Beginning the Process and terrified of getting denied

[markelsa71 4]

Any US citizen or Green Card holder can be a joint sponsor, not just family members.

Hi since you're talking about tax return let me join you guys..my fiance just emailed me a scanned tax return.i am worried if the interviewer will accept a photo copies! and also what he sent has with big "COPY ONLY DO NOT FILE' Do you think these are acceptable because documents were not requested from IRS? pls help me..and another question does he need to sign the I-134? thanks

[bigdog 376]

My fiance and I have been dating for 2 years. We've worked together in the states for a summer, have visited each other more than 20 times (him flying to USA and me flying to England), we lived together last summer while I interned abroad, lived together in Spain while I was studying abroad, and currently I'm living with him this summer in England while he's working. In other words, we've lived together for a year, apart from all of our visits. We've talked, we've called, we're 100% sure that this is it. However, while it may seem perfect, there are more than 100 problems that prevent us from living together.

First of all, I'm a student. I'm senior in college right now, and applying for law school next year. Consequently, we can't move to the UK because then my law career would be over before it has begun. Additionally, I obviously don't have a lot of money. I'm on financial aid. I work as a tutor right now, but I've been abroad for a prolonged period of time so I don't exactly have 3 years of income to prove that I can support him. Next year, I will be working all year (either self-employed or for the same company that I currently work for). I should end up making about 17,000. However, I should be able to save at least 10,000 of it because I get money for my housing and food provided by my financial aid. However, I can't prove my income until April, obviously. The solution is an co-sponsor but my family thinks I'm too young to get married so they're not willing to help.

I understand that some of you probably feel the same. Normally, I would agree with you but I know me and I know him. I've lived with him, I love him and I have no intention of dating other people. He's it, and I'm tired of spending time away from him during the year, or spending thousands of dollars visiting each other. I am going to be going to law school for 3 years. Life would be a lot easier for us if we could actually live in the same place, only pay for one household, and not spend all of our energy trying to simply raise the money to see each other. We can wait. We are physically able to do so. We know we'll end up together eventually, even if we have to wait 3 years to do it but it's becoming unbearable. We want to save up money for our future and start our life together.

How should we go about this? He's working right now as a recruitment consultant. He's a uni graduate but he can't qualify a specialized worker. He has a history degree, not IT. His family is willing to help us out financially, and he's going to be saving up money this year to add to our assets but what should we do so as to have him move by the end of May (when I graduate), and before I start law school? Should we get married now while I'm in England and then apply for CR-1 in October? Should we just get married in May, and hope they don't kick him out. Both of us would prefer if we could both be working next summer, cause he doesn't want to be bored at home, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for his greencard while I work. What advice do you have?

[bigdog 376]

Any US citizen can CO sponsor, easier to get married in US. See if you combined assets meet the threshold. How long till you are of of law school and have a job? might wait?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi since you're talking about tax return let me join you guys..my fiance just emailed me a scanned tax return.i am worried if the interviewer will accept a photo copies! and also what he sent has with big "COPY ONLY DO NOT FILE' Do you think these are acceptable because documents were not requested from IRS? pls help me..and another question does he need to sign the I-134? thanks

Anybody submitting a tax return for immigration is submitting a copy. If you mail in a paper return to file taxes with IRS, that is the only original. Even if you efile, anything kept for records is a copy. Nobody has an original tax return once they file it with IRS. It should be fine, but sometimes they want to see the signature on it. He should sign it, date it as of the date he filed, and rescan if there is no signature on your copy.

[rachel&andy 0]

Just to throw a completely different option out there. Why not defer law school for a year and do BUNAC in the UK? My friend did BUNAC right after college and she said it was one of the best experiences she ever had. There are tons of law firms in the UK, and many American firms. You could probably do paralegal work to get some work experience as well. Unfortunately the BUNAC UK programme is only an internship but it is 6 months. http://www.bunac.org/usa/interninbritain/ Another option is if you both want to travel together you could go to either New Zealand or Australia. You're young! Law school is an expensive proposition and delaying it by a year won't be the worst thing in the world in my humble opinion. That would give you some real time together and probably help convince your family it's for real. It will probably also help convince immigration. Good luck!

[JoannaV 174]

We're probably just going to get married this summer and then file in the paperwork when I'm back in the states. I have no intention of dropping out of school. I may end up sleeping less but I'm used to that, and this year will probably be my easiest. I make a fair amount of money tutoring, and I'll save most of it for my assets and my fiance will save most of his. We'll probably visit each other less this year than in our previous years in order to save money and work more. I was primarily worried about when I would have to provide the I-864. If it's not up front and I just have to hand it in during the interview, then we should be fine. I would prefer to schedule everything so that I would have the interview in April, by which time I should have my 1040 for that year.

Does anyone know if immigration takes soft factors into account at all? If, for example, I have a yearly income of $17,000 (is this pre or post tax), and then we have $10,000 in savings, we technically are above the required amount. Do they take his savings into account as well? Does he have to provide his bank statements or do I? Will they take into account that I will be going to law school, and may be getting a loan/grant for that? Do they not care about any of this at all?

Remember you can file as soon as you get your marriage certificate, you don't have to wait till you're home. You will need proof of your US citizenship, for that you can use your passport. So I don't think you'd have to wait, although if it's just a few days before you go home then that's fine, just don't like the idea of you guys wasting time haha!

As you are filing in the US the I-864 will actually be required at the NVC stage. This is after the I-130 is approved but before the interview. If you file your 2011 taxes as soon as possible then you'll be able to send that with the I-864, but you don't need to worry about that too much. You could delay sending the I-864 for a little while, but you don't want to wait too long as that will delay your interview. Just write your expected income for 2012, include your assets, and then send it off. You will be able to provide additional evidence at the interview, that is, you can bring newer bank statements with you showing more savings.

The poverty guidelines may be slightly higher than this year, but if we look at this year's: you need to show $18,387 in income. If you will earn $17,000 then you need 1,387*3=$4161 in savings. As that would put you right on the borderline I would certainly want to have more savings by the time of the interview, but if you can show that amount when you send off the I-864 I would be happy. Your fiance can use his assets as well, and the UK Embassy should be fine with his money being in a UK bank still. However, it might be useful to make sure you have the $4161 in your account when you send off the I-864, so he could transfer whatever necessary if needed at that point.

They ask for pre-tax income (well, gross adjusted income) so that is helpful :-)

I would also include proof of the financial aid you receive, as this is income, especially grants. So maybe your assets won't be quite so vital after all, but still important.