Gabriel5454

7 minutes ago, Kaykay1 said:

How do you submit the election. Nobody is saying anything about how it is done. 

Check that final link again (i.e. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse).  From there,

Quote

How to Make the Choice

Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies. It should contain the following information:

1. A declaration that on the last day of the tax year one spouse was neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. resident within the meaning of IRC section 7701(b)(1)(A) and the other spouse was, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.
2. The name, address, and identification number of each spouse. (If one spouse died, include the name and address of the person making the choice for the deceased spouse.)

 

Keep in mind, I am not a tax professional, just a random stranger on the internet.    So feel free to do your own due diligence.  But this is my understanding of the situation.

6 hours ago, Rocio0010 said:

I guess you’re not understanding that the IRS doesn’t care if you have an EAD. I even doubt they know what it is. Nor do they care if your AOS is pending. All they care is that if you meet the substantial presence test, you have to pay your taxes. Black or white. 

This is inaccurate.  As per https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test, when calculating the number of days in the US for the substantial presence test, you do not count the days you are an "exempt individual".  This includes a few categories of temporary visitors, in particular:

• A student temporarily present in the U.S. under an "F," "J," "M," or "Q" visa, who substantially complies with the requirements of the visa.

As a result most foreign students in the US are not residents for tax purposes.  This has important tax implications since they often are not eligible for the same tax benefits as those classified as "residents" for tax purposes (which includes, not is not limited to, US citizens and permanent residents) and hence often pay higher rates of taxes.

OP, I suggest you review https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-an-individuals-tax-residency-status.  Quoting from that page,

Quote

If you are not a U.S. citizen, you are considered a nonresident of the United States for U.S. tax purposes unless you meet one of two tests. You are a resident  of the United States for tax purposes if you meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for the calendar year (January 1 – December 31).

If you don't meet either of those two tests, then the foreign spouse may have to submit the election to be treated as a resident for tax purposes.  For more info see https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse

6 hours ago, Mike E said:

https://www.uscis.gov/adoption/bringing-your-internationally-adopted-child-to-the-united-states is another link OP might find useful. I like it because for me it lays out the 3 adoption methods. 

This link also states that if you are not adopting using the Hague process, that

"If you are adopting from a Hague Convention country, certain restrictions apply that may prevent your child from immigrating to the United States using this process. Please fully research the adoption laws of the country you hope to adopt from before beginning the process."

It cannot hurt to consult with a qualified lawyer about your situation to avoid any surprises in the future.

I was in a similar situation with my spouse (PhD student with living stipend, over the minimum threshold but not by much).  At the NVC stage I didn't receive any message about my income being too low.  However at the interview the consular decided we needed a joint sponsor.  I think it really depends on your individual circumstances and what side of the bed the consular officer got out of in the morning.    If you already have a joint sponsor lined up, that's great.  As others have suggested you don't need to do anything until the interview, at which point if they want a joint sponsor they will tell you and it will be easy to upload the documents online and get approved.  After finding a joint sponsor and uploading the documents it took a couple days for us to get an approval, so it was not much more time at all.

4 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

As it would be for the purpose of family reunification, the father  would need to move to the US and establish domicile.

13 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

The father has never lived in the US.  This would work only if the father re-located to the US.

The I-130 can be filed now, with the US citizen sponsor living abroad.  Once a visa becomes available, 3-4 years later, the petitioner will have to show intent to establish domicile in the US in order to qualify as the sponsor for the I-864.  So yes, you are correct that the sponsor must have domicile in the US, but this is not required to file a I-130.  One US embassy explains it very well here and I am sure there is similar information posted on the relevant embassy website.

What the other posters have all said sounds correct in your circumstances.  However, if you want to come to the US, your father can still petition you.  The first step would be to file an I-130 petition (one for you, one for your brother).  See, for example: https://www.boundless.com/blog/average-processing-time-unmarried-children-over-21/

As others have correctly pointed out, he is not allowed to work (even remotely) while here on ESTA/VWP status.  However, you should know that unauthorized work is automatically forgiven for spouses of US citizens.  The much bigger issue is working while in the US and not being honest about working.

Don't forget to attach a statement that you wish to treat your husband as a resident for tax purposes (which I'm assuming you are since you are declaring his foreign income).

5 minutes ago, xyz_123 said:

The embassy just responded to me with a canned message letting me know that limited notarial services are available for "passport appointments and notarizations" (due to covid). They also sent a link to schedule an appointment to get a certified copy by notary. In your case was your certified copy through the notary? 

We received a similar response at first.  I called the IRS to confirm and they told us that they will not accept notarized copies or apostilled copies.  Only copies certified by the US embassy or the originally issuing agency.  You can also call the IRS to confirm but it might take a little time to get through to someone.  

6 minutes ago, xyz_123 said:

Thanks for your response, I appreciate you pointing that out since it's definitely a service they don't advertise. Just a couple of follow-up questions if you don't mind:

 

1. Did you have any problems using this "certified" copy issued by the embassy with the IRS? I only ask because the IRS pretty clearly states that they are wanting something from the original issuing agency.
2. Do we need to mail this "certified" copy to the US, or would it be suitable to scan it and send a digital copy which I could then print out to submit with my taxes? Just sending a simple letter by post is pretty expensive.
3. Do you happen to know if the "certifying acceptance agent" has to see the documents in person? I'm assuming that is the case but I just thought it might be worth finding one in the US if they can do this online.

Thanks again!

1.).  From Page 3 of the instructions of form W-7 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdf):

My wife and I were in almost exactly the same position.  We tried going through acceptance agents but none of them were interested in dealing with normal people (as opposed to businesses, people with corporations, etc).  The IRS will accept what is called a "certified copy" of your spouse's foreign passport.  The US embassy in Honduras may be able to do this for you.  We had to email the embassy back and forth to convince them that it was absolutely necessary (the IRS won't accept a normal photocopy with apostille, the acceptance agents won't help us, etc etc).  Finally they gave my spouse an appointment to go to the embassy and make a "certified" copy.  It costs $50.  You can send this copy to the US as opposed to the original passport.

Can anyone point to the specific regulation/law that states the US citizen must enter before their foreign spouse?  I understand this is the case for visas when there is a principle immigrant and then derivative immigrants, but the spouse of a USC does not fall into this category (as a "derivative").  

Hello all,

I am wondering what are the consequences of giving up the immigration process, once we are at the NVC stage?  As I understand, the I-130 does not expire, but we should contact the NVC at least once a year in order to keep the petition alive, in the event that we want to immigrate in the future.  What is the best way to contact NVC for this purpose?  By phone or public inquiry?

We have been waiting more than one year now and with no end in sight, it does not seem worth it, all the mental anguish and the not knowing what or when anything will happen.  I know many of you have also been waiting as long as not longer but the absurdity of this system is becoming too much for us to deal with.

Hello all,

I am getting increasingly frustrated with the CEAC website.  We have an approved I-130 petition and are trying to pay the IV fee.  We have already paid the AOS fee.  Every time I try to pay, the payment looks like it is processing, and then I receive an error message on the top of the screen (it says just that there was an error, try again later).

However, after I receive this message, the payment is shown as "In processing" and I cannot try again.  After some days it goes back to "Pay now" as though the payment was not accepted.  This is the second time now that this has happened to me.  Does anyone have any advice about what browser to use?  The CEAC website suggests I use Internet Explorer which isn't even supported anymore...

Yes, there are sufficient funds in the bank.  Yes, it is a US based bank account.