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One of the K-1 attorneys I was asking questions to had told me the poverty guideline for 2 people was $12,400, but now I am seeing on other sites that it is really 125% of that or about $14,000.

If that lawyer is telling the truth about having a 100% success rate getting visas approved, then my guess is he refuses to take on clients who are close to the line financially.  So he doesn't know or care about the poverty line because he's looking for juicier turnips to squeeze.  Of course how many poor people would want to pay $2000 for someone to fill out a 2 page form anyway.  It's the expertise and the experience we newbies need.  And I feel I can get that, with the addition of sincerity and friendship, on this site.

My main question right now: can K-1 and K-3 visas use a separate financial sponsor.  My income now and in the forseeable future (next year and beyond) is fine but if $14,000 (125% of poverty guideline) is really the line, then this year and last year are gonna fall short and I'll have to go with K-3 if it's the only one that works with a separate financial guarantor (Affidavit of Support).

If I'm gonna get married in January I better figure that out pretty quick!  I certainly have no objections, but Jovie is convinced it will just slow down the visa process.

Now here's another question.  On asawa.org there's an article profiling the "average" Westerner-Filipina courtship and marriage, and it states that the man will spend $100 a day while in the Phils visiting his fiancee.  Sure, if he has that much money and has that mentality...is there anyone out there who thinks two mature people really need to spend $100 a day to be entertained?!  My Jovie is not a materialist and neither am I.  I plan to spend a month singing her love songs and walking on the beach, getting to know her family and having long talks, playing basketball with her nephews and giving each other language lessons and naming our future children...$100 a day sounds like the kind of money it takes to impress an American woman, not a "simple Filipina."

Not that I expect my sweetheart to be stamped out of some "simple Filipina" mold...she has shown all the signs of having a very dynamic personality!  And so much the better.

Sorry dudes, I am incapable of writing a short message...I'll try harder in the future to write shorter books.

... in response to more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

Hi Luther,

Nice to have you on board! I enjoy reading "books"...so keep it coming! So it's been said "that the man will spend $100 a day while in the Phils visiting his fiancee"...SHEEEITTTT...sounds like they're courting a Latina! LOL Sure it's not hard to spend money...but on the other hand you can have a GREAT time and spend very little money in the Philippines! I doubt that we spend more than $5 some days (just vacationing-have a house here). Stay with your fiancee if possible and help buy the food...it will be a real learning experience! We took 15 family members out to dinner at a fancy restaurant the other day and spent around $30. We had just about everything on the menu! :oP Good Luck! Most of all...have a GREAT time, be yourself and don't get hung up on the advice of so-called "experts." These guys here are the real deal and know what they are talking about!

Dave H.

P.S. Take Ray's advice and bring along a bottle of Tabasco Sauce...it's been a great help with burning up those bad bacteria that found their way into my belly.

... in response to Welcome To P-L!, posted by Dave H on Sep 12, 2004

Thanks Dave. Surely they must sell something in Mindanao that's hotter than Tabasco sauce?

... in response to Thanks Dave, for your kind words., posted by Luther on Sep 12, 2004

Negative on hotter than Tabasco. The popular sauce over there was "Mother's...The World's Hottest Sauce", which is a joke. I would say Tabasco is about 10 times(?) hotter. Unless Larry has a home-brew that will burn your roids off :-)

I found Tabasco in Cebu in a few restaurants and in the supermarket in the mall, but it was expensive. I couldn't find any in Surigao City, but the Gateway Hotel where I was staying got a bottle from Cebu by special request from yours truly. They had never heard of it, and this was the number one restaurant in town.

Better bring 5 or 6 small bottles though. I had to give away a couple of bottles to the relatives because some of them loved the stuff. Now we always include a half dozen bottles in a balikbayan box every year.

Ray

... in response to Re: Thanks Dave, for your kind words., posted by Ray on Sep 12, 2004

How about those little red things they put on your Chinese food?  I found they were actually edible...sort of like diving into cold water, or public speaking, it takes a minute to work up to it.  And violent instant hiccups commonly result.  Raw jalapenos could scald some intestinal parasites pretty bad.  I know of a guy who cured colon cancer with jalapeno juice.

If you don't like it hot, the extract of the unripe hull of the black walnut kills some of those food-borne beasties too.  Especially combined with fennel, turmeric, and sticking your finger in the electrical socket.  Something I was told never to do as a child.  I was 12 before I realized fingers were too big to go in the hole.

I will definitely bring half a case of Tabasco when I go.

... in response to Re: Thanks Dave, for your kind words., posted by Ray on Sep 12, 2004

Hey Ray,

I found it in Butuan City in the import section of Gaisano Mall, across from the grocery store...cheaper to bring it along. Great idea to bring extra bottles!

Dave H.

... in response to It goes fast..., posted by Dave H on Sep 12, 2004

Dave, does Butuan have a mega-mall now?

... in response to Re: It goes fast..., posted by Ray on Sep 13, 2004

Hey Ray,

And sorry, the Tabasco Sauce is in the condiment section of the Gaisano grocery, (not import section)...4 varieties (including the green). P92 for the very HOT stuff!

Dave H.

... in response to Welcome To P-L!, posted by Dave H on Sep 12, 2004

Hey Luther,

Don't worry about your new nephew Howard...he will "grow" on you...kind of like a fungus...maybe a nice one...like a mushroom or something. :o)))))

Dave H.

... in response to more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

L~

As far as Budget for Davao... I did not spend $1000.00 in the just over two weeks I spent there.  I did put hotels and things of that nature on my credit card--for convenience--but Gerlie and I figure we spend about P3000-3500 on Groceries while at Little Panay and that included a whole family send off bash.

I agree with Larry and Ray... you easily get by on $5-$15 per day, especially if you stay mostly at Little Panay.  Just watch the JACK FRUIT!!!  Ask Auntie Dede and espcially Uncle Donny about my expirience oiiiiiiiii!  HAhahahahahahhahahaaa

Word of advise;  If your honey says "You really shouln't drink da water after da jack fruit honey..."  LISTEN TO HER!!!!!

Keep the Faith... you are a good pupil :P

H

... in response to more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

If you are near this level income, you do not need to seek an overseas woman for a wife.  Just my opinion

Beattledog

... in response to Re: more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by david hagar on Sep 11, 2004

So, what you're saying in a sense is that poor people don't deserve a loving wife? I'm sure it would never occur to a narrow minded person that in some parts of the US people can live rather well on what is considered the 'poverty level'. In fact, in some places VERY FEW people would meet these guidelines.

Larry.

... in response to Re: Re: more poverty guidelines confusio..., posted by shadow on Sep 11, 2004

And in California it is very easy to spend one's whole $12,490 per year on rent alone...but I'm training to be a machinist and expect to be substantially above the poverty line before our kids start school.

And probably get out of California.

... in response to Re: Re: Re: more poverty guidelines conf..., posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

You should also consider Nashville, Tennessee.  We have both the Saturn and Nissean plants here, and the Nissean plant is expanding.  The weather is  a lot more temperate and milder that Michigan.  Also, it is the Bible belt of the country and a great place to raise a family

Beattledog

... in response to Re: Re: Re: more poverty guidelines conf..., posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

Unc,

Maybe Michigan would be a good place to relocate :P

Hehehehehehehe

Keep the Faith!

H

... in response to Leaving California?, posted by Howard on Sep 12, 2004

Howdy Nephew,

As a matter of fact, when my training is complete (or complete enough) I intend to deliver Jovie and I from this high-priced yuppie trap and go find a place to establish the kind of extended family that I have always dreamed of.  Portland is one possibility but all my relatives up there are so absorbed in their nuke-clear families that...

Philosophically speaking, as a young boy (euphemism for black sheep being used as a vent for a dysfunctional "nuclear family,")I dreamed that my Aunt Ruth would adopt me.  She's the one who fostered over 300 babies and children in her home while they were up for adoption.  Then as a young hitch-hiker in my second adolescence, I discovered "the commune," or communal household, and at times I thought I had found heaven.  A place where a person's social needs could be met no matter who he happened to be (within reason.)

Now my perspective is that the extended family is not a thing of the past, we United Statesians are merely experimenting with doing without it to see how screwed up we can get before putting Grandpa and Grandma back in charge, back at home, and doing away with this "nuclear family" DISASTER that modern society has foisted on us.

Part of the appeal of the Filipino society is that the extended family is apparently alive and well.  While my siblings (who are living as far apart from each other as possible) wonder why they are losing interest in life, the more nieces and nephews I gain through the process of being engaged to a Filipina, the more I think I know what my siblings are missing.

Michigan, eh...?  Lots of jobs up there for a machinist, I spose...

Unc

... in response to Re: Leaving California?, posted by Luther on Sep 12, 2004

With the auto industry machining does have a lot of jobs. The other thing
is that many Michigan machinists are baby boomers and older so they
will need replacements.

Here is the State of MI website for job descriptions and wages.

http://www.michigan.gov/careers/0,1607,7-170-22526_23422
-63097--,00.html

For myself I hope the telecom industry starts cranking again because my
out of state job may not be around much longer and Michigan is slow in
telephone and data communications industry.

... in response to Re: Re: Leaving California?, posted by stefang on Sep 12, 2004

Thanks for the tip and good luck with your career too.  I searched the area around Detroit for machinist jobs and found 21.  Then I searched San Francisco (ever heard of that place?) and found ZERO!  Some in the outlying areas...but it costs big to live in that area, up to $1000/mo for a studio apartment.  I guess you have to be essentially overpaid to live there, or be an architect, engineer, or doctor, what a system.

There are 27 jobs for machinists listed in the Portland metro area.  Entry level pay is better in Detroit.  Portland is a trendy west coast city so cost of living is probably higher there.  Last time I was there I paid $600/mo for a tiny house in the suburbs.  In Calif. I'm now paying $600/mo for a studio apt in a forested retirement community.  There's community services for Filipinos in Portland...probably in all cities?  Lots of immigrants on the west coast.  Where I live the Catholic church is locked, I thought Catholic churches had to be open all the time for people to come in and pray.

... in response to Re: more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by david hagar on Sep 11, 2004

Following that logic, I should not seek ANY  woman for a wife!  Thanks for your opinion though...if you can elucidate I would appreciate it.  Or change your mind, that would be even better!

My current income is OK!!!  As long as the social security check is counted fully, and if anyone has specific knowledge on this issue, let's hear it.  It is the past IRS  returns that threatens to rear up its ugly head and bite me in the yingyang...

As Jovie, says, "the passed is the passed"...now if only she were the Secretary of Immigration for this fine country we live in where the rich and the poor live and work side by side with no class consciousness, complete acceptance of our differences....ha.  Or as my new nephew Howard would say, HaHahahahahahaha.

If Beattledog is right, it's been nice knowin' y'all, I'm moving to the Philippines!  If I can't have a foreign wife, I will become a foreign husband!

... in response to more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

Ray altready submitted the correct info for the visa, so I won't touch on that.

I have made several three week trips on under $1300, INCLUDING airfare and lodging. Depending on what area you are going to, usually a reasonably decent place to stay can be found for $10-$20 night. You can feed two quite well on $10 day. Figure in another $10-$20 a day for other interests and you come up around $50 day.

If you want to stay at the Shangi-La, however,...

If you need recomendations as to places to stay, just say so.

Larry in Dumaguete.

... in response to more poverty guidelines confusion, posted by Luther on Sep 11, 2004

[This message has been edited by Ray]

Luther, what the attorney told you sounds about right. For a K-1 or K-3 visa, you submit an I-134 Affidavit of Support (AOS) and the official guideline for that affidavit is 100% of the poverty line, or $12,490 for a couple in most cases. For a CR-1 spouse visa, the I-864 AOS is used and it requires an annual income of 125% times the poverty level, or about $15,612 for a couple. Since the I-864 will be required eventually anyway because K-visa holders will use it to adjust status, I recommend that you try to meet the 125% standard if possible. Keep in mind that the annual income is based on CURRENT income, which is not necessarily by calendar year, but rather an extension of your current monthly income (x12).

As far as that $100/day guideline, that's more for staying in a nice Western style hotel, eating in fancy restaurants, and doing some tourist stuff too. If you stay in her family’s nipa hut and eat fish heads and rice every day, you could probably get by an about $5/day. It depends on what you are comfortable with.

Ray