I-864 RFIE confusion

[Helena55 3]

Hello! We applied for AOS and immediately got RFIE for our form I-864. I am very confused why, since my husband’s current income is well above the 125% guideline (his last year income shown on his most recent tax return was not sufficient tho). We provided his employment authorization letter with his current salary and his bank statement showing his salary transfers for the past 6 months. We also provided his full tax return, tax return transcripts and all w2s he had for the most recent tax year.

Now we got a joint sponsor but reading the rfe I realize that maybe there was some mistake that triggered it and the inly thing I can think of after going over the copy of the form we have, is question 24a-24c: “My total income (adjusted gross income on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040EZ)“. My husband is self employed, and we put his adjusted gross income from his 1040 there (line 11 on his form 1040). Maybe this was our mistake and we had to put the total income from the line 9? Please enlighten me, should we put his total or adjusted gross income there, we are worried that that putting his gross income was the reason of him “not qualifying” and genuinely not sure what line we should use there for our joint sponsor as well and if we have to refill my husband’s I-864 together with our joint sponsor’s affidavit 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Helena55

[carmel34 3,639]

If you selected Part 6., Item Number 2. that you are self-employed, you should have completed one of the following forms with your Federal income tax return: Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business), Schedule D (Capital Gains), Schedule E (Supplemental Income or Loss), or Schedule F (Profit or Loss from Farming). You must include each and every Form 1040 Schedule, if any, that you filed with your Federal income tax return.

 

Total income is the correct number, not AGI.  Did you include Schedule C?

 

For self-employed sponsors, the most recent tax return is what they use to determine if the sponsor's income was below the minimum, hence the RFE.  This is because self-employed individuals can say whatever they want in a letter of employment regarding "current" income, but it is not relevant because what counts is the tax return plus schedules showing how the self-employed income was calculated at the end of the year, and yes, they will review everything to make sure it was done correctly and that the income was not overstated.  I recommend a qualified co-sponsor.

[Helena55 3]

7 hours ago, carmel34 said:

If you selected Part 6., Item Number 2. that you are self-employed, you should have completed one of the following forms with your Federal income tax return: Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business), Schedule D (Capital Gains), Schedule E (Supplemental Income or Loss), or Schedule F (Profit or Loss from Farming). You must include each and every Form 1040 Schedule, if any, that you filed with your Federal income tax return.

 

Total income is the correct number, not AGI.  Did you include Schedule C?

 

For self-employed sponsors, the most recent tax return is what they use to determine if the sponsor's income was below the minimum, hence the RFE.  This is because self-employed individuals can say whatever they want in a letter of employment regarding "current" income, but it is not relevant because what counts is the tax return plus schedules showing how the self-employed income was calculated at the end of the year, and yes, they will review everything to make sure it was done correctly and that the income was not overstated.  I recommend a qualified co-sponsor.

Yes, we did include all of the schedules.

 

He is self-employed, but he is a contractor, so the letter of employment was from his boss from the actual company.

 

I keep seeing here in other topics that as a self-employed he must put his AGI in that question, that’s why we put his AGI in that question. But I can’t find anything about it anywhere in the instructions 🤔 

[mytruelove18 608]

20 hours ago, Helena55 said:

Hello! We applied for AOS and immediately got RFIE for our form I-864. I am very confused why, since my husband’s current income is well above the 125% guideline (his last year income shown on his most recent tax return was not sufficient tho). We provided his employment authorization letter with his current salary and his bank statement showing his salary transfers for the past 6 months. We also provided his full tax return, tax return transcripts and all w2s he had for the most recent tax year.

Now we got a joint sponsor but reading the rfe I realize that maybe there was some mistake that triggered it and the inly thing I can think of after going over the copy of the form we have, is question 24a-24c: “My total income (adjusted gross income on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040EZ)“. My husband is self employed, and we put his adjusted gross income from his 1040 there (line 11 on his form 1040). Maybe this was our mistake and we had to put the total income from the line 9? Please enlighten me, should we put his total or adjusted gross income there, we are worried that that putting his gross income was the reason of him “not qualifying” and genuinely not sure what line we should use there for our joint sponsor as well and if we have to refill my husband’s I-864 together with our joint sponsor’s affidavit 

I helped a friend on june 2022 with her aos, immediately we got rfe.

we got the same letter, the problem was that we send the i-864 without the bar code.

since on uscis page say that they will accept the forms with and without code , we sent it without the code.

I reviewed the form and didn’t find any mistake, the only mistake was the missing bar code on the bottom, so i printed again with the bar code, and sent it, they accepted and all was fine.

her aos was approved in two months without interview, she adjusted status from b2 visa

[Helena55 3]

56 minutes ago, mytruelove18 said:

I helped a friend on june 2022 with her aos, immediately we got rfe.

we got the same letter, the problem was that we send the i-864 without the bar code.

since on uscis page say that they will accept the forms with and without code , we sent it without the code.

I reviewed the form and didn’t find any mistake, the only mistake was the missing bar code on the bottom, so i printed again with the bar code, and sent it, they accepted and all was fine.

her aos was approved in two months without interview, she adjusted status from b2 visa

We made sure that the bar codes weren’t cut off, and I even checked it in my uscis account online once I got RFIE — everything is okay.
We filled the form so carefully checked it multiple times before sending it and sent all of the requested documents with it (full tax return with all schedules, tax return transcript, his W2s that he had, his bank statement for 6 months and the statement of pay and employment from the company that contracted him. The only things that could be a problem is insufficient last year income (which doesn’t make any sense since now his income is more than enough and I saw people being approved in the same situation) and the fact that we put his AGI income as a total income after reading this forum, which I think is the reason, since it says everywhere that we should use “total income” line 🤔 

 

Do you remember if you put your AGI income or total income in the question 24a? Thank you for your answer 

[mytruelove18 608]

13 hours ago, Helena55 said:

We made sure that the bar codes weren’t cut off, and I even checked it in my uscis account online once I got RFIE — everything is okay.
We filled the form so carefully checked it multiple times before sending it and sent all of the requested documents with it (full tax return with all schedules, tax return transcript, his W2s that he had, his bank statement for 6 months and the statement of pay and employment from the company that contracted him. The only things that could be a problem is insufficient last year income (which doesn’t make any sense since now his income is more than enough and I saw people being approved in the same situation) and the fact that we put his AGI income as a total income after reading this forum, which I think is the reason, since it says everywhere that we should use “total income” line 🤔 

 

Do you remember if you put your AGI income or total income in the question 24a? Thank you for your answer 

Really we were waiting that they ask for a joint sponsor, because on 2020 my friend husband only make 21 000  and on 2021 he made only 18200, both years were not anough, in both year he didnt make the income uscis requiment,  as they didnt ask for joint sponsor we sent the form with the bar code and IRS transcripts for 2021.

and she got approved without interview.

we were waiting ask for joint sponsor because also he current income is not enough , so it is as i tell my friend her case was a miracle , because they didnt see his income