HandmadeTurnip

There's already a lengthy thread for October filers, you may want to post in there.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/612049-i-129f-october-2016-filers-merged-thread/

Assuming you're still planning to go down the K-1 route as your previous posts suggest, marrying him in Algeria would make him ineligible. The K-1 visa is only for people who are engaged and wish to get married in the US.

At a London K1 interview, if you are missing anything (including having a sponsor) they send you on your way to fix whatever the problem is. Your visa process is paused. You send back the document or new sponsor they need along with your passport and they issue the visa. There is no second interview. I can't think of any K1s really who ever had a big deal made of the I-134. They are pretty easy. By subjective, I mean they look at the paperwork and say "yeah you'll be fine". if Mom is over, fiancé has a job, and you have a few thousand quid, he will say "yeah, you'll be okay and won't go on welfare." It does not take a lot to convince them.

If you are lacking something for AOS, you get an RFE letter saying fix it, get a new sponsor or whatever. You get a time limit around 80-something days to fix it. If you don't respond, the AOS is denied.

OK, thank you.

London should accept Mom as the sponsor even though she is barely over the threshold. I feel like they would consider the fiancé income and even what you have in savings/assets. They are pretty easy and it is a subjective decision that you will not become a public charge.

Mom also qualifies as a sponsor for the I-864. She would have to provide good evidence of her separate income since the tax return does not show it. Read the I-864 instructions for the optional evidence to supply.

The instructions also explain how incomes can be combined when people live under the same roof. Your fiancé and mom do not live together so it is not possible to combine.

Do you know what the standard procedure is if they're not satisfied with a sponsor, either at the embassy or during Adjustment of Status? Would we be given the chance to find a new sponsor and then arrange a second interview, for example? Having everything come down to a subjective decision makes me very nervous, even if my chances are pretty good.

Also, should I bring evidence of my fiancee's income and my own savings if there's the possibility they might consider it? I was under the impression that they would never look at those when using a joint sponsor. I'm also a student so any savings I have at that point will be very limited, only a couple of thousand pounds.

After reading through a lot of information and posts about the two Affidavits of Support needed for the K-1 process, I think my situation is okay but would appreciate it if you guys could read through what I'm planning to do and let me know if you think I might run into any problems.

My fiancee is self-employed and only earns around $11,000 a year after business expenses (according to her 1040). Luckily, her mother has agreed to co-sponsor me. Her gross salary is $25,400 but as she files her taxes jointly with her husband (who is self-employed), her 1040 says her total income is around $20,000. My understanding is that she needs to earn enough to support a 3 person household (her, her husband, and me), which comes to $25,200. As I've been told the London embassy will only want to see an employer letter stating her gross salary, am I right in thinking that they would accept her as a sponsor?

Also, if my fiancee's mother is deemed an acceptable sponsor at the embassy stage, will I also be able to use her when I file for Adjustment of Status? Or will the fact that I have to include her tax return create problems?

I've also read that joint sponsors can combine their incomes for the I-864 (but not the I-134), is this true? And am I right in thinking that in this case, my fiancee and her mother would then need to meet the requirement for a 4 person household instead, despite not living together?

Thanks for your help.

A self employed person can't provide an employer letter or pay stubs because....well they aren't an employee. So that's why the tax return becomes the only way that documents the income. And because they do get to take off expenses to reduce their income for tax purposes, the USCIS considers the tax return as the only way to know self-employment profit/loss.

On to Mom, the joint sponsor. London does not require a tax return with an I-134. Mom can fill out the I-134 and provide an employer letter showing her salary and s sufficient. If you want a back-up proof, then her pay stubs. Skip the tax return and anything from the bank. Not needed for London. Also a London thing Is you don't even need an I-134 from your fiancé since she can't document enough income. London will approve Mom as your sponsor. They are quite flexible.

For the I-864. Mom must send a tax return. It is required. But she can show that she makes enough to qualify on her own by providing an employer letter and six months of pay stubs as her optional evidence. The tax return is not the deciding factor if she has the optional evidence that shows she meets the required income.

That was very helpful, thanks for clearing things up.

They will reference line 22 of the IRS 1040. If they clear 125% even by 1% it qualify's. But it is the total of their household and yours.

Self employment is employment. Doesn't matter. Check your returns at line 22.

I was under the impression that you can only combine the sponsor's and co-sponsor's incomes for the I-864, not for the I-134.

I've finally found the tiny part in the I-864 instructions that says they use line 22 of your 1040 for your total income. I still can't see anything that says you need to use that for form I-134. Here's an excerpt of the instructions:

That seems to quite clearly say that you only need to include your tax return if you're self-employed, which my fiancee's mother is not. I've just been told that her annual salary is around $25,400 but line 22 on her 1040 states that her total income is $22,531. This means that having to use her tax return instead of a statement from her employer would make the difference between her meeting the requirements and us having to find a different co-sponsor.

My fiancee (I'm the beneficiary) is self-employed and due to the amount of money she writes off as business expenses, the total income stated on her 1040 is well below the I-134/I-864 requirements. Her mother has agreed to act as a co-sponsor but we've recently started to worry that even she might not be able to meet the requirements.

After reading the instructions from USCIS, I was under the impression that a sponsor only needs to provide their tax return as evidence if they're self-employed. Otherwise, they can simply provide a bank statement and a letter from their employer stating their annual salary. After reading several threads on here, however, people seem to be saying that only the amount stated on your 1040 is accepted.

The mother's salary only just exceeds 125% of the poverty guidelines. Is this enough to meet the requirements of the I-134? Her and her husband file their taxes jointly and I'm worried that the fact that he is self-employed might mess things up if we need to use their 1040 as evidence.