gtoddv

Hi all, thank you for reading and any advice you can give me!

I have not moved yet, still in K1 stage, but I am a planner, like I assume most of us here are.

My partner has health insurance through work, with Aetna Medical PPO, but in my opinion it is fairly mediocre coverage and I want him to change it and for us to have something in the works for when we get married once our K1 is approved (if we can).

I have not read anything good about this company and am so scared that if he gets sick (he has never been sick) he would not be covered and could not afford the out of pocket expenses for something costly like cancer.

My questions are:

1) Is it difficult to get coverage outside of work?

2) My partner pays $350 a month from his wages into his health insurance, does he lose that money if going off a work plan?

3) Can he even leave the work plan?

4) Coming from O/S (Australia) do I need to bring any medical records with me or will a company just cover me if I have nothing pre-existing?

4)a) What if something happened and or I had something pre-existing , would that mean I would have to join a high risk pool insurer?

4)b) Is there a time frame for pre-existing illnesses? IE/ If when I was 2, I had an illness and had it treated would I need to state that as a pre-existing condition ?

** Thanks already to Vanessa who has answered lots of my health insurance questions already! I am just sooo paranoid about health care in the US.

If most of what you have read about his insurance company has come from the Internet, you should probably take it with a grain of salt. People aren't going to bother reporting on things when they are going well, and they rarely report accurately enough to get the full picture. There is almost always a missing piece that would make their story less compelling. To hear people talk about my long term disability and health insurance companies, you'd think they were actively out to murder all their customers. I have never had a problem (worth mentioning) with either company. (and I have HUGE monthly treatment bills)

I wouldn't rock the boat as that can cause more trouble than it's worth. In most companies, health insurance is used to attract good employees. If the insurance is bad, it doesn't look good for the employer. (before I get flamed, I know that isn't the case for all employers)

Just try and relax and focus on getting through the immigration process. You will have plenty of time once you're together to PLAN away to your heart's content.

Good luck to both of you!

If you don't have tax returns then it must be about assets since you're not using income for financial sponsorship...

The bank statements/letter do show income (and bank accounts can be considered and asset). I am not trying to be argumentative just providing the information I have been made aware of from other sources. The official instructions for the I-134 (dated 05/25/11) specifically state that the letter of account verification is a valid form of evidence. As a matter of fact it says that the tax return is necessary only if you are self employed. That is the only place it even mentions a tax return. Doesn't mention assets in the instructions other than bonds. Of course there is a place for showing assets on the form itself.

Current i-134 instructions

If your income is above the 125% level, then you do not need to show assets, get a letter from the bank or bank statements. You just provide a letter from your employer and the last few months of recent pay stubs.

If you need to show assets, then you will need a letter from the bank, or bank statements showing the amounts you are claiming.

It could be that it isn't about assets. You need to have the letter if you don't have tax returns.

I know this is a old thread but I had to respond. We used RapidVisa for our K-1. The time from NOA1 to NOA2 was 4 months on the nose. According to recent information from the NVC we should have our embassy packet by next week. RapidVisa wouldn't lie because the business would suffer. There are too many websites that would call them out and ruin business. I did a background check on the company before using it so I was reasonably certain they were on the up and up.

I am sure there are people that have had some bad experiences with them, but I have never heard a reliable negative review. Anyone who would say they would outright lie to a customer is probably a bad source for any information. As most of us know, this is an unpredictable process at best, so you never know how it will go for a particular case. However, the 4-6 month timeline is proved to be correct if you look on this site regardless of the use of RapidVisa. Perhaps Canada is a different case altogether.

The Philippines, using the Vermont service center, is running around 180 days from NOA1 to interview.

If you are in doubt about how long your process is taking, check the timelines. While they don't account for many variables, at least you will get a general idea of when things should be happening.

(and just for everyone reading this, I have gotten excellent customer service from RapidVisa. They answer all questions quickly.)