Hi everyone,
My name is Scott. I am a 40 something male from the U.S. in the process of a K-1 visa application trying to get my Pilipino fiancé to the United States.
We have a bit of a unique situation I think, and we need some help/advice.
We have hired a popular visa firm (I'll leave them unnamed) who is helping, and while they have been great so far... I have been getting conflicting information about the current topic both from them and other sources.
We are at the stage where I am filling out the I-134 form, and she is about to pay for and schedule the interview...
I am a single father of 3 kids, my oldest is 18 and works.
So already, I have a household of 4... 5 when including my fiancé.
So, depending on where you look... my household needs to make roughly $40,000-$45,000 at 125% poverty limit in order to support her.
I currently make $38,500 and my son makes $8,000-$10,000 a year. (Since he is 18 and working, I apparently NEED to claim his income in my household)
That puts us over the 125% limit as of right now.
However...
Issue #1 - I have only been at this job for 8 months and was unemployed for about 3 months prior...
My tax returns will not reflect my current income for the year and will likely put us back under the 125% limit.
So, to combat this, I decided to ask my father (retired) to co-sponsor.
He is married and has a household size of 2.
While his tax returns state he makes roughly $42,000 a year from his Social Security, this does not include his pension income which I think puts him in the $60,000 range...
Issue #2 - I am reading and getting conflicting information regarding how the USCIS calculates this.
I have read and assumed that the incomes and household are all added together to give you that final number...
In theory, we should have a household of 7 with roughly $100,000k of income.
Though, I have also seen that if you have a co-sponsor, they become the "main" sponsor and only their income is taken into account...
So, in essence... the households are combined, but the incomes are not.
In this theory, we have a household of 7, but only the cosponsors $60,000 will be counted...
Why would they add household sizes and not the total income...?
I have a hard time swallowing that information... So I REALLY need clarity on this...
Last, but not least...
Issue #3 - Yes, and before anyone points out that the embassy in Manila does not generally except co-sponsors...
my finance is currently working in Doha, Qatar.
The NVC did send the application to the embassy in Doha for her to interview there...
So, we have also read that a co-sponsor should be OK there, even if she's a Pilipino citizen, no...?
Since it sounds like it is specifically the embassy in Manila that does not accept co-sponsors, and not necessarily Pilipino citizens.
Thanks in advance for any advice.