Accounting for foreign earned income in Affadavit of Support?

[Jim2012 0]

Hi all,

I am a US Citizen and my wife is a Brazilian citizen. She received her K1 alien fiancee visa in August 2011 and we moved from Brazil, where we had been living together for the past 2 years, to the USA in late October 2011. We were legally married in early January 2012 (three weeks prior to the 90-day deadline) and we are now preparing her adjustment of status petition with me as her sole sponsor in the Affadavit of Support.

I have been pursuing my PhD from a US university full-time for the past three years, including extensive field work in Brazil. In addition to my academic research and writing, I earned over $45,000 in short-term consulting fees in 2011, with most of this income earned while I was resident in Brazil. This income appears on Schedule C of my tax return as Self-Employment "Business Income", but if I exclude it from my taxable income, as I am entitled to do using form 2555, and claim further deductions for the expenses of the home office that I maintained in Brazil from Jan-Oct 2011, my "Adjusted Gross Income" comes out as a negative number. If I delete form 2555 from my taxes, and claim (erroneously) that this income was not foreign earned, my federal tax liability skyrockets from $4500 to $9000, and my adjusted gross income goes from -$750 to $40,000+.

My question is: Does USCIS take foreign earned income, self-employment business income, and other income reported in Schedule C of my federal tax return (but not necessarily in my "adjusted gross income") into account in determining whether our household income in 2011 was above 125% of poverty?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Best,

Jim

[Fridaythe22nd 0]

I'm also in a similar situation... reporting my foreign earned income as evidence of income for the i-864. I'm planning to report it as required... fortunately I also had income inside the states... so I still had a positive number on the adjusted gross income line.... albeit just over the poverty line.

I don't have any pay stubs for my foreign earned income so I guess I'm going to need to include a "letter from the foreign employer."

Did you have any issues with this? Thanks!

[Anh map 2,098]

Hi all,

I am a US Citizen and my wife is a Brazilian citizen. She received her K1 alien fiancee visa in August 2011 and we moved from Brazil, where we had been living together for the past 2 years, to the USA in late October 2011. We were legally married in early January 2012 (three weeks prior to the 90-day deadline) and we are now preparing her adjustment of status petition with me as her sole sponsor in the Affadavit of Support.

I have been pursuing my PhD from a US university full-time for the past three years, including extensive field work in Brazil. In addition to my academic research and writing, I earned over $45,000 in short-term consulting fees in 2011, with most of this income earned while I was resident in Brazil. This income appears on Schedule C of my tax return as Self-Employment "Business Income", but if I exclude it from my taxable income, as I am entitled to do using form 2555, and claim further deductions for the expenses of the home office that I maintained in Brazil from Jan-Oct 2011, my "Adjusted Gross Income" comes out as a negative number. If I delete form 2555 from my taxes, and claim (erroneously) that this income was not foreign earned, my federal tax liability skyrockets from $4500 to $9000, and my adjusted gross income goes from -$750 to $40,000+.

My question is: Does USCIS take foreign earned income, self-employment business income, and other income reported in Schedule C of my federal tax return (but not necessarily in my "adjusted gross income") into account in determining whether our household income in 2011 was above 125% of poverty?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Best,

Jim

Line 22 of your most recent 1040 tax return is the number used. If it's too low, you can raise it by reducing deductions, filing an 1040X, and paying the tax owed.

From what you're saying, it may be simpler to secure a joint sponsor.

[Ron-Tanya 23]

Line 22 of your most recent 1040 tax return is the number used. If it's too low, you can raise it by reducing deductions, filing an 1040X, and paying the tax owed.

From what you're saying, it may be simpler to secure a joint sponsor.

Hi hope you can help with this?? My line 22 is about 14,000 after my expenses took my w-2 and 1099's from over $35,000

I do have retirement pay that is not on my tax return and this brings me back to well above the poverty level. This year I have quit my side bussiness and with everything all retirements Military and SNN I am above $35,000. How do I do this.

Thanks for the help.