I-134: concerned date of value of savings accounts, personal property, and stocks and bonds

[RandyW 149]

32 minutes ago, payxibka said:

The above relates to immigrant visas.  I864 is very different than the i134.

 

 

There are reasons why the K-visas are handled by the Immigrant Visa department. One of those reasons is the public charge provisions which rely on the "totality of circumstances" ABOVE AND BEYOND the Affidavit of Support.

 

Again - YOU are responsible for your own application. Omitting information which may HELP the Visa Officer in his determination can be fatal to your case, or at least result in an RFE.

 

7 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Unfortunately, I don't actually get an opportunity to speak to the visa officer as the Guangzhou consulate does not allow the petitioner into the building on the interview date. Do you mean that I should include a written statement explaining my financial circumstances in addition to listing my ample income and assets on my I-134 and including bank statements and tax returns? I kind of thought that the I-134, bank statements, and tax returns speak for themselves here.

Okay.

 

 

They do.But, beyond the Affidavit of Support, your wife is applying for a visa. Like I said, "I always advocate including career and job prospect information in addition to the AOS." Your choice.

[payxibka 10,044]

1 minute ago, RandyW said:

 

 

There are reasons why the K-visas are handled by the Immigrant Visa department. One of those reasons is the public charge provisions which rely on the "totality of circumstances" ABOVE AND BEYOND the Affidavit of Support.

 

Again - YOU are responsible for your own application. Omitting information which may HELP the Visa Officer in his determination can be fatal to your case, or at least result in an RFE.

 

 

 

They do.But, beyond the Affidavit of Support, your wife is applying for a visa. Like I said, "I always advocate including career and job prospect information in addition to the AOS." Your choice.

Then explain why some consulates do not routinely request any financial information for a k1 visa but do without exception for immigrant.  The k1 is a nonimmigrant visa and the standard is very different.  You simply cannot interchange the two

[RandyW 149]

Just now, payxibka said:

Then explain why some consulates do not routinely request any financial information for a k1 visa but do without exception for immigrant.  The k1 is a nonimmigrant visa and the standard is very different.  You simply cannot interchange the two

 

 

No, I won't explain that - he is free to file his own information in support of his own visa as he sees fit.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, Hemutian said:

Are there consulate-specific instructions on how to complete the I-134? Because I haven't seen any.

Our consulate is Guangzhou, China, and the instructions on how to complete the Affidavit of Support are totally boiler-plate, with instructions to visit the general USCIS and State Department FAQs for any specific details.

There is nothing in my consulate's instructions telling me not to list stocks/assets if my income is already over the threshold. 

It’s pretty self-explanatory.  

 

Your claimed income should match your bank statements.  

 

If you choose to include assets, as I did, you should provide proof of the value of those assets and I treated them just like the bank statements.  

 

All matched up, easily followed.

 

Assets are optional on the I-864 and they are also optional on the I-134.  The whole puppet show in that section of the instructions is preceded by “if necessary” or some gray language like that and that part gets dug out of the handbook and the actual law.  The law says 125%, and unless it’s close most people who overcome that stop there.  If you’re submitting an I-134 at 100%-125% then further reporting is not always needed but here always recommended.

 

Your previous returns or transcripts (my choice because its less paper) should provide an accurate and easily followed picture of your historical income stream.  

 

I dont report fixed assets because the affidavit rules prefer liquidity.  If they’re liquid, I list them.  “Assets that are “Accessible within 1 year and  won’t negatively affect the sponsor” is subjective and why make an IO stop and think about that.  They’re busy enough.

 

Good luck

[Nephie 18]

2 hours ago, Hemutian said:

Thanks for actually answering my original question. 

Hi I’ll doing the same thing a couple weeks. Do I need to provide all this financial prove or answer all the questions if I am currently working and make twice the property guidelines. I’ll appreciate your help 

[Hemutian 68]

Since I'm the one who started this thread, and my fiancee's interview is finished as of today (she passed!), I just wanted to bring some closure to this thread by answering my own questions for the reference of others who may come across this thread in the future.

 

a) I listed the value of my stocks and bank account based on the value in the letters I had from the bank. Decided it was better to have those values match, even if the actual value today is different than the day when the bank wrote the letter. After all, the CO knows that the market fluctuates from day to day. 

 

b) I only listed the value of my bank accounts for which I had a letter from the bank. Didn't want to risk getting flagged for "incomplete documentation".

 

c) Didn't bother listing my car under personal property. Seemed too complicated to assess a value on a used car, and didn't have the proof of purchase handy.

 

d) I did list mutual funds along with stocks. After all, mutual funds are just bundles of stocks.

 

e) The the "list of stocks and bonds" required in the "additional information" section, I decided to be as complete as possible, and attached all the relevant pages from the most recent client statement from my broker. That included the names of the stocks in my portfolio, as well as a bunch of other information like date of purchase, number of shares, and total market value of each stock holding. I used a highlighter to highlight the stock names. I attached these pages to the back of my I-134 with a paper clip. It may have been overkill to include all of that, but I felt it was better to err on the safe side. My fiancee tells me that during the interview, the CO and his colleagues spent a significant amount of time studying this very document, and that it seemed to play a decisive role in his decision to approve her visa, so I'm glad I decided to include this. 

 

I know that other VJers said if your income is enough, you don't need to list assets, but since I am not currently employed I thought it was better to err on the side of caution and demonstrate both that my income meets the standard, and that I have additional assets, to overcome any doubt the CO might have. I suspect that this evidence will be even more important at the next stage in this process (AOS), and wanted to establish it on the record as soon as possible, assuming that the record of her K1 interview will follow her to the AOS stage. 

 

I also read other VJers warning that if I included assets information it "opens up a whole bottle of worms", and that the Guangzhou consulate in particular (our consulate) likes to ask the beneficiary a bunch of tough questions about the assets if you list them. Well, in my fiancee's case, they were very interested in the assets, but they did not bother her with a single question about them. They just quietly studied the documents and discussed them on their own. 

 

One other thing I thought I'd share from the process. My fiancee reports that at one point during the interview, they took my tax transcript (or tax return, not just which one), disappeared for several minutes, then reappeared seemed satisfied. She suspects that they may have called the IRS during those several minutes to confirm that my taxes were accurate. Is this normal? Have others had the same thing happen? Due to the time difference between China and the US, I would have assumed that the IRS offices were closed then, but maybe the IRS has its own division within the Consulate? Or maybe they have a 24 hour line for this very purpose? Just curious the logistics of it. 

[RandyW 149]

No, they didn't call the IRS - you are under a possible  penalty of perjury for submitting false information.

 

Bottom line here, as always - money talks.

 

Congratulations!
 

 
Congratulations  !!
 

[Hemutian 68]

5 minutes ago, RandyW said:

No, they didn't call the IRS - you are under a possible  penalty of perjury for submitting false information.

 

Bottom line here, as always - money talks.

 

Congratulations!
 

 
Congratulations  !!
 

Thanks, @Randy

And thanks for all your help along the way.