rika60607

You seem to equate poverty with hereditary lack of education/talent.
It is not so.
Van Gogh was poor all his life, but he had talent, and how much are his paintings worth now?
In our days, an artist or a single mother with a PhD in something can very easily be poor, yet have excellent genes and produce very successful and educated offspring.
On the other hand, plenty of middle class and above, are really worthless as far as genetic material and child upbringing goes...
So there. Who will be the judge of worthiness? And what if a fantastic child could be born to two morons due to rare genetic combination?

Disagreement over desire of one party to have a baby and another party's refusal to have a baby usually ends either in divorce or unhappy marriage.
She is 34, so she will not wait for much longer - she'll choose one of the two above mentioned paths soon.

I love this thread.
If I remember right, in the Arab culture, the man is suppose to support the wife, and the wife's money is for her. So perhaps it would be in her best interest if she attempted to adapt to his culture.
But as one stated, he is in America, and that he bears the burden of adapting to our culture. So that being said, since he is no longer employed does she come home from work to a clean house and dinner cooked? Is he doing laundry, shopping, yard work? Because in America we share not only the financial burdens, but work around the house. If one is not working outside of the home they should be doing the work in the home. So if he is not doing these things, then what exactly has he been contributing to the marriage, and in what way is he entitled to anything if he isn't? How long did he work as compared to how long has she worked? Is it right for a man that has worked for only a short time to take from a woman that has worked her entire adult life? Would it be right for her to have to start over?
I am not saying the marriage was fraud, although we all know the statistics. What I am saying is that there are always two sides of the story, and it sounds as if the guy merely wants more than he actually deserves. I do get tired of hearing about human sponges, be it an immigrant or an American, that feel entitled.

I totally agree, for 7 months of marriage he/she is only owed some clean underwear, and nothing else. This marriage smells of fraud, after 7 months he wants to be made whole,probably more than he had in entering the US.

You have your question answered - CO wants to see a co-sponsor and you have next to no leverage in changing his decision...
Poverty guidelines are only a formal requirement, and sometimes an income that low can be accepted by CO (or not) - based on individual circumstances. He applied his discretion as he saw fit.
Legal position? You want to sue the consulate? I understand your frustration, but it is better to focus on getting a visa rather than starting a fight with the consulate.

$21K is not a reasonable salary for a family of four living in the US, regardless of poverty limits.

You have your question answered - CO wants to see a co-sponsor and you have next to no leverage in changing his decision...
Poverty guidelines are only a formal requirement, and sometimes an income that low can be accepted by CO (or not) - based on individual circumstances. He applied his discretion as he saw fit.
Legal position? You want to sue the consulate? I understand your frustration, but it is better to focus on getting a visa rather than starting a fight with the consulate.

Phil,
if you two do not get along and you are not happy with each other... Is it important who's fault it is and who might have what sickness and what the reasons are? I did not get impression that you were madly in love with each other ever...
Don't get married. Buy her tickets to get home and make sure you restore everything for her back to pre-Phil days as much as you can. That would be a kind and reasonable thing to do.
Why would you want to get married and continue to hurt each other??? If you don't fit together, then you don't fit together.

peejay, if businesses are filing visa applications with USCIS to bring over skilled workers they can't find in the US, that's got nothing to do with immigration and everything to do with capitalism.

Has anyone figured out the impact to the ecosystem of no mosquitoes?

Disagreement over desire of one party to have a baby and another party's refusal to have a baby usually ends either in divorce or unhappy marriage.
She is 34, so she will not wait for much longer - she'll choose one of the two above mentioned paths soon.

If the processes become equal for all, they would become extremely unfair. Again, please don't confuse equality result or process with fairness.
My daughters are about two years apart in age. One got her own car when she got a job that required it. The other got a car when she went away to a college where she would need a car to function. The older complained that the younger got a car one year earlier in life. Their ages were not equal when they got their cars but the decision was made based on NEED, not on achieving an equal result in terms of age of acquisition. In "fairness" both daughter, now with equal numbers of children of their own, three, have had ample opportunity as parents to discern between fair and equal.
The goal is to root out fraud, not to subject all applicants to an equal process. Fair and equal are not synonyms.

I have to say that one thing that concerns me about this suggestion brainstorm is that as petitioners and beneficiaries, we have only a small slice of the relevant data. Here are some questions to which we'd need to know the answers before suggesting solutions:
1) What percentage of cases are fraudulent? What percentage of cases being fraudulent is within acceptable limits?
2) Of the cases that are fraudulent, how many of them are cases where the U.S. citizen is aiding and abetting the fraud? How many are cases where the U.S. citizen has been taken advantage of?
3) What is common to the fraudulent cases? (I believe that the most common use of the marriage visa is for people who actually have ties to the "home country", e.g., a first-generation American marries a girl from his parents' country of origin. Are these more or less likely to be fraudulent than the stereotypical mail-order-bride marriage?) What factors can be identified before the visa is granted?
4) What percentage of removal of conditions are granted via a) VAWA or b) self-petition? (No need to close down this option and make life more difficult for legitimate immigrants if it's not a source of fraud.)
5) How many of the fraudulent cases required co-sponsors?
Here I think most of us are at sea with no data. It'd be like trying to make recommendations on how to make McDonald's more profitable when all you know is that you ate a Big Mac once and really like the fries.
I have to say in general I'm wary of anything that ups the costs on someone who already is here with conditional residency. First is the potential for abuse of the immigrant who finds him or herself in a bad situation, and I don't think that can be discounted (especially since VAWA isnt' the cakewalk some believe). Second, I suspect that in an open society like we have, anything that happens after the person is here is disproportionately likely to be a huge pain in the #### for those doing it legitimately (it makes me sick to think that under these brainstormed proposals, I would have a whole 'nother year to prove that my relationship is legitimate) without actually reducing fraud.
Honestly, I think that what would probably help is more funding. More funding = more time to be spent with each petition, more ability to do home visits, &c in the places that are high fraud, more review. I'd rather see that before a more onerous process.

As you think of ideas for change, it's important to consider the unintended consequences as well. There are often many.

You can consider a fine that you'd be paying to the IRS as an "emergency insurance".
As in if you are unconscious and can not tell the doctors that you chose not to have insurance and now you choose not to have the treatment, because you choose to die and can't pay for the service anyway. (Or could pay, and desire to get treatment despite not having health insurance).

A few points:
1. "If you can't afford healthcare - sucks to be you?" Interesting. If I have infectious disease and I can not afford treatment, I am going to spread it. Pretty soon it will suck to be anyone. Your kids will get it from my kids at school. And you will get it from your kids. Hepatitis anyone?
2. Yes, I remember that thread where you explained that cash customers bear the burden for the non-payers. I also remember that someone explained to you that you were wrong about it.
3. Young and healthy do not need health insurance? Huh? May be if you are young, healthy and live in a bubble. Infectious diseases and accidents do not care if you are young and healthy. Young and healthy can break their leg while skiing, get HIV while dating, get tuberculosis while riding a bus, lose their arm to a shark while surfing in Florida or have their lungs pierced in a car accident.
Now, if health services were cheap, then of course, young and healthy would not need insurance. But as it is, healthcare is expensive in the US and young tend to be poor.

A few points:
1. "If you can't afford healthcare - sucks to be you?" Interesting. If I have infectious disease and I can not afford treatment, I am going to spread it. Pretty soon it will suck to be anyone. Your kids will get it from my kids at school. And you will get it from your kids. Hepatitis anyone?
2. Yes, I remember that thread where you explained that cash customers bear the burden for the non-payers. I also remember that someone explained to you that you were wrong about it.
3. Young and healthy do not need health insurance? Huh? May be if you are young, healthy and live in a bubble. Infectious diseases and accidents do not care if you are young and healthy. Young and healthy can break their leg while skiing, get HIV while dating, get tuberculosis while riding a bus, lose their arm to a shark while surfing in Florida or have their lungs pierced in a car accident.
Now, if health services were cheap, then of course, young and healthy would not need insurance. But as it is, healthcare is expensive in the US and young tend to be poor.

I Don't understand why covering preventative care is a bad thing? Did I miss something?

$400 a month is a nice assumption.
http://www.kff.org/insurance/090210nr.cfm
$4K a year is what an average worker pays for work sponsored family health insurance premiums, with a full price of $14K a year ($10K on average is covered by the employer). Add to that deductibles and co-pays. For reference, median household income in the US is about 50K (in 2010).
If someone refers to their plan as crappy rather than average, it probably means that it costs more than 20% of their household income... IMHO, too much.

Dude,
I am not sure anymore about who's got bigger issues, you or the Russian lady. It does not matter. You two do not match and no, it will never work for you two. Take care of yourself and try to find a way to get both of you out of this horrific situation with the least damage possible.

Yes, faith. There is nothing coherent in your line of argument. I think it's clear that tax revenues are dependent on economic performance. Further, income taxes depend on income and tax rates. Now, when you lower tax rates at the top and more money goes to the top then total revenues paid at the top may still go up. At the same time, since average income now stagnates (something's gotta give for the exorbitant increases in income at the top) while exemptions are indexed against inflation, taxable average income declines and with it the tax collections from average Joe. You then created a situation where relative to the total tax burden, the top tier carries the most - a situation that you then decry as unfair because the few pay too much in taxes while the many pay too little if anything at all. In reality, all that is the case only because your very tax policies encouraged the rising income inequality that lead to this picture to begin with. And along with this rising income inequality, you also destruct the very foundation of the economy which has for decades relied on massive consumer spending. Only massive portions of consumers have nothing left to spend - not because they pay too much in taxes but because they take home an ever smaller share of the fruits of their labor. It's all very predictable and not some great mystery as you would have it.

Dude,
I am not sure anymore about who's got bigger issues, you or the Russian lady. It does not matter. You two do not match and no, it will never work for you two. Take care of yourself and try to find a way to get both of you out of this horrific situation with the least damage possible.

Anyone can get called for an interview. There is a number of randomly assigned interviews.
I noticed that OP did not put "IRS transcripts" on his list and that is bothersome, as from what USCIS wrote he "submitted taxes without W-2s" which probably means that he initially sent copies of 1040s instead of tax transcripts.
However, this time around he is sending evidence which explains why he does not have much evidence - letters from parents with whom they live, etc. Unless there is some activity suspicious to the USCIS and not mentioned by the OP, he is likely to be fine. If not, an interview for a real couple should not be a catastrophe.
Good suggestions on what to send would be better than scaring him.

Dude,
I am not sure anymore about who's got bigger issues, you or the Russian lady. It does not matter. You two do not match and no, it will never work for you two. Take care of yourself and try to find a way to get both of you out of this horrific situation with the least damage possible.

Dude,
I am not sure anymore about who's got bigger issues, you or the Russian lady. It does not matter. You two do not match and no, it will never work for you two. Take care of yourself and try to find a way to get both of you out of this horrific situation with the least damage possible.