Mdvivori

No Crazy Cat I don’t have assets. They all went bye bye with a heart attack, 2 month hospital stay, divorce and Cancer that together cost me my business. I didn’t fight the divorce bc I wasn’t supposed to survive heart surgery and fighting cancer but yet here I am. I always made good money so my SS Disability paid well. Now $38k. I’ve recovered and I’m cancer free and able to work. I have a new (3 year) loving wife and 2 stepchildren who I want to take home and give them the American Dream.

Crazy Cat, We are full of Hope and my Wife is burning up the Prayer line with God asking for Devine intervention. I’m Hoping, Praying and trying to determine alternatives. We are losing over $10k a month by not being in the USA. My income, hers and the children’s SS Benefits. This is incredibly frustrating now 21 days shy of 2 years since filing. if we have no alternative can we leave one child behind with family until we have a job(s)? Thoughts.

I believe that we would be approved for my wife and one child bc the income requirements are so much lower. I don’t know if that’s true, I’m asking for alternatives to a joint sponsor even though my current income, that the CO didn’t know about at the time, is above the required amount.

I don’t have a Joint Sponsor. My wife said the CO just looked at the income on the I-864 and said I needed a Joint Sponsor. She believes that if she had presented my Current Benefit Letter he would have accepted it. My only choices are to return and get a job or leave one child behind with the family for a month or two. Shoot she could make $40 or $50k a year as a temp Accountant on day one. I can make more. One child’s SS Benefit would be $15k beginning in 6 weeks after arrival. She is praying the Benefit letter is enough, I’m looking at all options.

I have a good friend I could ask but he lives in Mexico and is a Canadian Citizen.

Yes the new Benefit is 8.9% or over $3k higher than last year.

We don’t plan on living on $38k. That’s not feasible, I’d stay here where she makes 80k pesos a month and my net check is $2,980. She will easily make $60-$80k, my $38k SS and the Children’s Benefit of $30k+ annually. That’s $128k minimum before I work a day, maybe $148k or more depending on what she makes and still before I earn an extra nickel.

I’m positive I don’t have a Joint Sponsor. No living relatives.

No her Visa hasn’t been issued. They asked for a Joint Sponsor. We gave them my new Benefits Letter exceeding their minimum requirement. The Interview was June 7th, we couriered the new Benefit Letter on the 8th.

No, $38k, minimum at 125% is $37,500. When I submitted the original I-864 the minimum was just over $34k which at the time I exceeded. Now I exceede the new minimum.

If that is not an option is taking my wife and one child to the US a possibility as an interim step so that either me, my wife or both can get a job in the US. I’m full retirement age so I won’t suffer a SS reduction in benefits. We don’t want to leave on child behind but if it’s our only alternative we have no choice if they don’t/won’t recognize the children’s SS Benefit of $1,250 a month for each.

I just don’t get what you are saying. When I filed the I-864 my Income was enough. When the threshold was increased on March 1, 2023, my new SS Benefit beginning in December 2022 and paid starting in January was still higher than the minimum. Unfortunately my Wife didn’t show them the new Benefit Letter at the Interview but had it Couriered to the Embassy by their approved Courier. She didn’t send them a Joint Sponsor bc my income is sufficient. Am I hearing that even with the Gold Standard SS Income stream that exceeds US Immigration requirements they might still insist on a Joint Sponsor? I’m sorry but that doesn’t make sense. I don’t have a Joint Sponsor. I suppose I could go back to the USA and start a job or as distasteful as it sounds take my wife and one child for a few months until one of us is working and we’ve been paid. My wife has 5 siblings within 2 blocks of our current house where her mother 3 siblings and our Nanny will live. Thoughts on all of the above please.

No, we don’t want to live in Chicago. She gets cold at 70°. She is looking within the company in the Dallas, TX area and with a few other large companies who were her customers over the last decade with whom she has excellent relationships.

The totality of the Circumstances? My wife is a degreed Accountant with over a decade experience with a US Multinational, with a Letter of Recommendation.She makes tX the average Philippine salary. She’s already looking, both inside her current company and new opportunities. I have a 6 figure written job offer but I don’t think that matters in the totality of the circumstances.

Maybe it’s not a valid point or wise to bring up but my 2 stepchildren are entitled to SS Children’s Benefits amounting to over $2,500 a month combined until they graduate HS. That’s $1,250 a moth for each for the next 9 and 11 years plus Annual COLA’s if any. That money is for their benefit for Housing, Medical, Clothing, Food, etc. SEE SS Form-SSA-4-BK I’M CONCERNED AT THE REPLY THAT MY SS BENEFIT LETTER MIGHT NOT BE SUFFICIENT. WHY NOT?

My wife was too flustered to present my 2023 SS Benefits Letter at the time. She had just been told that the children should have been there. I have lived in the Philippines for 4 years as of tomorrow and my wife, who is an Accountant put together a binder worthy of praise but was first derailed by the misinformation from St Luke’s and then the insufficient Income Issue. Yes in a perfect world she could have just handed them my 2023 Benefits Letter. She feel terrible but we courted them the Letter on 06/08/2023 the day after the Interview.

Thank you for your response. I don’t have a Joint Sponsor but I do have a SS Benefits Letter for 2023, exceeding the New March 1, 2023, minimum HHS and USCIS requirement of 125% of the Poverty Guideline. I hope they don’t insist on a Joint Sponsor when I have the March 1, 2023 SS Benefits Letter showing I have more than the minimum income. Thoughts? Below you can see what I believe states in the US Travel website that if the Petitioner has enough income to qualify when the I-864 was filed then an increase in the guidelines wouldn’t effect the Sponsor. Regardless the 8.9% SS Increase beginning in December 2022, was enough to keep me above the new March 1, 2023 requirement. It’s a moot point but did the Embassy impose a requirement that doesn’t exist by asking for a Joint Sponsor when none was needed? My I-864 showed more than enough income when it was initially submitted in 2022. I’m really asking for those who follow as I’m fortunate enough to have the require income. “If the poverty guidelines change between the time the petitioner signed the Affidavit of Support and the issuance of an immigrant visa, must the petitioner/sponsor and joint sponsor, if required, submit a new Form I-864? No, the Form I-864 remains valid indefinitely unless evidence of failure to meet the poverty guidelines in effect on the date of I-864 filing arises. The consular officer will determine whether the income claimed by the sponsor and documented with financial evidence meets the poverty guidelines in effect at the time the I-864 was filed. If the income claimed does not meet the poverty guidelines, then the consular officer may request that the sponsor submit current year income information.”

Here we go again. I’m a US Citizen and the Sponsor for my Filipino Wife and 2 Stepchildren . My wife was just denied her and my Stepchildren's Visa’s because with the New Minimum Income Requirements as of March 1, 2023, my income was deemed insufficient and she was told I needed a Joint Sponsor. We originally filed our I-130 on June 30, 2021 and were approved on May 19, 2022. At the NVC in September 2022, we were informed our income which was previously adequate, was now insufficient so we uploaded my 2022, SS Benefits Letter which showed Sufficient Income for 2022. She was DQ’d in October 2022. Fast forward to her Medical Exam March 29, 2023, Wife flagged for TB. Further testing showed no infection. (Wife disclosed at Medical that she was diagnosed with TB and Treated with 6 month Course of Treatment over 6 years ago and deemed cured) Follow up Medical on May 29, 2023, Cleared Medical. Interview Date June 7, 2023, Income Insufficient! Required to provide Joint Sponsor. Fortunately my 2023, SS Benefit exceeds the new March 1, 2023, Minimum Required Income so we went home and updated our I-864, wrote a cover letter, and submitted it, along with her Passport to LBC for delivery to the Embassy. I thought I recalled reading that once DQ’d you weren’t subject to changes in the Minimum Income Requirement. Does anyone know if that’s true? Additionally, when my Wife went to her 2nd Medical Interview she stopped by the “US Embassy Visa Information Desk” at St Luke’s and was informed that our Children ages 7 and 9 yrs old were not required to be present for the Embassy Interview, bc they are under 14 yrs old. WRONG. If you are told this it’s just not true bc in a addition to providing my new Income verification letter we now have to reschedule the Children’s Interview. A needless delay. My wife feels terrible because she had my new SS Benefits Letter with her but was too shaken to remember she had it and feels totally responsible for not taking the children bc when she called me from St Luke’s I told her to double check. She did and even took a selfie with the person at the Information Desk but the Embassy Consular wasn’t moved. I’m writing this not so much for feedback, which I do want, but to alert my fellow Citizens of these potential stumbling blocks at the finish line.

They are 7 and 9 yrs old.

Unsurprisingly top_secret appears to be correct again! We logged in as you directed and my Stepsons appointment is still showing. I viewed the Appointment History and it is as it was when we first scheduled the Appointment. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Your feedback is incredibly helpful and alleviates unnecessary worry. Thank you and other top tier members who share their time and institutional knowledge.

We just received notification from the NVC that my Stepsons interview for June 7th was cancelled. No reason, no explanation. My wife and stepdaughter are scheduled at the same time for my Stepdaughter and an hour later for my wife. We called the Embassy help desk today and didn’t get an answer. I went online to the NVC question portal and inquired as to what was going on. Any thoughts?

We just received notification from the NVC that my Stepsons interview for June 7th was cancelled. No reason, no explanation. My wife and stepdaughter are scheduled at the same time for my Stepdaughter and an hour later for my wife. We called the Embassy help desk today and didn’t get an answer. I went online to the NVC question portal and inquired as to what was going on. Any thoughts?

There are 3 interviews. My wife and 2 stepchildren. My wife was DQ’d on October 14th, my kids were Dec 22 and Jan 19.

Thanks again.

My apologies, I just read the instructions Top_Secret sent me in his answer. My stepchildren do require the $220 Green card fee. Thanks. Now my only question is do they attend the Interview?