Advice before starting process

[GJ&Rach 12]

Hello all, this is my first post in these forums... My fiancee and I were pointed to this forum by a mutual friend of ours who used this website herself for the process of getting her Dutch fiance into the US. I (GJ, the male, non-US partner here) have read the guides and the likes posted in the stickies of this forum and been reading some of the recently posted topics by others to get a feel for these forums, and to improve my knowledge about the process we have ahead of us.

Rachel (the female, US partner) and I met 4 and a half years ago as we both played the same browser game. We got along well from the start... at the time, Rachel was just getting started with her divorce from her abusive husband, with whom she has 5 children. We got along great, and in November 2008 I went to the US to meet her. I returned home in December, and we continued our long-distance relationship. In February 2009 I flew over to the US for the second time, this time with money and time to stay around for a full 3 months, during which we got to know each other further. After that I visited her again in December 2009 for about a month, and in September 2010 for several months. In march 2010 her divorce was finally finalized. In January 2011 I got a steady (part-time) job here in the Netherlands, in which I made agreements with my boss about working extra in some parts of the year, in order to take up extra (paid) days off at other points in the year so I could continue to visit my fiancee every so often. I visited my fiancee again in August 2011, and again this last May. This last time I had also bought tickets for Rachel to fly back with me to the Netherlands, where I finally introduced her to my family (in person) and showed her some of my country and my culture.

Now, we are intending to start the fiance visa procedure so I can finally move over permanently. When it comes to proof of relationship and all that I am not all that worried... tricky thing is the finances. My job (assistant accountant) pays well enough that I can cover the costs of the visa process and me moving and all that. But Rachel is just finishing her education for medical assistant (certificate) in a month or two from now and will be able to start working a part-time job after that. Currently her only income is the child support and alimony she is supposed to get from her ex-husband. Supposed to get, because she only gets a very small part of it because he didn't pay anything until they started taking it out of his paycheck automatically, and that only works when he works, which is less than a third of the time. That, combined with the fact of her family being 6 persons (herself and her 5 kids) mean she doesn't come anywhere near the 125% of poverty requirement and, even when she gets part-time job later this year, that is still unlike to come close to that requirement. In fact, currently she gets food-stamps and medicaid, and without that she wouldn't be able to get by at all.

Now, we did ask a good friend of ours to act as a co-sponsor, and we thought that would be easy (him, his ex-wife and daughter, and me?) but now Rachel read somewhere that in fact his income would need to be high enough for the poverty income of a family of him, his ex-wife and daughter, me, Rachel, AND her 5 kids...! IF that is the case this is going to get quite complicated we fear... Rachel also read something about not every embassy allowing for co-sponsors at all, but couldn't find anything about which embassies that would apply to.

So, we need some input from you guys on what to do with this situation.

I myself am currently finishing a Bachelor of Economics degree, and will have at least 2 years of work experience by the time the visa process would be done... I am personally expecting little difficulty getting a job with a decent income once I am in the United States, but that is irrelevant to the process as far as we know.

Regards,

GJ.

[NewnessofLife 0]

I am in the same boat as you are only I am the woman in this situation with five children. My x however does pay child support and alimony. However, I lose all alimony the day that I marry and then only have child support. I have also been told to find a sponsor since I do not have a job right now. I am looking to get into an education program, a CNA course (Certified Nurses Assistant), but that won't even be completed until November if I get into the course at all. I know of absolutely no one in the states that would be a sponsor but I was told that money in my savings account would count as far as meeting income guidelines. The immigration consultant I talked to said that there should be money in the savings account for six months by the time of our interview.

I will be awaiting to see your answers because I have the same questions.

[LeftCoastLady 441]

...

Now, we did ask a good friend of ours to act as a co-sponsor, and we thought that would be easy (him, his ex-wife and daughter, and me?) but now Rachel read somewhere that in fact his income would need to be high enough for the poverty income of a family of him, his ex-wife and daughter, me, Rachel, AND her 5 kids...! IF that is the case this is going to get quite complicated we fear... Rachel also read something about not every embassy allowing for co-sponsors at all, but couldn't find anything about which embassies that would apply to.

...

In addition to any dependents they have, the co-sponsor would only need to account for only you, the beneficiary, in ensuring they are above the required income amount.

Yes, it's true, there are some countries where co-sponsors aren't permitted for K-1s, but I doubt that would apply for NL. You can check in the Europe sub-forum or view the Embassy Info page for NL to confirm.

Good luck with your journey!

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

Hello all, this is my first post in these forums... My fiancee and I were pointed to this forum by a mutual friend of ours who used this website herself for the process of getting her Dutch fiance into the US. I (GJ, the male, non-US partner here) have read the guides and the likes posted in the stickies of this forum and been reading some of the recently posted topics by others to get a feel for these forums, and to improve my knowledge about the process we have ahead of us.

Rachel (the female, US partner) and I met 4 and a half years ago as we both played the same browser game. We got along well from the start... at the time, Rachel was just getting started with her divorce from her abusive husband, with whom she has 5 children. We got along great, and in November 2008 I went to the US to meet her. I returned home in December, and we continued our long-distance relationship. In February 2009 I flew over to the US for the second time, this time with money and time to stay around for a full 3 months, during which we got to know each other further. After that I visited her again in December 2009 for about a month, and in September 2010 for several months. In march 2010 her divorce was finally finalized. In January 2011 I got a steady (part-time) job here in the Netherlands, in which I made agreements with my boss about working extra in some parts of the year, in order to take up extra (paid) days off at other points in the year so I could continue to visit my fiancee every so often. I visited my fiancee again in August 2011, and again this last May. This last time I had also bought tickets for Rachel to fly back with me to the Netherlands, where I finally introduced her to my family (in person) and showed her some of my country and my culture.

Now, we are intending to start the fiance visa procedure so I can finally move over permanently. When it comes to proof of relationship and all that I am not all that worried... tricky thing is the finances. My job (assistant accountant) pays well enough that I can cover the costs of the visa process and me moving and all that. But Rachel is just finishing her education for medical assistant (certificate) in a month or two from now and will be able to start working a part-time job after that. Currently her only income is the child support and alimony she is supposed to get from her ex-husband. Supposed to get, because she only gets a very small part of it because he didn't pay anything until they started taking it out of his paycheck automatically, and that only works when he works, which is less than a third of the time. That, combined with the fact of her family being 6 persons (herself and her 5 kids) mean she doesn't come anywhere near the 125% of poverty requirement and, even when she gets part-time job later this year, that is still unlike to come close to that requirement. In fact, currently she gets food-stamps and medicaid, and without that she wouldn't be able to get by at all.

Now, we did ask a good friend of ours to act as a co-sponsor, and we thought that would be easy (him, his ex-wife and daughter, and me?) but now Rachel read somewhere that in fact his income would need to be high enough for the poverty income of a family of him, his ex-wife and daughter, me, Rachel, AND her 5 kids...! IF that is the case this is going to get quite complicated we fear... Rachel also read something about not every embassy allowing for co-sponsors at all, but couldn't find anything about which embassies that would apply to.

So, we need some input from you guys on what to do with this situation.

I myself am currently finishing a Bachelor of Economics degree, and will have at least 2 years of work experience by the time the visa process would be done... I am personally expecting little difficulty getting a job with a decent income once I am in the United States, but that is irrelevant to the process as far as we know.

Regards,

GJ.

There are scores of USC that are jobless and who have impecable qualifications, we are in an economic downturn. I personally think that child support/alimony should never be counted as income since they are not taxed (though not sure about alimony as I thankfully did not have to pay that).

As far as a sponsor, he/she will need to qualify to support his personal entire family and you, I think it excludes the other 6 people in your new family. This will be a very brave individual IMHO as this seems very risky at face value.

I have more to say but it's best that I reserve my comments.

Good luck on your VisaJourney.

[GJ&Rach 12]

Thank you for the quick replies, it is a relief for me to see that the co-sponsor indeed only would need to have the income for his own family and myself... Rachel's church did offer us to see if they could help out with the co-sponsor stuff if not, but that would at least morally tie us down to the area where she lives currently for the near future, and we would rather avoid that, simply because when looking for a job I want to be able to be flexible. (Although the network of the church will certainly be useful for my job search, and I definitely intend to make use of that)

Now that leaves one more thing I wonder about... Rachel and her children are currently receiving food stamps and medicaid. Once she gets herself a part time medical assistant job in a few months she will likely no longer qualify for those (and therefore stop receiving them). Is her receiving food stamps and medicaid likely to be an issue (and would it therefore be wise to wait a few months to apply) or is this irrelevant? I would prefer not to wait longer than 'necessary' but of course if it influences the likeliness of the visa application being accepted it would be worth waiting.

Oh, and as I write this post Rachel asks me if I can mention that she read that the Green Card application has stricter requirements then the Fiance Visa application... and to ask if there is anything there that we need to be concerned about?

~GJ.