Hamster X

Update after meeting with consulting attorney: The attorney basically suggested the same things that most people here have been telling me, which is a good sign: Submit only the 2021 tax return and W-2s + 1099s. *No* recent employment record, other two years' taxes or other unrequested documents needed. Can add the tax transcript for 2021 to prove that tax was in fact filed. File via mail to get proof of submission. And the most important thing he said was to add a cover letter listing every single bullet point on the RFE followed by my response to it, as detailed as which page which item. He also said do mention at the end that the information requested was included in the original filing. The attorney also said that because the USCIS recently had a lot of new hires who might or might not be familiar with the process, a lot of people are getting this type of very general no specific reason RFE.

I see. Thank you.

Hi, I'm worried that most people in the work/student visa AOS forum have an employment based petition, which means fewer would be able to answer family based petition related questions.

Thanks. You're right. Also given how fast that RFE was sent out (case received 08/22, RFE 09/06), it honestly does look like it's not processed by human..

Tbh this wasn't really the attorney's fault. Because it's a free consulting attorney provided by the city college system, they don't usually reply in a timely fashion. So while I was waiting for his reply to my final question "should I really submit all hundreds of pages of 1040s?", instead of spending hours trying to call his office and waiting in line, I thought: well, the tax transcript is the most formal tax document, so I'll just submit all 3 years of that plus only the 1040 and W-2s from 2021, and did it myself.

The only difference I can think of is that the I-864 form itself requires a handwritten signature. Whereas other documents are scanned copies anyway. Umm too bad already booked an appointment this afternoon. Let's see what he says.

It is interesting that different offices have different standards. I'm actually AOS from O-1, have been living here for 10 years and been working / paying tax. I thought about posting this in the AOS from work visa forum instead but now my AOS is family based.

Makes sense, thank you. I will respond by mail. I'll go over the form later with a consulting only attorney. In fact he helped us go over the forms the first time.

Ah..your case makes me even more confused. I literally submitted the exact same materials and a consulting attorney helped me go over the I-864 form before I filed. Is this kind of thing just..random?

That's what I initially submitted for the first filing. Did you mean that you submitted those for an RFE or the first filing? What does DQ mean?

Maybe that's why the consulting attorney now recommends submitting every single item (W-2s and 1040s from all 3 years)

Because technically tax transcript = 1040 plus W-2s and 1099s. People usually submit either the tax transcript alone or that combo. Some folks here said that my mistake was to submit both, I really don't know.

I just checked, actually I didn't submit the incomplete documents, I took them out last minute and they're on my desk. Initially, I submitted the following items: IRS tax transcript of 2021, 2020, 2019 (all 3 years clearly exceeded the 125% line) Complete 1040 of 2021 All W-2s and 1099s from 2021 Most recent pay stubs and recent contracts stating income from both employers So I did have the tax transcript and actually didn't submitted the incomplete documents. Just not all the 1040s.

Yeah you're right. My grad school has free immigration attorneys for consultation only (they don't represent people). I've made an appointment with one tomorrow. Although now I'm really confused since so far the attorney said totally different things from what very experienced folks on this forum had suggested. Like: submit everything including all W-2s and 1040s from all 3 previous years..etc.