S2N

There are a ton of EAD uses, but the ones that the administration is going to care about would be: C08, C10, C11, C14, C18, C19, and C33. They could exempt some of the codes, but from an administrative standpoint it’s easier just to do a blanket rule. The administration has made it fairly clear it doesn’t see much difference between people here in what’d I’d call the grey area statuses — ones where someone asks for a temporary benefit that is not a change in overall immigration status but prevents unlawful presence from accruing — and those here out of status. Most of the people that would fall into the categories I mentioned above would fall into what they broadly (and incorrectly) paint as “illegal immigrants.” And I think there’s pretty strong overall evidence they want people to leave on their own: the president has said on multiple occasions that people should “self-deport” so they can have a chance at coming back. You also have a lot of that type of rhetoric coming out of the surrogates. They’re not going to come out and say “we’re making this harder in hopes people leave and don’t continue seeking benefits within the U.S.” that’d get them sued. From the State standpoint, they’ve also been providing more guidance to embassies and consulates on vetting, while speeding up embassy and consulate IV scheduling times — doesn’t mean an approval, but wait times to go from NVC to a consulate are down from 6 months ago. The clear trend in everything is to push the responsibility for vetting immigrants to State, who are widely viewed as more competent than USCIS by pretty much everyone, so that the vetting can be done overseas rather than while the person is in the US. The approach of doing vetting outside the US only works if the people leave. And of course they don’t like immigrants, but that also doesn’t mean they don’t have a strategy on this or that they’re not trying to build systems that furthers their goals. Stephen Miller is actively involved in regular calls with the State Department officials that lead visa processing in DC. Do we really think the man doesn’t have a coordinated approach to his plans between DHS and State?

CBP has been documented getting pissy after 6 months. Might be worth seeing if they fancy a holiday trip state side.

“Just give the government what they want, even if you’re convinced they’re wrong” is at least 50% of immigration.

Yes, I didn’t say anything that contradicted myself in either post. The policy is designed to encourage people to leave and come back by another means, whether it be by family (most common), refugee petition outside the states, employer, or any of the legion of other visa classes we have. And you were the one focusing on what presidents can and can’t legally do. I certainly don’t agree with the move. I never once said or even hinted at supporting it. I’m just telling you what they’re trying to do — they want people in the various temporary statuses (TPS, DACA, etc.) to leave and come back via a consular route if one exists, rather than stay here and wait out any change in law or adjudicate any change of status. This is one of the many moves that’s been taken to push a consular-based immigration process over a stateside one.

It affects people in the U.S. who have EADs. That tends to be people in temporary protected status programs and a few other administrative grey areas. There’s others, but that’d be the largest class. The administration has been clear on multiple occasions that it much prefers those people to leave and if they want to cone back, seek another status via the network of U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. Its part of a larger trend of trying to discourage people from seeking immigration benefits from within the United States, and a shift to providing more resources to review cases that originate outside the U.S. You see it most clearly in the family visas, yes, but it’s also being seen in the refugee resettlement realignments, this announcement, and a few others.

So he’s not breaking any laws. He’s using executive discretion to essentially discourage use of administrative grey areas. It’s essentially a policy that encourages people to go the consular route, rather than stay here and wait, whether it be for family-based or other immigrant visas. Consular petitions are speeding up at the same time, which for at least some of us is a good thing. Its designed to make life harder for immigrants in general, which I don’t like, but I’m also not really opposed to encouraging the consular route and making it preferable.

Do you have global entry? That usually cuts down on stupid comments from frontline CBP people. The guys in pre-screening who decide for GE if you get sent to secondary or if the frontline guy asks a question are higher ranking/more experienced and won’t see an issue with someone having a career that requires international travel.

It’s fine, we’re here to help, and I get that you’re communicating in a second language, which can be difficult. You need to confirm with your wife that she has in fact refiled taxes after the initial rejection. If she has, you’re fine. If not, have her consult a CPA ASAP. Your joint sponsor should either file their back taxes ASAP or you should find another joint sponsor.

I’ve already told you the answer to your questions but you keep repeating only part of the story. You’ve also repeated this question in multiple places on this and other websites, which doesn’t help as you keep giving partial information, which means people are giving you different answers since they don’t have the full picture. As I said, if she has refiled after the initial rejection she can use the new 1040 and W-2s. If she hasn’t she needs to file and then use that 1040 and W-2s. The form asks if the joint sponsor has filed all three years of income taxes. They need to be exempt from the filing requirement if they didn’t, which it appears your joint sponsor wasn’t.

I’m not sure who we’re talking about anymore, but: 1) identity theft can make taxes take longer to process; so long as your wife has filed taxes you can use her 1040 and W-2s 2) identity theft is not a valid reason to not file taxes. Assuming he had a filing requirement, he needs to file back taxes. If he doesn’t want to do that because he would owe more (not a valid reason, but some people feel that way) I would recommend finding an alternative joint sponsor.

Okay. That’s fine. Assuming she has refilled and it’s just pending the IRS you can use her W-2 and What was his reason for not filing?

So has she filed again after the initial rejection or is she in the process of refilling? Processing usually means it’s in the IRS’ hands.

What was the reason for the rejection? They usually only do that if there’s a technical issue that prevents electronic filing.

You can bring her tax returns with all W-2s and 1099s

For people who live together, USCIS considers financial comingaling to be the gold standard of proof that you actually live together and share a life. Utility bills are great. Drivers licenses with the same address are great. Joint bank accounts with the same address are great. Joint title to a car registered at the address on both your licenses is great. Bills showing both of you at the address are great. All of these things show both 1) time living together and 2) comingaling of finances. Those are the two things USCIS cares about for people living in the same country.

1) Do not listen to ChatGPT; immigration proceedings are the last place you should use GenAI because there’s so much bad info out there for it to summarize 2) You are overthinking this, which is the main reason why I (and I’m assuming @OldUser as well) told you to scan the entire passport — That way you don’t think yourself into doing too much or to little. Just do it and add brief explanation page noting where the stamps showing your entry into the Philippines are and what dates they correspond to and that you were staying in the country with her. It should literally be “I scanned my passport for completeness. I was in the Philippines on the dates listed below staying with my wife. The passport page of the exit and entry stamp are noted beside the trip date.” Keep it simple. 3) texts with Airbnb hosts aren’t useful. Airbnb will give you a receipt with guest names during the stay, but I don’t think they do it after the stay is complete. 4) Re: photos, have a handful that correspond to each trip. With other people is better

If you have a home scanner, that’s fine. Most people these days don’t so I was giving a free suggestion.

It’s the advice given when submitting passports for proof of citizenship — loss of citizenship is noted by the consulate damaging the passport so they like to see it all. This is different because it’s proof bona fides, but there’s no disadvantage to it and it provides your biography page and shows the evidence being submitted is complete.

Nothing unless asked. Like we’ve all been saying, this is really common.

On the accountant/estimate point: I have a friend who does HNW individual taxes. One of his clients intentionally underpays estimates as a tax strategy because he gets a better rate of return than the underpayment penalty by not giving the IRS the money until 4/15. Paying the penalty is part of the client’s strategy. All that to say, there are a virtually infinite number of reasons OP’s sponsor might owe taxes as of 4/15. None of them are relevant to immigration.

Likely not. Like I said, owing tax as of 4/15 is common for business owners. If the consulate asks you call him and ask him to download the “Record of Account Transcript” that contains both the account balance and other account information and the return. Takes all of 2 minutes to download. No need to provide it to them unless they ask.

Just go to the public library and scan your entire U.S. passport and upload it in one combined PDF with the photos as part of the RFE response (or photocopy and mail.)

“Amount you owe” is a point in time number as of the date the return was filed. It is not the current amount due. If they owed anything it would be a positive number next to the “Account Balance” line on the “Account Transcript” or “Record of Account Transcript.” This is just reporting the return as filed. Yes, OP has the return transcript — the account transcript/account information portion of the record doesn’t show current balance using that language or format.

The consulate has no way to check — the reason they’re asking for transcripts is that the data is stored solely within IRS systems and not shared with other agencies. Its also pretty normal for business owners to have large amounts due at YE. If OP wants they can ask the sponsor to pull the “record of account transcript”, which will show both the return and the account, but it’s not needed. Owing the government is normal when you’re successful at what you do as a small business owner.

Agreed with @pushbrk, but also providing additional context: that isn’t the current balance due. That’s the amount they owed the government as of the date they filed their return. They could have paid it all in full for all you or the consulate knows.