Davexnet

Hello,
I'm a citizen. I filed for my wife's green card in Jan 99.
Last Monday was our interview. We went,
and represented ourselves. (no lawyer).
We were not granted the greencard because some of
our paper work was not in order. He essentially approved
us, but did not give us the stamp until we supply the things he wants.
We have to go back this Friday with the extra doc.

The first thing we need is a new medical, because the one we had
was greater than 15months old, and he turned it down.
New medical is taken care of.

But, I'm concerned because since the end of last year,
I've been unemployed, and so can not claim a
salary on form I-864 "affadavit of support"
I now have to try and get through with my assets.

Does anybody have ant advice on this.?

I plan to represent my 401k funds and house value as
assets and hope it works.

Dave

[email protected]

You can use the equity (value, less mortgage).
I don't know about the 401, since you can't liquidate it at will.
I believe you may be able to count unemployment in the income.

meauxna

Dave,
I have not been working since Oct2000 and just successfully submitted an I-864 based on assets (real estate and investment funds). Since I'm overseas at the moment, the only question I really got in our interview was "Are you going to get a job when you return to the States?"

MrT was right that you can add unemployment income in your total income side, reducing the amount you will need in assets (125% poverty minus income, balance x 5 for assets needed).

As always, if you feel unconfident about your situation, use a co-sponsor.

mca

Don't forget that for many people, it's not such a simple matter to "just find a co-sponsor."

mca

John

i had a question for meauxna. i am currently on unemployment as well and
may be filing my I-134 affidavit of support while still collecting
unemployment insurance. i see that you said you can add umemployment income
to your total income. where did you get this information? do you have a
link to a website or another source you could share with me?

from what i've read, i got the impression that collecting any type of
government assistance and/or being unemployed may impede your success, even
with a co-sponsor.

any ideas or thoughts on this?

thanks,

john
meauxna wrote in message
news:419585.1032430848@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Originally posted by Davexnet:
    > > Hello,
    > > I'm a citizen. I filed for my wife's green card in Jan 99.
    > > Last Monday was our interview. We went, and represented ourselves.
    > > (no lawyer). We were not granted the greencard because some of our
    > > paper work was not in order. He essentially approved us, but did not
    > > give us the stamp until we supply the things he wants. We have to go
    > > back this Friday with the extra doc.
    > >
    > > The first thing we need is a new medical, because the one we had was
    > > greater than 15months old, and he turned it down.
    > > New medical is taken care of.
    > >
    > > But, I'm concerned because since the end of last year, I've been
    > > unemployed, and so can not claim a salary on form I-864 "affadavit of
    > > support" I now have to try and get through with my assets.
    > >
    > > Does anybody have ant advice on this.?
    > >
    > > I plan to represent my 401 funds and house value as assets and hope
    > > it works.
    > >
    > > Dave
    > >
    > Dave,
    > I have not been working since Oct2000 and just successfully submitted an
    > I-864 based on assets (real estate and investment funds). Since I'm
    > overseas at the moment, the only question I really got in our interview
    > was "Are you going to get a job when you return to the States?"
    > MrT was right that you can add unemployment income in your total income
    > side, reducing the amount you will need in assets (125% poverty minus
    > income, balance x 5 for assets needed).
    > As always, if you feel unconfident about your situation, use a
    > co-sponsor.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Bill

Of course you can use retirement assets. They can be liquidated
immdediately as long as you pay the penalty and pay any taxes owed.

The rule is that your assets must equal five times the appropriate
poverty level based on the number of people in your household.


"[email protected]" wrote in message news:...
    > You can use the equity (value, less mortgage).
    > I don't know about the 401, since you can't liquidate it at will.
    > I believe you may be able to count unemployment in the income.

L D Jones

John wrote:
    > i had a question for meauxna. i am currently on unemployment as well and
    > may be filing my I-134 affidavit of support while still collecting
    > unemployment insurance. i see that you said you can add umemployment income
    > to your total income. where did you get this information? do you have a
    > link to a website or another source you could share with me?
    > from what i've read, i got the impression that collecting any type of
    > government assistance and/or being unemployed may impede your success, even
    > with a co-sponsor.

Unemployment benefit does not fall into this category

Mrtravel

Bill wrote:
    > Of course you can use retirement assets. They can be liquidated
    > immdediately as long as you pay the penalty and pay any taxes owed.

The thing is "IF" they can be liquidated.
You can't normally do this with 401K.

I can borrow up to half of mine, but that is a loan, not liquidation.
I can also get cash for things like foreclosure, education, or medical.

Davexnet

On Thu, 19 Sep 2002 13:24:48 -0400, L D Jones
wrote:

    >John wrote:
    >> i had a question for meauxna. i am currently on unemployment as well and
    >> may be filing my I-134 affidavit of support while still collecting
    >> unemployment insurance. i see that you said you can add umemployment income
    >> to your total income. where did you get this information? do you have a
    >> link to a website or another source you could share with me?
    >> from what i've read, i got the impression that collecting any type of
    >> government assistance and/or being unemployed may impede your success, even
    >> with a co-sponsor.
    >Unemployment benefit does not fall into this category
I get the impression that Unemployment Ins. is finer, but the anything
to do with "welfare" is not.
I'm not really sure of the difference - I assume the I-864 is all
about reassuring the officer that you're not immediately going
to go on welfare.
I'm a British ex-pat myself, US citizen now, I've been working in the
US since '84 - got laid of last year due the economy.
It's ironic, because this "difficulty" would never had arisen if we
had made it to the interview in a timely manner -
I was laid off 2 years 8 months after submitting wifes application!

Dave

meauxna

Um, yeah. And where did you grab the quotes from to attribute the 'just find a co-sponsor' comment to me? In no way was I as flip as to imply that.

Thanks for sharing.

meauxna

Hey there John,
First, I have no personal experience with the I-134, I skipped straight ahead to the I-864. Since the income documentation I submitted was my tax transcript, all my income, including unemployment, was included in my total income. It was not detailed, and I did not elaborate on the source of my income at my interview, except to say that I've been living on savings funds this past year (true).
Someone answered already about 'any type of govenment assistance'. Means-tested assistance is the concern of the Federal Gov't, primarily Welfare, Food Stamps and Medicare. Unemployment is a State Insurance Fund and your employer pays that money in your name whether you ever collect it or not. It is finite and based on the contributions you have made (how much you worked) over (typically) the past 3 years.

Employment, or 'employablity' *does* influence your success in approval. I was convincing enough in that I showed excellent income through 2000 and merely had to state that I had no income in 2001. It wasn't glaring out on paper as I was not yet required to file my return at the time of my interview. However, the interviewer said that she was not concerned about my ability to earn an appropriate wage, based on my income history and my field of work. She did want me to go get a job when we get back to the US!

The interviewer did clarify (read: warn me) that should something tragic happen to my husband, we would not be eligible for Medicare to cover hospitalization etc. She herself was unsure if the Gov't would pay for such care and then come after me (sponsor) for the funds, or refuse payment altogether. At any rate, Catastrophic Insurance coverage is now a priority for us.

mca

You're welcome, and it's called paraphrasing. That's the way it looked to me. My intent was not to portray you as negative, nor do I believe it did. A bit touchy, are we?

Have a great day!
mca

meauxna

"The art of communication lies not in speaking or writing to be understood, but rather in speaking or writing so as not to be misunderstood."
Leo Richard Turner

A worthy goal for us all.

Andy Platt

I'm not sure - I think 401(k) plans can be liquidated at any time but you
may pay huge penatlies in taxes (plus miss out on non-vested company
contributions) etc.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.
"mrtravel" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
t...
    > Bill wrote:
    > >
    > > Of course you can use retirement assets. They can be liquidated
    > > immdediately as long as you pay the penalty and pay any taxes owed.
    > The thing is "IF" they can be liquidated.
    > You can't normally do this with 401K.
    > I can borrow up to half of mine, but that is a loan, not liquidation.
    > I can also get cash for things like foreclosure, education, or medical.

Bill

You can easily roll the 401k over into an IRA and then pay the
penalties if you need to liquidate it. The things you are talking
about are if you do not want to pay the penalty and taxes.

mrtravel wrote in message news:...
    > Bill wrote:
    > >
    > > Of course you can use retirement assets. They can be liquidated
    > > immdediately as long as you pay the penalty and pay any taxes owed.
    > The thing is "IF" they can be liquidated.
    > You can't normally do this with 401K.
    > I can borrow up to half of mine, but that is a loan, not liquidation.
    > I can also get cash for things like foreclosure, education, or medical.