Financial Support Requirements for K-1 Visa

[Roy G. Biv 0]

My boyfriend and I have been maintaining our relationship long distance since 1997. I am starting graduate school this fall and we decided that we are in a do or die situation. Either we get married now or we end the relationship since grad school will keep me in the US for at least another three years and living apart this long is ridiculous. So…here we go!

I’ve put together most of our I-129F packet and will be sending it off next week (provided his original G-325A and Fiancé Letter of Intent show up by snail mail this week). I’m confident that I can navigate through the bureaucracy with the help of this fantastic site. However, I am worried about meeting the financial requirements for the K-1 visa. My graduate program pays for my health insurance in addition to an annual salary of $21,000. I also have a $3,000 scholarship for this academic year and plan on getting student loans to give us a bit of a cushion. The graduate program also waives tuition fees. This means that we will slightly exceed the 125% poverty level for a family of 2 published in the I-864P document on the USCIS website. Neither of us have children; we are not planning on having any. I’ve worked up our budget; we should be able to comfortably make ends meet for $2000 per month. I have no savings but will have life insurance by January. I plan on covering our living costs and his health insurance as long as is necessary for him to get his green card and find a job. He has an engineering degree with work experience. I’m hoping the government would want to have a German engineer and a soon-to-be PhD chemist residing in the States. For those of you who have gone through the process, do we have a realistic chance of having our petition approved? Or will the government think we are too poor to get married? What can I do to improve our application? My family does not have the money or assets to co-sponsor his visa.

[reeses16 8]

I did our K1 as a grad student with similar income. We had no problems at all. I submitted my tax returns for the last 3 years with the I-134 and submitted Financial Aid statements/fellowship appointment letters where appropriate. I also distinguished which parts of my income were taxable and those that were not. I submitted the same financial information for AOS (I-864) and we never had any problems.

Please feel free to PM me.

Edited July 28, 2009 by reeses16

[Rich and Bey 1]

Read everything you can on what you need. some consulates are a lot of tax returns and some want a year.. but research everything

[Anh map 2,098]

From what you describe, you will meet the income requirements.

Your education/professional experience does not enter into the equation.

Any US citizen or LPR can be a co-sponsor, not just family. Good to know in case something changes.

Welcome to VJ

[Roy G. Biv 0]

Wow! Thanks, everyone. It's difficult to have confidence in proving adequate income when the occupation on my tax forms is going to be 'student' again. I feel a lot better knowing that I'm not forking over $455 on a ####### shoot!

Wow! Thanks, everyone. It's difficult to have confidence in proving adequate income when the occupation on my tax forms is going to be 'student' again. I feel a lot better knowing that I'm not forking over $455 on a ####### shoot!