lansbury

Not sure how stringent the Embassy is these days, I got my visa in 2006. On the I-864 my wife submitted we showed the equity on our house in London which we were selling. That was by way of a mortgage statement showing what we owed, and a copy of the estate agents flyer to show selling price.

When we arrived in the States we immediately used the equity from our UK house to pay off our US mortgage, so that asset was no longer available as a US property is not an acceptable asset. There was no requirement to keep the asset available for a set amount of time.

stuwoolf

The retention of the "Asset" was something I wasnt sure about. I guess, to be sure, we can just leave that asset in the bank for a while.

Thanks again for your insight. Appreciated and grateful.

Enjoy your weekend🙂

S Folinsky

I am curious if the pension can be assigned a present value so as to constitute an “asset.” I don’t know, but I do wonder.

stuwoolf

Thanks for this.

My pension, from UK Ministry of Defence, is a life time award. It remains payable in USA.

Doubt has crept in. This response does seem to question an earlier response

​​​​
Does someone have a definitive answer?

lansbury

Remember you have to be able to raise the value of the asset, within 12 months I think it is. Are you prepared to cash out your pension if needs be, if its like my police pension that you would have to be before retiring and taking payments from it. Or will the Con Officer accept that you would cash it out.

Your pension will give you a guaranteed income each year, and that can be used on the I-864. Do you get the option of taking 25% tax free, that is certainly an asset on top of the income. My police pension, with the exchange rate at almost $2 to £1, was the first item on our I-864. We did list other assets just in case, and certainly were never questioned about what we had submitted.

Noorah101

If you get a monthly payment, that can be used as income.

If you can't take anything out at the moment, it my be used as an asset IF you are allowed to liquidate within 1 year.

Rene

stuwoolf

I dont understand the meaning of "cash out"?


Thanks for the responses.

I have been in receipt of an MoD pension for a number of years. It is paid monthly. The sum will remain in payment in USA. I can provide forms which are used to make my monthly pensuon payable to a US bank. We also have a cash sum, which with a multiplier x 3, easily covers any shortfall.

Does it look like this will suffice and can be used as an Asset for the purposes of i-864? If not, then a Joint Sponsor will be required.

Apologies if I am banging on an open door however you will understand the importance of this. Its all rather stressful and as you know, we must get the i-864 correct.

Grateful for your continuing advice and assistance.

Noorah101

It sounds like your monthly pension income plus your cash assets will be enough.

You could always bring a joint sponsor's I-864 package to the interview as a backup plan just in case.

Rene

stuwoolf

Thank you.

a back up plan sounds like a good idea🙂

lansbury

Mr F was saying you might be able to use the value of your pension pot as an asset. To do that you would have to be able to realize that asset by being paid its value. In other words you get all the money in your pension pot back (cash out).

US property is not accepted as an asset because even if sold some other form of housing has to replace it. It is assumed if push came to shove that it wouldn't be sold. I wonder if a Con Officer would feel a pension would not be cashed out either if it were offered as an asset, and therefore not accept it as such.

ETA - I've just noticed you are already in receipt of your pension, so if the same rules apply to yours as apply to mine, it cannot be cashed.

stuwoolf

Sincerest thanks for your further attempt at trying to make me understamd.

I must confess I remain confused. Why should there be a need to "cash out" my (or any) pension when it is payable (to me) monthly? It is payable monthly whether I am in UK or USA? Either way, it is a monthly income. Do the US Immigration people not view that as a monthly income?

Further apologies if I am being a bit thick!

Noorah101

The "cash out" only applies if you were not getting a monthly payment, but instead were trying to use the pension as an asset.

Rene

stuwoolf

Thank you.🙂

newy51

Hello all,

Firstly, I would like to say thank you to everyone that has given me any advice or answered any questions of mine on here. It's been very helpful along the way, even previous questions asked by other members, all in all keeping my brain from hurting even more than it already has done over the last few months.

Secondly, I have just been to my visa interview at the US embassy in London, applying for a CR1 spouse visa. I thought it would be nice to pass on my experience to others going through the same process that I have and maybe settle any last minute nerves.

My timeline;
I-130 filed - March 14th
I-130 Paid - June 9th
Received I-130 Approval - June 29th
Received LND number - Aug 12th
Medical - Sept 28th
Visa interview - Oct 7th.... APPROVED!!!!!!!!

The day of my interview, I arrived 30 minutes early (my appointment time was 1030), breezed straight through security (no queue at all) and straight up to the first floor. After 5 minutes my number was called up to the documents window, gave the lady everything she asked for and then was informed to pay the visa fee at the cashier window and to take a seat again and wait for my number to be called again. She advised I might be waiting a while. There were about 10 people in the waiting room. After 10 minutes, my number popped back up on the screens asking me to proceed to the next window... My initial thought was S*** what have I missed, only to be nicely surprised to a very polite man handing me back all my original documents. He asked me a few questions, how I met my wife, where I was planning on living, plans for work once I arrive. That was me, walking out of the embassy with a spring in my step and a smile that I'd never seen before!! I was amazed at how quick and efficient the processing was and very impressed with the professionalism of all the staff.

My passport and visa package are availed for collection today at the pre arrange collection point, which again is a lot faster than the advisories. I do understand that my timeline turned out to be rather quick because of the current situation with COVID.

Me and my wife did all the work for the whole process, so if I can do it, I believe anyone can! PMA is a must. If anyone has any questions, I will be more than happy to try and answer them.

Again, thanks everyone, you're all AWESOME!!

stuwoolf

Thanks for sharing🙂 Were you told of the approval at your interview?

Good luck.