xSerephine

I'm a US Citizen, who is about to graduate and finish university in May. I'm an international student in the UK (2016-2019) and I've been with my boyfriend for about 2 years in July. My bf is a British citizen. We met in person and have lived together for about a year now. I've gotten a job offer at the states which starts in June this year! Basically, we are planning on getting married and our plan was for me to petition him when I'm back in the states.


We decided to do the K-1 visa process and I have a few questions regarding the requirements:

1) Apparently, I'm supposed to eventually fill out the Affidavit of Support Form I-134 and one of the requirements was to submit a "statement of employer showing date and nature of employment, salary paid, and whether the position is temporary or permanent." - My question is, I have the company contract in PDF which contains all the details they are asking, such as nature of employment, date, the salary they are paying me, etc. Is it possible to just print out this contract and show it as proof? Or do I really need to ask my employer personally for a letter?

Also, the uscis website doesn't say where I have to file the affidavit. Do I give the forms to my bf or what? The website info for the I-134 form doesn't talk about where to file it.

*additional note: The new job pay is BIWEEKLY of 2k+ and annual income around 70k+ so I think I pass the income requirement. The only person I'm supporting is the bf. Will putting this info on the affidavit be enough or do I need a sponsor as well?


2) Since I was a student for the past three years, I wasn't required to pay taxes. Also, I was studying in the UK during that time. However, I did have a job for a year in the UK (in 2018) while I was a student. Does the Affidavit of Support really require me to submit the 3 most recent years of tax returns?? I don't have any and I'm not sure how to explain this.


3) I have money in a shared savings account (w/ bf) but they're in a UK bank. Does this count as "value of my other personal property" on Part 3 Number 5 of Form I-134?


4) When is the best time for me to submit the petition (Form I-129F)? I'm technically unemployed right now as I'm waiting for university to finish and I'll be going back to the states in June to start my new job.

5) Someone said to get married first and then apply using the CR-1 way but I dont have time to get married in the UK as I'm leaving in a month. I also dont want to make my bf go to the states on a tourist Visa just to get married and then have to come back to the UK. Additionally, I'm on the UK on a student Visa so that disqualifies me doing the DCF route.



If any details are missing, don't hesitate to let me know!

Pulaski

You're in the UK at the moment? Then I strongly recommend that you get married now, in the UK. It certainly doesn't take a month and could probably be done within a week.

It will also make things considerably easier for your fiancé when he arrives in the US if he is your husband on a CR-1 visa. If he arrives as your fiancé on a K-1 visa he won't be able to work for likely a minimum of around 5 months, and quite possibly longer if you don't marry immediately on his arrival in the US.

xSerephine

To get married in the UK you first have to tell the local council of intent to marry. After that you are required to wait 28 days to get married. I'm leaving in end of May.

Pulaski

That isn't absolutely true, but (having just had a quick look myself) you may be unlikely to qualify for a "special marriage licence", which would waive the notice requirement. I hadn't realized how hard it is to get a special licence.

celticgrid

Simply being a student does not, by itself, mean you are not required to pay taxes.

xSerephine

I know but the job was like part time and didnt really exceed the amount for me to actually file a tax. And they deduct taxes on the paycheck as you get them anyways. I'm not sure about tax issues tbh.

Pulaski

If your annual earnings (income) are low, less than about £10k, then you should claim to get them refunded. You can't claim back NI paid, but you can get the income taxes repaid.

xSerephine

Okay, but the question was - Does the Affidavit of Support really require me to submit the 3 most recent years of tax returns? Can I just give them previous pay stubs and current pay stubs when I receive them after starting work?

Pulaski

The Affidavit of support is asking for US tax returns, I was talking about filing in the UK to get your UK income tax refunded. …. You did mean that you were working in the UK didn't you, or did I misunderstand?

xSerephine

As an international student I was working part time and the maximum hours you can work is 20 hours. I just wanted to get back to the main question, sorry. So anyways, I dont have US tax returns, therefore the question was, IS IT REALLY required or are there alternatives such as pay stubs that I can submit as proof?

Pulaski

Yes, US tax returns are mandatory to support the affidavit of support, with very few exceptions.

The deminimis for not filing is very low, and while if you truly earned so little you can get away without sending tax returns to support your visa affidavit of support, I am not sure why you would do so when filing a largely-blank 1040 is so easy.

celticgrid

And I know your focus is on other aspects, but if you complete tax returns and have savings in a UK bank, depending on the level of those savings there's other paperwork necessary, Possibly a bit of financial backlog stuff to add to the to-do list.

scrubbedexpat099

One advantage of the K1 London is that it allows you to self sponsor so that could avoid a lot of your issues and the adjustment interview could well be 2021, assume you are OK with the K1 negative aspects and yes DCF would have been the way to go.

Rete

Why not drive to the Netherlands or France or Belgium and get married there?

xSerephine

I have a surgery coming up, university is not finished yet, final exam week is coming. There is simply no time to get married in another country.