July_

I am Filipina. My USC fiance and I plan to marry in Costa Rica in January. He does not make taxable income due to health issue dating back over 20 years. He does have some work history for his father, but it was for nowhere near poverty level, and he was terminated last year as his father is preparing to retire. He is supported by a trust his father set up for him which pays him $5500 monthly/66k year. He has slightly over 100k in cash/stocks. He qualifies to sponsor me financially on assets, but we realize with no taxable income they will likely not consider him suitable. His father (73) has agreed to be a joint sponsor. He is self employed. His income is lower now as he winds his business down. He does receive ssdi of around $3000 per month. He has a few million in his portfolio stocks, funds, annuities. A few questions about our situation - Is his father's age an issue? Importantly, his father's entire estate is set up to transfer to my fiance (sole beneficiary) upon his death. We plan to get documentation of this fact for USEM. Additionally, our plan is to get documentation from his financial planner regarding his estate, broken down by assets considered liquid. - Is my fiance still going to be considered financially responsible for me as the petitioner, or will it only be his father? - If so, my fiance will prepare his tax return, print outs of his accounts, and proof of the trust deposits into his checking? - If relevant, I did graduate college here in Philippines, and have employment history dating back to 2014. We have already taken a look at the I-864, and while it is a bit intimidating, I think we can handle it, while asking some questions along the way. My fiance working for a year to meet the poverty guideline is not realistic at this time. We don't see why we should have an issue considering he has assets himself, and his father is wealthy, but perhaps others have a different opinion. We don't have alternatives for a different joint sponsor.

This is what makes sense to us too, but we have been confused by reading different opinions. It doesn’t make any sense to us why Philippine law would be involved in the CR1 process. We plan to marry outside Philippines. Are you a former Filipino? Was your first marriage in the Philippines? Do you have a divorce recognition in the Philippines? Our problem is that my fiancé was married in the Philippines. We cannot even file for a PSA until his divorce is recognized here. We are just confused because many sources have told us a PSA Marriage Cert will be needed at the interview.

He is. We can legally marry right now anywhere besides the Philippines. The PSA CEMAR is required by USEM at interview. If he is still married in Philippines, we cannot get a CEMAR for the CR1. The K1 is what we are looking at, but the financial requirement issues give us pause. He cannot get married in the Philippines, that requires a CENOMAR which he cannot provide as in the PSA he is still married. Even if CENOMAR is not required, we cannot have the ROM recognized by the PSA because in there he is already married. If we were going to do a Utah Marriage, it still has to be reported to PSA, which we cannot because he is considered married here. The USC is my fiance. He lives in the US. I live in the Philippines. The issue is that I read assets are not considered for K1. He has the income, but it is from a trust and non-taxable. Also, cosponsor in Manila is case by case basis. Thank you for the replies.

My fiance is divorced (in the US) to his ex Filipina wife. His case for divorce recognition was not filed until last month. We are prepared for a 1.5-2.5 year process for the divorce to be recognized and PSA updated. We were planning to file for a CR1 visa, but this timeline is now much longer than we expected. We are aware that we cannot complete the CR1 process (NVC stage forward) without the PSA being updated. Correct? We are now considering filing for a K1. But we have issues with him meeting the financial requirement. He has chronic health problem for past two decades that prevent him from working. His father supports him through a living trust in his name that pays him $5500 monthly (66k yearly) he also has assets which slightly exceed the 3x requirement for the AOS. His father is willing to co-sponsor, but is close to retired, and main income is now social security. His father also has a very significant amount of assets/investments. We keep reading that Manila will accept a joint sponsor on a case by case basis. It does not make sense to us why his income (non taxable as it is) cannot be considered sufficient, or his assets, when it is more than enough to support both of us. It is clear that he or his father can financially support me. The situation has us trapped in that we cannot file the CR1 because of rules for PSA being needed, but the K1 has question marks as well. The idea of sitting around and waiting on the court system here for two more years is heartbreaking to both of us. Please do not judge him, or sarcastic replies. We have been through a lot like everyone with Covid, and we just want to be together. We have spent many months together in Philippines this year. He is mature and lives independently, he just is always in a lot of pain.