doctorbeat

I had the same question as you when I went through that part and read and interpreted the instructions to mean that it only required the last tax return, as my income was well above the poverty guidelines. As it turned out however, I ended up getting an RFE for the previous years tax filings. I am sure there are many people on this site who have skated through on minimal information, but I have since come to the conclusion that when faced with two options, one being send minimal amount, and the other being to throw in the kitchen sink that the kitchen sink approach ends up being faster.

Did they say what the reason for the RFE was?

Did you have the same problem as us, ie. late filing of your previous tax returns, or did they ask for them for another reason?

My wife's old tax returns, including the most recent one, are no good for the income requirements, because they all show that she earned less than the threshold.

She has recently got a pay raise, and we are submitting a letter from her employer and some pay stubs as evidence of her current income.

This pay raise is the reason we are applying now, she didn't make enough to sponsor me before.

Yep, I believe you are a conditional permanent resident for two years, then you can apply to have the conditions removed and get a 10 year card.

The card you have at the moment is a green card, and can be used just like the 10 year version.

The IRS actually has extremely strict rules about what information they are allowed to divulge, even to other government agencies.

I don't know if that includes tax return filing information or not, but it might.

yep thats what iam doing, showing the 2010 but haveing the 2008,and2009 ready if they ask, which they probably will, cause its hard for them to understand how you can make almost 30,000.00 and not have to file a tax return. the I-864 isnt design for all US citizen that dont work , cant work, or other...good luck.

I wonder, do they actually check with the IRS to see if you failed to file, or if you filed late for any particular year?

Is the IRS even allowed to give out this information without a court order?

How would UCIS even know if you filed late?

Nah, you'll survive. It may cause you to have any extra sip or two.

File the 09 return asap, send in the AOS package, and if the RFE comes, get the transcript.

Yep, she's getting both her 2009 and 2010 returns done tomorrow afternoon.

We'll just send the 2010 one with the affidavit, but we'll request a transcript of the 2009 one from the IRS so we have it ready if we get an RFE for it.

We'll also have the letter explaining why she didn't have to file for 2008 already done, so our response to the RFE can be ready to send the day we receive it.

I suppose it all depends on how soon they can produce a transcript after the return is filed.

I swear this I-864 is gonna kill me

Right, so in order to do this as quickly as possible, it makes most sense to do it this way:

File I-864, including only 2010 tax return

Apply for transcript for 2009 tax return from IRS

Wait and see if USCIS gives us an RFE for transcripts

Hope the transcripts arrive before RFE expires, and send it to USCIS

Correct?

EDIT:

I just checked on the IRS website, and it says that if you order online or by phone, it only takes 5 to 10 days to receive a transcript.

Of course, this doesn't include the time it takes for them to process the return itself so it's available on their system, but it looks as though if we request the 2009 one as soon as we send our AOS packet, we'll easily have the transcripts in time for any RFE they may send us.

Right, so in order to do this as quickly as possible, it makes most sense to do it this way:

File I-864, including only 2010 tax return

Apply for transcript for 2009 tax return from IRS

Wait and see if USCIS gives us an RFE for transcripts

Hope the transcripts arrive before RFE expires, and send it to USCIS

Correct?

Yes, I'm aware of that, but if you look further down in the instructions, you'll see that it says:

If you were required to file a federal tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with the IRS and attach an IRS generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 affidavit of support.

That's the part that I was referring to. It seems that if you didn't file when you were supposed to, you have to file and then obtain IRS transcripts.

If we do that, the transcripts might take months to come, which is no good because we need to file ASAP

File them, and attach a photo-copy of them to the I-864, no need to wait for a transcript which will take months after filing to get.

Lets hope USCIS does not shoot this down, AOS from "No Visa" aka VWP seems to be getting a few denials lately, VWP is for visiting not immigrating, and when USCIS denies, there is not option to appeal this because you waive right to appeal when entering the USA on VWP.

Yes, hence the rush to file!

So far, NY is 'safe', but who knows how long for?

Are you sure we should file without the transcripts?

The instructions say:

If you were required to file a federal tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with the IRS and attach an IRS generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 affidavit of support.

What if we get an RFE, but are unable to obtain transcripts from the IRS within the allotted time?

Also, does the IRS automatically send you a transcript, or do you have to request one?

Ok, so this has nothing to do with evidence for the affidavit, it's to prove that my wife complied with her tax obligations?

Our situation (VWP overstay) means that we need to get these forms sent off as fast as possible.

Would it be faster to obtain IRS transcripts, or to file without them and try to obtain them afterwards in case of an RFE?

ie, which will add the least amount of time to our application process?

I'm not familiar with the tax system here, does the IRS automatically send you a transcript at the same time you get your refund, or do you have to request one?

The reason I ask is because we have to wait for her refund anyway, because we need the money for the filing fees.

Showing three years returns goes to showing consistent income.

Attach note as to why prior years returns were not filed. Can always late file a ZERO return for 2008, there will be no penalty.

http://www.irs.gov/p...040ez--2008.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040ez--2008.pdf

Yes, the option to include the last three returns is to show consistent income, but we decided not to include them, as my wife's income was below 125% of the poverty line so they would do nothing to help our case.

What we're confused about is whether we have to include them anyway because she filed late/earned too little to file.

We'd rather just send her 2010 return, but the wording implies that if you were late filing or didn't have to file because your income was too low, you have to send the last three whether or not you think it will help your case.

Do USCIS check with the IRS to see if you filed tax returns for the last three years?

In the instructions for the I-864, it says that you need to submit a copy of the sponsor's last federal tax return.

It then says that you can optionally include copies of your last three tax returns if you believe it will help your case.

It then goes on to say:

If you were required to file a federal tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with the IRS and attach an IRS generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 affidavit of support.

If you were not required to file a federal income tax return under US tax law because your income was too low, attach a written explanation.

My wife didn't file for 2008 because her income was too low, and she's filing 2009 (late), and 2010 right now.

We were just going to include her 2010 return, opting not to include the previous two years, as they wouldn't help our case.

After reading the above, we are now confused. Do we just send the 2010 return, or does she need to send all three with a written explanation why she didn't file in 2008?

I have to admit I am a bit confused about your situation, but if I understand correctly, this may help:

Apparently, your affidavit is valid indefinitely from the date it was produced, and they're not allowed to ask for an updated one if the reason is only passage of time.

A more learned memberay want to expand on this, but I think if you can come up with evidence to back up your original affidavit, they will go by the information contained in it.

Oops, didn't read the above post properly, please ignore...

Yes he'd be fine with that.

I guess all they'd need to do is call the number to as if my wife works there.

Of course, the pay stubs will have all the info on them, they are produced by a proper payroll company.

Yes I suppose the rubber stamp is a type of stationary.

If someone was making a fake letter of employment, it would be far easier to make a fake logo or letterhead on a computer than go to the trouble of having a custom rubber stamp made up...

I guess that and the pay stubs should show the authenticity.

We just don't want to take any chances with silly delays.

Well that's not entirely accurate, she works in a drugstore, and the pharmacy department has it own 'business stationary', but I doubt they'd accept an employment letter printed on a prescription document

Well the problem is that my wife has just had a pay raise, so we need the letter.

Before the pay raise, her income was too low to sponsor me, in fact the reason we're applying now is the fact that she's just had this raise.

By the time we send it off, she'll have maybe two or three pay stubs to send off with it, but we really need this letter explaining that she has just had a raise and what her new earnings will be.

My wife needs to get a letter of employment from her boss.

He asked her what it needs to say, and when she mentioned that it has to be on business stationary, he told her he doesn't have any.

When he needs to write a business letter, which is rare, he just uses a large rubber stamp with the name, address and phone number on it!

Will this be acceptable? If not, what should we do?

We'll be submitting her pay stubs, but we're concerned about getting an RFE for something avoidable.

The store has things like a tobacco license, retail food license etc, should we make copies of this type of thing so they can see that it's a real business?

Wow, sounds like you had a rough time!

I'm glad it worked out for you in the end.

If NY carries on the way it always did, then hopefully I can avoid the nightmare you suffered.

I can understand them wanting to have an easy way to deport undesirables, but I bet 99.9% of wvp overstayers wanting to adjust their status are normal folk like you and me who just want to be with their families.

I know there's a lot of sour grapes from people who did it the 'right way', but that's exactly what we were going to do until my wife got pregnant.

Maybe they would be hard-hearted enough to leave their pregnant wife bleeding and doubled up in pain, but I guess I must be weak.

When I signed the visa waiver, my wife wasn't even my girlfriend. Sometimes things happen fast.

I hope the powers that be have the decency to grandfather current applicants in if they make a ruling about this, or at least let current overstayers apply for a waiver in-country.

Not everybody overstays because of contempt for the law.

What policy changes are you talking about?

Some USCIS field offices have started deporting people who try to adjust status if they overstayed on the visa waiver program.

I think what we're going to do is get the name change done on her ss card early this week, because apparently that only takes 7-10 business days. We'll send a copy of that off and in the meantime apply for the ID (you need the ss card for the ID)

Hopefully if we do get an RFE for the ID, it will have arrived by then.

We're on Long Island, but the city is pretty easy to get to.

Since we don't have a car, it might actually be easier to get to the city than to a civil surgeon tht is geographically closer, so if you could PM me the address that would be awesome

We were taling about that today.

My wife's aunt's neighbour is a tax accountant, so she's going to go to him and explain everything.

In other news, we realized to our horror that my wife's ss card and non-driver's ID are still in her old name!

How serious is this? She's going to try to get the ss card changed on monday, but she needs to wait for that to arrive before she can change her ID.

The reason she hasn't got around to it yet is that the ss office is quite far away and we don't have a car.

It's one of those things she kept meaning to get around to...

How important is this? Everything else is in her new name except these two items. Will they see this as evidence that our marriage isn't real?

Thanks Myopia, you came through for us again

We have most of this stuff already, the only things that are going to take time are filing my wife's tax return (she's late filing!) and getting my medical done.