Want to marry a filipina, have tax lien issue

[pushbrk 14,249]

I don't know how the CO would know about the tax lien, unless the OP disclosed it to him. Does the USCIS forward the results of the Petitioners name check to the Embassy? I don't believe a tax lien would show there. Does the USCIS perform a credit check?

Consular Officers DEFINITELY know about active tax liens. Take it to the bank.

[speedwell 224]

I don't know how the CO would know about the tax lien, unless the OP disclosed it to him. Does the USCIS forward the results of the Petitioners name check to the Embassy? I don't believe a tax lien would show there. Does the USCIS perform a credit check?

I'm sorry about the error I made above. My reading leads me to believe that the petitioner gets an FBI name check (not a credit check) during the I-130 process. I don't know where a tax lien would show up unless the NVC cross-checked the tax forms on the affidavit of support with the IRS (which I think is likely).

Edited February 18, 2013 by speedwell

[Karee 4,191]

For example, if you have 50k in income and a 40k tax lien, the Consular Officer will consider your income to be only 10k, BECAUSE, (theoretically and this is the theory they use) the IRS can simply take their 40K all at once and leave you with nothing, after taxes.

The above is EXACTLY right. How do I know? It happened to me. I had a 10k USD tax lien and made ~19k USD for 2007. The CO looked at it and said because of that, I really only made 9k for 2007. And trust me, they will know about it.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Karee

[Karee 4,191]

I don't know how the CO would know about the tax lien, unless the OP disclosed it to him. Does the USCIS forward the results of the Petitioners name check to the Embassy? I don't believe a tax lien would show there. Does the USCIS perform a credit check?

I was wondering the same thing. The odd thing in my case was that I was an IR-1 visa. I filed the I-864 with NVC, and they approved everything and sent it to the embassy. Why they didn't bring it up at the NVC stage, I have no idea. I was on a payment plan with the IRS at the time, but it didn't matter. I ended up showing them my 2008 income which was 50+k which was well over the limit even with the lien, and she got the visa. Once my wife came I still owed the IRS about 5k and the end of 2009. WHat I did was go all the way back to 2006 and amend my tax returns as married filing jointly. That meant they OWED me 10k USD. They wiped the 5k I owed them off the books and sent me a check for 5k.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Karee

[pushbrk 14,249]

I was wondering the same thing.

It really doesn't matter how they would know. The fact is they DO know about active tax liens. Plan accordingly.

[Karee 4,191]

It really doesn't matter how they would know. The fact is they DO know about active tax liens. Plan accordingly.

I understand they DO know. Out of curiousity I would like to know HOW they know.

[pushbrk 14,249]

I understand they DO know. Out of curiousity I would like to know HOW they know.

I would like to know too. Wish I could tell you. Since they consider it a critical issue, they surely have direct access to the information they need, whether directly with the IRS or as a part of the FBI name check.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I would like to know too. Wish I could tell you. Since they consider it a critical issue, they surely have direct access to the information they need, whether directly with the IRS or as a part of the FBI name check.

Well, any liens would be public information, so if they were looking for that information, they could find it without the help of the IRS, just as easily as any of the credit reporting agencies now access that information.