Post-interview frustrations (affidavit of support)

[RPGwriter 2]

I'm very confused, and kinda panicking, even though I think there' probably not much to panic about.

My fiancee just interviewed in Stockholm. My father was our co-sponsor, but the case officer said it wasn't enough. But she said we could combine incomes from multiple co-sponsors! Which is VERY confusing, because so many people say that's not allowed.

Anyway, I e-mailed the embassy and they got back fast with responses to some questions. I've e-mailed them with a few more I wished I'd ask in the first e-mail, but until then, I'm kinda panicked and thinking about worst case scenarios.

So, my dad makes about $23,500 annually from earned disability. I e-mailed the embassy after the interview and they confirmed that disability counted. But the case officer apparently said something about the tax return saying Mom and Dad's joint account had only claimed a bit over $6000 in taxable income, and my fiancee seems to have gotten the impression that the case officer thought that's all the income they made! She may have overlooked my Dad's disability paper explaining his income. (I'm a bit frustrated that my fiancee didn't point it out and ask for more clarification.)

According to my fiancee, the case officer just said we needed to get more sponsors and combine the incomes to meet the thresholds, and it sounded like she didn't expect any big problems there. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that my fiancee didn't misunderstand on the "you are allowed to combine the incomes to beat the threshold" part, and that's really my chief fear. But embassies are allowed to set their own rules, correct? So it's plausible that they allow multiple co-sponsors to combine incomes? (Also, they expect 125% of poverty line, which is the i-864 requirement, which is something I _know_ my household beats by a safe margin.)

In the e-mail, they confirmed they were looking at 125% of the poverty line and expected a little under $30,000 for a family of four.

So, since we can combine incomes, apparently, my mom can send in an affidavit too. Mom made something like $11,000 last year, but it came in as a bit over $6000 after deductions. So, will they probably count that as $11,000, or $6000? If the former, then we're way over the line. If the latter, we'd need a third sponsor for like $1000-$2000 beyond that. Which is hardly insurmountable, assuming that we really can stack incomes like they apparently told my fiancee, rather than the conventional wisdom of "one single person has to make the threshold by themselves."

So, basically, I'm just kinda panicking right now, and need some reassurance, I think. It _is_ plausible that the embassy would say something like that, right? That we could combine incomes? I mean, the U.K. apparently lets people sponsor _themselves_, which other embassies don't do, so I guess they have a lot of leeway on how to interpret i-134 requirements per embassy, right? My household (me, mom, dad, and my fiancee once she gets here) will easily be able to make the i-864 requirements, so this whole thing came as a bit of a shock to me.

I think the thing was that we should have just sent my Mom's i-134 in as well, and then made sure my fiancee pointed out Dad's disability income clearly and asked clearer questions. I mean, if that's the issue, then we might have this resolved in a matter of _days_.

But there's still that voice in the back of my head saying that it's the end of the world and there's some kind of really obscure economic restrictions I don't understand and we're doomed and we'll never be able to live together long-term and blah blah blah. I really, really hate my mind sometimes.

Sorry for the long, panicky post.