DCF FILING: from those who have gone through it recently

Can anyone point me in the direction of the latest total cost of the whole DCF process?  Every couple years I revisit the subject but now I'm desperate to move back and need to know again!  Except we have to save up money for a few years....so by the time we're ready, it will have changed again, but I need a number to go by!

We've been married 10 years, I know that makes a difference.

 Thanks!

Being married 10 years doesn't make any difference as far as I am aware. 

They just, as in 1/2/13, introduced some new fees.  Best to go to the Embassy websie directly. http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html  That is where you start.

It makes a difference in what visa and green card you're awarded, actually. If you've been married less than 2 years, you receive a CR-1 visa which triggers a 2-year conditional green card to be produced when you enter the US. If you've been married more than 2 years, you receive an IR-1 visa and a 10-year, unconditional green card.

I thought there was a difference for the two years, but not anything beyond that, correct?

Hello there,

I posted the other day on some time frames for DCF which as usual I got prompt great responses! I am now looking into the sponsor & co-sponsor situation & although I thought I understood the financial guidelines, its getting all mixed up in my head & no one is around to help me! I have located this page

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf

My questions, and I am sorry as I realise this is asked a lot, are:
As the Sponsor (family of 2) would I just need to have a job with income of $19,387 or more waiting for me or is it the 3 x thing which is $58,161 (?yikes). What is the 3x part?

I do not have assets other than some life insurance policies that I own & 1 piece of art. No cars or houses, stocks etc. We will have a few thousand pounds saved up & my UK hubs will have a job lined up, I will more than likely have a job as well.

I think I have a sponsor who can co- sign but I just need to figure out what amount to have & match that with said person- if that makes sense. I am terrible with numbers & I think I just shut down! I basically need it explained in very simple terms 
Any help would be magical!
Thanks guys & gals!

Oh crap, can anyone please confirm whether one needs to have been filing a tax return in the US all these years to go through DCF successfully- or point me to a thread which covers this? Im having flashbacks to the early days of researching the spousal visa. 

You either need to have been filing tax returns, or have a letter stating you didn't make enough to need to file a return.

You either need to have been filing tax returns, or have a letter stating you didn't make enough to need to file a return.

Thank you Gwen666! To be clear, is that not making enough in the USA? I haven't lived there in 10 years, I did work a few time for a few months at a time between 2005-2007 but I made very little.

We asked my dad to co-sponsor, due to the fact I didn't have a job for the 3 years I was in the UK (not for a lack of trying... and trying and trying and trying) and wanted to play it safe. I did have a job waiting for me upon our return to the US.

Thank you Gwen666! To be clear, is that not making enough in the USA? I haven't lived there in 10 years, I did work a few time for a few months at a time between 2005-2007 but I made very little.

US citizens are taxed on their worldwide income. So it doesn't matter whether it was making enough in the US or anywhere else - if you earned above the threshold required to file a US tax return, then you must file one.

Thanks- I started a tax thread (in taxes of all places) which seems to be helping me! Can anyone help me clarify the 125% poverty amount please? I still feel confused as to if its the $19,000 figure or 3 times that. Sorry if this seems stupid

Thanks- I started a tax thread (in taxes of all places) which seems to be helping me! Can anyone help me clarify the 125% poverty amount please? I still feel confused as to if its the $19,000 figure or 3 times that. Sorry if this seems stupid

See this PDF file, which shows you how to work it out: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf

Edited to add: Sorry, just realised you have already seen that file.

If you have a household size of 2 (presumably you and your husband), 125% of the poverty amount is $19,387... so you have to show $19,387.

I'm confused as to where you've got '3 times' the amount from... 125% of the poverty line is 1.25 times the poverty amount, not 3 times... I haven't seen anything about '3 times the amount' anywhere, unless it was mentioned in relation to something else.

It looks like the poverty threshold amount for a couple in the US is about $15,500, so 125% of that is $19,387.

When it states that your income has to exceed 125% of the poverty guidelines does that mean you can count the income from UK job (that is being given up when moving to the US) or can you only use income if you have a job you are going to after the move to the US?The move to the US for most people is predicated on sale of the house.  I notice this seems to suggest that you can include the net house value even if you haven't sold it.  Can you apply before you've sold your house with the intention of selling it after DCF is completed?Looks like you can only sell a second, third, etc car, the primary car can't be included in assets!According to the example, they're sponsoring a parent so the 5x minimum is required.  However, a family unit of spouse and minors I took to mean 3x.  If you had no income then your income is $0 so you have to have 3 x 125% poverty guidelines in total assets - $0.  This is a hefty amount no matter what size your family so it'd be interesting to know whether the unsold house appraised value definitely counts as it seems to indicate.  Otherwise, for most people a job offer or even having started a job in the US seems like an absolute necessity.

Its this type of thing that gets me all confused!!
 
I think the $15,500 is for families in the armed forces?

So $19,387 is the 125% -  I would need to have a job which pays me that much- or for instance, the person that I think could so-sponsor has 3 dependents so would that figure be moved to $29,437?

Thanks for the help!

Its this type of thing that gets me all confused!!
 
I think the $15,500 is for families in the armed forces?

Yes - $15,500 is the poverty amount in the US.

- If the sponsor is in the armed forces, then they only have to meet the poverty level.

- If the sponsor is not in the armed forces, they have to meet 125% of the poverty level.

Ah, I see where the 3 times the amount is coming from... but that sounds like the amount of money you need if you have no income at all, and are using savings or assets to meet the requirements - in which case, you would need much more than $19,487 to meet the requirement (like with the new rules for UK spousal visas - you either need £18,600 in annual salary, or you need 2.5 x £18,600 (£62,500) in savings to cover the equivalent of earning the minimum salary for the whole 2.5 years of the visa).

So $19,387 is the 125% -  I would need to have a job which pays me that much- or for instance, the person that I think could so-sponsor has 3 dependents so would that figure be moved to $29,437?

I'm not sure - I took that to mean that if you were the sponsor and you had 2 children (so 3 dependents... your husband and 2 children), then you would need to be earning $29,437.

I don't know what would happen with a co-sponsor though... because if they have 3 dependents already in their household, then presumably the $29,437 would only cover the people already in their house, which would not include you or your husband? Surely, then they would need to provide enough money for 5 dependents - their 3 dependents, plus you and your husband... which would be $39,487?

I don't know enough about the ins and outs of the US visas and how co-sponsors work to know for sure though.

Ok thank you for the clarity on that first part- that helps a lot!! I do understand the new UK visa requirements- which I thank my lucky stars I got in before that went into place. So really- I just need to figure out that co-sponsor thing.

Anyone out there that has used a co-sponsor able to explain whether the co-sponsor needs to have an income of $19,387 to support me & my hubs or is it the income of that persons family size plus us?

Thanks - I heart this help.