Harsh Question

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I've seen a number of people complain about the 125% of poverty requirement. 125% of Poverty level is really NOT a lot of money.

The next part might seem harsh, but if 125% of poverty level IS a lot of money to the USC, then maybe they should reconsider whether they have the means to bring a foreign national to the US for marriage, and to start a family.

No I'm not hating... and I don't' want to start a flame war, I just want to make sure people are prepared for their situations. Part of that is planning for the unexpected, having money put away for a rainy day, etc. is part of that being prepared.

So I'm asking the VJ community for their opinions on this. Seriously no flaming. An intelligent discussion on being prepared for major life events.

I'd liken this to couples who actually plan a pregnancy for when they are emotionally and financially ready, and those couples (like most of us) who get pregnant and deal with the repercussions as they are able.

Anyone trying to support themselves or another on 125% of the poverty level is kidding themselves. The line has nothing to do with "having enough" to live on, it has ONLY to do with having enough income for the government to confiscate if your fiancee becomes a public charge.

That said, provided it costs ME nothing, I could not possibly care less if someone else is prepared for their wife or husband. Make your bed, lay down and STFU! Not my business. I make no judgement. I do not care. I have enough to do to keep my own @ss afloat.

If you ask me they should do away with the Affidavits of Support altogether and simply make it impossible for a family based immigrant to collect ANY means tested benefits until they are citizens. Job done.

[Samantha78 117]

Personally, I think the guidelines are pretty low. I'm a worrier and it would make me crazy to be constantly wondering what unexpected expense was going to come up and sink me. But if that's what the US government has said is its guideline, so be it. I'm know a lot of people live at or below the poverty line and make it work for them.

What I don't understand is the option for a co-sponsor. Where else in life would two people, who are apparently mature enough to enter into a marriage, be able to say 'hey ma/pa (or auntie/uncle.. or friend/neighbor..); me and my love want to get hitched but we're kind of strapped for cash. How about you just agree to pick up the slack in our bills whenever we need it for the next 10 years or so?'

Seriously??? I think if you can't make the minimum amount required on your own, perhaps you should consider making some changes in your own life before bringing someone else in to the country to share it, and expecting someone else to cover the bills.

Love what you said and oh so true.

I have someone very close to me who did the K1, brought his now wife, and had to get a sponsor because he wasn't working. The sponsor has 3 kids, so with her its 4 and then the K1 wife is 5. I knew she was just scraping by to make the guideline requirement and the couple are completely irresponsible with money and work. The wife is working in a grocery store earning $7.50 per hour, while the husband /USC is on government assistance. They get by but barely and they have a baby. They have an apartment now, but had been living with family members in the past......it's just not right. And the sadder part about it is, the co-sponsor and the couple are not followed up ..... once that is done and AOS is done, no one keeps tabs on them or their financial status. Having a cosponsor gives people the open door to slack off and never take responsibility for their actions. Its just wrong in so many ways.

[Samantha78 117]

Anyone trying to support themselves or another on 125% of the poverty level is kidding themselves. The line has nothing to do with "having enough" to live on, it has ONLY to do with having enough income for the government to confiscate if your fiancee becomes a public charge.

That said, provided it costs ME nothing, I could not possibly care less if someone else is prepared for their wife or husband. Make your bed, lay down and STFU! Not my business. I make no judgement. I do not care. I have enough to do to keep my own @ss afloat.

If you ask me they should do away with the Affidavits of Support altogether and simply make it impossible for a family based immigrant to collect ANY means tested benefits until they are citizens. Job done.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAH

[feli114 65]

The income requirements should be at least 200% of poverty level for certain family members. Many classes of visa should be done away with, including the all the K visas. Restrictions need to be tighter on foreign worker visas. The loophole of staying in the country on an expired visa/I-94, etc, while the I-485 is being adjudicated should be eliminated, as should be refiling ad infinitum just to stay in the US. If you overstay, you go home, no reprieve, no waiver, no AP, no EAD.

I disagree with you on the doing away with the k1. I make 200% abouve the poverty level and can provide for my fiance until he is able to gain employment. All cases are not the same.

[EmelyNJoel 43]

1330101860[/url]' post='5177055']

As a veteran who has served this country and at one point I technically wrote an open check that included up to and including my life...

I believe I should enjoy the same benefits that are FREELY and OPENLY given to all of the illegal aliens who step one foot on US soil...

But such is not the case. Instead I have to prove that I can support my wife before she is allowed to come here.

I have to prove she will not obtain any government services, that I am a USC am already entitled to....

I have to pay thousands of dollars to get her here, whereas illegals pay a few hundred to be sneaked across the border and then its 'alli-alli oxen free' and they're in the big bucks of a welfare government system that penalizes those who play by the rules.

1. I'm a vet too. I appreciate your service. But it doesn't make you special. Risking your life is part of the job. End of story.2. You DO get to enjoy those benefits.3. Yes, you have to prove I won't have to support you or your wife if your situation tanks. Frankly, that's reasonable.4. You're complaining about having to abide by the rules? That's kinda the big distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants

[Gigli2008 70]

At least 50,000 greencard lottery winners come to the US every year without showing proof of how they will be supported financially. The only thing you are required to have after winning the green card lottery is not how you are going to survive, but what address you are going to. It makes no sense that 50,000 people are allowed every year to come to the US without showing how they will survive but husbands and wives who try to join them later have to prove how they will survive on their spouses incomes.

My now friend won the greencard lottery in 2005. She did not know anyone in the US, but friends of friends found someone who she could use their address when she arrived at POE. Now she is trying to bring her husband she married in 2008 and her minimum wage is not good enough to bring her husband. Yet zero dollars was good for the US when she came in 2005.

[Dan & Jenni 457]

But if that's what the US government has said is its guideline, so be it.

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

it doesnt matter what any of us think... there are rules in place and so long as we stick within those rules then as far as im concerned there is no problem

If you ask me they should do away with the Affidavits of Support altogether and simply make it impossible for a family based immigrant to collect ANY means tested benefits until they are citizens. Job done.

sounds good to me :thumbs:

[san diego 407]

Anyone trying to support themselves or another on 125% of the poverty level is kidding themselves. The line has nothing to do with "having enough" to live on, it has ONLY to do with having enough income for the government to confiscate if your fiancee becomes a public charge.

That said, provided it costs ME nothing, I could not possibly care less if someone else is prepared for their wife or husband. Make your bed, lay down and STFU! Not my business. I make no judgement. I do not care. I have enough to do to keep my own @ss afloat.

If you ask me they should do away with the Affidavits of Support altogether and simply make it impossible for a family based immigrant to collect ANY means tested benefits until they are citizens. Job done.

I can support that. However, will you let immigrants die if they are sick? Of course not. We can discuss how we can remove all these benefits but in the end of the day we let even illegal immigrants to get medical care, get education, etc. Unfortunately, this is utopia.

At least 50,000 greencard lottery winners come to the US every year without showing proof of how they will be supported financially. The only thing you are required to have after winning the green card lottery is not how you are going to survive, but what address you are going to. It makes no sense that 50,000 people are allowed every year to come to the US without showing how they will survive but husbands and wives who try to join them later have to prove how they will survive on their spouses incomes.

My now friend won the greencard lottery in 2005. She did not know anyone in the US, but friends of friends found someone who she could use their address when she arrived at POE. Now she is trying to bring her husband she married in 2008 and her minimum wage is not good enough to bring her husband. Yet zero dollars was good for the US when she came in 2005.

As far as I know diversity lottery winners also need to provide either financial documents that they an support themselves or I864 from USC or GC holder.

[Brian121957 43]

I think in some cases, i.e students, it's fair. Otherwise, it's not. And I don't like the idea behind the K1 visa.... to easy for people to just not AOS and stay out of status, and if you need 90 days to be sure, why are you promising to financially support them before they even come here anyway?

If you want to revise the process,, how abut changes in tourist visa. Some countries, Philippines is one, it is next to imposable for them to get a tourist visa to visit the US. I have been told for an unmarried female under 40yrs old it may be 8 years to get approved for a tourist visa.

The USC can go there any time for weeks without any pre approval. But if a Filipino wants to come to the US to see where and how their future spouse lives the only option is the K1 visa.

[virola 4]

Yes, increase the salary requirements for K-1 Visas to 200% and eliminate co-sponsors (Active military should not be subject to these rules). If you are poor, you need to get better job or better education before you try to raise a family. Countries who routinely threaten the USA should have severe immigrations restrictions. No K-1 / CR-1 Visas for countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, or Pakistan (except for active military).

I think you should revisit your assumption that getting a "better education" equates with being rich, especially at the early stage, when many people are considering starting families. I am in my mid-20s, and am half-way through a Ph.D. program at a prestigious university, after getting a BS at another well-acclaimed university. It would be hard to deny that I am highly educated. It would also be hard to deny that I am of an appropriate age to get married. However, based on the policy you propose, I could not bring my fiancé here to come live with me, even though I can comfortably enjoy my current lifestyle with him as an addition. I do NOT make 200% of poverty line. I make $30k a year as a student now. Academia (education for education's sake) is not a high-profitting career track.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I disagree with you on the doing away with the k1. I make 200% abouve the poverty level and can provide for my fiance until he is able to gain employment. All cases are not the same.

The problem with the K visas is the way they are constructed as non-immigrant visas. That makes them non-enforceable as far as the public charge requirement, and creates a situation where once married to the petitioner, the out of status alien could abandon the petitioner, and remain indefinitely in the US without any further processing, having met the conditions of his/her visa. Until the beneficiary tries to adjust status, there is no provision in the law to prevent the alien from doing exactly that.

[JacAng 8]

so how should it be then...would it be better that they lived thousands of miles away from each other instead of together just because they are poor Dont be so quick to judge we are all a day away from losing everything ....people are people rich or poor black or white

[forgivennt4saken 16]

I've seen a number of people complain about the 125% of poverty requirement. 125% of Poverty level is really NOT a lot of money.

The next part might seem harsh, but if 125% of poverty level IS a lot of money to the USC, then maybe they should reconsider whether they have the means to bring a foreign national to the US for marriage, and to start a family.

What right do we have to say such things when we already have a problem in our country with natural born Americans that don't even attempt to get a job but instead sit at home living off the free money they are receiving for nothing? Those that are at 125% or 100% or whatever, at least they are working and trying to pay their way.

[Kaoticor 5]

I say what is the difference if you marry someone from the US and can't support it, or you marry someone from another country and can't support him/her?

Problem is, I don't think there will ever be a clear side that is to blame. Some immigrants arrive here and immediately expect to be provided for without ever having to do anything, turning themsleves in to a public charge, while some US citizens bring an immigrant away from everything he or she has ever known, then decide they don't like their marriage and leave the immigrant with possibly nothing, especially if they came from a poor country... So I don't think the law should punish either side in particular if everything doesn't work out well.

My opinion: Make immigrants ineligible to recieve government benefits untill they become a US citizen or complete the working quarter requirements. In the event that the marriage does not work, the US citizen (or co-sponsor) must pay all reasonble expenses for the immigrant to move back to his/her home country. I don't think that sounds unreasonable, rather, just living up to your decision and accepting the responsibility of your actions, for both parties. No I-864 contract with them for the rest of your forseeable future, no goverment possibly suing you for assets to cover benefits, just taking reasonable steps as consequences of our own decisions.

Just my .02 dollars

Edited February 24, 2012 by Kaoticor

[sheeshkabelle 153]

How can people make it on 125% of poverty level?

I do just fine. I have four kids,(two teenagers and two early elementary) plus me and I make $34,000 a year. We're not starving, no one is wearing rags, my kids have everything they need and some things they don't.

How do I do it? I'm responsible with my money. I own my home,(well the bank technically owns it) I own my vehicles. I pay cash for everything and I have savings for emergencies. I even mange to put a little away every month for retirement.

Sure someone living in New York City probably couldn't get by on my income, but I live in small town, backwoods Tennessee. Where I live the cost of living is cheap.

Do I think the requirement is unreasonable? No.

I make $4,000.00 below the poverty level requirement to sponsor my husband. Would one more person make things difficult around here? Maybe. But we could always tighten the belt and do away with the cable and internet, not eat out, and not take trips until my husband found a job here.

USCIS does not take into consideration I'm a responsible adult who knows how to budget my money. They see my adjusted gross income on my 1040. We had to get a co-sponsor. My sister had no qualms about helping us out. She knows we'll be fine and she will probably never have to help support anyone here.