I-134 For Usa K1 Fiance Visa: Dad As Initial (sole) Sponsor?

[greenwanderer108]

Living in Thailand since 2002. Have small job-financial history here, but I guess all that means squat for migrating to the USA.

For the sake of my 18 month old son, want to get back to the states as soon as possible. When I do go back, want to go as a family--son has passport, mom is still Thai (together for 3+ years but still unmarried). Don't want to leave my son here in Phuket raised by his grandparents (Please see my thread on family forum for specific reasons) for extended period while his mom works and I try to find some kind of job back in the USA while suffering through the visa process-- separated from my family for who knows how long.

My dad and other family who are well above the 125% poverty requirements with sufficient income-assets would surely be my sponsor in writing and literally while we got life sorted out safely in the USA... but I can't seem to find anything saying that it's okay for anyone other than the actual fiance (me) to act as primary-sole sponsor for the sake of the visa application. The most I could find is certain petitioners working part time already in USA with at least US Tax returns to show along with an extra I-134 from their parents / relatives as co-sponsor in combination to meet the 125%poverty mark.

Being I've lived in Thailand all this time, I haven't any tax returns or any current US income to even fill anything on the I-134, I might be able to show some pay stubs of freelance work I've done here in Thailand and show Thai bank statements of consistent deposits in my bank account here, but I doubt that would mean anything since it's not guaranteed income from US-side. So anyway, will I just be laughed and rejected if my I-134 was sponsorship info of my dad and nothing from me?

I do remember something about applying directly for an immigrant visa (green card) via Bangkok USCIS office as a legal residence (does being a dual Thai national count as being a resident???), but even that is unclear whether others income and sponsorship on the I-864 affadavit of support.

I know that once I got to the USA, with my family at my side, living in my dad's house initially, I'd eventually get a job/income to take on the burden and readjust to the states, but prospects of getting a job remotely from Thailand are very slim, and like I said, separating from my family first is out of the question.

Thanks in advance,

Edited October 11, 2007 by greenwanderer108

[Archa]

Having your dad sponsor her should work fine, so long as:

1) They've met in person within the last couple years.

2) They're not getting married for the sole purpose of getting her into the US.

and 3) She marries him within 90 days of entering the US.

Just kidding. You want your father to be a joint sponsor:

from http://www.uscis.gov/...

Can anyone else be a sponsor?

INA section 213A permits both a "joint sponsor" and a "substitute sponsor" in certain cases.

Who can be a joint sponsor, and when is a joint sponsor allowed?

If the visa petitioner's household income is not sufficient to meet the requirements of INA section 213A and 8 C.F.R. § 213a, INA section 213A permits a joint sponsor to sign an affidavit of support, in addition to the affidavit of support signed by the visa petitioner. A joint sponsor is someone who is willing to accept legal responsibility for supporting your family member with you. A joint sponsor must meet all the same requirements as you, except the joint sponsor does not need to be related to the immigrant. The joint sponsor (or the joint sponsor and his or her household) must reach the 125 percent income requirement alone. You cannot combine your income with that of a joint sponsor to meet the income requirement.

But on that page it looks like that's only if you are already married and are filing an I-130. Logically, seems like it should work for fiances too...

And according to some of these Google search results, it seems like it should work for you.

[mellow1]

Reading your post I sympathize with your plight.About 13 yrs ago when I first met my wife, I wanted to bring her to the USA prior to getting married. I wanted for her to have the opportunity to judge for herself if she could be happy there. I tried for a fiance as well as tourist visa. The Embassy told me straight out, no way. After we got married, I filed papers with immigration, where I had to disclose assets, income, job, military service,etc... You need to be pretty well settled in order to bring a Thai wife to the states. Unless she has a good job, decent property, and income assuring the US government that she will return to Thailand after a vacation she won't even be issued a tourist visa.

The only way I can foresee her getting into the States, would be if you were to establish yourself there along with your son, and getting it together enough to show you will not become a burden upon the taxpayers. I believe getting married first will probably be a plus. After, you get yourself together and can show a record of someone who works everyday, got a place to live, can support his wife and son, you should be able to get your wife over there to be reunited with her husband and son. I doubt very much that if you show the effort and do the walk, the USA would deprive an American husband and son to be for ever separated from wife and mother. Hopefully for your sake America will not adopt the Thai rules of her having to have 400K or 800K in the bank or an income of 40,000Baht/MO or 65,000Baht/MO from Thailand in order for her to qualify for her stay.

This is what other immigrants( in your case and your son's, you are Americans) did which I have known in the past. They worked established themselves, did the paperwork and brought over their loved ones. If they can do it, it should be a breeze for you, seeing as you have, a well enough to do family, there in place. This is the best advise I can come up with. Hopefully you will check with the people in charge of these matters at the US Embassy, and keep in mind of what I have told you, of others accomplishing this, and how. Good luck to you, I would start today if I were you.

[greenwanderer108]

thanks for trying, but afraid I know all this info already

@archa, the information you posted above is specifically for the I-864, which is only relevant when applying for Adjustment of Status, usually folks who already got the visa and are in USA already, as you kind of pointed out.

I was looking for k1 (I-134) specific, which I've already read/known that a joint sponsor is possible, but I want to know to what extent. i.e. Can a joint sponsor be sole sponsor?--in cases like mine where I don't have a US job or assets in my own name, etc. i.e. for students overseas who get married etc. So what about in cases of a rich family that the petitioner in question didn't really have to work and thus didn't have an income in the states? I assume just assets in his/her name would be sufficient for the form...but would be happy to hear otherwise.

@ mellow, that's too bad about your initial rejections, b1 is clear-cut for such rejection-- hardly ever hear of a boyfriend/girlfriend of an American citizen getting that one unless it was unknown to the embassy or they were really affluent with absolutely no reason to go around the immigration process via a B1. From what I'm reading, K1 seems a whole lot smoother than K3, and doesn't seem so bad figuring a joint sponsor (relatives/family) is allowed, simply unclear as to what extent.

Was kind of hoping for someone else who has been in the exact same situation to me or similar as far as relying completely on sponsor during application. Already spent all day reading the laws and rules, but have found no case yet that the petitioner had 0 income or assets stateside and used a relative sponsor 100 percent for the I-134 and I-864 likewise at AOS...

Edited October 11, 2007 by greenwanderer108

[sbk]

Me, but a very long time ago ...

When my husband and I first got married I had recently finished University and had lived out of the country for about 2 years. My parents and I sponsored my husband. they showed tax returns, letters from employers, house ownership, I showed my old tax returns but as I had been a student obviously my income was negligible. Since I did not have any kind of residency in thailand at the time we applied through LA (my parents were living in CA at the time). In due time, my husband received his green card. Be aware, this was about 17 years ago. But, at least back then, it was possible but we were already married when we applied.

[johnnynmonic]

My experience with this (spouse visa, but same forms I believe):

I had zero income to report for the last three years, but I filled out the form as sponsor, just put zeros in the blanks for my income. Then my dad and mom were joint sponsors. Worked out just fine. But I hadn't filed my tax return those three years either, so I just attached a letter explaining why. Went off without a hitch. Took the standard year or so to process, but the sponsorship part was fine, just don't forget to fill in ALL of the blanks, and N/A the ones that dont apply.

Good luck!

Eric

[johnnynmonic]

oh, one more thing - that was in 2006, so you should be fine if I was...

And... don't worry, if you get something wrong, they send it back and ask you to resubmit the form, with a note explaining what you did wrong.

Edited October 14, 2007 by johnnynmonic