Request for Initial Evidence (I-485) Question!

[samestory 0]

Hello guys! I have gotten so much help on this forum ever since my husband and I submitted our process for K-1 in South Korea and I wanna have your advice and opinions for my process.

Here are basic our case.

1. I submitted AOS sponsored by my mother in law as joint sponsor.

2. My husband and my mother in law both earns above the level of minimum financial requirement.(Submitted all W-2 forms and stuff)

3. My husband worked as an English teacher in South Korea until Feb 2016.

4. My husband started working in the US since April 2016 til now "as an independent contractor"

5. According to Number 4, He doesn't have a regular pay stub. So, we submitted all his paychecks he has gotten from work.

6. We submitted letter from his work. but I can tell prospects for future employment and advance and dates of employment part were missing.(So This we can get new one again according to information they ask us)

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Today, I got this yellow(ugh) letter from USCIS indicating Request for Initial Evidence.

It says as below:

The petitioner/sponsor lists their current in come on Form I-864 as an amount to be considered as sufficient;

however, no evidence has been submitted as proof of current income.

submit evidence of the petitioner/sponsor's current income. Such evidence should include:

*Pay stubs or other documentation of pay for the previous 6 months.

* Evidence of other income, such as Tax-Exempt Interest, Qualified Dividends, IRA distributions, Pension, Annuities, and Social Security Benefits(only SSA-1099 and/or SSD1-1099)

Letter of employment containing the following:

*Dates of employment

*Nature of the job

*Yearly salary earned

*Number of hours per week worked

*Prospects for future employment and advancement

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Here are my questions:

1. As I mentioned, we have my mother-in-law as a joint sponsor and her annual income is over requirement. In addition, the fact that this RFE letter does not ask for my mother-in-law's proof seems to reflect that all her proof are fine.

Is it somehow USCIS omitted her proof or was confused with too much proof by any chance? Should I call USCIS and explain this?

2. Let's say we still need to submit something since they sent us this RFE letter. What can my husband submit instead of pay stub? my husband is independent contract worker, so he doesn't have a regular pay stub.

3. Blue Bold part is how letter says exactly. when they say "submit evidence", is it either pay stubs or evidence of other income or letter of employment?

Simply, can I just submit new letter of employment containing all those information since we don't have pay stubs?

4. Last, in the letter, it says "Submit ALL of the information requested below at one time. Failure to do so will result in a denial." What if a newly submitted evidence is still not sufficient to them? What happen then?

Should I leave the country by the end of K-1 Visa? or resubmit all AOS paper with $1,070 check?? (My husband got so pissed at this phrase)

Thank you so much for reading this long question.

If anyone has any advice or experience, please help us!!

Happy Labor Day Everyone!!

[daigo 39]

1. As I mentioned, we have my mother-in-law as a joint sponsor and her annual income is over requirement. In addition, the fact that this RFE letter does not ask for my mother-in-law's proof seems to reflect that all her proof are fine. Is it somehow USCIS omitted her proof or was confused with too much proof by any chance? Should I call USCIS and explain this?

Did you file a separate I-864 with your mother-in-law marked as joint-sponsor or is she a household member? I doubt it's an issue with the evidence being confusing for your mother-in-law, but rather an issue with the submitted evidence on your husband's I-864. Did he provide any tax returns or tax transcripts? Those are the most important. What are the differences in evidence between what was submitted with your mother-in-law's I-864 and your husband's?

2. Let's say we still need to submit something since they sent us this RFE letter. What can my husband submit instead of pay stub? my husband is independent contract worker, so he doesn't have a regular pay stub.

A letter of employment from his employer discussing the duration of his employment and his pay rate is the next best alternative to actual paystubs.

3. Blue Bold part is how letter says exactly. when they say "submit evidence", is it either pay stubs or evidence of other income or letter of employment Simply, can I just submit new letter of employment containing all those information since we don't have pay stubs?

Yes. If the letter of employment--signed by the employer--has the dates of employment and the employee's pay rate, it's just as good as paystubs.

4. Last, in the letter, it says "Submit ALL of the information requested below at one time. Failure to do so will result in a denial." What if a newly submitted evidence is still not sufficient to them? What happen then? Should I leave the country by the end of K-1 Visa? or resubmit all AOS paper with $1,070 check?? (My husband got so pissed at this phrase)

You can remain in the country for the duration of the adjudication of your AOS. If they're not satisfied with your RFE response, they may issue a second RFE or require an interview.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,369]

Either your husband's income is sufficient (and he can prove he's been at this job for 6+ months) and then you don't need your mother-in-law as joint sponsor

OR

You acknowledge in the RFE that your husband has NOT had his job for 6+ months and

Re-submit your mother-in-law's I-864 (if you don't live with her) or I-864A (if she lives in the same household with you) and proofs.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

There is not a requirement to have had the job for 6 months. 6 months worth of pay stubs is just one type of documentation you can provide to prove your current annual income.

OP> Your spouse is an independent contractor, which means he is self-employed. Self-employed prove their income via their most recent tax return. They will go by line 22, Total Income, in deciding if you meet the requirement. Since he does not have a tax return showing that income yet because the job is so new, the joint sponsor is definitely needed.

You cannot submit a letter from his employer because he is an independent contractor and therefore his own employer. He does not receive pay stubs and won't receive a W-2 like an employee would. You can supply a letter from whoever he does the contracting for, and bank statements showing the income deposits each month, but you really should focus on pointing out the joint sponsor and their documentation.

Include a statement about being self-employed, only having been employed in the US since April because he was working outside the US before that, and therefore have no recent tax return to show the self-employment income. State that while you do meet the income requirement, because of that fact, you are using a joint sponsor, and have included again their I-864 and supporting documents. Make sure to include everything required for the joint sponsor, such as most recent tax transcript, proof of current annual income and proof of being a USC or LPR.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,369]

There is not a requirement to have had the job for 6 months. 6 months worth of pay stubs is just one type of documentation you can provide to prove your current annual income.

OP> Your spouse is an independent contractor, which means he is self-employed. Self-employed prove their income via their most recent tax return. They will go by line 22, Total Income, in deciding if you meet the requirement. Since he does not have a tax return showing that income yet because the job is so new, the joint sponsor is definitely needed.

You cannot submit a letter from his employer because he is an independent contractor and therefore his own employer. He does not receive pay stubs and won't receive a W-2 like an employee would. You can supply a letter from whoever he does the contracting for, and bank statements showing the income deposits each month, but you really should focus on pointing out the joint sponsor and their documentation.

Include a statement about being self-employed, only having been employed in the US since April because he was working outside the US before that, and therefore have no recent tax return to show the self-employment income. State that while you do meet the income requirement, because of that fact, you are using a joint sponsor, and have included again their I-864 and supporting documents. Make sure to include everything required for the joint sponsor, such as most recent tax transcript, proof of current annual income and proof of being a USC or LPR.

Not officially, but USCIS seems to regard an income stream "likely to continue" pretty much only if it has been ongoing for 6+ months (if it's from employment or self-employment, I am assuming Social Security benefits are different in this regard).

[samestory 0]

Thanks for your advice!

My husband and I firstly got super relieved that we wouldn't be kicked out if we couldn't satisfy USCIS evidence returning to this RFE letter.

Here are additional facts on my situation!

1. My Mother-in-law lives separately. So we submitted separate I-864. We accurately checked on "I'm the only joint sponsor" on her I-864.

2. When I submitted I-485 package, I used easily opening clear folders. There were 6 folders including I-485, I-131, I-765, I-864 for my husband, I-864 for my mother-in-law, proof of marriage and relationship.(There is no issue that they can't open the folders or something, I'm 150% sure since it's just one button office type clear folder. I also tagged the title on each folder.)

3. According to Number 2, my mother-in-law's I-864 and evidence are perfectly submitted. Plus, USCIS doesn't mention anything about her evidence insufficiency. (Unless they omit only that my mother-in-law folder!? hopefully not!)

So, here are what we are going to do after reading your advice.

1. We will ask my husband's company to write a letter including shown criteria on the letter and Submit that.

2. We can't get pay stub since he is a independent contract worker. We won't submit that.

3. We will call USCIS on coming Tuesday morning and check one more time.

So... Do you guys thing those seems right?

I know you guys kept suggesting resubmitting my mother-in-law's I-864 and evidence...

Should I submit again even though I already submitted and they didn't say anything about hers as of now?

Or any other options or opinion on my case!?

Seriously, Thank you so much guys. You guys are really helpful.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,369]

Yes, I'd resubmit the joint sponsor's I-864 and proofs. It will be needed, because basically your husband cannot prove his income to USCIS' satisfaction.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

Not officially, but USCIS seems to regard an income stream "likely to continue" pretty much only if it has been ongoing for 6+ months (if it's from employment or self-employment, I am assuming Social Security benefits are different in this regard).

I have never noticed that regard. I have seen people with really recent jobs, like 2 or 3 months be fine, but others with newer jobs even longer than 6 months not be. It will depend entirely on how the adjudicator views their overall situation, interpretation of the adjudication policies and how they tend to make their decisions. It is always on a case by case basis, but there are typical types of documents people can use in order to try and prove the immigrant will not become a public charge. The officer will decide if they managed to convince them or not.

Thanks for your advice!

My husband and I firstly got super relieved that we wouldn't be kicked out if we couldn't satisfy USCIS evidence returning to this RFE letter.

Here are additional facts on my situation!

1. My Mother-in-law lives separately. So we submitted separate I-864. We accurately checked on "I'm the only joint sponsor" on her I-864.

2. When I submitted I-485 package, I used easily opening clear folders. There were 6 folders including I-485, I-131, I-765, I-864 for my husband, I-864 for my mother-in-law, proof of marriage and relationship.(There is no issue that they can't open the folders or something, I'm 150% sure since it's just one button office type clear folder. I also tagged the title on each folder.)

3. According to Number 2, my mother-in-law's I-864 and evidence are perfectly submitted. Plus, USCIS doesn't mention anything about her evidence insufficiency. (Unless they omit only that my mother-in-law folder!? hopefully not!)

So, here are what we are going to do after reading your advice.

1. We will ask my husband's company to write a letter including shown criteria on the letter and Submit that.

2. We can't get pay stub since he is a independent contract worker. We won't submit that.

3. We will call USCIS on coming Tuesday morning and check one more time.

So... Do you guys thing those seems right?

I know you guys kept suggesting resubmitting my mother-in-law's I-864 and evidence...

Should I submit again even though I already submitted and they didn't say anything about hers as of now?

Or any other options or opinion on my case!?

Seriously, Thank you so much guys. You guys are really helpful.

Even though you already submitted it, you should submit again the I-864 and supporting documents from the joint sponsor. You are trying to point out that you are using a joint sponsor that does meet all the requirements, even if you don't. Sometimes you have to repeat things and slowly point out your evidence to them.