New here and starting the K1 Visa journey I am a US citizen and Gisell is a citizen of the Domincan Republic

[W199 549]

1 hour ago, Ewpinky88 said:

Yes and I'm already planning for that. I don't personally care if I lose my Survivor's benefits I'm already in the process of completing my degree. As long as my assets can cover getting Gisell here with me in the States any job I get is significantly more income than Social Security will ever pay me. 

How could you afford her (and yours) health insurance, and a million other things she she will need when she comes here?

 

Seems like you should wait until you get your degree, and get a job if you want to be successful in getting a K1 and having a happy marriage. Its a really terrible plan to do a K1 knowing you will lose your benefits and using your mother's house as collateral.  Losing your benefits when you get married, being disabled with no job, living with a jobless disabled mother is going to put a big strain on the marriage giving it a high probability of it not lasting very long .. despite her claimed love for you.  IMO, if you love her, wait until you have a job or you will put her through hell under the above conditions. 

[yuna628 9,969]

From personal experience: we used a well-qualified joint sponsor for our K1 process and that wasn't the problem. We were confident that we had a large amount of savings enough to handle the long waiting period to a green card. Alas, that ended up being quite the pickle. The long wait (employers didn't want to hire him until he had a green card vs an EAD), the job market at the time in our area, and the enormous cost of health insurance significantly drained our finances. We were mere months away from losing it. He was hired out of a miracle chance, so our income stabilized, but that did not mean he was offered health insurance. That was another year for a promotion to get that.

 

That was ten years ago. Insurance costs are even higher now and immigrants are viewed with even higher scrutiny. It's important to have a long term stable plan and perhaps employment before starting down this road. That may be difficult to hear, and I hope no offense is taken.

[Ewpinky88 2]

1 hour ago, W199 said:

How could you afford her (and yours) health insurance, and a million other things she she will need when she comes here?

 

Seems like you should wait until you get your degree, and get a job if you want to be successful in getting a K1 and having a happy marriage. Its a really terrible plan to do a K1 knowing you will lose your benefits and using your mother's house as collateral.  Losing your benefits when you get married, being disabled with no job, living with a jobless disabled mother is going to put a big strain on the marriage giving it a high probability of it not lasting very long .. despite her claimed love for you.  IMO, if you love her, wait until you have a job or you will put her through hell under the above conditions. 

Hence my questions. You think I haven't thought of all that and that's why I'm here asking questions on the best avenues. 

[Ewpinky88 2]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

From personal experience: we used a well-qualified joint sponsor for our K1 process and that wasn't the problem. We were confident that we had a large amount of savings enough to handle the long waiting period to a green card. Alas, that ended up being quite the pickle. The long wait (employers didn't want to hire him until he had a green card vs an EAD), the job market at the time in our area, and the enormous cost of health insurance significantly drained our finances. We were mere months away from losing it. He was hired out of a miracle chance, so our income stabilized, but that did not mean he was offered health insurance. That was another year for a promotion to get that.

 

That was ten years ago. Insurance costs are even higher now and immigrants are viewed with even higher scrutiny. It's important to have a long term stable plan and perhaps employment before starting down this road. That may be difficult to hear, and I hope no offense is taken.

No I appreciate it wholeheartedly and I appreciate how you worded it. I think that is why we are going to go with the CR-1 because it sounds like the better option overall and that's why I came here was to ask questions and to learn from other people's experiences. We've already talked and decided that the CR-1 is the far more stable option. 

[Crazy Cat 46,183]

****I have moved this thread to the IR-1/CR-1 Spousal Visa forum area***** 

[pushbrk 14,283]

Then it is time for you to become an A-Student of the I-864 instructions.  That neither you or your mother have rent or mortgage payments is a positive, and you can certainly state and document the equity in the home.  However, equity in a primary residence is not considered liquid.  Perhaps you can qualify as the sponsor with your mother as an income combining household member.  

 

You said you've thought about things like insurance for your wife, but you have not stated any plan for that.  You will need one.  Is the plan for her to work once she arrives?  

[JeanneAdil 7,459]

4 hours ago, Ewpinky88 said:

My Mom or Gisell? My mother doesnt work, but she also collects Survivor's Benefits. Gisell works but income in the Dominican Republic is not excellent. 

Gisell will no be able to work if approved a K1 visa as she needs the EAD or green card to be able to work / u need to check out the AOS costs for this process /  immigration is not fast,  and not cheap

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-134instr.pdf

 

instructions on page 5 (to let u know many embassys do not even look at assets when interviewing / they seem to ignore assets

 

You may include the net value of a home as an asset. The net value of the home is the appraised value of the home, minus the sum of all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. If you include the net value of your home, then you must include documentation demonstrating that you own the home, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, and evidence of the amount of all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. You may not include the net value of an automobile unless you show that you have more than one automobile, and at least one automobile is not included as an asset

[JeanneAdil 7,459]

4 hours ago, Ewpinky88 said:

There isn't much other option for me because of how the rules of social security work from what I understand. If I choose either of the other options as in CR1 we have to marry now and I lose my benefits immeadiately. 

https://www.ssa.gov/blog/en/posts/2024-08-22.html

 u are under 50 years of age? 

[Ewpinky88 2]

 

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

Then it is time for you to become an A-Student of the I-864 instructions.  That neither you or your mother have rent or mortgage payments is a positive, and you can certainly state and document the equity in the home.  However, equity in a primary residence is not considered liquid.  Perhaps you can qualify as the sponsor with your mother as an income combining household member.  

 

You said you've thought about things like insurance for your wife, but you have not stated any plan for that.  You will need one.  Is the plan for her to work once she arrives?  

 

I'll be losing my survivor's benefits shortly because I forfeit them when we get married. Therefore I will be working full time here shortly as well. The K1 Visa seems far less stable an option overall because of the paperwork but... But I would assume having a joint sponsor makes the case far more concrete? Our bonafides our quite strong in reference to how much time we've spent together.