Hi all,
Two weeks ago I had my interview at the US Embassy in London. As far as I was aware everything should have been fairly straightforward. I was called up to the booth for my interview and asked maybe around five questions pretty bluntly, before being told that my joint sponsor (my wife's uncle) did not meet the financial requirement based on the income reported on his W-2.
In my mind there was no issue with his income as we know he makes more than enough, so I was caught off guard by the officer saying he only makes $8000 a year. I didn't really come prepared to argue on this point and the US tax system is pretty confusing to me, but after getting home and looking over the forms that we submitted I'm now realising that we did submit a Form 1040 along with the W-2 showing that his total income is nearly $50000, but this seems to have been totally skipped over. There was never any acknowledgement of the Form 1040. Additionally when all of our documents were uploaded to CEAC, they were accepted months before the interview, so if they had an issue with his income why not raise it before I was standing at the interview booth?
I was given back my original documents along with a green 221(g) form and told that the application wouldn't be processed any further until we provide evidence that he does make enough money. I have now gotten the corresponding tax transcript for the W-2 and Form 1040 that we already uploaded to CEAC, and written a cover letter to explain that the W-2 doesn't show the full income because most of his income comes from other sources which are covered by the Form 1040.
Anyway, it isn't really clear what the way forward it at this point and I have a few questions which I can't really find clear answers on.
1) I was under the impression that they would keep my original documents and mail them back to me - does the fact that he handed me them back mean I have to go back to London for another interview later?
2) In the email I received, it says that I need to "send and upload" the requested documents. On the link provided which gives instructions, it only gives information on how to mail the documents, which I have now done, but it doesn't say anything about where to upload them. Am I supposed to upload them somewhere too even though I'm sending them by courier? And if so, where?
Overall it is pretty frustrating how vague and sloppy the whole process is. Because they seem to have disregarded the Form 1040 we submitted for whatever reason, I've had to spend additional hours driving half way across the country to my nearest approved courier, along with all the additional money involved - potentially hundreds plus more time taken off work if I have to go back to London for another interview. Surely the least they can do is give some clear instructions on the next steps.
Is it possible the consular officer just didn't read the 1040? Or doesn't know that not all income is reported on the W-2? If they felt the 1040 wasn't strong enough evidence then why not mention that? Why ask people to submit it at all if they don't accept those? Sorry for the rant I'm just frustrated with how vague everything is, considering the literal years and thousands of dollars it costs to go through this process.
