Multiple AOS RFE's

[nzsteve 0]

Hi everyone

Despite a fairly smooth (albeit long) K1 process, I'm having real problems with AOS and I'm hoping somebody can offer some advice (I am the immigrant, my wife the US citizen) - sorry for the long story.

We filed for AOS (i-485) mid December 2011, along with advanced parole and work authorization, (i-131 and i-765). We also submitted all the other necessary information and forms. Because my wife was a student who had not filled in tax returns for the past few years, we knew she, as the sponsor, would not meet poverty line minimums; so we filled in my income, which I am still receiving from my employer back home, in the "income you are using from any other person who was counted in your household".

Early January, we got our first RFE about the lack of tax returns and a nice little line that read "For the household member's income to be included in the household income, the household member's income must have been from a lawful source and earned while the household member was authorized to work in the United States". It asked for this information within 90 days.

We realize our mistake - only the sponsor (her) income is allowed to be on the Affidavit of Support. We filled in the forms correctly this time - i-864 for her, and i-864a for her mother, who we are living with for complicated and unrelated reasons. As recommended by the USCIS 1800 number, we explained my wife's lack of tax returns in a cover letter, and explained we are attempting to resubmit the i-864 with her mother's income as a supplement to meet the poverty requirements, and we provided 3 years of tax returns for her mother.

2 weeks ago we received the second RFE, a pink letter this time, identical to the first, just not asking for tax returns - giving us only 45 days this time to provide the information! "For the household member's income to be included....... lawful source...... authorized to work in the United States " etc. It seems to me like they are still asking for proof that my income (which should be ignored now) was legally obtained in the US?

A second gruelling phone call to USCIS trying to explain this to various people, said that somebody would review the case based on this information within 2 weeks. We received a letter today (just shy of 2 weeks) that said we had contacted them about our case, that it is currently under review, and that we would receive a decision or notice of other action within 60 days of the date of this letter.

This last letter doesn't feel very helpful - 60 days is less than the 45 (well, 30 now since we just waited 2 weeks as they told us to) days we have left before the pink letter claims the case will be denied, and we just don't know what is happening in the background - if USCIS understands what happened and things are back on track - or if maybe we are the ones that do not understand and there is actually some other kind of problem with the re-submission.

Can somebody offer suggestions? Trying to deal with USCIS on the phone is almost impossible - they keep pushing immigration attorneys or effectively read pieces of your letter to you, presumably expecting the verbal version to make more sense than the written copy.

Thanks everyone!

Edited February 24, 2012 by nzsteve

[Dakine10 5,452]

Hi everyone

Despite a fairly smooth (albeit long) K1 process, I'm having real problems with AOS and I'm hoping somebody can offer some advice (I am the immigrant, my wife the US citizen) - sorry for the long story.

We filed for AOS (i-485) mid December 2011, along with advanced parole and work authorization, (i-131 and i-765). We also submitted all the other necessary information and forms. Because my wife was a student who had not filled in tax returns for the past few years, we knew she, as the sponsor, would not meet poverty line minimums; so we filled in my income, which I am still receiving from my employer back home, in the "income you are using from any other person who was counted in your household".

Early January, we got our first RFE about the lack of tax returns and a nice little line that read "For the household member's income to be included in the household income, the household member's income must have been from a lawful source and earned while the household member was authorized to work in the United States". It asked for this information within 90 days.

We realize our mistake - only the sponsor (her) income is allowed to be on the Affidavit of Support. We filled in the forms correctly this time - i-864 for her, and i-864a for her mother, who we are living with for complicated and unrelated reasons. As recommended by the USCIS 1800 number, we explained my wife's lack of tax returns in a cover letter, and explained we are attempting to resubmit the i-864 with her mother's income as a supplement to meet the poverty requirements, and we provided 3 years of tax returns for her mother.

2 weeks ago we received the second RFE, a pink letter this time, identical to the first, just not asking for tax returns - giving us only 45 days this time to provide the information! "For the household member's income to be included....... lawful source...... authorized to work in the United States " etc. It seems to me like they are still asking for proof that my income (which should be ignored now) was legally obtained in the US?

A second gruelling phone call to USCIS trying to explain this to various people, said that somebody would review the case based on this information within 2 weeks. We received a letter today (just shy of 2 weeks) that said we had contacted them about our case, that it is currently under review, and that we would receive a decision or notice of other action within 60 days of the date of this letter.

This last letter doesn't feel very helpful - 60 days is less than the 45 (well, 30 now since we just waited 2 weeks as they told us to) days we have left before the pink letter claims the case will be denied, and we just don't know what is happening in the background - if USCIS understands what happened and things are back on track - or if maybe we are the ones that do not understand and there is actually some other kind of problem with the re-submission.

Can somebody offer suggestions? Trying to deal with USCIS on the phone is almost impossible - they keep pushing immigration attorneys or effectively read pieces of your letter to you, presumably expecting the verbal version to make more sense than the written copy.

Thanks everyone!

It sounds like they are still asking for clarification of your income listed on the initial I-864. When you submitted the new I-864 and I-864a did you actually tell them to pull the first one and that you would no longer be including your income. I know that sounds like the straight forward thing for them to do, but the are not always brightest of bulbs.

If you have time, you might want to try to make an infopass appointment - at least that way you will get clarification from an actual USCIS adjudicator.

Otherwise I would be inclined to respond to this RFE by resubmitting the new I-864/I-864a and documents (that you sent with the first RFE) and a cover letter telling them that you are no longer using your income and that you have included copies the I-864 that you actually want them to use.

At minimum I would send a letter telling them you are no longer using your income.

[nzsteve 0]

We thought we had made it very clear in our return cover letter to pull my income and the original submission - as you suggested we'll re-submit the same forms again and another cover letter as that's something easy to do in the next 30 days. One scary thing is that it seems every RFE chops the amount of time we have to fix the problem in half.

Thanks for the suggestion on Infopass - how long does it take to receive the Infopass appointment? Less than 30 days?

Edited February 24, 2012 by nzsteve

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

We thought we had made it very clear in our return cover letter to pull my income and the original submission - as you suggested we'll re-submit the same forms again and another cover letter as that's something easy to do in the next 30 days. One scary thing is that it seems every RFE chops the amount of time we have to fix the problem in half.

Thanks for the suggestion on Infopass - how long does it take to receive the Infopass appointment? Less than 30 days?

Depend on your office, most appointment is 2 weeks. IMHO, InfoPass wouldn't be helpful. You need to call to talk to a higher level person at the customer service to make it clear that you pull the wrong I-864 off. Good luck.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Early January, we got our first RFE about the lack of tax returns and a nice little line that read "For the household member's income to be included in the household income, the household member's income must have been from a lawful source and earned while the household member was authorized to work in the United States". It asked for this information within 90 days.

We realize our mistake - only the sponsor (her) income is allowed to be on the Affidavit of Support. We filled in the forms correctly this time - i-864 for her, and i-864a for her mother, who we are living with for complicated and unrelated reasons. As recommended by the USCIS 1800 number, we explained my wife's lack of tax returns in a cover letter, and explained we are attempting to resubmit the i-864 with her mother's income as a supplement to meet the poverty requirements, and we provided 3 years of tax returns for her mother.

2 weeks ago we received the second RFE, a pink letter this time, identical to the first, just not asking for tax returns - giving us only 45 days this time to provide the information! "For the household member's income to be included....... lawful source...... authorized to work in the United States " etc. It seems to me like they are still asking for proof that my income (which should be ignored now) was legally obtained in the US?

Her mother is the "household member". Did you include proof of her citizenship/LPR status (which is one of the requirements)?

We thought we had made it very clear in our return cover letter to pull my income and the original submission - as you suggested we'll re-submit the same forms again and another cover letter as that's something easy to do in the next 30 days. One scary thing is that it seems every RFE chops the amount of time we have to fix the problem in half.

Thanks for the suggestion on Infopass - how long does it take to receive the Infopass appointment? Less than 30 days?

No I don't think they're asking about you at all anymore, they're asking about the "household member" which in this case is her mother (because she filed an I-864a). You need to prove she's an USC/LPR.

[nzsteve 0]

Her mother is the "household member". Did you include proof of her citizenship/LPR status (which is one of the requirements)?

No I don't think they're asking about you at all anymore, they're asking about the "household member" which in this case is her mother (because she filed an I-864a). You need to prove she's an USC/LPR.

We really didn't think of this possibility... epecially since the second RFE was identical to the first. When we re-submit we'll definitely include a copy of her mother's birth certificate in addition to another explanation that the very original affidavit of support is to be disregarded. Thank you!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

We really didn't think of this possibility... epecially since the second RFE was identical to the first. When we re-submit we'll definitely include a copy of her mother's birth certificate in addition to another explanation that the very original affidavit of support is to be disregarded. Thank you!

Well yes it was identical to the first 'cause there's an identical issue, you weren't legal to work so they wanted proof it was legal, and this new time you didn't submit proof her MOTHER was legal to work so they're asking for proof of that. I am confident this is the issue. They tell you in the instructions you need to prove USC/LPR status.