Just Laid Off in NYC--Put case on hold or cancel?

[vespa rossa 0]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Many thanks.

[dustindamaris 0]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Many thanks.

If you can qualify for unemployment, that is still considered income...im not sure what the acceptable amount is but when we were going through the process last year it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $18K annually for yourself and one dependant to be qualified (i looked it up then because I was running worst case scenarios in my head- luckily I was just stressing myself for no reason and everything has worked out fine thank the Good Lord). You can also line up some sponsors if you have any doubts. The best thing to do is find yourself a good immi lawyer in your area and get guidance, because from what I've heard, it's not worth it to stop and restart the process.

Best of luck with everything

[rebeccajo 14]

You are young, footloose, childless and fancy free.

He has a business of his own and a home over there.

Go live in Italy for a while. What an opportunity!

Edited April 16, 2009 by rebeccajo

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

Your initial petition would probably be expired (you can't put it on "hold") - new one would be in order.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

If you stay there long enough, and met the requirements, you could do a DCF for him.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

You could do that too. But if you don't have a job when he goes to interview, you would have to find a co-sponsor for the I-134.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Like mentioned above - he has his own buisness, home? Heck - go there - live life and do a DCF!

Many thanks.

[Ed+Cindy 1]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Many thanks.

Well, once issued, the K-1 visa is good for six months....

One option not mentioned above, but similar to your #1 is:

* Get a co-sponsor for the K-1.

* Go to Italy for the rest of the K-1 process and until the 6 months K-1 visa time frame is close to up. That is likely to be around 9+ months from today, depending on how slow//fast things move.

* Enjoy Italy for the summer and fall, then return to the US with your fiance before the K-1 expires...at which time we can only hope the economy is better here, since it should be around the end of 2009, or later.

IMO, this is a good middle option, in that it will probably still be faster than getting residency and DCF'ing and you will also, hopefully, get out of the US while the economy sucks.

As long as you maintain some kind of residence in the US for USCIS mail, and get a co-sponsor, it would work fine.

However, you will need to check with Italy as far as whether you can legally stay there for that long. You might need to apply for a longer visitor visa than default, or maybe you can leave Italy and re-enter, or maybe they don't even care?

Edited April 16, 2009 by Ed+Cindy

[Jinhouzi 0]

It is hard to say since there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances, like do you have an agreement on the apartment you rent, or do you own a home where you have a mortgage? Do you have a car loan, credit cards? Will you be able to find work there to pay for these.

The other thing is that when they look at your VISA at the interview, they take into account the last 3 years of your income. So if one year is not so hot, the others should even it out.

I had planned on moving to China for a couple of months and then come back if this happened to me, I actually prayed that it did. I had no bills, the car was paid off, I rented a very small apartment that I could have paid for the next 2 months while I was gone. But the company decided to let 2 other people go. So here I am, stuck in the USA waiting out the time to be with my love.

If you have the option, then by all means do it. You will not regret it. But it will be a lot harder to come back to the states and be without the love of your life for even a few weeks after spending a few months there.

Good luck and hope for the best for you.

[Nik+Heather 121]

You are young, footloose, childless and fancy free.

He has a business of his own and a home over there.

Go live in Italy for a while. What an opportunity!

SECONDED!!!

(Or third-ed or whatever)

[Hell0W0rld 10]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Many thanks.

go there for 6 months and do DCF, who doesn't want to goto Italy, wow!!!

[Ed+Cindy 1]

It is hard to say since there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances, like do you have an agreement on the apartment you rent, or do you own a home where you have a mortgage? Do you have a car loan, credit cards? Will you be able to find work there to pay for these.

The other thing is that when they look at your VISA at the interview, they take into account the last 3 years of your income. So if one year is not so hot, the others should even it out.

I had planned on moving to China for a couple of months and then come back if this happened to me, I actually prayed that it did. I had no bills, the car was paid off, I rented a very small apartment that I could have paid for the next 2 months while I was gone. But the company decided to let 2 other people go. So here I am, stuck in the USA waiting out the time to be with my love.

If you have the option, then by all means do it. You will not regret it. But it will be a lot harder to come back to the states and be without the love of your life for even a few weeks after spending a few months there.

Good luck and hope for the best for you.

Sean/Yan, you present the practical, logistical decisions with this kind of choice. Everyone else is quick to say "move to Italy", but there is more to it than just getting on a plane.

I'm the American in our relationship, but I have lived extensively outside the US, in places most other American would consider exotic or romantic like Italy and tell one to "move there" without knowing better. With my experience, I can second that there are a whole lot of personal things to deal with and its not really the type of decision one can ask an internet forum, where most (American) members haven't done this type of move before and don't get all the little details involved.

You state But it will be a lot harder to come back to the states and be without the love of your life for even a few weeks after spending a few months there. This is very true. I actually moved back to the US the end of last summer after living in NZ with my fiance for 3 1/2 years (prior to that I lived in France). It is extremely tough on us being apart, after having a life and house together. It is partly our mistake for not DCF'ing prior to my move back, but also just bad luck with our long USCIS processing.

I wish the original poster luck.

[vespa rossa 0]

Thank you, everyone, for your advice. It's really helpful to see a range of opinions.

To answer someone's question, I don't have any loans/outstanding bills etc, to worry about, thank goodness, but I do have an apartment in NYC that I would have to sublet (which would be a pain, as being like most girls, I have nice things and wouldn't want them ruined!).

This just happened today, so I will need to do a lot of thinking. Thanks to previous job changes, with nice long breaks in between, I've actually "lived" there twice before (3-month periods), and I do know it's terrible to go back to being on my own. He's come here for similar chunks of time as well.

I think I'll give it a go here for about a month or so, and see if anything pops up on the job front. If things are still dismal (being a consultant, things are generally bad for us when the economy takes a nosedive, as we're not "essential"), I may seriously think about forwarding mail to my parents and then hightailing it there for the summer, at least. I could return in the fall (after 90 days) so as not to worry about getting a visa to stay in Italy longer AND if I can't find a subletter, i really wouldn't want to pay more than 3 months of wasted rent (although even paying one is unpleasant!).

Thanks again for all your input (I hadn't even known about DCF before!).

- VR

[Brit Abroad 166]

Is there nobody in your family who would co-sponsor your fiance with you, while you keep looking for work?

EDIT: OP posted in between my typing and posting.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Brit Abroad

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi there,

I submitted my I-129F in mid-February and we're still waiting for our NOA2. However, I lost my job today and given that I live in NYC where the cost of living is extremely high and my fiance lives in Sicily where the quality of life is perhaps, not as high, but the cost of living is low and he owns his home and his business, a thought crossed our mind today. Would it be possible to cancel/put our petition on hold?

There are three scenarios:

1) I could (temporarily) move to Sicily and we could at least be together while the economy picks up, I could then move back alone and we could resume our K1 process.

2) I could move there, we could get married and then I could move back alone and reapply (probably losing my application fee for the I-129F K1) to bring him back to the US as my spouse on a K3.

3) I could wait it out, try to find a job here, and let things run their natural course with him potentially entering the US on a K1 Visa in the fall when we could both be unemployed for a while.

Any thoughts? Has anyone been through this that could offer some guidance or advice?

Many thanks.

Or get a co=sponsor.

I would say you are several months from needing to make a decision like this. Best to re-assess qhwn the time come to submit the I-134 and try to find a job and a co-sponsor

[rebeccajo 14]

It is hard to say since there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances, like do you have an agreement on the apartment you rent, or do you own a home where you have a mortgage? Do you have a car loan, credit cards? Will you be able to find work there to pay for these.

The other thing is that when they look at your VISA at the interview, they take into account the last 3 years of your income. So if one year is not so hot, the others should even it out.

I had planned on moving to China for a couple of months and then come back if this happened to me, I actually prayed that it did. I had no bills, the car was paid off, I rented a very small apartment that I could have paid for the next 2 months while I was gone. But the company decided to let 2 other people go. So here I am, stuck in the USA waiting out the time to be with my love.

If you have the option, then by all means do it. You will not regret it. But it will be a lot harder to come back to the states and be without the love of your life for even a few weeks after spending a few months there.

Good luck and hope for the best for you.

Sean/Yan, you present the practical, logistical decisions with this kind of choice. Everyone else is quick to say "move to Italy", but there is more to it than just getting on a plane.

I'm the American in our relationship, but I have lived extensively outside the US, in places most other American would consider exotic or romantic like Italy and tell one to "move there" without knowing better. With my experience, I can second that there are a whole lot of personal things to deal with and its not really the type of decision one can ask an internet forum, where most (American) members haven't done this type of move before and don't get all the little details involved.

You state But it will be a lot harder to come back to the states and be without the love of your life for even a few weeks after spending a few months there. This is very true. I actually moved back to the US the end of last summer after living in NZ with my fiance for 3 1/2 years (prior to that I lived in France). It is extremely tough on us being apart, after having a life and house together. It is partly our mistake for not DCF'ing prior to my move back, but also just bad luck with our long USCIS processing.

I wish the original poster luck.

You know, you have good points. We don't know how 'tied' the OP might be to family. Or other responsibilities they may have.

But............a lot of folks (who haven't lived outside the US) have the impression that the US is just where the couple must live. I disagree. There's a whole lot of lovely world out there beyond our borders.

Why should a young couple tie themselves up into a knot trying to fit THEIR lives into USCIS's bow? As the OP states, this job loss could be just the thing that tips their decision of where to begin their lives together.

Personally, I think one of the 'plus-es' of international relationships is the choice of where to live. The US will always welcome back it's citizen with their foreign spouse. Immigration can wait till later if they wish.

There's a saying from Benjamin Franklin that I have always liked..........a wise man makes more opportunities than he finds.

Just something to think about.

[SuperDuper! 230]

You are young, footloose, childless and fancy free.

He has a business of his own and a home over there.

Go live in Italy for a while. What an opportunity!

SECONDED!!!

(Or third-ed or whatever)

FORTH IT! Get out of NYC ASAP (itz a rat race on steroids) and go to Italy!

[John and Camie 39]

You are young, footloose, childless and fancy free.

He has a business of his own and a home over there.

Go live in Italy for a while. What an opportunity!

SECONDED!!!

(Or third-ed or whatever)

FORTH IT! Get out of NYC ASAP (itz a rat race on steroids) and go to Italy!

FIFTH-ITH IT - I just got laid off myself and would just LOVE to get away from here! If you can do it, you should - Sicily sounds like a dream. Best of luck to you, I feel you with the cost-of-living, I'm in Southern California!