Notice of Intent to Deny just received

[Rasputin 0]

Just received this after our initial I-130 Petition for Alien Relative submission in June, 2024. They said, "The evidence submitted is insufficient to establish that your marriage is bona fide because it does not show from the inception of the marriage an intent to share a live together". The "share a live together" typo is theirs, not mine.

 

How normal is this? We have literally done everything right to this point. I am the husband petitioner here in the US and she is the beneficiary working as an RN and living in Sweden (she is Filipina). We were legally married over there in May 2024 and first met online in July 2023. This should be a straightforward case.

 

This sounds harsh compared to an RFE, although I should be able to produce quite a bit of evidence like the fact we are both on the mortgage to the house we purchased back in January. We lead our own financial lives although I have sent her and her family money and gifts and vice versa. I mean, we live across the world from one another. We have pics and chats, and I have been over to Sweden 3 different times. We had a wedding in a church with a professional photographer. We literally video chat every day for one to two hours. She has already shipped items over here and everything I am doing to our new house is in prep for our life together. There is much more, but I find this very harsh, concerning and intimidating based on what we submitted. Thoughts?

[Dashinka 26,065]

What did you submit with the I130 petition?  Also, was there an RFE at some point since submitting?

[pushbrk 13,741]

9 minutes ago, Rasputin said:

Just received this after our initial I-130 Petition for Alien Relative submission in June, 2024. They said, "The evidence submitted is insufficient to establish that your marriage is bona fide because it does not show from the inception of the marriage an intent to share a live together". The "share a live together" typo is theirs, not mine.

 

How normal is this? We have literally done everything right to this point. I am the husband petitioner here in the US and she is the beneficiary working as an RN and living in Sweden (she is Filipina). We were legally married over there in May 2024 and first met online in July 2023. This should be a straightforward case.

 

This sounds harsh compared to an RFE, although I should be able to produce quite a bit of evidence like the fact we are both on the mortgage to the house we purchased back in January. We lead our own financial lives although I have sent her and her family money and gifts and vice versa. I mean, we live across the world from one another. We have pics and chats, and I have been over to Sweden 3 different times. We had a wedding in a church with a professional photographer. We literally video chat every day for one to two hours. She has already shipped items over here and everything I am doing to our new house is in prep for our life together. There is much more, but I find this very harsh, concerning and intimidating based on what we submitted. Thoughts?

A notice of intent usually gives you the opportunity to respond.  What did they suggest you do?

[Rasputin 0]

We submitted a ton of stuff. Wedding photos, marriage certificate, Swedish trips with proof and pics, WhatsApp chats and call logs, Apostille proofs....I guess I could have added more since we have been together like the mortgage which I had to get notarized over there in Sweden before I could even buy it, but I just figured they would ask for more if they wanted it. 

[Rasputin 0]

4 hours ago, pushbrk said:

A notice of intent usually gives you the opportunity to respond.  What did they suggest you do?

Here is a quick copy and paste. I think most of this I can handle, although I filed my taxes last year as single and am working on amending that to married filing separately, but the IRS is being a pain about it wanting her SSN which she doesn't have so I am working with them. I can come up with a lot of this stuff, but some of it I didn't save or won't be able to dig it up. 

Therefore, you must submit evidence to establish that your marriage is bona fide and not for the
purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Such evidence should cover the entire period of the
marriage and may include, but is not limited to:
Birth certificate(s) of children born to the marriage or evidence of a current pregnancy;
Joint insurance policies or policies that list one party as the beneficiary;
Joint leases, mortgages, deeds, or registrations;
Shared financial obligations and assets (such as jointly filed income taxes, jointly held bank
accounts, credit cards, utility bills, etc.);
Remittances of wire transfers or monies sent to the beneficiary to help support them;
Note: The sender and recipient of the monies deposited/sent must be clearly shown
by name, address and phone number
Government issued documents showing both names (such as entitlement programs, etc.);
Travels to see each other before, for and/or after the wedding (passport pages with entry/exit
stamps, hotel receipts, boarding passes, etc.);
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Texas Service Center
<DELETED>
1 of 3
www.uscis.go
USCIS encourages you to sign up for a USCIS online account. To learn more about creating an account 
and the benefits, go to https://www.uscis.gov/file-online.

Evidence of correspondence with each other (letters, cards, emails, chats, telephone bills,
etc.);
Note: phone cards are not verifiable and telephone bills should contain information
about account ownership and printouts of the calls placed)
Photos of wedding and/or time spent together;
Note: Each photo should be labeled with the names of each person and the date and
location where the photo was taken
Testimony or other evidence regarding courtship, the wedding ceremony and/or shared
residence and experience.
 

Edited Tuesday at 11:14 AM by Crazy Cat

[pushbrk 13,741]

OK, so what did you already send, and what from the list can you add to that? It seems you should have plenty of evidence, but you did not include much of it in your petition.  What you say you have, should be enough.  Send it.  Your trips to see each other and the joint mortgage are key.  I guess they haven't seen any of that yet.

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:17 AM by pushbrk

[JD2 170]

2 hours ago, Rasputin said:

the IRS is being a pain about it wanting her SSN

ITIN not SSN.  But you can file MFS without an ITIN.  Some accountants don’t know how to (it’s a software thing).  But amendments might be different.  May not be worth it.

[Crazy Cat 45,114]

***One comment edited to remove personal case information***

[Dashinka 26,065]

4 hours ago, Rasputin said:

We submitted a ton of stuff. Wedding photos, marriage certificate, Swedish trips with proof and pics, WhatsApp chats and call logs, Apostille proofs....I guess I could have added more since we have been together like the mortgage which I had to get notarized over there in Sweden before I could even buy it, but I just figured they would ask for more if they wanted it. 

Most of the items you mentioned here are considered secondary evidence.  I would focus on things such as the mortgage you mentioned, maybe insurance documents, insurance beneficiary documents (if you have life insurance), utility bills if you can add her name, etc.

 

Good Luck!

[JeanneAdil 7,216]

is the house in the USA showing her intent to move here

 

and you amend taxes with a W 7 for ITIN instead of SS #

 

Families approve ;then send affidavits from them (with English translations)

[S2N 416]

7 hours ago, JD2 said:

ITIN not SSN.  But you can file MFS without an ITIN.  Some accountants don’t know how to (it’s a software thing).  But amendments might be different.  May not be worth it.

Technically need an ITIN for MFS since the 1040 requests it. This delayed us filing my state taxes this year as both of the states I file in don’t accept MFS with all 9s or NRA written in the spouse SSN/ITIN field.
 

Though the IRS has been known to accept the 999-99-9999 trick for MFS spouses on paper.

 

At this stage I wouldn’t bother with an amendment until she gets here unless they can amend with a CAA in Sweden for MFJ to get an ITIN. MFS wouldn’t help either the immigration case or the taxes.

 

Easiest at this stage is to wait tor the NOID to be resolved and amend electronically in the U.S. after a SSN is issued.

Edited Tuesday at 05:20 PM by S2N

[S2N 416]

25 minutes ago, S2N said:

Technically need an ITIN for MFS since the 1040 requests it. This delayed us filing my state taxes this year as both of the states I file in don’t accept MFS with all 9s or NRA written in the spouse SSN/ITIN field.
 

Though the IRS has been known to accept the 999-99-9999 trick for MFS spouses on paper.

 

At this stage I wouldn’t bother with an amendment until she gets here unless they can amend with a CAA in Sweden for MFJ to get an ITIN. MFS wouldn’t help either the immigration case or the taxes.

 

Easiest at this stage is to wait tor the NOID to be resolved and amend electronically in the U.S. after a SSN is issued.

Reference from the IRS website on MFS: link

 

If your spouse is neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. resident within the meaning of IRC section 7701(b)(1)(A) and you file a joint or separate return, your spouse must have either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

 

Emphasis mine.

[JD2 170]

4 minutes ago, S2N said:

Reference from the IRS website on MFS: link

 

If your spouse is neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. resident within the meaning of IRC section 7701(b)(1)(A) and you file a joint or separate return, your spouse must have either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

 

Emphasis mine.

Maybe things have changed?  I did it back in 2021 and it was fine.  The accountant did the NRA thing but I had to find an accountant who was able to do it.  My normal accountant tried to push me to file single.  I found the accountant after reading his article here: https://oandgaccounting.com/need-itin-for-wife-even-though-married-filing-separately/

[S2N 416]

6 minutes ago, JD2 said:

Maybe things have changed?  I did it back in 2021 and it was fine.  The accountant did the NRA thing but I had to find an accountant who was able to do it.  My normal accountant tried to push me to file single.  I found the accountant after reading his article here: https://oandgaccounting.com/need-itin-for-wife-even-though-married-filing-separately/

It hasn’t changed but the turn a blind eye work around is to paper file with 999-99-9999 or write NRA. IRS is less stringent in enforcing its own rules on this than some states are.

 

In OP’s case if the IRS is actually enforcing the policy that you can’t file MFS without an ITIN, which honestly wouldn’t shock me given that the current administration wants to use IRS records for immigration enforcement, there’s almost certainly no benefit to amending as MFS. They’d have to do the ITIN process with no monetary benefit and no additional evidence for the NOID.

 

If they want to use tax returns for evidence they’d need to go to a CAA in Sweden before the deadline and have them refile as MFJ.

 

I’m assuming that’s not really practical at this point, so they should focus on other types of evidence.

[JD2 170]

11 hours ago, S2N said:

work around

Is it a work around?

 

IRS Publication 17 page 23 literally states "Select this filing status by checking the 'Married filing separately' box on the Filing Status line near the top of Form 1040 or 1040-SR. Enter your spouse's full name and SSN or ITIN in the entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status section. If your spouse doesn't have and isn't required to have an SSN or ITIN, enter 'NRA' in the space for your spouse's SSN."

 

How can it be a work around if it's in the IRS's own publication?  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf.  Assuming the beneficiary isn't legally required to file a tax return, they wouldn't be required to have an SSN or ITIN.