Successfully used Intending Immigrant's Foreign Income with I-864 (DCF)

[DaveSana 13]

Successfully used Intending Immigrant's Foreign Income with I-864

Filed for an immigrant visa, CR1, directly at the Embassy in Manila (DCF) a few weeks ago.

The I-864 instructions state that the income of the intending immigrant might be used as household income under the condition that the income will continue from the same source after immigration.

Spouse works in Manila for an international consulting firm, with many offices in the US.

Spouse will continue to work for the same firm from one of their offices in the US after immigration.

Included the intending immigrant's foreign income in the I-864.

Our application was approved under that condition.

Received the immigrant visa.

Dave

[Penguin_ie 5,985]

I am glad you got your visa, but what you are stating here is always what we have said; foreign income ONLY counts if it continues from the same source once you immigrate.

[DaveSana 13]

@Pengiun_ie

It was NOT THAT easy, actually.

There was more to it than that, not regarding our case specifically, but regarding the proper interpretation of the law itself.

The consular officer and supervisor were not so sure.

Dave

Edited December 14, 2016 by DaveSana

[Chardon Ne' 71]

Thank you for sharing. It will come in handy for someone to know the specifics.

[DaveSana 13]

@Chardan Ne

Thanks for the note.

We decided to base our application on the income of the intending immigrant. (Was easy to document while in Manila, so we went that way.)

We thought it would be straightforward, based on the I-864 instructions, and the regulations, as we understood them.

As it turned out, it was NOT so easy.

The Consular Officer, and the Pre-Screening Consular Officer, each had questions about the regulations - whether employment income that was currently being paid outside of the US by a firm, that would continue to be paid by the same firm from inside the US upon immigration, actually was allowed for under the regulations.

The consular officer seemed to think that the - "or some other lawful source" - clause actually could be interpreted to mean "some other lawful US source of employment".

The consular conferred with their supervisor, and the result was that the consular officer said they would need to review the regulations in more detail later that day, and that we would either get the visa or get a letter.

The regulations, and legal commentary about the regulations, suggested that some lawyers/officials felt that the regulations were too vague, and that one reasonable interpretation supported essentially an Adjustment-of-Status-with-an-existing-US-based-employment view.

I provided some of the regulations at the interview. The Consular Officer said they still had questions about them, and had to do some additional research.

The consular officer specifically said there was NO question about our facts in this case, or about the income continuing and being sufficient. The only question was about the proper interpretation of the regulations themselves.

During our weeks of research, it was very hard to find actual cases where this was done. There were said to be some foreign income-based applications approved in the UK, and in Jerusalem, Israel, but we could not find out much about them. And we could not find anything specific involving the Embassy in Manila, and how they adjudicated such applications.

It was not easy convincing the consular officer.

Dave

[Boiler 43,430]

I have seen ot happen in London quite a few times, probably very unusual in PI.

[DaveSana 13]

POE Today Dec 22, 1016!

Arrived with my spouse, at JFK!

No issues whatsoever.

Extremely smooth entry.

Took 3 minutes, tops.

Generous posters here at VisaJourney were instrumental in helping us understand, prepare for, and obtain our tourist visa, and now spousal visa.

Thanks, Folks.

Forward and Upward!

Dave and Sana

Edited December 23, 2016 by DaveSana