Filing Expedite for Job Loss

[SteveInBostonI130 3,483]

16 hours ago, Tasty said:

Hi all,

 

First-time poster here, and I’m very happy to find this community. We all know about the recent pushback in dates due to delays at USCIS for the K-1 visa, and it has me seriously considering trying to file for expedite in a few months.

 

Here’s my situation:

 

Fiancee and I have been together for 3 years, living together for 2.5, and engaged for about 2 years. We met when she was managing her family’s restaurant. It’s a super-cute story, but I’ll spare you the details😅

I filed an I-129f and received NOA1 on June 18th, 2021. 
 

My employment contract as a teacher in the beneficiary’s home country (Cambodia) is finished on June 31st, 2022. The school can’t renew my contract because they need someone who is able to stay the full year, so I am out of work as of July 1st, 2022. My school and I are on very, very good terms. They understand the situation and have told me they are willing to both provide character references and documents stating the reason that they aren’t able to continue my employment.

I am the only one currently able to financially support my fiancée here in her home country, and I really do not want to have to leave her here just to go back and work in the US without her. I have plans to take a couple of courses and start work as soon as she and I get to the US, so support won’t be an issue. Knowing that alone won’t be enough for the me to establish enough support, I also have full support from my parents on the Affidavit of Support. They make roughly 3-4x the minimum household income required, so that shouldn’t be an issue. 
 

I see on some of the gov’t webpages that job loss could be a possible reason for expedite as a Severe Financial Loss or something similar(?), and I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with this, or could give me some perspective as to my possible chances of being approved for it. One of my parents has a relationship with our local congressperson who I would be filing this request through, in the hopes that it will actually get looked at/considered.
 

Thanks so much for reading, and double thanks for any help or advice🙏
 

-Eric (Tasty)

 

I see two issues with the expedite request you are contemplating.

 

1.  Loss of your overseas job is not a factor.  You will need to establish residency in the US at or before your fiance immigrates and provide an affidavit of support (I-134) when your fiance is interviewed at the embassy/consulate.  In that document, you will need to show qualifying US income - either income from a US job or income from an international job that will continue when you move to the US.  Or significant assets in liew of income.

 

3.  For a K1 visa, the immigrating fiance cannot work until after marriage and after receiving an EAD.  Therefore the approved K1 fiance would be an additional financial burden to the USC.  An expedite would be detrimental to the financial situation, especially when factoring the costs of moving the fiance to the US and applying for AOS/EAD/AP.  

 

[Redro 4,612]

8 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

I agree.  OP, why did you choose the K-1, if you are living together overseas?  CR-1 would have made much more sense.

 

Do you realize that if she is approved for the K-1 and comes here, she will not be able to work or travel for 8 months?

Getting married in Cambodia is fairly difficult. 

 

[SalishSea 18,126]

14 minutes ago, Kor2USA said:

Getting married in Cambodia is fairly difficult. 

 

They could easily do it via the Utah option while over there.

[Redro 4,612]

1 hour ago, Jorgedig said:

They could easily do it via the Utah option while over there.

Agreed. 

OP probably didn't know Utah was an option in June (and probably doesn't know about it now). 

I only found out about it in August/September after I started frequenting US immigration groups on Facebook and reading posts on VisaJourney. 

 

P.S There is no June 31st  and OP hasn't lost his job. His contract in Cambodia is ending in 5 months and he has advance warning of when he will no longer be employed. He is choosing not to stay on at his school. And he is choosing to not look for another job in Cambodia. 

 

It's not a valid reason for expedite as quite a few couples filing from overseas experience this situation and usually the US citizen moves back to the States before the interview occurs or they stay in country and stop working (to show proof of intent to re-establish domicile in the US). 

 

Even DCF couples can have a brief period of separation because the US spouse has to return to the States before the process is complete. 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Kor2USA

[Tasty 0]

1 hour ago, Kor2USA said:

Agreed. 

OP probably didn't know Utah was an option in June (and probably doesn't know about it now). 

I only found out about it in August/September after I started frequenting US immigration groups on Facebook and reading posts on VisaJourney. 

 

P.S There is no June 31st  and OP hasn't lost his job. His contract in Cambodia is ending in 5 months and he has advance warning of when he will no longer be employed. He is choosing not to stay on at his school. And he is choosing to not look for another job in Cambodia. 

 

It's not a valid reason for expedite as quite a few couples filing from overseas experience this situation and usually the US citizen moves back to the States before the interview occurs or they stay in country and stop working (to show proof of intent to re-establish domicile in the US). 

 

Even DCF couples can have a brief period of separation because the US spouse has to return to the States before the process is complete. 

 

This is correct, I had no idea about the Utah option. It’s incredibly difficult and expensive for foreigners to marry Khmer in-country, as previous poster said, hence why we didn’t go that route. 

 

 So the message is clearly received that it will not be a valid reason for expedite. Not even gonna bother filing for it then, as I don’t need to clog up the pipeline with an invalid reason. Appreciate all the feedback! Saved me some wasted effort.

 

I could ask my employer to extend my employment another month for summer school and use that to fund rent for at least another 4 months from August 1st, and just move to one of the cheaper provinces while we wait for processing. I’m positive they would love to keep me on as long as possible and would agree to it. I just don’t want to commit to another full semester if I can help it. When it’s time to go, I wanna just go. I can live off of savings for at least another 6 months to a year while I would be out here, but that money was supposed to be for when we got back to the US.
 

I can’t imagine it would take longer than October or November to acquire the visa if I somehow had NOA1 by July, since to my knowledge there is not a huge backlog at Phnom Penh US Embassy.

 

To address the questions in the thread about meeting income requirements after job loss (which wouldn’t matter since it’s international income anyway and doesn’t apply), my folks will be filing the Affidavit of Support as a sponsor for the Visa, and make way more than enough to meet the income requirements as mentioned earlier in my post, and will be funding a portion of this expedition home if my savings begins to run dry. 

 

I’m also not too worried about visa denial, as we are very open and public about our relationship and can definitely prove our sincerity beyond a reasonable doubt.

All in all, I’m not too worried about waiting here until even the end of 2022, as my visa will be extended till June of 2023 and I have enough savings to live. Just didn’t wanna spend it on living expenses😅

 

So do I have a decent shot at getting NOA1 in May? Or is it looking like it could be July? What’s the likelihood that it gets pushed back again, according to current trends? I’m still a bit ignorant about all the data points, sorry🙏

 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Tasty

[SalishSea 18,126]

3 minutes ago, Tasty said:

This is correct, I had no idea about the Utah option. It’s incredibly difficult and expensive for foreigners to marry Khmer in-country, as previous poster said, hence why we didn’t go that route. 

 

 So the message is clearly received that it will not be a valid reason for expedite. Not even gonna bother filing for it then, as I don’t need to clog up the pipeline with an invalid reason. Appreciate all the feedback! Saved me some wasted effort.

 

I could ask my employer to extend my employment another month for summer school and use that to fund rent for at least another 4 months from August 1st, and just move to one of the cheaper provinces while we wait for processing. I’m positive they would love to keep me on as long as possible and would agree to it. I just don’t want to commit to another full semester if I can help it. When it’s time to go, I wanna just go. I can live off of savings for at least another 6 months to a year while I would be out here, but that money was supposed to be for when we got back to the US.
 

I can’t imagine it would take longer than October or November to acquire the visa if I somehow had NOA1 by July, since to my knowledge there is not a huge backlog at Phnom Penh US Embassy.

 

To address the questions in the thread about meeting income requirements after job loss (which wouldn’t matter since it’s international income anyway and doesn’t apply), my folks will be filing the Affidavit of Support as a sponsor for the Visa, and make way more than enough to meet the income requirements as mentioned earlier in my post, and will be funding a portion of this expedition home if my savings begins to run dry. 

 

I’m also not too worried about visa denial, as we are very open and public about our relationship and can definitely prove our sincerity beyond a reasonable doubt.

All in all, I’m not too worried about waiting here until even the end of 2022, as my visa will be extended till June of 2023 and I have enough savings to live. Just didn’t wanna spend it on living expenses😅

 

So do I have a decent shot at getting NOA1 in May? Or is it looking like it could be July? What’s the likelihood that it gets pushed back again, according to current trends? I’m still a bit ignorant about all the data points, sorry🙏

 

 

I think you mean NOA2, which is the petition approval. Petition processing times do not fluctuate by country.  USCIS published current processing times are 9-12 months, so you could have another 5 or so months to wait on that.

 

Have you checked the Cambodia portal for timelines of others going through that consulate?  The real variable with the K-1 is the timing to get from an approved petition to an interview.  

[Tasty 0]

3 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

I think you mean NOA2, which is the petition approval. Petition processing times do not fluctuate by country.  USCIS published current processing times are 9-12 months, so you could have another 5 or so months to wait on that.

 

Have you checked the Cambodia portal for timelines of others going through that consulate?  The real variable with the K-1 is the timing to get from an approved petition to an interview.  

Correct, NOA2, was typing on mobile and was thinking/typing too fast, sorry. 
 

I haven’t checked that portal, I’ll take a look for it, cheers.