Hi all,

I've posed this question before, although not directly, and now, I am getting conflicting advice from my immigration attorney in the states, so I thought I would seek some additional advice.

I am preparing my I-864 (I'm the petitioner) and I am confused about the "current income" question. I currently work in South Africa and of course plan to move back to the states ASAP after our interview. My understanding is that the income I make in SA does NOT count because it will not continue when I move back to the US. I have accepted a job offer back home and will start at my new company as soon as I return. So, my plan was to list the future income from my NEW job on the I-864 and then in my attached explanation, state my CURRENT income, converted from Rand to USD.

However, my attorney just told me to do it the other way around. Surely I am not the first to cross this bridge. Can anyone offer me some assistance???

Thanks so much!!
Karen

Karen,

Indeed, your South African income does not count at all. If you have the job offer in writing stating how much money you will make and if that's over the poverty guidelines, you should be fine - but let's see what other wiser members have to say. (Here's hoping MargotDarko is around today).

Good luck, L.

That's quite a lot of confidence in me! I was actually keeping an eye on this to see what the answer is! I've heard some people say to list current foreign non-continuing income in US dollars and others say to not put it at all.

As far as the job offer goes - I would only list it if it's confirmed and the employer will provide a letter with your start date and state the income.

I put my income down as $0.00, even though I am in full-time employment in the UK. I earn nothing in America, so I earned no dollars. My mother acted as joint sponsor, and they were happy with that. No mention was ever made of my choice to put down my income as zero. As Bruce got the visa, all I can think is that in London at least it is okay to do that.

Karen,

Your past income does count - it shows that you have earning power, and what that earning power is, and that you do not find yourself having periods of unemployment.

It is essential to document that you have a job certain waiting for you as soon as you return to the USA, but it is also helpful to show that you are not coming back into the working world after a period of unemployment.

Yodrak

Thank you to everyone who replied. I definitely agree with both sides, my foreign income is important to show as it shows my earning power, but cannot be counted as it won't continue. I think I am just going to go with my gut feeling and list the US FUTURE income on the form and "explain" my current Rand income on my attached answers. Thanks for your feedback! Hopefully it will be acceptable. Thank you all much!!

Hi Karen

We just went through this whole process and this is what we did....

My wife listed her current income, converted from Canadian Dollars to USD. Of course that didn't count, so we had to think of the alternative. If youhave US-based assets, than it doesn't matter whether you have the job offer letter or not. AS long as you have 5 times the poverty guidelines.

If you only have South-African based income, they will ask you at your interview how you plan on supporting your family back in the States. That's when you can explain your job offer letter. I would attach a letter to your affidavit describing your job offer in the states. Your current income (converted to USD) won't raise an eyebrow, unless it's below the US poverty guidelines.

I always erred on the side of giving them too much information rather than not enough. We got approved based on our US assets, but I know of other VJ'ers who got approved from job offer letters. Either way, cover your bases, but be accurate in filling out the forms.

Good luck,
Matt
Matt

I have a clarifying question regarding foreign earned income in the past. In 2004 and 2005, my income was earned in Japan. I did file taxes for those years, but had it ALL excluded from my reportable income on the 1040. My question is about the Total Income that i report for the past years when the I-864 asks me what my "Total income" was in 2004 and 2005. Is it $0? Or is it the amount that I earned in Japan (but that was excluded on my 1040?) thanks.

Hi,

You should put your total income, converted in to U.S. dollars. I understand that your 'total income' for tax purposes was zero as you probably claimed the foreign income tax credit - however use your gross foreign income figure for the I-864.

Basically the amount you enter on the I-864 must match the total earnings (before foreign credit) amount on your 1040.

Example: For 2006 the 'total income' amount appears on line 22 of the 1040. You would use the amount from line 21, which is where you would have shown the amount from your 2555 or 2555EZ.

You can use this IRS site link to convert your earnings in to U.S. dollars if you like.

I've been getting my I-864 ready for our interview aw well. I put down $0 and then wrote my converted amount in dollars with foreign income in parentheses next to it. Although this would never be enough, my mom is our cosponsor. We have the interview on nov. 15th so hopefully they will accept it like this.

I think, as you did state the amount on the form, it will probably be just fine. There is always whiteout available at the consulate if they want you to change it.

Good luck with your interview

I found this thread by googling and I am in the same boat.

My wife has filed her last 3 years' 1040 tax returns to the IRS at the London Embassy, along with a Schedule C (self employment) and form 2555 for each year. As she didn't earn more than the threshold in any year, the effective "total income" each year was zero, for tax purposes, the entire amount of her earnings being allowed for using form 2555, for foreign-earned income exclusion. This means that on line 22 of each year's 1040 tax return, the amount is zero.

These taxes were filed in London and they stamped them received and sent back a copy of page one of each year's 1040, so we could use that as proof of filing with the visa application.

We plan to meet the financial requirement of the I-864 using assets alone, as this will exceed 3 x 125% of the poverty line for a family of two (once we sell our house here in the UK).

So what do I put in item 25 on the I-864?

Item 25 requires you list the "Total Income" for the last 3 years. As the form 2555 was used to declare her income as foreign-earned income, the "total income" on line 22 of each year's 1040 is $0.00. Is that the amount I put on the I-864? Or are they wanting to know how much she actually earned?

I am still unsure about whether we should be putting anything at all here anyway, as isn't she only supposed to declare income that will continue from the same source after the move?

I have read this thread a couple of times and there doesn't seem to be a consensus. Any further comments?

Tobben15 - how did your interview go with your I-864 filled in in the manner that you said?

I put my UK income down converted to US dollars on my I-864 and it was accepted as perfectly fine at my husband's interview. I had also brough a back up version of the I-864 with 0's in those lines. The stupid thing is that it depends on the person reviewing your file it seems! So I would recommend filling it out with UK income converted to USD and bring a back up copy with 0's for income.

Yeah that's a good idea. How do you approach that at interview? Did you tell them you had two I-864 forms filled in ready?

My wife won't be accompanying me to London, so I would need to get her to sign two forms in advance. Do you think they would have a problem with that? Or should I ask the question then magically produce a correctly filled in I-864 from my clutch of paperwork.....

Thanks for the input Margot.

I just gave them the one with the income in USD and didn't say anything. The back up was there in case they said something about it, which they didn't. They won't have a problem with it being signed in advance - the only thing that has to be signed at the interview is the second part of the DS-230 and it's you who will doing the signing of that.

I found the whole experience in general to be much better than I had been anticipating. It's still best to be well prepared in case you get a stinker interviewer!

I think this statement is the correct answer to the question. It really depends on who is reviewing your file. Based on what I read in this forum, I did not include my foreign income on my I864 when I submitted it in Tokyo (last week), and the clerk asked me why I didn't. He said I should have. After that, my feeling was that each consulate and maybe even within the consulate each clerk might look at the form differently. I talked with two clerks during my I130 submission and on a couple of issues got different answers (all in less than an hour). I think whoever said they took two sets of forms, one with and one without the income, is a good example. However, if your assets are insufficient to cover in the case that the income is not accepted, I would try to get a joint sponsor lined up before you submit.

John