Affidavit of Support / co-sponsor

[saralan 0]

I'm really sorry if I've posted this in the wrong area, but I'm still in the process of becoming familiar with the forums. If it needs to be moved, by all means.

My question is, obviously, about the affidavit of support. I basically am living off of money I inherited. I'm looking for a job, but don't have one yet. I was told I needed to prove I have a steady income, which I cannot, seeing as there's no way I can prove I won't go spend all of my money tomorrow. I've asked my parents if they'd be willing to co-sponsor and they've said "yes", but my step father is on disability for an injury and my mother is on VA benefits because of my deceased father's military service. So, are they not able to co-sponsor because they live off of money from the government?

Edit: I have searched in the forums and can't find anything related to this.

Edited August 4, 2012 by saralan

[aws&ndd 103]

Ok you can provide support by your income OR your assets (or a combination of both). If you have no income, but have assets such as your inheritance you should be able to use it provided it is 3 times the poverty level for your household size. For a household size of 2, the poverty level would be $18,912. So you either need an annual income of $18,912 or assets equal to $56,736. The assets can be used to offset the income if you are below the poverty line, the difference multiplied by 3 is the assets you will need.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I'm really sorry if I've posted this in the wrong area, but I'm still in the process of becoming familiar with the forums. If it needs to be moved, by all means.

My question is, obviously, about the affidavit of support. I basically am living off of money I inherited. I'm looking for a job, but don't have one yet. I was told I needed to prove I have a steady income, which I cannot, seeing as there's no way I can prove I won't go spend all of my money tomorrow. I've asked my parents if they'd be willing to co-sponsor and they've said "yes", but my step father is on disability for an injury and my mother is on VA benefits because of my deceased father's military service. So, are they not able to co-sponsor because they live off of money from the government?

Edit: I have searched in the forums and can't find anything related to this.

As was posted above, if you have enough in assets, you can use that. The bare minimum would be $56,736 for a household size of 2. It would be even better if you had more than that to show. You will provide up-to-date recent documentation to show you have the amount you claim to have. You do not send in the financial info with the I-129F petition. You will not need to provide an affidavit of support until the K-1 interview, months down the road after filing the initial petition. You have no timeline, so I do not know where you are at in the process.

If you need a co-sponsor, you can only use one of your parents. You would fill out an I-134 and they would fill out their own I-134. So, choose the one that has more income and enough for their own household size plus your fiance(e). It can be non-taxable income. They will just need to provide documentation to prove they receive the amount they claim on their form.

[saralan 0]

Oh, super helpful! I don't have that much in assets that I can prove, but I do have income that's non-taxable that I could prove. I wasn't sure if that would count as income. Though, I'm not sure if she, alone, could prove she can support 3 of us. Would it look bad for me to only have only had a job for a few months?

I haven't posted where I am in the process because I haven't started yet. And I haven't started yet because he's only legally separated. You have to be legally separated for a year before you can even file for divorce in Manitoba. That's another issue I wanted thoughts on, but not really sure where to post it. They filed for divorce at the beginning of June. I'm wondering if the fact that we're going to be filing this as soon as his divorce decree shows up in the mail might be a problem for us? Also, the fact that we've been seeing each other while he's legally separated but not divorced. I assume it'd help for us to attach the copy of his legal separation document along with his divorce decree...

Should I be posting that concern under another topic or start a new post?

[aws&ndd 103]

When you file the petition, he has to be legally free and able to marry...meaning he has to be completely divorced. You will need to send a copy of the divorce decree stating that the marriage has ended. It doesn't matter if the divorce date is the same day that you file, just that the previous marriage has ended and he is legally free to marry. I wouldn't worry about the fact you have been seeing each other during the separation, and there is no need to attach the separation document. All they want to see is proof that the marriage has ended.