Hi, I am new here. I did some forum searching but I am still unsettled about what I should do. I hope this is in the right section.
I will try to be concise with my scenario and question.
I am a U.S. citizen. My mother is currently visiting (she has a visa and usually stays for ~6 months at a time).
During her current visit, I submitted an I-485 (and all accompanying stuff - medical, etc.)
She is now over her visa and return flight date (USCIS told me this is fine during the open immigration process)
I submitted an I-864 and received a yellow letter back saying we don't meet 125% of poverty guidelines. I submitted 3 years of tax returns, all evidence of assets, proof of income for 2019 so far - they still sent a pink letter back saying the same thing. This time they indicated that my husband's name is on the Schedule C and mine is not. We both have the same income and operate the same business as a sole proprietorship. I did not initially realize that both our names being on almost every single tax form except the Schedule C will get the I-864 denied. Also, I realized today that in Part 6. 24.a., 24.b., 23.c., I put my adjusted gross income shown for 2018 on the 1040 and not my total income listed on the 1040. USCIS didn't mention anything about this in any letters so far, I'm not sure if they ever will...I seem to recall conflicted instructions somewhere about what I am supposed to put there..
Our total income, adjusted gross income, and total gross income are all above 125% of guidelines for a 4 person household. I don't anticipate an issue there. I just don't want to screw this up a 3rd time and get a letter saying 'denied' next time...I think my limit is June 29, 2019 before they stop requesting things and just deny the whole application.
The most recent pink letter says to either provide documents showing income attributed to my name, get a joint sponsor, or resubmit evidence of more assets. I don't understand why they didn't just recommend that I put my husband down as a household member and submit an I-864A for him, isn't this the logical answer?
My question is, do I:
Option 1:
1) Re-submit my I-864 and put my husband down as a household member and state that I am using income from him (since his name is on the Schedule C of all of our tax return years).
2) Submit a I-864A for my husband as well, stating the same previous tax return information, but stating his individual income as what we estimate to make in 2019.
3) Stating my individual income as $0 on a corrected I-864, and correcting Part 6. 24.a, 24.b, 24.c, to show our total income instead of our adjusted gross income for past 3 years.
OR
Option 2:
1) Don't resubmit my I-864, just have my husband submit his own I-864 as a joint sponsor (even though he is a household member), and include a copy of our joint tax return for 2018.
2) Don't correct Part 6. federal income tax information, It won't matter if it states our joint adjusted gross income or total income - they didn't say anything about it in the pink letter.
3) The pink letter doesn't even mention the household member option (which is obvious). I am not sure what USCIS wants...I am assuming half the workforce are robots at this point.
PS. I've spoken to an immigration officer via phone multiple times. They act confused and just tell me to get a lawyer instead of answering any questions at all. It's a dead end every single time. They won't even clarify their own instructions or evidence requests.
I really hate how vague these RFE letters are... thanks to anyone taking the time to read this!
I-864 (Schedule C issue)
in Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America
Posted
Hi, I am new here. I did some forum searching but I am still unsettled about what I should do. I hope this is in the right section.
I will try to be concise with my scenario and question.
I am a U.S. citizen. My mother is currently visiting (she has a visa and usually stays for ~6 months at a time).
During her current visit, I submitted an I-485 (and all accompanying stuff - medical, etc.)
She is now over her visa and return flight date (USCIS told me this is fine during the open immigration process)
I submitted an I-864 and received a yellow letter back saying we don't meet 125% of poverty guidelines. I submitted 3 years of tax returns, all evidence of assets, proof of income for 2019 so far - they still sent a pink letter back saying the same thing. This time they indicated that my husband's name is on the Schedule C and mine is not. We both have the same income and operate the same business as a sole proprietorship. I did not initially realize that both our names being on almost every single tax form except the Schedule C will get the I-864 denied. Also, I realized today that in Part 6. 24.a., 24.b., 23.c., I put my adjusted gross income shown for 2018 on the 1040 and not my total income listed on the 1040. USCIS didn't mention anything about this in any letters so far, I'm not sure if they ever will...I seem to recall conflicted instructions somewhere about what I am supposed to put there..
Our total income, adjusted gross income, and total gross income are all above 125% of guidelines for a 4 person household. I don't anticipate an issue there. I just don't want to screw this up a 3rd time and get a letter saying 'denied' next time...I think my limit is June 29, 2019 before they stop requesting things and just deny the whole application.
The most recent pink letter says to either provide documents showing income attributed to my name, get a joint sponsor, or resubmit evidence of more assets. I don't understand why they didn't just recommend that I put my husband down as a household member and submit an I-864A for him, isn't this the logical answer?
My question is, do I:
Option 1:
1) Re-submit my I-864 and put my husband down as a household member and state that I am using income from him (since his name is on the Schedule C of all of our tax return years).
2) Submit a I-864A for my husband as well, stating the same previous tax return information, but stating his individual income as what we estimate to make in 2019.
3) Stating my individual income as $0 on a corrected I-864, and correcting Part 6. 24.a, 24.b, 24.c, to show our total income instead of our adjusted gross income for past 3 years.
OR
Option 2:
1) Don't resubmit my I-864, just have my husband submit his own I-864 as a joint sponsor (even though he is a household member), and include a copy of our joint tax return for 2018.
2) Don't correct Part 6. federal income tax information, It won't matter if it states our joint adjusted gross income or total income - they didn't say anything about it in the pink letter.
3) The pink letter doesn't even mention the household member option (which is obvious). I am not sure what USCIS wants...I am assuming half the workforce are robots at this point.
PS. I've spoken to an immigration officer via phone multiple times. They act confused and just tell me to get a lawyer instead of answering any questions at all. It's a dead end every single time. They won't even clarify their own instructions or evidence requests.
I really hate how vague these RFE letters are... thanks to anyone taking the time to read this!