Hey all,

One more question for the morning.

We are planning on using assetts to meet the 125% poverty thingy - according to the consulate you only need to show 3 years coverage worth of assetts - we have this in our house. Easy.

The problem is my wife has never submitted a tax return - she is the US Citizen. We have been married for 9.5 years (no issue there), but she has never worked (not since we were married in any case), so has no income to declare - I guess we just tell the consulate this?

Thanks again for your assistance

Drewe

Are you selling the house? Willing to sell the house, if needed?

We will be selling the house regardless, so we have capital for a new one in the USA.... But first I guess it is our path to prove we have assets above the limit... I think!

I imagine the CO will be concerned if the house is all you have for assets. If the house is in your country and not in
your wifes name then I doubt if you can use it for assets.
Looks like she should look into getting a co sponsor.

She also has to have a GOOD reason for not filing taxes.

Is no income a good reason? She has no reason to file as there is nothing to file - I am the income earner and have always been. We have other assetts as well - I also am transfering job, within the same company, but they will not accept that (if it was employment based this would be very different!). The house is also in both of our names - we are married for 9.5 years, with two kids.......

Drewe

Yes, having no income is a good reason. You simply state that. Your income can be considered if it will continue from the same source. It sounds like it will, so no worries.

Thanks all for the input! It is much appreciated...

Sounds like her main problem may be in establishing domicle in the US. Lots of expats are denied for lack of such.

Yes, that is going to be an issue.... We are going to arrange a whole lot of stuff for the kids school (which according to the consulate is good proof), record converstations with real estate agents, and the icing on the cake hopefully will be the letter from my employer saying we have the job...

Any other hints will be much appreciated!

Sounds like her main problem may be in establishing domicle in the US.

Actually, I was afraid of this domicile thing, too, having been away from the States more than 15 years and having really NOTHING I could call a real tie to the States anymore except my US driver's license. I did all kinds of things - set up a bank acct, got voting records...and at the interview, the Embassy couldn't have been less interested in that particular question. Domicile seemed to be no problem for them. Of course, it can't hurt to do all that you can. Each case is different and it's better to be prepared than not.

As for the IRS, it really is easy to get 3 years of IRS tax returns done before the I-864 interview. Here, in France, the IRS office in the Embassy told me to send in my returns (1040, filing separately, with 2555EZ) with a copy of each and a SASE. They stamped my copies as proof of receipt and sent them back to me in one week. I took these copies to the interview.


Good luck.

With the issue of domicile, the embassies differ pretty wildly on strictness. Some are very severe about it, and others like Paris and London are pretty loosey goosey.