OfWolfAndMan

My wife started her job in July and she multiplied her monthly salary by 5 and filled that in as her current individual annual income.

Make sure everything is filled in correctly and that everything's done as instructed by the Embassy. Good luck.

Thanks guys!

Was it inappropriate to ask for his name?

Hi everyone,

I had my final visa interview in Amsterdam today and I am estatic to tell you that my application was approved!!!

The CO was the same one that accepted our I-130 petition on September 15th, very nice young man. He asked the following questions:

- Where are you moving to in the US?

- How long have you been married?

- Did you spent the entire time living in NL after you two married?

- You're wife's a nurse (when going over my wife's letter of employment)?

- What do you plan to do when you live in the US?

That was pretty much it. Much easier than I had anticipated. He took somewhat of a long look over her paystubs and no more than quickly going through the I-864 and then he informed me that the application was approved pending a couple clearances (fingerprints), which should only take "a couple hours". He said I should receive my passport and the sealed envelope within a few work days.

He said "congratulations" and when I said "thank you, may I ask what you're name is?" He smirked and said "No. But thank you". And I was lol

The actual interview took no more than 4 minutes at best.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the members that have helped us with our questions and in particular (in random order); Penguin_ie, trailmix, YuAndDan, Wacken and Margot Darko!

Seattle here I come!

Conngratulations! Hope mine goes just as well later this week lol.

- when did we get married? (I got that one wrong, said 1995 instead of 2005!!!! The CO asked "are you sure?" and I corrected myself)

LOL. A situation like that works well to break the ice, so to speak. When we filed my I-130 petition in Amsterdam the CO broke the ice for us by asking if I was a drummer (was wearing my lucky Zildjian shirt) and saying he liked my wife's middle name.

The consulate is most concerned with current income, and most recent IRS return (2007), can list 2006 and 2005 on the form, and attach returns for those years they wont show a pattern of continuous income though, a note about living out of the USA and not having an income is a good thing to attach in case it is questioned.

And this is fine with her filling in '0' for 2007 and 2006 even though the numbers on the joint return are not 0, but my income, a statement from her exlpaining that situation would suffice? I mean, it doesn't require anything else besides that?

Thank you trailmix.

So what would be the safest route?

A)

- Use the 2005 tax return as the most recent federal tax return and completely discard the 2006 and 2007 returns which have my total income of the Netherlands on it, even though I wasn't even required to file US income taxes as I had already lost my permanent resident status.

- Have her write a statement using the above guidelines in your quote

- Fill in her current annual income as $66,000 from her new job that she started in July of this year ($5500 monthly salary), along with paystubs and a letter from her employer

or

B )

- Use 2007 as the most recent federal tax return and submit the returns of the 2nd and 3rd most recent years (2006 and 2005) along with her filling in '0' as her income for the years 2007 and 2006 and the actual number of the 2005 return as her income for that tax year on her I-864.

- Have her write an accompanying letter stating she did not earn an income in NL during 2006 and 2007 but that we filed income taxes and used my income from NL even though we later found out it wasn't necessary.

- Fill in her current annual income as $66,000 from her new job that she started in July of this year, along with paystubs and a letter from her current employer

----

Which option would be the safest/best and in case that's option b, would I have to submit some kind of form/statement since it's my income on the returns of 2006 and 2007, from NL, that we weren't even supposed to report?

I would really like to hear you guys' input on this. And thanks a bunch!

Thank you all so much for your input, it's greatly appreciated.

The consular employee said it wasn't that big of a deal that the employment letter didn't use any words like permanent job or that it's of indefinite duration, if she (I) can show paystubs in addition to the employment letter by itself it shows that there currently is a job. Those were his words.

I would feel more comfortable myself if the letter did contain something that specific.

So if we list our 2005 tax return as the most recent one, even though we filed for 2006/07, does she need to submit some kind of evidence from IRS that she wasn't required to file (even though we did) during her time in NL? Or is a letter by herself stating these things sufficient?

The consular employee even suggested we might as well put them (06/07) through a shredder as they were/are pretty much useless, and again those were his words and he wasn't joking about it.

He kept saying don't make it more complicated than it has to.

Easy to say of course.

I've been in touch with the Consulate and they told me the following;

My wife fills in the I-864, but uses our 2005 tax return as the most recent one as she did not work in 2006 and 2007, when she was living here in NL and did not earn an income here (stay-at-home mom). We weren't even obligated to file returns for those particular years as the income we reported to IRS was my income here in NL when I had already lost my previous US resident status. The numbers reported on our 2006 and 2007 returns are my income from NL and basically list her as the dependent (they are filed under our Dutch address).

The consular employee said that in addition to the 2005 return (my wife worked in the US through december of that year) along with a letter from her current employer and paystubs should be sufficient to meet the requirements.

One question we're still not sure about; she started her new job in mid July of this year. What # does she put on the I-864 at question 23;

My current individual annual income is:

Is it a problem if she lists her annual salary as if she has already worked there for the entire year? She only started in mid July and her monthly salary is roughly $5500. If she multiplies that number times 12, which would make her annual income roughly $66,000 even though she started in July, could this result in a problem at the interview or should she take the income she has earned since mid July through December of this year?

The other question we have is about the letter of employement. It does not state that it is a permanent position or that it's of indefinte duration. It lists date employment began, amount of hours per month, position and monthly salary. Would this be sufficient?

Thanks for your patience and expertise!

Basically, just being the spouse is not enough in order for my income to be counted as well, since my income won't continue in the US (?). The lady at the Consulate basically said that my income could be used because I was the spouse and it was a joint filing. She mentioned nothing about the fact that it should continue in the US or anything like that.

No, she even said it was positive that we declared my income from NL during our stay here on our US tax returns for 06 and 07. She said that if my income already met the poverty guidelines it would cover it.

Okay, thanks a lot.

I guess the best thing for her to do is call the Consulate and ask them about the specifics as I don't have the tax returns in my posession.

A lady at the Consulate actually did tell me she could list our joint income (meaning basically my entire income in NL) for 07 and 06. This is really confusing.

Okay, so her using the numbers on the 07 return, which are my income over here from last year are sufficient without me filling in a seperate I-864 (obviously since I'm not living in the US yet)?

We just want to make sure that her using my income from over here doesn't result in a problem, even though it is a joint tax return.

Thank you for your help!

:insecure:

Keep in mind they are more interested in current and future income for the Affidavit of support, they will want evidence that income will continue AFTER arrival to the USA, past income only shows a pattern, but does not indicate that it will continue. They may want evidence of a job in the USA that will provide support, or assets that are 3 times the required income level that are in the USA.

Having a Joint sponsor in the USA may be a good idea, unless your US Citizen spouse is already in the USA, and has a job that will be sufficient to provide support.

That's the case.

Okay, so her using the numbers on the 07 return, which are my income over here from last year are sufficient without me filling in a seperate I-864 (obviously since I'm not living in the US yet)?

We just want to make sure that her using my income from over here doesn't result in a problem, even though it is a joint tax return.

Thank you for your help!

:insecure:

Hi everyone. My wife filed an I-130 petition for me at the US Consulate in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I have my interview and medical examination within the next 3 weeks.

We have a question regarding form I-864. We filed joint taxes for 05, 06 and 07 in August this year. For 06 and 07 the income listed is my income from NL. My wife did not work here during our stay here. For 05 it also shows my wife's US income which greatly exceeds the poverty guidelines as well.

Is it necessary for me to fill in a separate form I-864 in addition to my wife's I-864?

She now has a job in the US with an income that exceeds the poverty guidelines. However, as mentioned above, the income on our joint tax return is my income in NL and not continuing in the US.

We've kind of started to second guess what we're doing so any light anyone could shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

We have a letter from her employer and paystubs since she started as well as a letter from herself stating she did not work during her/our stay in NL.

Anything else we need? We don't want to rely on others to meet the requirements.

Also, what does she put under "current annual income" on the I-864 if she started working in the US in July of this year?

Showing proof of domicile doesn't have to be done until the interview, right? Not when coming in to file the I-130 petition, correct?

I just spoke with the Consulate in Amsterdam and they repeatedly said that as long as she is able to show a valid Dutch resident permit they will accept the petition. They won't deny it based on the fact that she's been there for several months and/or has already started working there. In theory she could stay there another 3 months, come back and file the petition here.

nm

The processing time here in Holland is 10 to 12 weeks, but she's been back in the US for 3 months now and I don't know if we could still file here if she stayed another month and worked, e.g. more proof she took up residence there and no longer qualifies to file through the consulate.

Hi everyone. I'm kind of in need of advice.... My wife and daughter have been back in the US since early April. While there we decided that it would be a good idea to move back there. Our daughter is enrolled in school and my wife has gotten her dream job, basically. She has a resident permit here and our daughter holds both nationalities. I had a Green Card and we all lived in the US. My GC expired last year in May because I/we resided outside the US for too long.

In order to go the much faster DCF route she has to personally file for me here in Holland. Due to circumstances it doesn't look like we'll be able to get her back here to file for my visa at the consulate. She starts her new job on the 14th and with ticket prices being what they are it's almost impossible to get her back here before she starts her new job.

Any idea on what we could do? Just resign to the fact that she will have to file over there? How long could that take and could I be with them during the process? What are our options?

Thanks a lot.

Congratz and good luck.

I wouldn't risk it. Book after your visa has been granted and you actually have it in your hands. Well, the brown envelope that is.

The job thing isn`t what is important anymore. Unfortunately, it looks like your wife would have to fly back to the Netherlands and file the petition in person. If that is not possible, she will have to file from the US.

I understand that, but could she still file here and do the DCF if she has already worked in the US? She wouldn't lose her Dutch resident permit if she worked in the US.

So, even if it's a temporary job, once she starts working she cannot file the I-130 here anymore?