Free US immigration self-help guides, example forms, community discussion, case tracking & estimated approval dates!

My wife has her immigrant visa (IR-1) interview at a U.S. consulate in about two weeks, and I m getting anxious about how a sudden change in my employment might affect the Affidavit of Support (I-864).

Background

• Wife: 36 years old, Chinese citizen, unemployed for several years, still learning English. No children yet.

• Me: 33 years old, U.S. citizen. I ve been on a postdoc fellowship from an Israeli university for the past two years. My fellowship has been extended for the current academic year (Fall 2025), and I m applying for academic jobs in the U.S. for the following academic year (Fall 2026).

• Financials:

  • U.S. bank account + short-term T-bills (6 weeks): ~$83K

  • Israeli bank account: ~$10K

  • Wife s Chinese bank account: ~$20K

Additional note on domicile

Even though my postdoc appointment is from Israel, I ve actually worked remotely for most of the past two years because of various extended visits. Over the last year, I spent roughly six months visiting a U.S. university, three months in Israel, and three months visiting my wife in China, and I filed and paid state taxes for the most recent tax year. Because of this ongoing presence and continued ties, I believe I still meet the U.S. domicile requirement for the Affidavit of Support. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

The issue

Due to the current risk of an Iran Israel conflict, I m considering not returning to Israel. However, due to stricter policy now, my university requires me to return in person soon; if I don t, my appointment will be terminated. They told me I have to make this decision within the next few days which is before my wife s visa interview.

If I lose the postdoc due to safety concerns, how will that affect my ability to meet the Affidavit of Support requirements?

My understanding so far

The official I-864 guidelines say that a sponsor needs income of at least 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a household of two, which is $26,438 for 2025. If income is below that level, the sponsor can use assets equal to 3 the shortfall, up to $79,314 if income is zero. Based on that formula, my available assets should technically be sufficient.

My concern

I ve heard that under the current administration, consular officers may exercise more discretion regarding financial stability and the risk of the immigrant becoming a public charge. I m worried that a sudden job loss (even if caused by safety/political circumstances) could be interpreted negatively at the interview.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, or does anyone know how consular officers view substantial assets vs. interrupted employment? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I received an interview notice by USCIS for my I-130 case marriage based consular processing. This was after an RFE response. However, my wife lives overseas so I don't understand why USCIS wants and interview with me the petitioner if this case is not an adjustment of status. Has anybody seen something like this before?

My fiancee and I are at the final step prior to scheduling interview. We completed the DS-160 and registered on the https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-us/countries_list/niv webpage. We can not figure out how to pay for the Santo Domingo, DR page for the K-1 Visa and when we try to schedule interview says "system busy try again later". It has been 2 weeks getting same error. Please help.

As of Nov 2025 the I130 processing times on the USCIS website is around 17 months and processing time for 129f is 10 months. I know in past K-3 was thought to be useless to apply, as in most of the cases I130 would get approved before k-3.

But as now with I130 time being greater than K-3, wouldn't K-3 should be useful now ?? Any thoughts ?

My wife has to travel for the interview/biometrics i noticed it was a 2 day wait, my question is what is the furthest it can done, our plan was she has to travel a month before for her physical then back for interview but i seen its at least a two day wait to do Biometrics, can we do them when she is there for medical