Concerns about the I-134...

[Queen Jenn 0]

my thoughts to you is DON'T WORRY SO MUCH. (I know what you're feeling because I worry too much, too). As long as you have a co-sponser and meet the income requirements, you should be ok. The government just wants to know that the foreign individual won't become a public charge.

Just make sure you get all the supporting documents from your co-sponsor(s) and you'll be fine. Poor people fall in love all the time.

[pushbrk 12,886]

So the time has come, we just received the oh-so-wonderful NOA2 which means it's time to move forward.

Well, now it is time to face my concerns over the I-134, the affidavit of financial support.

I am a college student, 21. I am, essentially, broke. I used to have a job with a furniture store, but was laid off. I had only worked there for about 5 months as it was. I now have a job with the university, but again, it doesn't pay a whole lot.

I know that you can have co-sponsors if you don't meet the requirements. I've had both of my parents say they can and will sign one to help show their support for my her. Both of my parents make decent money, my father about $50k a year, my mother, roughly $60k. They are divorced, so it's not like we have one household with over $100k a year.

My brother is going to be living with my mother, and I with my father, at least for the time being. So $50k for two people is definitely well above the poverty line.

I am concerned, because, quite frankly, I look rather pathetic as a 'sponsor'. I have next to no money, no good paying job, and absolutely no assets to fall back on save for my truck really, and even that is worth diddly in the grand scheme of things.

Let's say, all three of us fill out one of these things. We have two well-off individuals with a son who's getting married who has little to no money of his own. Will the fact that I am incredibly poor yet have two people willing to put their well-being on the line, with the money to back it up, matter to the embassy?

I mean, I imagine that the government isn't really in the business of going, for example, "Sorry we don't think you're fit to marry because you aren't doing things in a traditional way / you're too young, try again later". My parents have pledged to give her and I a place to stay until we can get out on our own. Both of them on their own have sufficient income to support themselves, myself, and my future wife.

It is not as if I am completely, 100% dependent on my parents. I pay bills, I have responsibilities. I am just not making 5 figures a year because being a full-time student is not compatible with making that kind of money at this point in my life. I am not able to pay my own rent yet, but hope to be able to within a year or two's time. With the help of my fiance, who will bring several thousand dollars into the US, and will be able to work full time, we will be able to get going relatively soon.

So, without any judgment, without any pre-disposed opinions about how young I am or how I may or may not be in the best position to do this.

If my family and I collectively submit 3 I-134's with more than enough income and support between the three of us to support one foreign fiance, will that matter to the government(s)? Will it matter that on my personal I-134, I will have practically nothing to show for myself, with next to nothing in the bank, with a job that I have barely been at, when both of my/her co-sponsors definitely have the assets?

Part of me almost thinks I am worrying too much, but maybe I am not worrying enough either.

We have this all planned out in our minds, and barring some catastrophe, there is no worry that she will become a public charge. I just don't want any government to look at our documents and particularly, me, from afar, and think I am out of my mind and therefore not fit to do what I am doing.

To anyone who actually read through this, and replies without even thinking of trying to impart any parental-like 'wisdom' on me simply because you're actually older than me and have a job, etc, I appreciate it.

Since your parents aren't in the same household, only one of them is needed. Sounds like either qualifies, so I'd go with the one you live with if it matters at all.

[thejoz 0]

Okay, I have been reading over the I-134, and now have new concerns and questions:

*The form asks for annual income. I have not worked any job for a full year since 2002, and even then, that was only part time. The problem with my job now is that it is federal work-study, and therefore, does not pay any 'annual income'. It will simply pay me what I was awarded, in increments, till I bleed it dry, to the tune of $2400. Once that's gone, I can't get any more money from this position, at least for this semester.

What exactly should I list for "annual income" since, quite frankly, I don't make any "annual income"? It's not that I make no money, I just don't have any set "You make $xxx/year" type of money. If my other job had not laid me off, I could perhaps have put that down and just rounded and figured it out, but since they chose not to keep me, I can't really do that.

*One of the questions asks if you intend or do not intend to make specific contributions to the beneficiary in question. If I was actually to mark "do not intend", would that raise any red flags/seem to be cause for denial?

My co-sponsor is planning to provide room and board, so that's taken care of. The idea is that after she gets here, and gets EAD (or whatever else authorizes her to work) she'll work full time somewhere, and...well I don't want to say support herself, but basically she will. I am not wholly dependent on my family (though they might tell you otherwise) because I pay my own personal bills, I just can't pay rent or anything yet.

While I figure I would give her money as needed, I don't plan to have any set schedule of giving her money. Quite frankly, until she gets her own bills, she won't have to pay anything anyway. And by the time she does, she should be working as it is. So therefore, I mean...she's going to be provided for, room and board, that's a given. If I put that I don't have any 'specific' contributions to make (cause I really don't), will that matter? Keep in mind, my co-sponsor definitely exceeds the income requirements, and I mean, he's gonna let her/us live here for free (or basically free). What more would they really need to know in order to be satisfied that she's not going to become the dreaded public charge?

Thanks.