AOS package questions: domicile, taxes, proof of income

[MordecaiRigby 29]

Hi! My husband and I are at the NVC stage and we are getting ready to mail out the AOS and IV packages.

I have some questions that I hope you'd help to clarify:

1. Domicile issue - do we need to bring it up with NVC? At the USCIS stage my husband and I both lived together abroad (for 3.5 years). After our petition was approved and the case moved to NVC my husband moved back to the States. So all the documents that we will send to NVC will already have his address in the US as his residence address. Do we need to provide all the evidence to show that he has re-established his domicile in the States? Or is required only for people who are still residing abroad when filing documents with NVC?

2. If we provide tax transcripts both for the primary sponsor and the joint sponsor, are we also required to provide W2s? Or are the tax transcripts sufficient?

3. Are letters of employment necessary for the joint sponsor and his household member? Or will pay stubs be sufficient as proof of income?

4. Do we need to provide "proof of relationship" between the joint sponsor and the household member? They are married (my husband's mother and step father) and it is obvious from the tax transcript (they filed jointly as married couple). Are we required to send a copy of their marriage certificate?

Thanks for your help!

Edited January 26, 2016 by Mr.M&Mrs.J

[Ryan H 3,925]

Answers:

• Since he has returned to the US and now has a US address, that should be sufficient.
• Tax transcripts alone are sufficient.
• Pay stubs alone are sufficient as along as they show what has been earned for the year to date (YTD). I've never heard of a pay stub that would not contain such information.
• Yes

[MordecaiRigby 29]

Answers:

• Since he has returned to the US and now has a US address, that should be sufficient.
• Tax transcripts alone are sufficient.
• Pay stubs alone are sufficient as along as they show what has been earned for the year to date (YTD). I've never heard of a pay stub that would not contain such information.
• Yes

Ryan H, thank you so much for your help.

Just two more questions to clarify:

ad. 1. NVC should currently have my husband's foreign address on file, since that's the address we provided on all USCIS forms. Why should NVC believe my husband if all of a sudden we start putting a US address in all NVC documents? Isn't this the situation where the NVC expect to see some proof of re-establishing the domicile, such as: car registration and insurance, apartment lease, voter registration, etc?

ad. 2. My husband has always filed his taxes separately, so I understand that he doesn't need his W2s. But if the joint sponsor and his household member (my husband's step father and mother) have been filing their taxes jointly, then the tax transcript only shows their combined income. Don't they need to present the W2s to show what each of them earned individually?

[Ryan H 3,925]

Ryan H, thank you so much for your help.

Just two more questions to clarify:

ad. 1. NVC should currently have my husband's foreign address on file, since that's the address we provided on all USCIS forms. Why should NVC believe my husband if all of a sudden we start putting a US address in all NVC documents? Isn't this the situation where the NVC expect to see some proof of re-establishing the domicile, such as: car registration and insurance, apartment lease, voter registration, etc?

ad. 2. My husband has always filed his taxes separately, so I understand that he doesn't need his W2s. But if the joint sponsor and his household member (my husband's step father and mother) have been filing their taxes jointly, then the tax transcript only shows their combined income. Don't they need to present the W2s to show what each of them earned individually?

More answers:

1. You are overthinking this; reestablishing domicile only comes into play if the petitioner still resides abroad when the I-864 is submitted. In your case, the petitioner has already returned to the US and a US address alone is sufficient and will be taken at face value. The reason being is there is an admonition before the signature line that states all information provided is true and accurate to the best of the signers knowledge and that knowingly providing false information will result in penalties.
2. If the joint sponsor completes an I-864 and the household member completes the I-864A, then they won't care what their individual income is because they are combining income.

[MordecaiRigby 29]

Thank you, Ryan!