I-485 Request For Initial Evidence... HELP!!

[DK1118 0]

Hi Everyone,

My new wife and I are in the final stages of getting her status changed from K-1 to Permanent Resident. In early January, 2009, we sent in paperwork for the I-485(change of status) and the I-765(application for employment authorization). Well, today we got a paper saying that we need more evidence!

It's been a very scary and evidence-filled journey for us. It seems like every step of the way we've been met with resistance, but have somehow gotten through it. However, this is the most confusing part so far.

The two pieces of evidence it talks about needing are:

1. Federal Income Tax Documentation for the most recent tax year.

2. Further evidence of assets that meet the federal poverty line or obtain a joint sponsor.

The letter does not go any further in explaining exactly what we didn't send them the first time. Honestly, we sent every piece of evidence we could gather. We were laughing at just how bulky, yet organized, our paperwork was. Well, we aren't laughing now.

I'm trying to figure out just what went wrong and I was hoping some of you might have some answers for me. So I will just tell you about us and maybe the answers will come from that.

+ I am the US citizen, my wife is from Japan. She lived here for 7 years, 3 years Junior College, 3 years at Cal State Long Beach, 1 year on a work permit.

+ I am my wife's only sponsor for the I-864(affidavit of support), there is no joint sponsor.

+ I'm only 24, she's only 26, we dated for 3 years before we got married.

+ We currently live with my parents.

+ My latest tax return information that I sent to the USCIS was from 2007. Taxes for 2008 aren't due till april.

+ Since I just graduated from college in May of 2008, my income on my 2007 tax return is very low.

+ The only tax return I turned in for the I-864 was from 2007. I don't have my 2008 tax return done yet and I'm my income from previous years would be so low that it would be laughable.

+ However, now that I work full time, my income on my bank statements for 2008 is much higher. So my estimated income for this year is practically at the poverty mark for 2 people. Combined with our assets, this should push us far past the financial requirements.

+ I have no dependents, it's just my wife and I living with my family.

+ However, I have $18,000 in assets and my wife has an additional $11,000 in assets.

+ I am a self-employed Graphic Designer.

+ It says on the paper we got today that they aren't going to issue my wife her Application for Employment until they get the required evidence.

We're just getting very sad at this point. My wife has been here since late October and she just wants to get back to work so badly. We are both workaholics and we feel very depressed if we can't contribute. She worked for LAX international airport while she had her work permit in America, and while in Japan, she was an English teacher for elementary school kids. I think we're just tired of how automated things are. We have nowhere to go to plead our case and to let people know about our situation. We are both fresh out of college, poor, young, and in love. We just want to be able to start living our lives and to start both earning money. We are doing this all on our own and don't have an attorney to help us with any of this. We are just so worried that we will get denied.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I felt with was necessary for you all to fully understand our problem. I somehow feel that these laws were not made for people who haven't been out of school for very long. Whenever we read the rules and documents needed, it just doesn't feel like it's talking about our situation. All we can do is give every bit of evidence we have an hope for the best.

One bit question I have for you all is, should I get my parents to be a joint sponsor since we live with them? Was that the main problem? Maybe because we live with my parents, they have to be a joint sponsor.

Thanks everyone!

[YuAndDan 153]

This is NOT a K-1 visa filing question, moving this to AOS forum.

[Steph0814 1]

I will try to help here.. as much as I can anyway.

1. All that matters to USCIS is what the income is on your tax return. Your 2007 tax docs should work (someone can correct me if I am wrong)

2. Using your assets to show you meet the poverty line is very difficult if not impossible. I learned this the hard way, for IE: My husband owns over 20 houses and I got an RFE for Additional evidence of this (assets in the $2 mils). I sent them a copy of the most recent mortgage statements, settlement and insurance and all leases for all houses. They told me in handwritten letter to get a sponsor.

My honest opinion is: YES get your parents to co sponsor you and they will be satisfied or wait till you file but I am quite sure you have to get this back to them within 30 days.

All the best on your journey

[DK1118 0]

Wow!! Over 2 million in assets!! And here I was thinking I was safe having close to $30,000. Darn. Thank you for the honest opinion. It is very refreshing. That is really the only type of answers we are looking for, just realistic.

I realized that I only made a small comment about me being self-employed. I thought it would be better if I shed some more light on that situation as well.

I've noticed that the I-864 rules are very brief when talking about self-employed people. I do have 1099 forms for every person I've done work for in 2008. However, about half of my income right now comes from my ebay business. I always count that as income and pay taxes on it, but how does ebay profit count for an I-864? It will be in my tax return, but I don't think that counts as part of my freelance earnings. It's just very confusing.

I am quite certain though that if I wait and file my 2008 tax return, my income will be over 125 percent of the poverty line. But then I'm afraid that it won't matter because my 2007 tax return was so low. Ugh, so much stress...

[Mint518 0]

Wow!! Over 2 million in assets!! And here I was thinking I was safe having close to $30,000. Darn. Thank you for the honest opinion. It is very refreshing. That is really the only type of answers we are looking for, just realistic.

I realized that I only made a small comment about me being self-employed. I thought it would be better if I shed some more light on that situation as well.

I've noticed that the I-864 rules are very brief when talking about self-employed people. I do have 1099 forms for every person I've done work for in 2008. However, about half of my income right now comes from my ebay business. I always count that as income and pay taxes on it, but how does ebay profit count for an I-864? It will be in my tax return, but I don't think that counts as part of my freelance earnings. It's just very confusing.

I am quite certain though that if I wait and file my 2008 tax return, my income will be over 125 percent of the poverty line. But then I'm afraid that it won't matter because my 2007 tax return was so low. Ugh, so much stress...

I think 2008 tax return will prove that your income exceeded the poverty line in the most recent tax year (which will satisfy question 25 of I-864), in this sense you do not need to worry about that your income in 2007 was low. However, 2008 tax return will not prove that your current and future income will exceed the poverty line (which is questions 23 and 24).

Usually (although it is not mondetory) people prove current and future income by submitting employment letter and/or paystub of last 6 months. So, even in case of self-employment, USCIS might be expecting to receive something that is equivalent to employment letter and/or paystub (such as a copy of contracts with your current clients or clients with recurring orders showing you expected fees). And if it is hard to prove why you come up with the current income figures you write down in question 23 and 24, it might be better to seek a joint sponsor.

Regarding the assets, what were the assets you used in your I-864 and what kind of proof did you send? According to the instruction to I-864, "only assets that can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to theowner may be included." Also,

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=308 mjght give you some idea what kind of evidece should be sent when asset value is used to meet the poverty line.

[DK1118 0]

Wow!! Over 2 million in assets!! And here I was thinking I was safe having close to $30,000. Darn. Thank you for the honest opinion. It is very refreshing. That is really the only type of answers we are looking for, just realistic.

I realized that I only made a small comment about me being self-employed. I thought it would be better if I shed some more light on that situation as well.

I've noticed that the I-864 rules are very brief when talking about self-employed people. I do have 1099 forms for every person I've done work for in 2008. However, about half of my income right now comes from my ebay business. I always count that as income and pay taxes on it, but how does ebay profit count for an I-864? It will be in my tax return, but I don't think that counts as part of my freelance earnings. It's just very confusing.

I am quite certain though that if I wait and file my 2008 tax return, my income will be over 125 percent of the poverty line. But then I'm afraid that it won't matter because my 2007 tax return was so low. Ugh, so much stress...

I think 2008 tax return will prove that your income exceeded the poverty line in the most recent tax year (which will satisfy question 25 of I-864), in this sense you do not need to worry about that your income in 2007 was low. However, 2008 tax return will not prove that your current and future income will exceed the poverty line (which is questions 23 and 24).

Usually (although it is not mondetory) people prove current and future income by submitting employment letter and/or paystub of last 6 months. So, even in case of self-employment, USCIS might be expecting to receive something that is equivalent to employment letter and/or paystub (such as a copy of contracts with your current clients or clients with recurring orders showing you expected fees). And if it is hard to prove why you come up with the current income figures you write down in question 23 and 24, it might be better to seek a joint sponsor.

Regarding the assets, what were the assets you used in your I-864 and what kind of proof did you send? According to the instruction to I-864, "only assets that can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to theowner may be included." Also,

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=308 mjght give you some idea what kind of evidece should be sent when asset value is used to meet the poverty line.

I hadn't thought of submitting employment letters. I have 2 possible sources for those. Hopefully that will be enough. I was worried that they might feel there was too much of a change from my 2007 income and my 2008 income for it to be taken seriously. I am going to go ahead and get my income tax return for 2008 ready ASAP.

My assets were mainly the money from my Savings Account, the money from my wife's Savings Account, and my money in the Stock Market.

My wife also used Jewelry and designer Purses / Bags she had. I have a car, but I need two cars if I wanted to list my car as an asset. If we had a receipt for the jewelry, we made a copy, but we didn't keep copies of most of the receipts. We were hoping that photographic evidence was enough.

The thing is, the jewelry and other posessions didn't really matter. We still technically should have had enough with just the money we had in our savings accounts. I believe the formula was you take the difference between your income and the poverty line and times that by 3. If your assets are more than that magic number, you're in the clear. But I guess that really wasn't true either.

Thanks for all the advice. I will try everything. I just hope that if our next round of evidence isn't enough, they will send me a letter with more detailed instructions of what I need instead of just denying us. We're just sooo close.

[kcoyclay1 98]

Hi Everyone,

My new wife and I are in the final stages of getting her status changed from K-1 to Permanent Resident. In early January, 2009, we sent in paperwork for the I-485(change of status) and the I-765(application for employment authorization). Well, today we got a paper saying that we need more evidence!

It's been a very scary and evidence-filled journey for us. It seems like every step of the way we've been met with resistance, but have somehow gotten through it. However, this is the most confusing part so far.

The two pieces of evidence it talks about needing are:

1. Federal Income Tax Documentation for the most recent tax year.

2. Further evidence of assets that meet the federal poverty line or obtain a joint sponsor.

The letter does not go any further in explaining exactly what we didn't send them the first time. Honestly, we sent every piece of evidence we could gather. We were laughing at just how bulky, yet organized, our paperwork was. Well, we aren't laughing now.

I'm trying to figure out just what went wrong and I was hoping some of you might have some answers for me. So I will just tell you about us and maybe the answers will come from that.

+ I am the US citizen, my wife is from Japan. She lived here for 7 years, 3 years Junior College, 3 years at Cal State Long Beach, 1 year on a work permit.

+ I am my wife's only sponsor for the I-864(affidavit of support), there is no joint sponsor.

+ I'm only 24, she's only 26, we dated for 3 years before we got married.

+ We currently live with my parents.

+ My latest tax return information that I sent to the USCIS was from 2007. Taxes for 2008 aren't due till april.

+ Since I just graduated from college in May of 2008, my income on my 2007 tax return is very low.

+ The only tax return I turned in for the I-864 was from 2007. I don't have my 2008 tax return done yet and I'm my income from previous years would be so low that it would be laughable.

+ However, now that I work full time, my income on my bank statements for 2008 is much higher. So my estimated income for this year is practically at the poverty mark for 2 people. Combined with our assets, this should push us far past the financial requirements.

+ I have no dependents, it's just my wife and I living with my family.

+ However, I have $18,000 in assets and my wife has an additional $11,000 in assets.

+ I am a self-employed Graphic Designer.

+ It says on the paper we got today that they aren't going to issue my wife her Application for Employment until they get the required evidence.

We're just getting very sad at this point. My wife has been here since late October and she just wants to get back to work so badly. We are both workaholics and we feel very depressed if we can't contribute. She worked for LAX international airport while she had her work permit in America, and while in Japan, she was an English teacher for elementary school kids. I think we're just tired of how automated things are. We have nowhere to go to plead our case and to let people know about our situation. We are both fresh out of college, poor, young, and in love. We just want to be able to start living our lives and to start both earning money. We are doing this all on our own and don't have an attorney to help us with any of this. We are just so worried that we will get denied.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I felt with was necessary for you all to fully understand our problem. I somehow feel that these laws were not made for people who haven't been out of school for very long. Whenever we read the rules and documents needed, it just doesn't feel like it's talking about our situation. All we can do is give every bit of evidence we have an hope for the best.

One bit question I have for you all is, should I get my parents to be a joint sponsor since we live with them? Was that the main problem? Maybe because we live with my parents, they have to be a joint sponsor.

Thanks everyone!

Whatever they ask for just send it. I had to send initial evidence too and it was proof that my husband is a citizen. I had sent that proof with the I-130 but they also need it to adjust status so I had to send it again as the applications apparently go to differnt departments and they need to be as complete information as they do not make copies and send to the departments for you from what you submit.

[agd108 0]

Do your 2008 taxes and send it in as latest tax year. Then if you don't have enough, don't waste time. Just get a cosponsor! It is allowed, but your parents will of course have to be cooperative to show all their income and sign as official cosponsors. When getting my K-1 i used a cosponsor but now hopefully i don't need one, because my last year's income should be enough.

Regarding her work status. Did you get a SSN? You can get a SSN showing just your K-1 status. That is enough.

Maybe you can file for work permit separately from the AOS?

[chrismatt84 0]

Sorry to hear your dilemma. I do understand because I used to be at that stage once. The only thing I feel you should do is have your parents as sponsors and I'm sure they have the required amount that USCIS is looking for...

[Steph0814 1]

DK1118;

My husband is self employed as well

I spoke with both a lawyer and and 2 IO's and the thing with using assests is this:

Yes "technichally speaking" you are allowed to use assets, however the way you send in those "proof of assets" is very very tricky. They all told me (after I had put together over 200 pages of proof of assets) that they are very particular about how it is submitted. I found out later on (at my interview) that most of it had not even been looked at. So, it just comes down to pure laziness on the side of USCIS.

At my interview the Officer (Very nice officer named Chris) I walked in and he immediatly gave me the huge stack and said "You can have this back I didnt have the time to shred it". LOL. all that hard work out the window.

My 2 suggestions are:

1. Get a joint sponosr OR

2. Wait to file your 2008 taxes and then send letters of employment.

I feel your pain, I really do. Please let me know if I can help in any way. That is what we are all here for.

[DK1118 0]

Thanks so much everyone for the advice. The news was a little shocking to us at first. With your help we've regrouped and are ready to once again keep moving forward. My parents are going to cosponsor us. I'm still going to file my 2008 tax return as well. I will just try to be as covered as possible.

I kind of figured that assets weren't held in high regard. When my wife had her K-1 interview in Japan, there was a lot of paperwork that they never looked at. What's weird to me is that there was no problem with me being the only sponsor when she was applying for the K-1. I guess the agents in Japan are a little looser.

In regards to the question about the Work Permit, it's free to file for the permit if you file it with your I-485. So it saves you hundreds of dollars. It would be interesting though to see if I had filed for it seperately, maybe they wouldn't have been able to put a hold on it. Personally, that's what hurt me the most. Here is this girl that is trying to do everything legally and just wants to be able to work while her case is being processed. There is little for her to do all day but stay at home and wait for me to get done with my work. Thank God she is now insured and can drive around when she wants, otherwise she would be going insane with the waiting. And so as punishment for me not having enough income, they decide to put a hold on her work permit? The whole issue is about money in the first place, yet they won't let her earn any more money. I know I could have worded this better, but it just gets me so frustrated.

I'm sorry for anyone here who has had a bumpy transistion into Permanent Resident status. No matter the amount of crud that gets in our way, we will make it through and it will be worth it.

Thanks everyone,

Dane

[DK1118 0]

Hi Everyone,

I had one more question about the I-864a. I am the main sponsor, so I am going to submit my tax returns for the last 3 years.

However, do the members of my family that are going to be joint sponsors need to submit tax returns for the last 3 years or just the most current year?

Thanks,

Dane