I-134 with retired joint sponsor- mostly assets- for Embassy in London

[JulieandDanny 7]

Hello-

I could find some thing some things on the forum which referenced this a little but wanted further clarification/input... hope ya'll don't mind.

We are in the process of filing our I-129f but looking forward to the eventual stage at the Embassy in London with the I-134...

I make a thousand or so under the 125% poverty guideline for two people (and I understand the guideline will rise slightly this month)... and the beneficiary does not have any significant assets to show.

So for the financial affidavit we will be using a joint sponsor. It will be my grandfather, who is retired.

He took a lump sum upon retirement from a good job. He has a small amount of income from the company and social security, but also a great deal of investment assets that he says would be easy to show as technically 'liquid'...

When I asked if he had enough to meet the 5x requirement for his household (he is widowed so it would only be for two- him plus my fiancee) he confirms the amount he could show is easily far above that, and that's not including assets like the house- for which he owes nothing, etc.

So i'm comfortable that he will meet the requirements for 5x household size-- showing primarily assets as proof though.

London seems to be, from my reading here, fairly accepting of a variety of ways of proving 'not to be a public charge'-- anybody see any problems with my proposed joint sponsor's situation?

Cheers!

Julie

[JulieandDanny 7]

Sorry just realised it should say i make about a thousand under 100% guideline... not 125...

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from K-1 Process to UK Regional Forum~

~At that stage of the process, instructions/requirements are often embassy-specific~

~Check out the excellent "London K-1 guide" pinned thread~

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Does his gross pension+social security happen to equal approx $20,000/yr? That works.

Showing his financial (investment) balances works. There is actually no 5x written into the I-134 criteria. That is an I-864 thing for your AOS. And that would be 5x the gap that his gross pension+social security leaves if it doesn't reach $20k. Like if he made on $18k, he has a $2,000 gap to close with assets (x5) when you do Adjustment of Status.

London has approved petitioners in the past making 100%. (oh, I see you don't meet 100%. Never mind that then.)

Edited February 5, 2014 by Nich-Nick

[JulieandDanny 7]

Thanks a lot Nich-Nick...

Just wanted to make sure we would have good options when we were preparing for that stage rather than having to line up a different sponsor...

Sounds like I was right in thinking we would be ok for London to go with my grandfather-- he does meet close to 20,000 with his pension/social and can easily show making up for the shortfall with assets- just like you say...

As always-- having something confirmed takes a weight off your mind so thank you much appreciated

Julie

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Thanks a lot Nich-Nick...

Just wanted to make sure we would have good options when we were preparing for that stage rather than having to line up a different sponsor...

Sounds like I was right in thinking we would be ok for London to go with my grandfather-- he does meet close to 20,000 with his pension/social and can easily show making up for the shortfall with assets- just like you say...

As always-- having something confirmed takes a weight off your mind so thank you much appreciated

Julie

Something to file away in your memory-- parts of social security can be taxable depending on his other income. The more other income you make from other pensions or investment income, the more of the social security that is taxed. However usually not all will be.

So the point is...his tax return may not reflect his full social security income...the portion that isn't taxable. So to prove that extra bit of SS, get a photocopy of his 2013 Social Security letter saying what he is earning. It is sent out in December of each year to inform what the next year's payments will be. Usually there is a little cost of living "raise" each year and the December letter informs you of the new amount. That will serve the same purpose that an employer letter would. So when you read over and over in these forums, "send an employer letter"...well that is his. it isn't an actual letter in an envelope. It's one of those folded things where you tear off the side strips to open it. He can also probably get something from his retirement department stating his yearly pension as his other "employment letter". Use the gross amounts (before taxes or medicare amounts are taken out) to come up with his yearly income for the support form.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Nich-Nick

[JulieandDanny 7]

Thanks! We've just located his social security letters you mention- great to know they serve that employer letter function. We can easily obtain something from his retirement department too.

Invaluable information!

[JulieandDanny 7]

Something to file away in your memory-- parts of social security can be taxable depending on his other income. The more other income you make from other pensions or investment income, the more of the social security that is taxed. However usually not all will be.

So the point is...his tax return may not reflect his full social security income...the portion that isn't taxable. So to prove that extra bit of SS, get a photocopy of his 2013 Social Security letter saying what he is earning. It is sent out in December of each year to inform what the next year's payments will be. Usually there is a little cost of living "raise" each year and the December letter informs you of the new amount. That will serve the same purpose that an employer letter would. So when you read over and over in these forums, "send an employer letter"...well that is his. it isn't an actual letter in an envelope. It's one of those folded things where you tear off the side strips to open it. He can also probably get something from his retirement department stating his yearly pension as his other "employment letter". Use the gross amounts (before taxes or medicare amounts are taken out) to come up with his yearly income for the support form.

Hello again Nich-Nick- sorry to resurrect this old line of enquiry but you seem very knowledgeable about this and I was hoping you (or anyone else who feels they can respond!) wouldn't mind giving just a little more advice...

My retired grandfather is asking me for a little more info about what he will need to show for the I-134 AND the eventual I-864.. he just wants to understand better what documentation I will need from him and I can't quite figure out what to tell him.

He has the social security amount before taxes letters already lined up (stand in for employment letter as you explained so well Nich-Nick) and a small amount of yearly income on w-2s from his old employer which he can show... those amounts added up will leave a shortfall of around 2,000 in income to meet our 125% goal for joint sponsorship.

The rest of his considerable savings are in Roth IRA investments, mostly mutual funds, for which he receives quarterly statements showing how much he withdraws to live on, and also their total value. As there are no penalties for withdrawal and these are not taxable he could show their TOTAL VALUE as an asset to make up the income shortfall, correct? This would greatly exceed the shortfall x5 requirement for I-864a... Or could it be that we'd do better to document the amount he is withdrawing as 'income' to live off of- shown on the statements and as a distribution on his taxes? I have confused myself grossly and can't figure out what would be preferable way of showing that he more than meets the requirements...I assume that we would need to show his possession of the investment amounts with documentation of 6 months to a year (at least for I-864)...

Sorry for being a little clueless about Investments and the forms, but I'm just trying to find the simplest way to explain this to a very kind man who is trying to help me as much as he can and that I am confusing the more I try to explain and read the forms! Thanks to you and to anyone else who could shed light on something straightforward that I could tell him and prepare for.

Julie