RFE concerning 2016 taxes and income requirements

[permathought 4]

Today I just received a RFE concerning my I-864.  First they said they needed my 2016 tax return (while not totally understandable, I know that has happened to people that file around this time of year) but the other request concerned me. It said that my income did not pass the 125% of poverty level.  However, my CURRENT income does, which was documented when I sent my application with all of my pay stubs since I started working here in the states in November, bank statements and a letter from my employer.  To get specific, my current annual income when I filled was $32.240 and currently is $33,280 a year after a small raise at the end of last month.  The poverty level for my family of four is $24,300 making the 125% threshold $30,375.  I don't have any assets to speak of. 

 

With that said, my previous three years income is substantially below the poverty limit since we were all living and working outside the states. My 2016 tax return will also be below the poverty level since we were overseas for 9 months out of the year, and I was unemployed from September until November.   However, from what I understand, they should only be interested in current income. Am I wrong on that account?

 

My question is if I should send them the 2016 tax return along with the most recent pay stubs, bank statements and another letter from my employer reflecting my current salary.  Do I need to look for a sponsor just to be safe? 

 

 

[permathought 4]

After looking at some other posts, I want to add that I sent in Tax Transcripts for the past three years.  I haven't had a w2 for a while since I was working overseas.  Also I filled jointly with my wife.  Would she need to fill out an I-864A even if she's the beneficiary?

[jnicolel 10]

I have no answers, but I am going to follow this post as I have an almost identical situation, but with a higher current income and 1 more family member. I just sent in our AOS application Feb 22 and am waiting for the checks to be cashed.  I too did not include the 2016 tax return.  

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 hours ago, permathought said:

Today I just received a RFE concerning my I-864.  First they said they needed my 2016 tax return (while not totally understandable, I know that has happened to people that file around this time of year) but the other request concerned me. It said that my income did not pass the 125% of poverty level.  However, my CURRENT income does, which was documented when I sent my application with all of my pay stubs since I started working here in the states in November, bank statements and a letter from my employer.  To get specific, my current annual income when I filled was $32.240 and currently is $33,280 a year after a small raise at the end of last month.  The poverty level for my family of four is $24,300 making the 125% threshold $30,375.  I don't have any assets to speak of. 

 

With that said, my previous three years income is substantially below the poverty limit since we were all living and working outside the states. My 2016 tax return will also be below the poverty level since we were overseas for 9 months out of the year, and I was unemployed from September until November.   However, from what I understand, they should only be interested in current income. Am I wrong on that account?

 

My question is if I should send them the 2016 tax return along with the most recent pay stubs, bank statements and another letter from my employer reflecting my current salary.  Do I need to look for a sponsor just to be safe? 

 

 

ok, so since I've seen so many different mistakes and some common ones.... I'd like to ask you to first double check everything that is mentioned in this article: https://cliniclegal.org/resources/five-most-common-mistakes-completing-i-864 (13a-c mentioned in the article is refering to an older version of the form and is in the current form 19a-c.

 

That said, the part about not meeting 125% income is generated automatically as a consequence of any other problems listed. They are wanting the 2016 return. This makes total sense in your case. You (and I'm assuming you're the USC) only had an actual income in the US for about 2-3 months prior to sending your package. It is advised to have around 6 months simply because that gives you more proof of your income being stable and ongoing. The 2016 return along with w2 and schedules or the transcripts is additional proof that what your employment letter and bank statements are saying is accurate, i.e. more proof that your anticipated income for 2017 will be what you claim it will.

Many ppl would advise to either have co-sponsor, assets or 6 months of paystubs before filing. In my opinion your options are, to provide the return as asked (and supporting docs) and hope it will be enough to the adjudicator or since you have no assets, get a co-sponsor to be on the safe side.

 

About your joint filing, since your wife's foreign income likely will not continue and you are using only your individual current annual income to meet the requirement she does not file i-864A.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[permathought 4]

Thanks for the input.  I sat down yesterday and started going over everything.  I'm guessing is that since our work place was off for the week between Christmas and January I had a much lower check in the first week of January.  If you take the average weekly income with that very low week and project over 52 weeks it doesn't meet the criteria.  So, it will take a while before my other pay stubs can balance out that average. 

 

Given all that plus the six month employment guidance, I'm currently looking for a sponsor to be on the safe side of things. I'll post back here and let you know how that is received once it's all sent off with the 2016 tax returns.

[lucasmso 11]

I'm going to send my package today to the NVC. Why would they require the 2016 tax return if the deadline to fill it isn't until April 15th?