Concerns over affidavit of support

[Gocka 17]

Hi all, Im new to the site but have already found it very useful but after applying for a K-1 visa for my fiance to come over and for us to get married I am worried that I will not get approved becasue of the support test.

I sent in my completed package and on Sept 8, 2010 I got my NOA1 letter. It has now been 100 days tomorow and I have not heard back anyhting, the average time according to the statistics is 86 days from NOA1 to NOA2 so I am getting nervous, but my real concern is if and when they finally approve it I have to send the Afidavit of support that I make more then the poverty line, but here's the problem. I am only 21 and I am in my last semester of College for accounting, I live at home wiht my mother who completely supports me, so I have $0 income as of now, once I graduate in the summer I will have a very good salary but obviously that means nothing to the situation at hand. My question is basically what can I do I hope this will not jepradize my fiance getting approved. Is the afivdavit of support basically like sponsorship? Do I have to be the one to do the sponsoring or can I use someone else to sponsor her, like my mother or other relative? IT doesnt say on the USCIS website that the petitioner has to be the one furnishing the support it just says that the person who does the affidavit of support must be over the poverty line.

Please HELP!! I dont know what I would do if she gets denied and I have to do it all over again next year.

[James and Cynthia 70]

Hi all, Im new to the site but have already found it very useful but after applying for a K-1 visa for my fiance to come over and for us to get married I am worried that I will not get approved becasue of the support test.

I sent in my completed package and on Sept 8, 2010 I got my NOA1 letter. It has now been 100 days tomorow and I have not heard back anyhting, the average time according to the statistics is 86 days from NOA1 to NOA2 so I am getting nervous, but my real concern is if and when they finally approve it I have to send the Afidavit of support that I make more then the poverty line, but here's the problem. I am only 21 and I am in my last semester of College for accounting, I live at home wiht my mother who completely supports me, so I have $0 income as of now, once I graduate in the summer I will have a very good salary but obviously that means nothing to the situation at hand. My question is basically what can I do I hope this will not jepradize my fiance getting approved. Is the afivdavit of support basically like sponsorship? Do I have to be the one to do the sponsoring or can I use someone else to sponsor her, like my mother or other relative? IT doesnt say on the USCIS website that the petitioner has to be the one furnishing the support it just says that the person who does the affidavit of support must be over the poverty line.

Please HELP!! I dont know what I would do if she gets denied and I have to do it all over again next year.

According the graphs from VJ at the following address, the Vermont Service Center is running at 137 days between NOA1 and NOA2. http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

I'm using the California Service Center and they are running at 140 days between NOA1 and NOA2. Our timelines are similar. I received my NOA2 document in the mail on Sept 16. I too have heard nothing. I figure I will hear something around the end of January or early Februrary. Very sad.

I believe I have read about people using other sponsors for the support, but I don't know the details.

Good luck.

-James

[Gocka 17]

According the graphs from VJ at the following address, the Vermont Service Center is running at 137 days between NOA1 and NOA2. http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

I'm using the California Service Center and they are running at 140 days between NOA1 and NOA2. Our timelines are similar. I received my NOA2 document in the mail on Sept 16. I too have heard nothing. I figure I will hear something around the end of January or early Februrary. Very sad.

I believe I have read about people using other sponsors for the support, but I don't know the details.

Good luck.

-James

Thanks JamesL

Its sad how long this takes, it is brutal. I mean in reality how long does it take to look over one of these packets? I can just imagine my packet sitting on someones desk collecting dust. Also its wierd why do some people seem to get there approved in as little as a month? I also see many cases where it takes between 60 and 90 days. Shouldnt the processing time be the same for all of us or in a periodic order when recieved?

Good luck to you anyway I hope you have more luck then me so far.

Goce

[coraliesolms 47]

You will be her primary sponsor, as you are the one marrying her. You will then have to find a family member (of yours) who will co-sponsor her. Its much the same as a car loan, if you dont have the income/credit to receive a loan, you need a co-signer. This will not affect the outcome of her visa if you find one who makes above the poverty line and they have all their taxes up to date and doesnt mind doing it

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thanks JamesL

Its sad how long this takes, it is brutal. I mean in reality how long does it take to look over one of these packets? I can just imagine my packet sitting on someones desk collecting dust. Also its wierd why do some people seem to get there approved in as little as a month? I also see many cases where it takes between 60 and 90 days. Shouldnt the processing time be the same for all of us or in a periodic order when recieved?

Good luck to you anyway I hope you have more luck then me so far.

Goce

In all likelihood, your petition is not sitting on someone's desk. It's sitting in a box waiting for an adjudicator to get to it. The process has been described here a few times, but it goes something like this... The adjudicator grabs the next box full of petitions and takes them to his desk (some adjudicators work from home). He spends 15 or 20 minutes on each one. Sometimes they can be approved immediately. Sometimes they can be denied immediately. Sometimes an RFE needs to be sent, in which case the petition goes into a holding bin until either a response is received or the time to respond has expired. Some petitions need additional investigations, and those are held until the investigations are completed. Only when the adjudicator has made some sort of decision (approval, denial, RFE, or investigation) on every petition in the box do they go and get another box. They also take a break from the petitions in the box when they receive a response to an RFE or the results from an investigation.

Adjudicators are also told what type of petitions they will be handling. One week they might be doing I-129F's. Another week they might be doing I-130's.

USCIS receives between 300,000 and 500,000 petitions every month, not including applications for citizenship. The box your petition is sitting in will eventually make it to the front of the line. If you're lucky, your box will be picked by an adjudicator who works fast, isn't overloaded handling RFE's or investigations, and doesn't go on vacation before finishing the box.

[James and Cynthia 70]

Thanks JamesL

Its sad how long this takes, it is brutal. I mean in reality how long does it take to look over one of these packets? I can just imagine my packet sitting on someones desk collecting dust. Also its wierd why do some people seem to get there approved in as little as a month? I also see many cases where it takes between 60 and 90 days. Shouldnt the processing time be the same for all of us or in a periodic order when recieved?

Good luck to you anyway I hope you have more luck then me so far.

Goce

The other day I was quite frustrated too. I'm tired of waiting. Ever since I turned in my I-129F, the average waiting time has only gone up, about double. During my boredom I look at the statistics to see what has been happening. This is what I have found for the CSC. I don't know about the VSC.

Over the last 1.5 years, the average number of completed I-129F's at the CSC is about 2200 per month. However, lately the numbers haven't been that high. In April, the number of completions were almost 3000. But starting in May, there has been less that 2000 per month. To make things worse, August only had 1000 completions, and September only had 900. This is way below average.

The graphs I looked at didn't show the number of new applicantions, but it did show the number of applicantions still processing each month. By knowing the change in applications processing from one month to another, and the number of completions done that month, I could estimate the number of new applications received. The average new applications seems to be about 2100 per month over the last 1.5 years. This has remained somewhat accurate over the last several months, maybe only slightly higher than average at 2200 per month.

So the conclusion is, if the number of new applicants is consistently near the average value from one month to another, and the number of completions is dropping to less than half the average, the waiting period to get approval is bound to go up. Unless we see the number of completions go above the number of new applications, 2100 per month, the waiting time will not get shorter. If they continue with only 900 completions per month, the waiting time is bound to get even worse.

I hope they get more people to work on the cases and bump the number of completions back to 3000 per month like last April. This might save us a couple weeks on our waiting time.

-James

[Gocka 17]

The other day I was quite frustrated too. I'm tired of waiting. Ever since I turned in my I-129F, the average waiting time has only gone up, about double. During my boredom I look at the statistics to see what has been happening. This is what I have found for the CSC. I don't know about the VSC.

Over the last 1.5 years, the average number of completed I-129F's at the CSC is about 2200 per month. However, lately the numbers haven't been that high. In April, the number of completions were almost 3000. But starting in May, there has been less that 2000 per month. To make things worse, August only had 1000 completions, and September only had 900. This is way below average.

The graphs I looked at didn't show the number of new applicantions, but it did show the number of applicantions still processing each month. By knowing the change in applications processing from one month to another, and the number of completions done that month, I could estimate the number of new applications received. The average new applications seems to be about 2100 per month over the last 1.5 years. This has remained somewhat accurate over the last several months, maybe only slightly higher than average at 2200 per month.

So the conclusion is, if the number of new applicants is consistently near the average value from one month to another, and the number of completions is dropping to less than half the average, the waiting period to get approval is bound to go up. Unless we see the number of completions go above the number of new applications, 2100 per month, the waiting time will not get shorter. If they continue with only 900 completions per month, the waiting time is bound to get even worse.

I hope they get more people to work on the cases and bump the number of completions back to 3000 per month like last April. This might save us a couple weeks on our waiting time.

-James

Yes I noticed the same thing and I said wow that’s just my luck. It’s almost at their maximum stated 5 months (150) days and back just 3 months ago people were getting them done in 60 days, one case I looked at for my country was only 21 days!! I couldn’t believe someone got it that fast. I mean it’s obvious that they have either stop working very hard or the more likely that they cut the staff. I mean these things affect people lives in a serious way, families, marriages, and such are at stake it’s not like we are applying for hand out in which case we can be put off. We all just want a chance to marry our spouses, after all we are citizens and our family related requests (petitions) should be put before those of foreign applicants applying for visas in other ways like tourist or work visas. Most of the volume they get is related to visa application from foreign internationals who are trying to immigrate here. I’m not saying that they don’t matter but we are already taxpaying citizens and we want to be with our families. It’s really kind of sad that the world is structured in this way where we need (permission) to marry someone or to bring over kids or family from another country. I guess I’m just bitter that its taking so long and bound to take longer.

Goce

[Gocka 17]

You will be her primary sponsor, as you are the one marrying her. You will then have to find a family member (of yours) who will co-sponsor her. Its much the same as a car loan, if you dont have the income/credit to receive a loan, you need a co-signer. This will not affect the outcome of her visa if you find one who makes above the poverty line and they have all their taxes up to date and doesnt mind doing it

Oh thank god!!. Yeah I was looking over the I-134 ( afidaivit of support) and in the instructions it says if you are sponsoring more then one immagrant this and that so nor in the isntructions nor in the I-129F instructions does it say the petioner has to be the sponsor. So I suppose that I could do it the way you say and have someone cosign. A question though if you know, You mentioned Tax returns, now what are they looking for because I am planning on using my mother as the cosigner and her gross income per year is $33,000 which is double the pverty line but her net income ( after expenses) $0 so I am worried because of the analogy you used. When you get looked at for a loan its not just your income but your (net income) so I am worried again that they will say there isnt enough money left over to be able to support someone else.

[Daniellesm07 0]

Gocka, I am in a similar situation as yourself. I am also a student that is bringing my fiance here from Canada. Basically what you need to do since you do not make any money is prove that you are a full time student and make $0 income. Things to prove you are a full time student is from the Clearinghouse that your school most likely uses to prove full time status for your health insurance. You can also use receipts of payment for your education for the past couple of semesters and book receipts, etc. Then what it comes down to is your mothers income. Im not sure what the "net income" line has to say but if she makes enough to meet the poverty guidline then you should be fine. Goodluck on everything!

[Gocka 17]

Gocka, I am in a similar situation as yourself. I am also a student that is bringing my fiance here from Canada. Basically what you need to do since you do not make any money is prove that you are a full time student and make $0 income. Things to prove you are a full time student is from the Clearinghouse that your school most likely uses to prove full time status for your health insurance. You can also use receipts of payment for your education for the past couple of semesters and book receipts, etc. Then what it comes down to is your mothers income. Im not sure what the "net income" line has to say but if she makes enough to meet the poverty guidline then you should be fine. Goodluck on everything!

Daniellesm07

What im having trouble fiugring out is what figure they are actually looking for. The poverty line is $15500 but I think that is just gross income at minimum wage. See im an accounting student so I know that the taxes have many lines used as income. You have gross income, which is basically money you have taken in, you have AGI adjusted gross income which is your income after some exclusions and deduction then toward the end you have taxable income or basically your net income, the amount you have lef over at the end of the year after all your deductable expenses. Now logically im thinking they must be reffering to gross income when they say $15500 but obviously im second guessing myself because of the imprtance of this process so I dont want ot make any mistakes.

Goce

[ZedbraGuy 6]

Just done some quick research

It says the poverty line doesn't state what 'income' or 'family' mean, thats up to the authority using the guideline. And USCIS defines it as follows

Income means an individual's total income (adjusted gross income for those who file IRS Form 1040EZ) for purposes of the individual's U.S. Federal income tax liability, including a joint income tax return (e.g., line 22 on the 2004 IRS Form 1040, line 15 on the 2004 IRS Form 1040A, or line 4 on the 2004 IRS Form 1040EZ or the corresponding line on any future revision of these IRS Forms). Only an individual's Federal income tax return--that is, neither a state or territorial income tax return nor an income tax return filed with a foreign government--shall be filed with an affidavit of support, unless the individual had no duty to file a Federal income tax return, and claims that his or her state, territorial or foreign taxable income is sufficient to establish the sufficiency of the affidavit of support. (Revised effective 7/21/06; 71 FR 35732 )

So if I'm reading that right, and as was my understanding, it's Gross income. Although I think they subtract certain benifits but others will know better than I

Edited December 16, 2010 by ZedbraGuy

[Anh map 2,098]

$18,212 is the amount (125% of the poverty guideline) for a household of 2 that is applied to K visa petitions. If your mother is self employed then her income wil be line 22 of her most recent tax return. If she's a salaried/hourly employee then the income measured is essentially her gross income.

Her household count is her, the intending immigrant, a spouse, any minor children, and any persons claimed on most recent year's tax return. She will need to meet the income requirement for that household number using only her income and/or assets. You can find the income requirements on the form I-864P. There is a link to that form below in my signature.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Anh map

[Daniellesm07 0]

I am not 100% sure of the taxes they are looking for so i think the people that posted above have the right idea. Hope i was some form of help regarding your schooling side

[coraliesolms 47]

Its tax transcripts for the last 3 years that they need. Just shows what she has earned, and they want to make sure it is steady. Also, if your mom owns a house, has savings, has a car.. all of these are assets that can be used to validify her co-signing.

[Gocka 17]

You have all been very helpful in one way or another. Sicne I am in accounting student the info regarding spesific tax lingo was very good for me I know exactly what they are looking for now I just have to calculate the amount. Our house hold would be Myself, my mother, my brother and the intended immagrant, so based on that I need to see how much is required, but at any rate we do own the house which even in todays market has a fair market value of 250,000 so I think that should be plenty to cover it. Its just a matter of now getting the right supporting documents. Thanks too all and please chime in if you have anything else, its very very appriciated.

Goce