Need advice - tax return submitted with I-864 orI-864EZ

[Btranquilo 2]

I am the petitioner and sponsor for a visa for my wife. I am looking at the information on financial documents needed to support the I-864 / I-864EZ. When I filed my federal income taxes for 2013 I (stupidly) did not file "Married filing separately" but instead filed "Single". My only excuse is that we married on Dec. 3, 2013 and so were married for only 29 days in 2013, my wife has never entered the US or paid any US taxes, etc and it (unfortunately) just did not register to file a married status.

And now I have compounded the problem by waiting until today (Nov, 28, 2014) to file an amended return indicating "married filing separately". As I "read ahead" and prepared to follow the steps of the NVC process to obtain the visa for my spouse I realized that USCIS most likely I would run into a problem with the "Single" filing status. The instructions on the 1040X form indicate it will take 8-12 weeks to process the amended return. So I am "kicking myself" for not thinking this through earlier and only now filing the amended return.

I am wondering if the best course of action is to submit the transcript of the 2013 tax return which indicates "Single filing status" and also include a photo copy of the amended return indicating a change of filing status to "Married filing separately" or should I wait until IRS has processed the amended tax return and obtain a transcript of the amended tax return. Waiting will likely result in a delay in completing the submission of the documents to NVC.

Does anyone have experience and / or advice on this. Thanks in advance,

Btranquilo

[Ryan H 3,790]

Since your file is now at the NVC, USCIS has nothing to do with anything at this juncture since they have already approved the petition.

You don't need to wait on the IRS to finish processing the amended return before filing your Affidavit of Support. With the speed that the NVC is moving at, the amended return will be processed before an interview is scheduled. Furthermore, the NVC has no say in whether or not a visa is approved, that is at the sole discretion of the CO conducting the interview.

FWIW, even if the amended return is not processed in time for the interview, chances are very remote that it will even be an issue. Even though filing single when married is technically improper (and you are working to correct it) other members have also filed this way and most (not all) have not had it negatively affect the interview result.

[Btranquilo 2]

Thanks Ryan for the informed answer and advice; this is very reassuring!