aidankari

I recived my green card in Aug 09. I have recenlty moved house. Who do I have to notify regaring my change of address and how do I do that. Do I have to change my address with SSA too?

Thanks for any help.

Aidan

We are married 18 months now and maybe thinking about having a baby. We are doing some research on child care costs in Maryland (we live near Frederick). Any experience of what we might expect to pay or advice is greatly appreciated.

My wife and I are in the middle of purchasing a house in MD. Neither of us have owned property in the past. I am just wondering how do you prove this to the IRS that you never owned a house before if you are from Ireland? We have been living in the same house in USA since Feb 09 and in Ireland for about 4 years on and off. (My wife spent some time in USA during that time). Is there a minimum time period that we need to be living togehter? If so how do we prove it, especially for Ireland?

Any help appricaited.

1. Health Insurance costs. Luckily I get mine fully paid by my job but my wife pays around $500 per month. Used to pay around $100 per month for both of us in Ireland.

2. Can't get fresh bread and the fish is either really expensive or not fresh

3. All the ad breaks during sports games. In Ireland a 80 minute game takes 80 minutes plus 15 or so minutes for half time. No ad breaks during the game allowed.

USA is a great country though!

Regarding the $8000 tax credit.

We are hoping to have a contract on a house by April 30, all going well. We are filing our tax returns in the next couple of weeks (once we have the w2s) as the mortgage broker needs tax returns for 2009 to complete the mortgage application.

Everything I have read about the first time buyer's tax credit online sees to suggest that you must apply for it in either your 2009 or 2010 tax returns. Is there any other way to apply for it?

FYI the score you want to check is the FICO score www.myfico.com Anything else is not the real score.

thanks for the advice. i got a score of 695 and my wife's is 770. I am going to work to get it up over 700 in the next couple of months.

Any advice?

I heard somebody talking about getting tax relief on mortgage interest? Anybody know how this works? I am living in Marlyand.

My wife and I are planning on applying for a mortgage in the next couple of months in Maryland. We are hoping to avail of the $8000 tax credit which we should qualify for. I have been in the US since Feb 09 and got a part time job in Aug 09 and a full time job in Oct 09. I graduated from college in Dublin in 2003 and have worked ever since (apart from the time I was waiting on my EAD). We have joint checking and savings accounts here and I have also set up a 503K through my job. I have my own credit card since June 09 which I have been paying off every month and have a joint car loan with my wife since Nov 09 which we have been paying off every month.

From people's experience what advice/tips would you give us? Is there anything else I can do to improve my credit score? We are both working but my lack of employment history in the US may count against us. I can get a letter from my last employer in Ireland which I am told can help?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Whats the Cheapest/best way to check my credit score?

My wife and I are planning on applying for a mortgage in the next couple of months in Maryland. We are hoping to avail of the $8000 tax credit which we should qualify for. I have been in the US since Feb 09 and got a part time job in Aug 09 and a full time job in Oct 09. I graduated from college in Dublin in 2003 and have worked ever since (apart from the time I was waiting on my EAD). We have joint checking and savings accounts here and I have also set up a 503K through my job. I have my own credit card since June 09 which I have been paying off every month and have a joint car loan with my wife since Nov 09 which we have been paying off every month.

From people's experience what advice/tips would you give us? Is there anything else I can do to improve my credit score? We are both working but my lack of employment history in the US may count against us. I can get a letter from my last employer in Ireland which I am told can help?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Transferring large sums of money internationally (i.e. more than $10,000) should usually be reported as income. (and the IRS may or may not flag your ATM transfers) Depending on the source of the income, you may or may not be liable for taxes. For example, I believe if it's a "gift" (and you can prove as much) then the first $10,000 is tax free. But don't take my word on that. Your best bet is to get with a tax accountant to determine the best way to declare it.

I plan on wiring about $25000 from Ireland to here in Jan. This money came from a redundancy I received in Ireland at the end of 2008. Any advice on if I have to pay tax and if so how to minimize it?

on that type of money hire a CPA. find out what is needed to bring to usa or even if you wnat to bring all to the usa. it might be better with declining dollar to leave in pounds. if you need money to buy something or pay off your all your debt that is something totally differnt

I plan to use it as part of a down payment on a house? Does that change things? I received the money as a redundancy payment.

Transferring large sums of money internationally (i.e. more than $10,000) should usually be reported as income. (and the IRS may or may not flag your ATM transfers) Depending on the source of the income, you may or may not be liable for taxes. For example, I believe if it's a "gift" (and you can prove as much) then the first $10,000 is tax free. But don't take my word on that. Your best bet is to get with a tax accountant to determine the best way to declare it.

I plan on wiring about $25000 from Ireland to here in Jan. This money came from a redundancy I received in Ireland at the end of 2008. Any advice on if I have to pay tax and if so how to minimize it?

I moved here in Feb 09 on a K1 visa and got married in April. I received my EAD in June and my green card in Aug.

I am now working in Marketing in the Washington DC area. I got my job in Oct so my search wasn't too long but I did go to about 15 interviews between June and October and probably applied to about 100 jobs! I mainly used local newspaper websites and found indeed.com too be a good job search platform. I registered with a number of job sites like Monster, Jobfox etc. but found them to be not much help. I discovered that I had most success getting a reply from companies that I could apply directly to. There are a lot of 'job sites' that look for money in return for job listings but I would discourage job seekers from paying any money over unless you are confident the site is legitimate and you know people who have used it. Unfortunately you do find some 'fake' out out there! THERE ARE A LOT OF SCAMS OUT THERE SO BE WARNED!

I took on a part time job in late July and found that this helped me get more traction when applying to full time marketing jobs as it proved that I was legally allowed to work. I found that some hiring managers did not fully understand the legitimacy of the EAD card and preferred to hear that I had a green card. I did see that some companies were reluctant to pursue applications when they found out I was from Ireland, so clearly articulating that you are fully legally entitled to work is VERY IMPORTANT both on you resume/cover letters and also in interviews.

Some Tips from My experience:

If you cant find a full time job immediately in you area of interest try and work part time if you can

Volunteer if necessary, its a great way to get your foot in the door and can give you valuable references

Keep trying, its very competitive out there but persistence pays

Get to know as many people as possible, i joined a sports team which helped me get an interview for one job

Search local company websites and newspaper sites, they tend to be the most reliable

I hope this is useful. Feel free to ask questions. GOOD LUCK!

no & no

thanks, thats a relief

was there a transaction in 2009 that occurred in Ireland that provided for the cash? or was it something like personal savings?

i got redundancy in 2008 which I have in my savings account in Ireland. I will hopefully be moving the money in early 2010.

no & no

thanks, thats a relief

I am hoping to move about 25k USD from Ireland by wire. I received this as a redundancy payment at the end of 2008 in Ireland. Do I need to pay tax on this amount? Do I have to declare this money to the IRS?

All help appreciated.

Ha ha thanks! Any other evidence worth getting?

I submitted my AOS application in early May and reveived my EAD and AP in early June. I also received a letter to say my AOS application was being transfered to the California Service Centre. Does this mean that I wont have to complete an interview (as suggested in the guide on this site).

Also I am not working so my wife and I are still living with her parents. Will this cause a difficulty in terms of showing evidence of a relationship. We do have a joint bank a/c a joint cell phone bill and photos from our honeymoon. We do not have any kids yet. Is there anything else that we shoud get/ produce for this interview to evidence our relationship.

any help is greatly appreciated.

I received my EAD a 6 weeks ago and have been applying for Marketing jobs in the Baltimore/ DC area. I have had a few interviews but no luck so far. I am using Monster, CareerBuilder and Indeed.com mainly. Anyone know of any other good sources in this area? I found Hound.com but it charges about $30 a month. Anyone else join this site? Is it worth the money?

Any tips/ advice would be welcomed.

I just received my EAD in the post. Do I need to get a new Social Security card with my updated status? It currenty has the following printed on it: ' valid ofr work only with DHS authorization".

Appreciate any help.

No, you must wait for greencard for that

thanks. So I just apply for jobs as normal and produce my EAD if required by an employer?

I just received my EAD in the post. Do I need to get a new Social Security card with my updated status? It currenty has the following printed on it: ' valid ofr work only with DHS authorization".

Appreciate any help.

Oh...

You are doing a K-1 - that is only for people doing I-130, IR/1 and CR/1 cases.

thanks for that.

? - link?

here it is

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/I-864_Cover_letter

its the only place I have seen it but just want to make sure.

I found a template for a cover sheet for the I-864 on here and it mentions a 'cover sheet with barcode'. Is this required for the AOS and how do you generate it?

There is no standard template that I know of, but I would think using the Buisness Standard Letter format will work.

Why didn't she file?

If it was because the income was too low, then just a written statement is needed, but if it was because there is another reason, you will need additional evidence to show why.

Sign and date of course.

kari was a student in Ireland in 2007 so she had no income in either country. What kind of evidence do you think will suffice?

A statement that she was a student, not employed and had no income. It doesn't matter if she was in Ireland or not if she had no income. Alternatively it may be just as easy to file a 1040EZ, claim -0- income and be done with it. If no tax is owed, there is no penalty for filing late. You can download prior year tax forms on the internet, do a search for "2007/1040EZ" for example (or whatever year you want the form for)

Regarding the 2007/1040EZ. Should we file this with IRS or just fill it out and file with the AOS application?

It would be kinda useless without being filed with the IRS first

thanks for the smart remark, really helps when we are under pressure with all of this stuff. Sorry for wasting your time.

There is no standard template that I know of, but I would think using the Buisness Standard Letter format will work.

Why didn't she file?

If it was because the income was too low, then just a written statement is needed, but if it was because there is another reason, you will need additional evidence to show why.

Sign and date of course.

kari was a student in Ireland in 2007 so she had no income in either country. What kind of evidence do you think will suffice?

A statement that she was a student, not employed and had no income. It doesn't matter if she was in Ireland or not if she had no income. Alternatively it may be just as easy to file a 1040EZ, claim -0- income and be done with it. If no tax is owed, there is no penalty for filing late. You can download prior year tax forms on the internet, do a search for "2007/1040EZ" for example (or whatever year you want the form for)

Regarding the 2007/1040EZ. Should we file this with IRS or just fill it out and file with the AOS application?