Fiance Visa Income Requirements

 

A fiance visa case goes through 3 steps.  The initial paperwork is filed with USCIS.  Once that paperwork is approved your case will be sent to the National Visa Center.  The National Visa Center will primarily do background checks on the U.S. Citizen and the foreign fiance. If all checks out the case will be sent to the local consulate or embassy for the foreign fiance.

At this stage your fiance will be notified of all the documents to complete and turn in or bring to his or her interview.  This will include form I-134 which is the affidavit of support in fiance visa cases. You must follow the instructions, complete this form correctly, and provide the supporting documents.

The U.S. Citizen will need to show that he can support the foreign fiance in the United States by proving his or her income to the U.S. government.  The U.S. government uses the federal poverty guidelines to determine if the U.S. Citizen can meet this requirement. 

The amount the U.S. Citizen has to make is based on the location of the U.S. Citizen and the new family size when the foreign fiance and his or her children come to the United States. Add all the people coming to your current family size to come up with your new sponsor family size. For example: you are petitioning your fiance only (no children are being sponsored). The sponsor’s family size would be 2.

If the U.S. Citizen cannot qualify based on income he or she may be able to use assets to meet the requirement.  If the requirement is still not met then a financial co-sponsor may be used.  However, not all embassies or consulates accept financial co-sponsors in fiance visa cases.

For more information about the fiance visa process please see our popular blog post: Top 10 Things You Should Know About the Fiance Visa Process

If you have any questions about this video please do not hesitate to call or email us at 888-801-6558 or attorneygruner@gmail.com

The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not take the place of a consultation with an experienced immigration attorney.

Lawrence Gruner is a fiance visa attorney with over 20 years of experience handling fiance visa cases. He would be happy to talk to you, free of charge, about your fiance visa case.