Help with RFE - please!

[dlev 0]

Hi everybody, need your knowledge as we are kind of lost on how to present the information.

- Wife is med student. She is sponsoring my visa, but she is a med student. Her "income" is composed of scholarships & grants at this time. After researching we decided to show the grants she is receiving as Income (grants are not Loans/Scholarship, i.e. they don't need to be returned).

- At the same time we presented a joint sponsor, in case they thought these grants were not sufficient.

We just got a Request for Initial Evidence, saying that:

the Petitioner's income on the Federal Tax Return does not meet/exceed the 125% poverty guideline. The Petitioner lists their current income in form 864 as an amount to be considered as sufficient; however, no evidence has been submitted as proof of current income"

Since she has some deductions, her taxable income (in the tax return) is negative (grants are not taxable, or something).

a. It occurs to me that we could send the Grant acceptance/disbursement letter as income evidence ("Evidence of other income") -- has anybody have had experience with this? Any suggestions?

b. Alternatively, it sounds like listing the grants she gets is making things complicated (for some reason, they are asking for doc support of her income, but not paying attention to the fact that the joint sponsor should cover for it). Perhaps we should just list her income as not enough, so they don't consider it at all? In this case, should we re-send her 864?

Edited June 16, 2012 by dlev

[Cathi 5,771]

why not just get a co sponsor?

[dlev 0]

why not just get a co sponsor?

We did, this also adds to the confusion - it seems they are asking about the main sponsor's income instead of just looking at the joint-sponsor one. :-/ And that's part of my question - perhaps we should re-submit my wife's i-864 and list her income as $0 (as her AGI on her tax return shows)?

Edited June 16, 2012 by dlev

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You need to include proof of current employment for your wife. It is usually either paystubs or a letter from her employer.

[dlev 0]

You need to include proof of current employment for your wife. It is usually either paystubs or a letter from her employer.

As mentioned, she is a med student - i.e. not employed. Her "income" is scholarships + grants; we only listed the Grants as her income in the 864.

Edited June 16, 2012 by dlev

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

As mentioned, she is a med student - i.e. not employed. Her "income" is scholarships + grants; we only listed the Grants as her income in the 864.

Yes, so can you show her disbursements or can you show her funding letters or anything of the sort? She is employed in the sense that she is getting money to be a med student. Show proof of her current employment as such.