I technically qualify and I am currently at a $0 income. I thought it would be a good idea since why not if I qualify. 

My question is will they care that I am currently receiving public assistance during this process? Will it negatively impact my wife? 

[Crazy Cat 39,304]

Do you have a well-qualified joint sponsor ready?  This can be seen as a public charge issue, and it can disqualify you as a sole sponsor. 

[visaaa111 7]

1 minute ago, Crazy Cat said:

Do you have a well-qualified joint sponsor ready?  This can be seen as a public charge issue, and it can disqualify you as a sole sponsor. 

My parents could act as a well-qualified joint sponsor, but to be honest, I have enough savings that I wouldn't really need someone to sponsor. It is just my income is at $0 temporarily. Would it still be a public charge if I am going to return to working in the near future? 

[Crazy Cat 39,304]

Just now, visaaa111 said:

My parents could act as a well-qualified joint sponsor, but to be honest, I have enough savings that I wouldn't really need someone to sponsor. It is just my income is at $0 temporarily. Would it still be a public charge if I am going to return to working in the near future? 

Probably not, but the Consulate Officer has full discretion.  Good luck. 

[midwinterrose 263]

9 minutes ago, visaaa111 said:

My parents could act as a well-qualified joint sponsor, but to be honest, I have enough savings that I wouldn't really need someone to sponsor. It is just my income is at $0 temporarily. Would it still be a public charge if I am going to return to working in the near future? 

Why would you rely on public (tax-payer) assistance if your savings are sufficient to support yourself and your wife, and fund your wife's immigration, even if your current income is zero?  If you are accepting publicly-funded financial assistance, then you are a public charge; aka a burden on the public.

 

Let alone the morality aspect of receiving unnecessary funding--why would you ever possibly open the "public charge" can of worms when you are trying to go through the immigration process?  How can you expect to argue that you have enough money to support your wife and at the same time accept money/assistance that is intended for those who are unable to support themselves?  

 

Is a sufficient Form I-864 the only consideration for meeting any public charge issues at the time of the visa interview?

 

No, consular officers also look at other public charge factors affecting the financial situation of both the financial sponsor(s) and the applicant. Age, health, education, skills, financial resources and family status of the applicant and the sponsor are factors. Consular officers will verify to the extent possible that applicants have adequate financial support to prevent them becoming a public charge in the United States. Public charge means that someone is likely to be primarily dependent on the U.S. government for subsistence.

 

Only the officer who handles your case can say whether this will affect your ability to sponsor, but it seems to me to be a foolish choice all around, especially considering that your reasoning for it seems to be, "eh, why not?"

[visaaa111 7]

2 minutes ago, midwinterrose said:

Why would you rely on public (tax-payer) assistance if your savings are sufficient to support yourself and your wife, and fund your wife's immigration, even if your current income is zero?  If you are accepting publicly-funded financial assistance, then you are a public charge; aka a burden on the public.

 

Let alone the morality aspect of receiving unnecessary funding--why would you ever possibly open the "public charge" can of worms when you are trying to go through the immigration process?  How can you expect to argue that you have enough money to support your wife and at the same time accept money/assistance that is intended for those who are unable to support themselves?  

 

Is a sufficient Form I-864 the only consideration for meeting any public charge issues at the time of the visa interview?

 

No, consular officers also look at other public charge factors affecting the financial situation of both the financial sponsor(s) and the applicant. Age, health, education, skills, financial resources and family status of the applicant and the sponsor are factors. Consular officers will verify to the extent possible that applicants have adequate financial support to prevent them becoming a public charge in the United States. Public charge means that someone is likely to be primarily dependent on the U.S. government for subsistence.

 

Only the officer who handles your case can say whether this will affect your ability to sponsor, but it seems to me to be a foolish choice all around, especially considering that your reasoning for it seems to be, "eh, why not?"

Thank you for your answer. The whole reason for my post was to gather information. A "can of worms" is what I was trying to find out which is the point of this post. 

 

As for "Let alone the morality aspect of receiving unnecessary funding--why would you ever possibly open the "public charge" can of worms when you are trying to go through the immigration process?  How can you expect to argue that you have enough money to support your wife and at the same time accept money/assistance that is intended for those who are unable to support themselves?  "...

 

Why would you shame someone for doing this? I applied for it and was very transparent with my circumstances when I did it and I was approved. Why is this a problem? Why would you shame me for this if I went and legitimately applied and was approved? 

[Crazy Cat 39,304]

You asked if accepting public benefits would affect your wife's case.  Answer:  It is something the Consular Officer will consider.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Crazy Cat

[visaaa111 7]

4 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

You asked if accepting public benefits would affect your wife's case.  Answer:  It is something the Consular Officer will consider.

Thank you for the direct and nonjudgemental answer. 

[visaaa111 7]

17 minutes ago, midwinterrose said:

Why would you rely on public (tax-payer) assistance if your savings are sufficient to support yourself and your wife, and fund your wife's immigration, even if your current income is zero?  If you are accepting publicly-funded financial assistance, then you are a public charge; aka a burden on the public.

 

Let alone the morality aspect of receiving unnecessary funding--why would you ever possibly open the "public charge" can of worms when you are trying to go through the immigration process?  How can you expect to argue that you have enough money to support your wife and at the same time accept money/assistance that is intended for those who are unable to support themselves?  

 

Is a sufficient Form I-864 the only consideration for meeting any public charge issues at the time of the visa interview?

 

No, consular officers also look at other public charge factors affecting the financial situation of both the financial sponsor(s) and the applicant. Age, health, education, skills, financial resources and family status of the applicant and the sponsor are factors. Consular officers will verify to the extent possible that applicants have adequate financial support to prevent them becoming a public charge in the United States. Public charge means that someone is likely to be primarily dependent on the U.S. government for subsistence.

 

Only the officer who handles your case can say whether this will affect your ability to sponsor, but it seems to me to be a foolish choice all around, especially considering that your reasoning for it seems to be, "eh, why not?"

Also not to mention...health insurance and coverage in America is abysmal. I, personally, did not feel comfortable with having no health coverage here...if anything happened (which it did unfortunately for me), I would have been in really bad shape...so again, I cannot believe the judgement emanating from this response.

[midwinterrose 263]

5 minutes ago, visaaa111 said:

Why would you shame someone for doing this? I applied for it and was very transparent with my circumstances when I did it and I was approved. Why is this a problem? Why would you shame me for this if I went and legitimately applied and was approved? 

In my opinion, meeting technical requirements to qualify to receive assistance (currently having $0 income), is different than actually needing the assistance.  In my opinion, if you have enough money in savings to act as the sole sponsor for your wife, you are nowhere near "needing" assistance.  I wouldn't feel comfortable taking tax-payer money simply because I didn't feel like dipping into my savings, but that's just me.  You are free to do as you like.

 

As far as immigration goes, never having received public assistance looks better for sponsorship than having been on food stamps during the immigration process does, but only the immigration officer handling your case will be able to tell you if it will affect your case or not.

[Lemonslice 4,559]

2 hours ago, visaaa111 said:

Also not to mention...health insurance and coverage in America is abysmal. I, personally, did not feel comfortable with having no health coverage here...if anything happened (which it did unfortunately for me), I would have been in really bad shape...so again, I cannot believe the judgement emanating from this response.

If you're eligible, you're eligible.   I'm confident you'll be paying (have paid) taxes to cover those services.  Immigration wise, what @Crazy Cat said.

[Cathi 5,610]

8 hours ago, visaaa111 said:

Thank you for your answer. The whole reason for my post was to gather information. A "can of worms" is what I was trying to find out which is the point of this post. 

 

As for "Let alone the morality aspect of receiving unnecessary funding--why would you ever possibly open the "public charge" can of worms when you are trying to go through the immigration process?  How can you expect to argue that you have enough money to support your wife and at the same time accept money/assistance that is intended for those who are unable to support themselves?  "...

 

Why would you shame someone for doing this? I applied for it and was very transparent with my circumstances when I did it and I was approved. Why is this a problem? Why would you shame me for this if I went and legitimately applied and was approved? 

Did you disclose the full amount of money in your savings/ checking accounts to the people at Medicaid/SNAP? In order to qualify for SNAP (food stamps) benefits, you must have less than $3001 combined in all accounts in order to qualify. That's the law and it's easily searchable.

I don't care whether or not you collect benefits, but you said you have a substantial savings (enough to self sponsor). If that's truly the case, you would not qualify for any benefits whatsoever. Many moons ago, when my ex husband deserted me and my young children, he did not pay child support at first, so I applied for SNAP to get me through until I found a full time job. I had to provide all of my bank statements going back a year, and every month I had to give them updated statements from all of my accounts. At the time the threshold was $2001 or less combined. I'm not trying to shame you, like I said-it doesn't matter to me, but don't put yourself in a position where you are telling the government that you're too poor to buy food yet telling immigration that it's contrary to that. Whether or it's to the government for SNAP or to immigration, you must provide paper trails for EVERYTHING, they will find out if you lie.

[pushbrk 12,126]

9 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

You asked if accepting public benefits would affect your wife's case.  Answer:  It is something the Consular Officer will consider.

It "can be considered" if it's part of the affidavit of support, but it would NOT be.  If your income is sufficient to qualify at the time you submit your affidavit of support, then there should be no issue.  It's a matter of the timing.  Even so, if you have zero income and plenty of "savings" then there's no question on the affidavit about whether your on medicaid or food stamps.  I would simply consider it a non-issue if you are employed before you need to submit the affidavit of support.

[visaaa111 7]

39 minutes ago, Cathi said:

Did you disclose the full amount of money in your savings/ checking accounts to the people at Medicaid/SNAP? In order to qualify for SNAP (food stamps) benefits, you must have less than $3001 combined in all accounts in order to qualify. That's the law and it's easily searchable.

I don't care whether or not you collect benefits, but you said you have a substantial savings (enough to self sponsor). If that's truly the case, you would not qualify for any benefits whatsoever. Many moons ago, when my ex husband deserted me and my young children, he did not pay child support at first, so I applied for SNAP to get me through until I found a full time job. I had to provide all of my bank statements going back a year, and every month I had to give them updated statements from all of my accounts. At the time the threshold was $2001 or less combined. I'm not trying to shame you, like I said-it doesn't matter to me, but don't put yourself in a position where you are telling the government that you're too poor to buy food yet telling immigration that it's contrary to that. Whether or it's to the government for SNAP or to immigration, you must provide paper trails for EVERYTHING, they will find out if you lie.

Yes, I was transparent about everything. They can search me all they want. I gave them all the paperwork and information. I'm not sure what else to say? I do think rules change depending on the state you live in. 

 

However, I won't address this anymore since I have deviated a lot from my original concern, the immigration process. 

 

[visaaa111 7]

10 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

It "can be considered" if it's part of the affidavit of support, but it would NOT be.  If your income is sufficient to qualify at the time you submit your affidavit of support, then there should be no issue.  It's a matter of the timing.  Even so, if you have zero income and plenty of "savings" then there's no question on the affidavit about whether your on medicaid or food stamps.  I would simply consider it a non-issue if you are employed before you need to submit the affidavit of support.

Thank you, I appreciate you addressing my question.