Nonie

Spousal visa is better. Pregnancy will not expedite the process of getting an immigrant or K-1 visa.
I know a couple who applied for the spousal visa & had a child before the visa interview. Not only were they able to successfully get their baby a U.S passport, etc., the consular officer made specific and direct comments about their choice to have a child and that it played a favorable role in his approving the spousal visa at the interview. Of course not all cases & circumstances are the same. 
You are right: "By the time a visa is given, it may be too late to start a family."
Time is your enemy, not your friend, for having a child at this stage in life.
God bless you in your journey.

Thank you for your response.
 
I don’t have a Joint Sponsor but I do have a SS Benefits Letter for 2023, exceeding the New March 1, 2023, minimum HHS and USCIS requirement of 125% of the Poverty Guideline.  I hope they don’t insist on a Joint Sponsor when I have the March 1, 2023 SS Benefits Letter showing I have more than the minimum income.  Thoughts?
 
Below you can see what I believe states in the US Travel website that if the Petitioner has enough income to qualify when the I-864 was filed then an increase in the guidelines wouldn’t effect the Sponsor.  Regardless the 8.9% SS Increase beginning in December 2022, was enough to keep me above the new March 1, 2023 requirement.  It’s a moot point but did the Embassy impose a requirement that doesn’t exist by asking for a Joint Sponsor when none was needed?  
 
My I-864 showed more than enough income when it was initially submitted in 2022.
 
I’m really asking for those who follow as I’m fortunate enough to have the require income.
 
“If the poverty guidelines change between the time the petitioner signed the Affidavit of Support and the issuance of an immigrant visa, must the petitioner/sponsor and joint sponsor, if required, submit a new Form I-864?
No, the Form I-864 remains valid indefinitely unless evidence of failure to meet the poverty guidelines in effect on the date of I-864 filing arises. The consular officer will determine whether the income claimed by the sponsor and documented with financial evidence meets the poverty guidelines in effect at the time the I-864 was filed. If the income claimed does not meet the poverty guidelines, then the consular officer may request that the sponsor submit current year income information.”

I wish doctors, bankers, CPAs would stop practicing immigration law.
 
And I’ve heard enough about Luke’s that I wish the embassy stopped using them for medicals.
 
So sorry about these set backs.
 
When possible the citizen petitioner should arrive in country before the beneficiary’s interview to manage the situation. I assembled my fiancee’s binder before the interview and went over the  evidence so that she understood what it was and why the CO might ask.
Why wouldn’t the new SS Benefits Letter work?

I'm sorry this happened.  Doesn't really matter what NVC does because the Consulate Officer (not NVC) is always the sole approval authority for determining financial support qualification and visa approval.  Just give them a joint sponsor if that is what they want. This a refusal, not a denial.  Good luck.   Hopefully, you all will be reunited soon.

Here we go again.  I’m a US Citizen and the Sponsor for my Filipino Wife and 2 Stepchildren .  My wife was just denied her and my Stepchildren's Visa’s because with the New Minimum Income Requirements as of March 1, 2023, my income was deemed insufficient and she was told I needed a Joint Sponsor.  
 
We originally filed our I-130 on June 30, 2021 and were approved on May 19, 2022.  At the NVC in September 2022, we were informed our income which was previously adequate, was now insufficient so we uploaded my 2022, SS Benefits Letter which showed Sufficient Income for 2022.  She was DQ’d in October 2022.  Fast forward to her Medical Exam March 29, 2023, Wife flagged for TB.  Further testing showed no infection.  (Wife disclosed at Medical that she was diagnosed with TB and Treated with 6 month Course of Treatment over 6 years ago and deemed cured) Follow up Medical on May 29, 2023, Cleared Medical.  Interview Date June 7, 2023, Income Insufficient!  Required to provide Joint Sponsor.  Fortunately my 2023, SS Benefit exceeds the new March 1, 2023, Minimum Required Income so we went home and updated our I-864, wrote a cover letter, and submitted it, along with her Passport to LBC for delivery to the Embassy.
 
I thought I recalled reading that once DQ’d you weren’t subject to changes in the Minimum Income Requirement.  Does anyone know if that’s true?
 
Additionally, when my Wife went to her 2nd Medical Interview she stopped by the “US Embassy Visa Information Desk” at St Luke’s and was informed that our Children ages 7 and 9 yrs old were not required to be present for the Embassy Interview, bc they are under 14 yrs old.  WRONG. If you are told this it’s just not true bc in a addition to providing my new Income verification letter we now have to reschedule the Children’s Interview.  A needless delay.  My wife feels terrible because she had my new SS Benefits Letter with her but was too shaken to remember she had it and feels totally responsible for not taking the children bc when she called me from St Luke’s I told her to double check.  She did and even took a selfie with the person at the Information Desk but the Embassy Consular wasn’t moved.  
 
I’m writing this not so much for feedback, which I do want, but to alert my fellow Citizens of these potential stumbling blocks at the finish line.  

My wife is a Filipina.  Her siblings were attempting to guilt trip her into sending money.  She quickly replied that while more money was in the US the expenses wer bigger as well, so he glad she could send any money home, spend it wisely.

My wife is a Filipina.  Her siblings were attempting to guilt trip her into sending money.  She quickly replied that while more money was in the US the expenses wer bigger as well, so he glad she could send any money home, spend it wisely.