Under what circumstances does a I-129 require an Affidavit of Support?

[marlaandalex 0]

My wife, the USC, and myself, the confused german, are living together in Ireland at the moment, both legal registered residents working full time and living together. We got married in Texas over a year ago, and have just started the process to move us back to her home town of Austin, TX.

But we have a question regarding the I-129F and the Affidavit of Support. Do we need one? We realise the answer is sometimes, but under what conditions?

The instructions for the I-864 mention that the sponsor has to have a US domicile address, which my wife, living permanently in Ireland, does not have. The instructions for the I-134 does not mention this requirement; can we submit the I-134 from Ireland, if necessary? If the I-134 does need a US domicile for the USC, should we begin preparing our Co-sponsor paperwork?

[pushbrk 13,120]

My wife, the USC, and myself, the confused german, are living together in Ireland at the moment, both legal registered residents working full time and living together. We got married in Texas over a year ago, and have just started the process to move us back to her home town of Austin, TX.

But we have a question regarding the I-129F and the Affidavit of Support. Do we need one? We realise the answer is sometimes, but under what conditions?

The instructions for the I-864 mention that the sponsor has to have a US domicile address, which my wife, living permanently in Ireland, does not have. The instructions for the I-134 does not mention this requirement; can we submit the I-134 from Ireland, if necessary? If the I-134 does need a US domicile for the USC, should we begin preparing our Co-sponsor paperwork?

Your wife will need to prove domicile in the USA regardless of the visa process. If the two of you are legally residing in Ireland, I would check into whether you can do a Direct Consular Filing. I expect you can. This would result in a CR1 visa quickly. Domicile in the USA can be established by showing a US bank account and/or perhaps a signed apartment lease. There are a number of options.

Specifically, an I-129F always requires an affidavit of support, not necessarily the I-134 but definitely not the I-864. What you are doing with any such affidavit is to show that the foreigner is not likely to become a public charge. Using the appropriate USCIS form is the easiest way to do that for most people.

I suggest you study the guides here. As you become more familiar with your options, I'm sure you'll have more questions.

[Yodrak 7]

marlaandalex,

A visa petition does not require an affidavit of support, a visa application may. An immigrant visa application will definitely require an I-864 affidavit, a K3 visa application will require an I-134 affidavit at the discretion of the consular officer.

Either way you might best be considering the underlying requirement - how are you and your wife going to support yourselves when you come to the USA? Be able to document your answer and take it from there.

Yodrak

My wife, the USC, and myself, the confused german, are living together in Ireland at the moment, both legal registered residents working full time and living together. We got married in Texas over a year ago, and have just started the process to move us back to her home town of Austin, TX.

But we have a question regarding the I-129F and the Affidavit of Support. Do we need one? We realise the answer is sometimes, but under what conditions?

The instructions for the I-864 mention that the sponsor has to have a US domicile address, which my wife, living permanently in Ireland, does not have. The instructions for the I-134 does not mention this requirement; can we submit the I-134 from Ireland, if necessary? If the I-134 does need a US domicile for the USC, should we begin preparing our Co-sponsor paperwork?

[Yodrak 7]

pushbrk,

No, it doesn't (leaving aside for the moment the issue of visa petition v. visa application and accepting for the sake of discussion that both marlaandalex and you mean the latter). An affidavit of support may be required at the discretion of the consular officer if a sponsor is required, and beyond that a sponsor is not necessarily required for a K visa.

marlaandalex should perhaps tell us a bit more about his financial situation, and if his savings are meager his wife should perhaps consider coming back to Austin ahead of him and get herself a job.

Yodrak

.....

Specifically, an I-129F always requires an affidavit of support .....

.....

[pushbrk 13,120]

Of course we are talking about the resulting visa application, not the I-129F itself. While it is possible a Consular officer may not ask for any affidavit for a K visa, one would be foolish to show up at the interview without some sort of documentation to satisfy the public charge concern. It does not have to be an I-134 but with the rare exception of one or two Consulates, it cannot be an I-864.

pushbrk,

No, it doesn't (leaving aside for the moment the issue of visa petition v. visa application and accepting for the sake of discussion that both marlaandalex and you mean the latter). An affidavit of support may be required at the discretion of the consular officer if a sponsor is required, and beyond that a sponsor is not necessarily required for a K visa.

marlaandalex should perhaps tell us a bit more about his financial situation, and if his savings are meager his wife should perhaps consider coming back to Austin ahead of him and get herself a job.

Yodrak

.....

Specifically, an I-129F always requires an affidavit of support .....

.....

[Yodrak 7]

pushbrk,

Of course one would be foolish to show up for a visa interview without some sort of documentation to satisfy the public charge concern. But that documentation can be with regard to the applicants own financial resources, in which case no sponsor (and therefore no affidavit) is required, which is rare, or it can be documentation that does not necessarily inclue an affidavit of support. Also rare, but just today I read a post here on VJ describing a visa interview where the applicant had the sponsor's income documentation but no affidavit of support and was approved.

Just because an affidavit of support is typically used with a K3 visa application it does not follow that "... an I-129F always requires an affidavit of support .....".

Yodrak

..... While it is possible a Consular officer may not ask for any affidavit for a K visa, one would be foolish to show up at the interview without some sort of documentation to satisfy the public charge concern. It does not have to be an I-134 but with the rare exception of one or two Consulates, it cannot be an I-864.

pushbrk,

No, it doesn't (leaving aside for the moment the issue of visa petition v. visa application and accepting for the sake of discussion that both marlaandalex and you mean the latter). An affidavit of support may be required at the discretion of the consular officer if a sponsor is required, and beyond that a sponsor is not necessarily required for a K visa.

marlaandalex should perhaps tell us a bit more about his financial situation, and if his savings are meager his wife should perhaps consider coming back to Austin ahead of him and get herself a job.

Yodrak

.....

Specifically, an I-129F always requires an affidavit of support .....

.....

Edited June 12, 2007 by Yodrak

[marlaandalex 0]

This is about to be really long, but it answers the questions asked in the previous posts and adds a bit more info and a few more questions.

As far as the dcf filing, they stopped it, at least for Ireland, in January, and reinstated it in march right after we sent off our paperwork. I dont know if we can switch back to the dcf filing now, or if it would be any benefit. I asked USCIS today and they didnt know. He referred me to the State Department and Im going to call them tomorrow. One annoying thing about not doing the DCF is that, the way mail is in Ireland, it often takes up to 3 weeks to receive anything from the states, so everything gets slowed down even more.

As far as our financial situation, both our savings are meager. However, Alex works for an American company and can easily get a position in the States with the same company. However, he wouldnt be able to apply for a postition in the States with an indefinite start date, which is what we would have using the I-129, and then the EAD. in fact he wouldnt be able to do it with the I-130 because until we received final approval, a start date would still be indefinite. which means i cant use his income as an addition to my sponsorship. which i dont mind because i can still use my parents to cosponsor.

I understand now that no matter what we file, or if we use a cosponsor, i have to establish a domicile. i found this

How can a petitioner establish a domicile?

When a sponsor has clearly not maintained a domicile in the United States, he/she will need to re-establish a U.S.
domicile in order for him/her to be a sponsor. The sponsor may make a number of steps to show that he/she 
considers the United States his/her principal place of residence. Examples of things he/she can do are given below:

   * Find a job in the United States
   * Locate a place to live in the United States
   * Register children in U.S. schools
   * Make arrangements to give up (relinquish) residence abroad
   * Other evidence of a U.S. residence

If the sponsor establishes U.S. domicile, it is not necessary for the sponsor to go to the United States before the 
sponsored family members. However, the sponsored immigrant may not enter the United States before the sponsor 
returns to the United States to live. The sponsored immigrant must travel with the sponsor or after the sponsor has 
entered the United States.

I can have a job and an apartment lined up. and i have maintained a us bank account, but it has ireland as my mailing address. should i change the mailing address now to my sisters address in austin? And would a letter from a manager saying there is a job waiting for me as soon as i return be enough to show finding a job?

I assume all this info would have to be shown at the interview. How long is it usually after the interview that we receive the visa, say if i want to secure an apartment while we are still here to establish domicile. i guess i would have to just set the date for job and the apartment sometime inthe future and hope we have received final approval by then?

regardless of whatever we figure out, i think we are going to scrap the I129, since we are together already anyway. I think it would financially be better to just wait for the I130 and avoid the AOS and the wait time for the EAD.

I spoke to uscis today and they said I just need to write a request for withdrawal. Does that have to be notarized (sorry, i forgot to ask uscis)?

I again apologize also for this ridiculously long post, but i would really appreciate any advise you could offer.

Thank you so much!

marla