Disability and Income Requirements Help needed!

[marrs 0]

Ok VJers,

I got great help here when we went through the K1 process(and still are).Just do a quick check on my and my wife's history here..

So I know it is absolutely worth it to post here. Thank you all in advance.

This is about my brother in-law:

He is half filipino but he is a US Citizen living in California.Unlike my wife,his sister, who has filipino citizenship.

He and his filipina girl(who is in the Philippines) are ready to begin the K1 Visa process and ask us how to go about it.....!

Jon, my brother in-law suffered an injury in mid-2009, which put him on disability. He is receiving disability pay from the state

called SDI or CASDI since July 2009.

His combined income(disability+salary) was just over $20.000 in 2009, which would be enough to meet the income requirements.

However, we are not sure if he can include the SDI income since it is not taxable and therefore would not show on a tax return as I understand it.

We are also not sure whether SDI would fall under "State Means Tested Benefits" or not.

If anyone has a solution or just any info or if this has been answered previously(I searched without success..), please share here.

Thank You.

[Dodi 69]

I know that you can include child support (I am) on your I-134, which isn't taxable and doesn't show up on a tax return. The stipulation is that you have to be able to PROVE the income. Why are you saying Disability isn't taxable? My mother's husband is on Disability and it is listed in their AGI on their tax return. He might need to check with a tax accountant about this, if he hasn't already.

But in answer to your question, so long as he has pay stubs or some other type of verifiable proof of the payments, then yes, he should be able to include it. He'll need the document that shows his awarded amount from the state and stubs of his most recent months to show that it is continuing still. (I have a downloaded payment history from the state that goes back to 2005 on my child support that I'm including since my child support is garnished and then deposited on a state-issued debit card.) A letter from the agency that gives him this payment would be helpful as well, to explain why he is receiving it and how long he's received it, and how long it will continue.

Hope this helps.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Dodi

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

First, the good news - CASDI is a disability insurance program. All employees are required to participate. It is funded by employees through payroll deduction. It is not funded by the taxpayers, so it is not a means tested benefit. It is qualifying income for an affidavit of support.

Now, the bad news - CASDI is short term disability insurance. An eligible disabled worker can collect CASDI for a maximum of 52 weeks. When the payments end, they either have to return to work or perhaps qualify for some other long term disability payments. His payments are probably going to end soon. Since his payments are for a limited period of time, and his future income is uncertain, a consular officer might not accept him as a sole sponsor. He may need a co-sponsor.

[Dodi 69]

Thank you for that clarification. I was unaware of what that was. It's not like SSD/I then, and is untaxed.

Ok, you're right. It COULD be considered an income source IF he has a letter from his employer that he will be returning back to work full time as soon as the payments end and has a time frame for that to happen, and can verify what his salary will be at that time. There's no guarantee though.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Dodi

[marrs 0]

Thank You guys so much.

That is kinda what I thought.

I will ask Jon for more details and post back here ASAP.