Jeff & Senia

Oh, quick typo edit of the above (which it won't let me do)....

I "do" believe the law was designed to recognize the fact that you make sufficient income (not the typo of "don't").

First off, let me preface what I say below by stating that the fact is that your income is well above poverty threshold that is used and it is my belief that you can accomplish your objective of proving that to the CO assigned to your case a couple of different ways. My understanding is that's what you need to do---show to the satisfaction of the CO that your set of facts/circumstances meet the level of assurance that the government is looking for in regards to your "family unit's" economics.

The first way I believe you can satisfy the CO is by showing documentation of your current income along with the past 3 years of tax returns/transcripts. Documentation of current income can come from showing the payments from the partnership's account to your personal account. Copies of the cancelled checks (I know, most accounts don't get those anymore) written to you from the partnership's account along with copies of the corresponding deposits into your personal account. A statement from your bank detailing your deposit activity for the year. Even though it is you and not your partnership sponsoring your fiancee, I'd have my year-to-date business P&L handy with me in Bogota as well.

You're in the same line of work as you were before and can show your past earnings history and capability with the tax returns/transcripts. Although as a partner in a partnership you don't receive W-2 wages, you do receive partner draws. Some partnerships choose to also pay a partner a guaranteed payment off the top (which is similar/synonymous to a salary, just isn't considered W-2 wages since a partner isn't an employee) for services rendered prior to paying out partner draws. Just like a W-2 employee can use his pay-stubs for the current year, you providing documentation of the monies paid to you from the partnership provides the CO with evidence of your current income.

Now, if you or someone else feels that taking the above route leaves open some risk, or is more documentation than you'd like to provide at the time of the I-134 (oh, by the way, isn't the I-134 100% of poverty threshold and the I-864 the 125% one?), then there's another route you can take. I'm running short on time, so I'll have to follow-up, but the other route you could consider is becoming a W-2 Wage employee during 2011.

How can you do that when you are a partner in a partnership? Well, off the top of my end, there are two easy ways. 1) Let's say the entity you set-up is an LLC under your state's laws and your are being taxed as a partnership under the default classification rules of the Internal Revenue Code. Based on your prior statements, I believe it's correct to assume that if you did form an LLC, you did so in late 2010 or the start of 2011. If that's the case, then the entity can still file a late election to be treated as an S-corporation effective as of 1/1/2011. If you were to go that route, you can be an employee (W-2 wage earner) of your business. Since you would be treated as an S-corporation from the start of the year, all or a part of the monies paid to you to date could be treated as advances of wages and a catch-up payroll entry could be made to reflect such. There may also be some tax advantages to being treated as an S-corporation that are beyond the scope of this forum.

Now, there may be valid business, tax and other reasons that you do not want your entity to be treated as an S-corporation for tax purposes. If that's the case, you could transfer your 80% interest in the partnership to a newly-formed entity that is 100% wholly owned by you. Your current entity will still be treated as a partnership for tax purposes, but your 80% share will be owned by a new entity that elects S-corporation status. You probably guessed it, the your 80% of the partnership profits are now paid to your 100% owned entity and then you personally are paid reasonable and sufficient W-2 wages from your 100% owned S-corporation. Have a payroll service outfit like ADP or PayChex generate paychecks and paystubs for you that reflect your salary, year-to-date pay, etc.

In either of the scenarios utilizing an S-corporation you can also supplement your pay-stubs with a letter from your "employer". You are an employee (President).

I could expand quite a bit on the above, but on short on time at the moment. I guess in a nutshell my opinion is that you make sufficient income and have a history of making sufficient income and won't have a problem in satisfying the CO. The facts are the facts---you make the necessary income and then some---I don't believe the law was designed to recognize that and I believe the law provides the CO some latitude in considering documentary evidence in making their decision. If I'm wrong about this, I'm all ears....

I'll check back in tonight or tomorrow to see what you think and/or see if there are any differing opinions.

Some not-so-good news for you Jeff: since you live in the Sunshine State, your petition will be sent to Vermont. Pull up a chair and grab a cooler of cold ones. The wait is going to be a bit lengthy.

Ray-J, yeah, I read where VSC has jurisdiction for those of us residing in FL and that they have been running quite slow of late. Well, best for me to have the patience of Job and keep my nose to the grindstone so that agitation doesn't set in down the road, lol. At the moment, I figure three things could happen: My petition could still be routed to CSC in an effort by USCIS to balance the workload; VSC could shift more assets to processing K-1's to catch-up/speed-up on their workload; and, the good Lord may just have a plan that includes us waiting for the "right time" for the Visa issuance to happen in our lives. Yeah, I know....it's only been less than 24 hours since I mailed the I-129F so it's easy for me to have a positive outlook, lol. Figured I better take that attitude for this journey....

Best wishes for you and yours!!

Finally finished & put the I-129F in the mail!!! May has been a big month for me this year....saw my sweetie, she said "yes", had a birthday and completed the I-129F!!! Hope you guys accept me into the May group? I'd feel strange being associated with any other month, lol

Here's hoping for no RFE's and an NOA2 in the not too distant future for all of us!!!

Before providing some feedback in re to reporting/portraying your current income to USCIS, can you clarify how your business is taxed under the Internal Revenue Code? You state that you are self-employed, but then use the term "distributions" instead of "draws", so it would be helpful to clarify whether you will be reporting your business activity for 2011 on Sch. C (Sole Proprietor) or otherwise? I can probably provide you with some solid insight, but it's first best to get a clarification of how your business is treated for tax purposes since distributions is the term typically used to describe payments from profits made to S-corp. shareholders.

Oh, and at the end of the day, based on a couple of references you make in your original post, you may (most likely) just have sufficient liquid assets and/or net worth to fall back on anyway. Although my hunch is that you won't have any trouble showing current income well above the required amount.

yes I used the address you have above and i included our case number in the subject and made a simple statement as to when we faxed in our documents and that I was making an inquiry to when our interview date was scheduled

Thanks for the confirmation!! Hoping that all goes smoothly and well for you and your SO in June!!!

To what address did you send your request?

I was waiting to see the response to this question, but it must have been missed. I'm guessing that they emailed their request to: IVBogota@state.gov which is the email address for the Consulate in Bogota.

Hi Maria,

Just checking-in to see if you'd followed-up and read the other responses. I see that you've gotten some good feedback from Just Bob pertaining to applying for citizenship under the 5-year rule. Also, I can tell from your previous posts, you are not confused about how the First Time Homebuyer's Credit for homes purchased after 4/8/08 and prior to 01/01/09 works, i.e., that you pay back the credit taken on your 2008 return interest free over a 15-year period starting with the 2010 tax year return. You didn't say anything about it, but I'm guessing you paid your 1/2 for 2010, $250, on the 2010 return you filed for yourself? Each year you are supposed to recieve IRS Notice CPO3a, "Repaying your First-Time Homebuyer Credit", that tells/reminds you of the portion of the original credit you need to "recapture" on the current year's tax return. I'm curious, did you receive such a notice in advance of filing your 2010 return?

So with that out of the way, I think it is safe to assume that you correctly understand that the annual repayment of your share of that credit over 15 years (14 years left now since 2010 was the first repayment year) does not show-up as an outstanding or past-due tax obligation/liability. It's just an additional $250 tax (1/2 of the $500 x 15 years) each year and becomes due with that particular current year's tax return.

My concern, as a Tax Professional, is that while it's apparent that you've read the basic rules concerning the 2008 First Time Homebuyer's Credit, you might not be fully familiar with all of the triggers that can take place upon certain events, i.e., when the home stops being your personal residence, when it is sold, when your ownership share is transferred to the other spouse, etc., etc. Additionally, I also have concern that you may feel like you are obligated to payback 1/2 of the credit when it was taken on a house "supposedly" purchased, and claimed on an amended return that you had know knowledge about (i.e., your signature was forged). Lastly, I'm concerned that you felt it necessary to file your 2010 return as a "single" taxpayer instead of "married filing separately" because your estranged husband has led you to believe such base on his filing as being single.

You were not "stuck" with filing single because your estranged husband filed his return that way. If you were legally married on the last day of the tax year and did not maintain a home for a dependent child, then you should have filed as "married filing separately" regardless of how he filed his return. You are also not stuck with paying back 1/2 of $7,500 credit he claimed on the amended 2008 joint return if he did so frivolously without your knowledge.

You've stated that you've gone on to become a professional engineer, so I trust that you appreciate that there are times when it is best to seek advice from a professional with training, experience and expertise in a particular field. That's exactly what you should do concerning your current tax matters and quit relying on the advice of a guy who has claimed a tax credit on a home "supposedly" purchased by filing an amended joint return without your knowledge.

I'd amend your 2010 return using Form 1040X to file as married filing separately (you don't mention a child, so I'm assuming that head of household is not an option). That he filed as single has no bearing on you filing as married filing separately (you were still legally married at 11:59 p.m. on 12/31/2010). In the explanation section of the Form 1040X, just state that on the originally filed return you inadvertantly checked the "Single" filing status box when in fact you were married at the end of the tax year.

You chose to use the word "supposedly" in re to his buying a house in 2008, why is that? One can also infer that he forged your signature on the amended 2008 return where he claimed the first time homebuyer credit...is that correct? Also correct to assume that the refund received for taking the first time homebuyer credit on the amended 2008 return was not shared with you?

If you can share a little more about "supposedly" bought a house, your signature on the 2008 amended return, and where did the 2008 refund from the amended return go....then I can provide you some additional insight on your options pertaining to your tax situation.

Hate to say it, but it's best to be blunt.....this former dream guy sounds like a real you know what!!!!

You can tell her that she's not applying for a tourist visa where they look to her economic resources and ties to Colombia to overcome the presumption that a person will stay in the U.S. and not return to their home country. Instead, you've petitioned the U.S. as a U.S. citizen to allow her entry into the U.S. for the sole intent of her getting married to you within 90 days. They mostly just want to make certain that your relationship and intent to get married is bonafide (and of course there are other things they look at such as you meeting the financial support requirements for your family size, criminal history for you both, her medicals, etc.)

Other than verbally telling her to reassure her, you could always suggest she read the K-1 Visa requirements for herself (I chuckle a little saying this because I've suggested such to my fiancee, but in the end she decided to just trust that I read them, lol).

My fiancee just applied for and received her Colombian Passport today (same day processing). When she had her Colombian Passport photo taken yesterday, she followed the guidelines for Colombian Passport photos. Tomorrow she is getting two photos that we will use to attach to the duplicate Form DS-156, and those two photos will follow the strict guidelines as set out by the U.S. State Department (as in the link provided above Tyeger87).

Getting the photo for her Colombian Passport was a piece of cake; the photoshops are quite familiar with meeting their own country's requirements. Now, given my experience with other tasks that need to have some sort of precision or exactness, getting the one tomorrow for the Form DS-156 that meets the requirements of the U.S. State Department may be a major you-know-what!!!

To clarify, the photo being taken tomorrow will first be used to include with the I-129F application package, but I'm going to have her get several so we can have a couple extra on-hand when needed for the DS-156. I'm cautiously optimistic that we will be able to get a photo tomorrow that meets the requirements of the U.S. State Department (I've printed out the guidelines and sample page to take with us to the photoshop, lol).

My fiancee just applied for and received her Colombian Passport today (same day processing). When she had her Colombian Passport photo taken yesterday, she followed the guidelines for Colombian Passport photos. Tomorrow she is getting two photos that we will use to attach to the duplicate Form DS-156, and those two photos will follow the strict guidelines as set out by the U.S. State Department (as in the link provided above Tyeger87).

Getting the photo for her Colombian Passport was a piece of cake; the photoshops are quite familiar with meeting their own country's requirements. Now, given my experience with other tasks that need to have some sort of precision or exactness, getting the one tomorrow for the Form DS-156 that meets the requirements of the U.S. State Department may be a major you-know-what!!!