Long marriage, no commingling of accounts, no joint taxes

[Victorianblues 0]

Hello there,

I am a USC and live with my husband in his home country.

We have lived there for 7 years, been married for 8. Our marriage is registered in his country and the USA.

We have NO joint bank accounts and have purposely not done so for USA tax filing requirements reasons.

My husband has somewhat significant cash assets in his name. He owns a business. I earn enough and file US taxes to qualify for the income support level needed.

We have a home deed in USA in both names, but mortgage only in mine.

We have no shared utilities.

I am worried because our marriage is long term, the lack of commingling is a problem. I can show joint travel plans, get affidavits, i can also get wills done and show same mailing address. no joint lease, but we can get his parents to write one if needed. We have no children. Ive lived in his country with him for 7 years for love, and we lived together in another country before that.

We wish to move back to the USA and apply from abroad. Our country's US embassy does not offer DCF.

My questions:

1. With a long term marriage, will our no joint accounts raise flags? I do not want my name on his bank accounts--I dont want to file a foreign account disclosure. I also dont want to have to tell immigration this is why and am afraid they will ask. I have no qualms about putting him on a US bank account after he has an SSN.

2. Will my husband being a small business owner abroad present problems?

3. Will proof of his cash assets help or hinder us? Should we keep mum on them?

4. Will the fact he has never filed US taxes (but I have, filing married separately) be an issue? He files in his own country and has no legal reason we know of to file in the USA.

5. Will me being self employed be a problem? (i can show transcripts from IRS that exceed minimum income levels).

Thank you so much in advance I apologize if these questions or my anonymity for now causes offense.

[lost_at_sea 995]

What country are you in?

[Victorianblues 0]

I prefer to keep that private because of the nature of my question.

Does it affect your advise?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

I prefer to keep that private because of the nature of my question.

Does it affect your advise?

Yes, The country that your spouse from, will have different levels of scrutiny, during the visa interview at the US consulate.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/441791-what-are-the-higher-fraud-countriesscale-from-highest-to-lowest/

[lost_at_sea 995]

I prefer to keep that private because of the nature of my question.

Does it affect your advise?

Yep. Just the consulate you'll be interviewing at will be enough to tailor the advice. It varies a lot.

[Victorianblues 0]

I understand this may be asking a lot. Would either of you be willing to discuss in a PM?

For the most of our process, I would have no issue posting my information and experience like other posters. But I am concerned about privacy issues just on this particular question. I know it's paranoid, and I understand if you aren't willing to talk with me privately. Again, I appreciate your willingness to help and what you linked about scrutiny makes a lot of sense. We are *not* in a Visa waiver program country.

[dwheels76 5,486]

Hello there,

I am a USC and live with my husband in his home country.

We have lived there for 7 years, been married for 8. Our marriage is registered in his country and the USA.

We have NO joint bank accounts and have purposely not done so for USA tax filing requirements reasons.

My husband has somewhat significant cash assets in his name. He owns a business. I earn enough and file US taxes to qualify for the income support level needed.

We have a home deed in USA in both names, but mortgage only in mine.

We have no shared utilities.

I am worried because our marriage is long term, the lack of commingling is a problem. I can show joint travel plans, get affidavits, i can also get wills done and show same mailing address. no joint lease, but we can get his parents to write one if needed. We have no children. Ive lived in his country with him for 7 years for love, and we lived together in another country before that.

We wish to move back to the USA and apply from abroad. Our country's US embassy does not offer DCF.

My questions:

1. With a long term marriage, will our no joint accounts raise flags? I do not want my name on his bank accounts--I dont want to file a foreign account disclosure. I also dont want to have to tell immigration this is why and am afraid they will ask. I have no qualms about putting him on a US bank account after he has an SSN.

2. Will my husband being a small business owner abroad present problems?

3. Will proof of his cash assets help or hinder us? Should we keep mum on them?

4. Will the fact he has never filed US taxes (but I have, filing married separately) be an issue? He files in his own country and has no legal reason we know of to file in the USA.

5. Will me being self employed be a problem? (i can show transcripts from IRS that exceed minimum income levels).

Thank you so much in advance I apologize if these questions or my anonymity for now causes offense.

1. With a long term marriage, will our no joint accounts raise flags? I do not want my name on his bank accounts--I dont want to file a foreign account disclosure. I also dont want to have to tell immigration this is why and am afraid they will ask. I have no qualms about putting him on a US bank account after he has an SSN.

The problem is after 7 years so start now jjust looks like you are making evidence to appease immigration.

2. Will my husband being a small business owner abroad present problems?

Has no baring. It's all about what you make and can you support him.

3. Will proof of his cash assets help or hinder us? Should we keep mum on them?

His no. Unless you are transferring that monies to your account. For affidavit of supoport you have to show you can support. And you meet the poverty guidelines. Not him.

4. Will the fact he has never filed US taxes (but I have, filing married separately) be an issue? He files in his own country and has no legal reason we know of to file in the USA.

He isn't a US citizen nor has a SS he isn't required to file US tax returns but you are. and will need to have done the last 3 years for the affidavit of support.

5. Will me being self employed be a problem? (i can show transcripts from IRS that exceed minimum income levels).

As long as you can show you meet or above the poverty guideline you are okay.

Here is the guidelines: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf

And your country makes a BIG difference. Interviewing at UK or Canada is night and day in Nigeria, Ghana, the MENA's, India.

Edited August 1, 2013 by dwheels76

[Victorianblues 0]

Thank you, dwheels.

He isn't from the countries you listed.

To throw a pot in the fire, say he had UK or Canada citizenship in addition to his country of origin (where we live).

Could he file as a citizen from one of those places? Problem is, we'd still have to deal with the local consulate, so my guess is no.

Tonight I found evidence of old bank accounts shared in our prior country in both our names. I think that will help.

[christeen 966]

We were married for 7years and he never filed taxes nor had a SSN for the tax benefits... Without a social, we also did not have co-mingling of finances... We had evidence of constant communication, visiting each other regularly, and other items from the list. Since you live abroad together, getting evidence from the USA might be difficult... So I would think that as long as you have supplemental info it would be ok. If you have been filing married filing seperatly, that should also be good for your case showing you were to hiding the fact you are married. Assets are not an issue, but keep in mind once he is an LPR, he will have to declare those (not pay taxes, but declare them). If you are in a high fraud consulate, then you need to rent load with lots of supplemental evidence... But from the surface, provided you have evidence of living together as a married couple you should be ok despite the finances.

[Victorianblues 0]

Thanks, christeen. It is helpful to hear you had a similar experience.

I am able to do things like put him on my US homeowners insurance, and hopefully utility bills, too. I will just frontload like crazy. I was able to find here my consulate is not a high fraud one, and pretty easy in interviews, so that helps!

Thank you all. I appreciate this forum and you on it.

[NikLR 13,234]

Do the best with what you can find. The fact that you've lived together for so long is a bonus, anything that proves you've lived together should be sought. aka: Envelopes from cards or anything else showing both names to one address. Proof of both names at same address. Utility bills in both names. Any leases/joint ownership in both names. You said you found joint bank accounts to that would help as well.

Feel free to add him to any US bank account, there is a w8ben form that I had to fill out to be put onto my husband's. Cash assets are best in a US bank account under the petitioner's name and can be used to help with the AOS if necessary; although it sounds like you make more than enough to support on income alone.

MFS is fine as well, at least you filed correctly and do not have to amend previous tax returns.

Best of luck to you.

[Victorianblues 0]

I have one more question that is better if I keep my details anonymous on.

For form G-325a, I assume my spouse must list ALL his nationalities, including one obtained through naturlization. It would be illegal for him to leave out his second nationality, correct?

Here is the issue. He comes from a country where dual nationality is illegal.

If the US consulate there employs local (from his country) workers, could this cause him problems at interview for his country's side of things? (i know the USA doesnt care). Has anyone else applied from a country where dual nationality is ilegal, but they had it anyway?

Thanks! I will see you all in a public profile later

[NikLR 13,234]

Hrm, if dual citizenship is illegal, such is the case in the netherlands for example, I imagine that the country either does not recognize or automatically revoked his citizenship when he received the secondary citizenship.

Yes, he should write down all of his citizenship statuses, but he should also be quite clear whether or not he actually IS a citizen before claiming such.

This may be a better question asked in the General Immigration forum to get the best range of responses?

[christeen 966]

I have one more question that is better if I keep my details anonymous on.

For form G-325a, I assume my spouse must list ALL his nationalities, including one obtained through naturlization. It would be illegal for him to leave out his second nationality, correct?

Here is the issue. He comes from a country where dual nationality is illegal.

If the US consulate there employs local (from his country) workers, could this cause him problems at interview for his country's side of things? (i know the USA doesnt care). Has anyone else applied from a country where dual nationality is ilegal, but they had it anyway?

Thanks! I will see you all in a public profile later

The us govt. does not care if you have other passports... however, Yes, depending on the country, you run a risk.... It is kind of a catch 22 for you... You MUST reveal all citizenships and if you are interviewing in a country which considers it illegal so they might either force you to choose which passport/nationality you want to use (like Japan and azberjian does this) or prove formal renouncing of Canadian citizenship (Indonesia) and the PRC will cross check you depending on how you enter... I would post in the country specific forums to see others experience... To get REAL info on your specific case you might have to drop some of the paranoia and let someone really help you for your specific situation... Good luck...

[pushbrk 13,612]

If you've lived in the same country together as husband and wife, your evidence of being in his country (in your passport) will be sufficient evidence to trump pretty much anything regardless of country.

His assets can be used to sponsor but your income can only be used if it will continue from the same source after moving to the USA.