Davethegoat

Hi all, my USC partner is currently on food stamp benifits etc for her children due to not getting any child mainenance of her ex. Once we get married and i am still in the UK applying for cr-1 will her benifits be affected? Thanks in advance.

Noorah101

Possibly. She should call them and ask.

Rene

Noorah101

Another thing to keep in mind, if her income is that low, make sure she has a way of fulfilling the I-864 Affidavit of Support requirements.

Rene

Rete

I don't believe her benefits are based on her non-receipt of child support but rather on her low annual income. Even if he paid say $50 a child per month in child support, she still might qualify for food stamps, rent supplements, etc. With her marriage, yes, it might change if social services sees that you are sending her money to help support her and the children. So depends on how you handle things.

The issue I see is if she calls Social Services and asks about what happens to the benefits after your wedding, both when you are living outside of the US and later when you are living and working in the US, it will be a red flag on the file for closer scrutiny by Social Services to monitor her financial situation.

I can speak knowledgeably about New York State in that regard as they often send workers to go through your home looking for evidence that someone else (in particular a man) is living there. If they find evidence, the benefits are cut and/or stopped.

Is this done in other states, I don't know.

Davethegoat

Thanks very much for replys, as far as being my sponsor, i will be saving alot of the money to make the cash assets requirements, ( have a $70,000 target to reach ).
Things are hard for her right now due to ex not paying her anything and trying to run a house and 3 kids so that is why she needs the support from benifits. As i need to reach my assets target i wont be able to send much from now on so not too worried about paper trial of money going into her account.
I will keep in mind the rest of the info and just try to avoid any forms which asks if she is married 😕. Just dont wont to make things harder for her.
Thanks again.

tom169

Surely if you're married then you can use your income to support your wife and lift her out of poverty.

You will be co-mingling finances and assets... Right?

Nutmegger

You can't complete any forms with regard to her sponsoring you for either the spouse or fiance visa until her divorce is final and she is free to marry you, so this is moot.

Davethegoat

Not nowhere near what i would like to as i have to save enough cash assets to meet the I-184. F her ex paid what he should be then she would be ok, that part should be sorted once the vourt get involved in a few months though we hope.

Davethegoat

Yes i know this, her devorce should be sorted within 8 weeks fingers crossed so then we can start the cr-1 process 😊

Noorah101

I'm not sure if you mean you have a total of $70,000 to reach, or if you mean you have $70,000 more to go until you reach the goal of $107,925.

It sounds like her household is made up of herself and 3 kids. Adding you in makes a household of 5. A household of 5 needs a total of at least $107,925 if using cash savings as an asset. See form I-864P for details. Also keep in mind that this figure goes up a little each year, so if the I-864 becomes due after April 2018 (highly likely), the amount needed will be a bit more.

Rene

Rete

Sorry if I come across poorly but having been divorced and with 2 children, I know from my experience with family court and divorce court for NY State.

My child support was handled SEPARATELY from the divorce proceedings. And this is the norm in Westchester County, New York State and it was becoming customary back then (1972) that child support was not sent to directly from the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent but through the court's probationary department and the custodial parent was told to immediately go to the local social service department and register there for benefits, even if you didn't want benefits or didn't qualify for benefits. Why?

As the judge said to me: Mrs. AlmostEx, I can guarantee you that your husband will stop sending you child support payments within six months of the court order. At that point you will have to hound him for the court ordered child support and you will have a difficult time getting it from him. By signing up for social service benefits, i.e. food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, you will never find yourself in that position. Since he will have to send his checks to the court and the court then sends it on to Social Services to reimburse them for the monies given you, we, the court, will go after him and we have a far better chance of recouping those funds.

Now I don't know if her child support payment is court ordered or just a verbal agreement between them or if it is similar to what I experienced. Hopefully, she has a smart attorney who knows how to work the system and can get his wages garnished for the amounts owed her for the support of her children.

The best of luck to her and the 3 kids.

Rete

I believe he is going to combine his assets with hers to make the required amount.

Noorah101

I'm replying to my own post because I went back and read the OP's other posts. It sounds like his USC girlfriend does have a job which in 2017 paid about $11,000 and is expected to go up in 2018. Therefore, it's not the whole figure that is being used for cash assets, but just to make up the difference in income.

Just wanted to correct myself.

Rene

Rete

Happy New Year, Rene

Davethegoat

Ues thats all correct.