Info about "Public Charge" (if using sponsor)

[<3T&M<3 217]

Anyone using a sponsor?

I ran across this (sorry if I post in wrong forum) and it is pretty informative about what a public charge is:

 

https://www.nilc.org/issues/economic-support/pubcharge/

[Roel 7,192]

Thousands of people are using a co-sponsor just fine.

[<3T&M<3 217]

59 minutes ago, Roel said:

Thousands of people are using a co-sponsor just fine.

Okay.... not sure of your direct point.

However, not many of us know the logistics on what defines a "Public Charge" in the eyes of the government and what benefits sponsors will have to repay versus will not have to repay.

This is information no one tells you. It isn't cut and dry.

[mc962 55]

https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge

My understanding is that it is someone who will need to use government benefits/welfare because they do not have enough assets/income for support, with the idea/theory being that such people would come into the country/state, and drain public resources when they were never able to support themselves to begin with. 

I think there are general 'numbers' that people like to go by, depending on what you use to qualify. From what I remember (and confirm this, as I'm not quoting any definitive statistics), it is preferable to have at least twice the federal poverty level (around 16k I think) if sponsoring someone (for K1 visa at least) using income, and three times that if using cash/liquid assets. I think this is higher when doing I864 for CR1 visa or AOS. But definitely do more checking on this, as I'm not sure about it.

It really isn't cut and dry, because I think it's up to the person adjudicating the case to decide if the person you are sponsoring will be a Public Charge. But in the end, I like to look at it more as having to convince someone that I have more than enough assets to support the person I'm sponsoring (or that your co-sponsor is sponsoring). There are also some notes on the link above about what benefits would automatically be considered 'Public Charge' type of benefits, such as TANF for example.