I-485 RFIE: Birth Certificate and Proof of Current Income

[Moraesm 42]

Hi fellow Visa Journey visitors.

 

I am creating this post because I, unfortunately, have received a Request for Initial Evidence letter in regards to my AOS process and I would like some help from the community to understand exactly what is that needs to be sent back to USCIS.

My letter discriminates two items:

1 - Applicant's Birth Certificate;

2 - Proof of Current Income.

 

Here's where the plot thickens: I did submit copy of original and translated birth certificate so I am surprised that this showed up on the letter. The letter also mention that a valid copy should contain one of the following "A legible seal, a legible stamp or a signature with a title containing the words: secretary, registrar or births and deaths". The copy does have a stamp so right now my idea is to scan the original for a higher resolution picture but I am anxious about sending the exact same document. Could they've lost the one I sent? Am I missing something here?

And with regards to the proof of current income, I had also sent pay stubs for both my wife (sponsor) and our joint sponsor. I will get up to date pay stubs from both and submit them too. One thing that caught my attention was the line asking for "Evidence of other income, such as Tax-Exempt Interest, Qualified Dividends, IRA distributions, Pension, Annuities, and Social Security Benefits (only SSA-1099 and/or SSDI-1099).

Has anyone else gotten this request? What documents would apply? I am sorry if the question is vague but I am trying to cover all the bases.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

[JasonGG 267]

5 minutes ago, Moraesm said:

Hi fellow Visa Journey visitors.

 

I am creating this post because I, unfortunately, have received a Request for Initial Evidence letter in regards to my AOS process and I would like some help from the community to understand exactly what is that needs to be sent back to USCIS.

My letter discriminates two items:

1 - Applicant's Birth Certificate;

2 - Proof of Current Income.

 

Here's where the plot thickens: I did submit copy of original and translated birth certificate so I am surprised that this showed up on the letter. The letter also mention that a valid copy should contain one of the following "A legible seal, a legible stamp or a signature with a title containing the words: secretary, registrar or births and deaths". The copy does have a stamp so right now my idea is to scan the original for a higher resolution picture but I am anxious about sending the exact same document. Could they've lost the one I sent? Am I missing something here?

And with regards to the proof of current income, I had also sent pay stubs for both my wife (sponsor) and our joint sponsor. I will get up to date pay stubs from both and submit them too. One thing that caught my attention was the line asking for "Evidence of other income, such as Tax-Exempt Interest, Qualified Dividends, IRA distributions, Pension, Annuities, and Social Security Benefits (only SSA-1099 and/or SSDI-1099).

Has anyone else gotten this request? What documents would apply? I am sorry if the question is vague but I am trying to cover all the bases.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

Assuming you can read the birth certificate itself, it sounds like USCIS has an issue with the certification/notary seal of your translation or the translator's credentials. 

 

Can you easily read the notary seal?  Does the person translating and certifying the document include their name and title?  There is an "official statement" the USCIS likes to see from translators about their abilities and the accuracy of the translation. 

 

Regarding income, submitting your wife and co-sponsor's recent tax transcript should solve your problems.   They can request them online from the IRS and download/print it immediately.

 

Jason

[K1visaHopeful 2,662]

I had an issue with my MC for the same reason. I presumed they lost it or couldn't see the seal as it's literally only a raised imprint in the paper. I photocopied it at a darker setting and resent it. No issues.

 

As per the proof of income, I'll need a lot more info.

Your i864:

What did you input in Part 6 Question 7?

Your 2018 reported tax info or your 2019 predicted income....?

 

If you have 30 minutes, all your documents in front of you and are willing to do the steps to figure out what you're missing/what you filled out wrong on your form, I can help.

[Moraesm 42]

31 minutes ago, JasonGG said:

Can you easily read the notary seal?  Does the person translating and certifying the document include their name and title?  There is an "official statement" the USCIS likes to see from translators about their abilities and the accuracy of the translation. 

Yes for both. I didn't assume they could be talking about the translation itself but that's an interesting take.

7 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

I had an issue with my MC for the same reason. I presumed they lost it or couldn't see the seal as it's literally only a raised imprint in the paper. I photocopied it at a darker setting and resent it. No issues.

 

As per the proof of income, I'll need a lot more info.

Your i864:

What did you input in Part 6 Question 7?

Your 2018 reported tax info or your 2019 predicted income....?

 

If you have 30 minutes, all your documents in front of you and are willing to do the steps to figure out what you're missing/what you filled out wrong on your form, I can help.

I take that MC = Marriage Certificate? They didn't mention that, but my birth certificate, but I think the same applies. Better contrast and higher resolution I'm assuming.

Is question 7 the one about whether the sponsor had or not been required to file a Federal income tax return? If yes that was left blank.

All the tax documents were submitted and not mentioned on the RFIE letter, they stressed the necessity for proof of current income though, meaning pay stubs and letters of employment. Do you think I should revisit the tax files even if they were not mentioned?

[JasonGG 267]

Interesting...I  was going to suggest letters from employers, but you say you included that with pay stubs. 

 

They ask for proof of other income?  Does your wife or cosponsor earn a significant income from dividends, pension, or retirement account? Perhaps they need proof that is ongoing income, like a brokerage account statement?

 

Hopefully others can give more and/or better advice.  Good luck- Jason 

Edited August 31, 2019 by JasonGG

[K1visaHopeful 2,662]

1 hour ago, Moraesm said:

 

I take that MC = Marriage Certificate?

Mine was lost or they couldnt read it. Same as yours regardless of what document we are talking about.

 

They didn't mention that, but my birth certificate, but I think the same applies. Better contrast and higher resolution I'm assuming.

 

Is question 7 the one about whether the sponsor had or not been required to file a Federal income tax return? If yes that was left blank.

No it's not. 

All the tax documents were submitted and not mentioned on the RFIE letter, they stressed the necessity for proof of current income though, meaning pay stubs and letters of employment. Do you think I should revisit the tax files even if they were not mentioned?

I think you need to sit down with all of your documents and the I864 you submitted and go over everything. This is never an easy RFE to fix unless you review everything and figure out where you went wrong. It's not as simple as you're thinking (and what everyone else thinks when they get this RFE).

Like I said though, I can help but you have to be willing to sit down with everything in front of you and really make a commitment to understand the complexity of the I864 and your issues with it and what you submitted.

If not, much luck to you. 

[Moraesm 42]

1 hour ago, JasonGG said:

Interesting...I  was going to suggest letters from employers, but you say you included that with pay stubs. 

 

They ask for proof of other income?  Does your wife or cosponsor earn a significant income from dividends, pension, or retirement account? Perhaps they need proof that is ongoing income, like a brokerage account statement?

 

Hopefully others can give more and/or better advice.  Good luck- Jason 

Right, I am going to submit them again though, who knows if they got lost or something.

Yes they did. My wife doesn't but her father (the cosponsor) might have, I'll ask him about it. The letter was specific about them needing proof of this income in case it exists.

I did some research on other websites and older posts here and apparently it's not uncommon for submitted documents to get lost in handling, turning into RFIEs for things that were in the first mailed package. I posted here to see if others have had similar messages and maybe spot something that I missed.

 

Thanks!

[Moraesm 42]

3 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

I think you need to sit down with all of your documents and the I864 you submitted and go over everything. This is never an easy RFE to fix unless you review everything and figure out where you went wrong. It's not as simple as you're thinking (and what everyone else thinks when they get this RFE).

Like I said though, I can help but you have to be willing to sit down with everything in front of you and really make a commitment to understand the complexity of the I864 and your issues with it and what you submitted.

If not, much luck to you. 

Right I'd checked the wrong item before. Part 6 Item 7 is in regard to current annual income, which is 19k (reason why we have a cosponsor). Reported income in 2018 was 11k and expected income for this year is 21k.

Looking at it it makes sense why they may be confused about current income. Does that answer your questions?

[K1visaHopeful 2,662]

2 hours ago, Moraesm said:

Right I'd checked the wrong item before. Part 6 Item 7 is in regard to current annual income, which is 19k (reason why we have a cosponsor). Reported income in 2018 was 11k and expected income for this year is 21k.

Looking at it it makes sense why they may be confused about current income. Does that answer your questions?

Unfortunately not really.

1. Why would you input $19K in part 6 q7 when your only two options is 2018/$11K or 2019/$21K? Where did the $19K come from?

The amounts you input on the I864 must match exactly the documents you submit. 

What exact documents/reference to years did you submit?

 

That's only to start. I'd love to help but I'm going to bed now and will only help if you are willing to go through the process seriously and have the understanding that it's no where as simple as you are thinking it is.

I'll need 30 minutes. All your documents in front of you including joint sponsor documents.