Co-sponsor requirements

[JessicaSL 0]

I want to use my dad as a co-sponsor for the K1 visa (Australian fiance), he works a really good job, owns his house and has a lot of savings, but he could get laid-off at any point in the next year. If he does, he wants to go on unemployment for 6 months until he can retire. I'm a newbie freelancer and made just under the amount needed to sponsor on my own.

Say worst case scenario and my dad is on unemployment, but he has more than enough assets to cover the sponsorship, would he still work as a co-sponsor? Or would they deny my fiance because my dad is using unemployment benefits even though he owns his house and has good savings?
 

[Peot 161]

As far as I can tell, "savings" are a viable asset in determining finances. If your dad is retirement age, he might also have additional pension benefits, retirement funds, etc, to cite as well.

[JessicaSL 0]

He likely won't retire until a year or so after the interview, but even without retiring, he has enough of the other assets like house value, savings, life insurance, etc. I think I'm more worried about if they can deny him for using unemployment.

The reason I'm wondering is cuz of this on the Affidavit of Support info page: "....IF the US fiance has been on welfare or other
government benefits for a lifetime or has no plans to work actively, the consulate can still deny the visa based on
the likelihood that the foreign fiance will become a public charge. Just having a co-sponsor may not be sufficient.
An actual case has been documented wherein a fiance visa was denied because the petitioning fiance was on
government benefits and would not be working, even though the US fiance had two co-sponsors."

( Source: http://www.visajourney.com/content/support )

As the beneficiary fiance, I have never been on government benefits and my dad has worked at the same company for nearly 25 years, but they're laying a lot of people off lately, so he may have to go on unemployment for a little bit until he can access his retirement without penalties. 

[EG&XY 144]

8 minutes ago, JessicaSL said:

He likely won't retire until a year or so after the interview, but even without retiring, he has enough of the other assets like house value, savings, life insurance, etc. I think I'm more worried about if they can deny him for using unemployment.

The reason I'm wondering is cuz of this on the Affidavit of Support info page: "....IF the US fiance has been on welfare or other
government benefits for a lifetime or has no plans to work actively, the consulate can still deny the visa based on
the likelihood that the foreign fiance will become a public charge. Just having a co-sponsor may not be sufficient.
An actual case has been documented wherein a fiance visa was denied because the petitioning fiance was on
government benefits and would not be working, even though the US fiance had two co-sponsors."

( Source: http://www.visajourney.com/content/support )

As the beneficiary fiance, I have never been on government benefits and my dad has worked at the same company for nearly 25 years, but they're laying a lot of people off lately, so he may have to go on unemployment for a little bit until he can access his retirement without penalties. 

You overlooked the most important part there they are talking about people who have been on welfare their whole life and show no interest in finding a job. They are not talking about if someone got laid off and couldn't find a job for 6 months. You should be fine. You are working, you just need a little help getting over the threshold. This is why they have cosponsors. There is never any guarantee of what someone will do in the future all that they can do is look at what they have done and try to judge what would likely happen in the future. You are working, you likely will continue to work. Your father has been working, he likely will continue to do so, but he also has assets (savings, etc.) that can also be used to support if needed.

[JessicaSL 0]

3 minutes ago, EG&XY said:

You overlooked the most important part there they are talking about people who have been on welfare their whole life and show no interest in finding a job. They are not talking about if someone got laid off and couldn't find a job for 6 months. You should be fine. You are working, you just need a little help getting over the threshold. This is why they have cosponsors. There is never any guarantee of what someone will do in the future all that they can do is look at what they have done and try to judge what would likely happen in the future. You are working, you likely will continue to work. Your father has been working, he likely will continue to do so, but he also has assets (savings, etc.) that can also be used to support if needed.

Thanks for the reassurance! Yeah, according to that post, it sounds as though we should be okay, I just want to be extra sure and see if anyone has had problems or not.