italy to USA

Hello everyone. So we are in the early stages of filing for CR1 and in the meantime, in september, we are expecting a little girl. My wife is italian (and we are petitioning for her). Does anyone have experience with this? Our daughter should automatically be considered an American, no? I know there is the form at the consulate called "american born abroad" , but is it that simple?

It is relatively simple.... I believe simpler than petitioning for your spouse. Also, this needs to be done as the consulate will NOT issue a visa to a person who has a "claim" to citizenship.

Hi, do you actually have experience with this? I dont want to file any sort of petition or anything, I just want to show up at the consulate with the baby, birth certificate, etc, and be given the go ahead to bring her home to America. Isnt that the point of the American born abroad form? I just hope that this will not require any more form sending.... i guess we'll see

Check out this link at the Dept. of State website -> http://travel.state.gov/law/info/overseas/overseas_703.html

Remember, Google is your friend.

Google doesnt like me very much actually... thanks for the link..

Hello everyone. So we are in the early stages of filing for CR1 and in the meantime, in september, we are expecting a little girl. My wife is italian (and we are petitioning for her). Does anyone have experience with this? Our daughter should automatically be considered an American, no? I know there is the form at the consulate called "american born abroad" , but is it that simple?

Well the thing is I'm really keen on not asking someone for help on this matter. i mean we are both a bit over 30 years old, financially stable responsible adults with doctoral degrees and it just seems like it a kind of a stretch to be asking mom and dad or friends to be involved in this process. Maybe i'm being hard headed, but that's just the way I see it. Also the job offer I have is actually a grant that I have won from the NIH to do research at the university of michigan, therefore it cannot be withdrawn, I have secured that money.

Regardless, my income for the past several years has been slightly above the amount they require now I just need to hurry up and file the 1040 and f2555 forms since my income was made over here. I'm still kicking myself for not having thought of this before.

Also, I appreciate everyone's comments and help! sincerely.

Your situation is similar as what we went through. Both employed in higher education in Canada, yada yada yada. My husband had not filed with the IRS for a while, and while my income was considerable, it did not count as it would not continue in the US. Here's what we did:

1. Husband filed late returns asap.

2. We lined up a cosponsor.

We were approved without any problems. Best of luck! Ciao!

Hi, thanks for the reply.. Let me ask you, I already have a job lined up to start work November 1. Do you think we would need a cosponsor even though I will be employed full time making more than the 125% poverty thingy?

Your spouse is already included as the sponsored immigrant. It says for 21b-g : Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit. Therefore box 21c would be left blank.

Thanks,.. pretty ridiculous that I missed that....woops..

Page 8 of the I-864 instructions (bottom of first column) speaks to the requirement for filing tax returns when living abroad.

If you end up needing to file the returns, you will have to submit the IRS transcripts for those returns as part of the I-864.

Thanks.. I'm getting those in order to do this week. I think that between our collective savings and my income from my new job which starts Nov. 1 (38k, embarassingly) we should meet their requirements.

One thing that is weird on the I-864 are the Household size section (number 21).

In part a, it asks to enter what I entered in line 10 (# of immigrants I am sponsoring) which is 1, my wife.

Then it goes on to say enter 1 if I am married, plus the 1 is pre-entered for myself = 3. This is the household size (line h), but we are actually only 2.

Though it says specifically not to count anyone twice. How do you get around this since I would have to inevitably leave one of the spaces blank?

I think it's a bit odd.

If you are using your assets to qualify they must equal at least 3 times the 125% of the poverty line limit. This is clearly explained on page 9 of the I-864 instructions http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864.pdf

Past income is not considered when qualifying for the I-864, only present and continuing income is

Oh OK.. why do they ask for 3 years of tax returns then? Doesnt that only represent past income? If we use assets, do you think I still have to submit 3 years of tax returns?

I believe you will need to show that you have easily liquidable assets of $18,212 (125% of poverty line for 2 people) times 3 years (instead of 5 years because you are sponsering a spouse), which equals $54,636. Otherwise you'll need a joint sponser.

You think that is true? How many people have $55k around so that their wife can come home with them. I'm pretty sure that the 125% of poverty line is reflected by annual income and not savings.. I could be wrong, but.... Maybe you're talking about if we arent filing tax returns showing past income and will only show cash savings? any explanation would be nice.

Hey Penguin,, first off, thank you so much for taking the time to post such a thorough explanation.

Youre right about the economy being quite bad at the moment and in fact she wont be working when she first arrives since she will be tending to the new kid

I'm pretty sure that my income (albeit not a large sum) will be enough for the minimum amount they require and I already have an official letter from the university stating that amount, etc.

About not filing.. oddly enough living in italy has just made me neglect my responsibilities back home. I didnt do it intentionally, I just didnt think I needed to, but apparently wasnt proactive enough to find out. I'll chock this up to laziness, but apparently there is a price to pay for that laziness. I have already begun filing for 2008 and will go back to and do 2007.

We are in fact applying through the US embassy here in Italy. We have just sent away the I-130 so we are really in the beginning stages of this process.

About assets, i think we have about 30k in cash in US banks and probably the same amount in euros here in italy, i feel like that should be enough to demonstrate that we will not be burdens on society for at least a little while.. at least i hope.

I think we are going to try to not panic and see if we cant go it alone without a lawyer unless things get really messy. I feel a little more in control of the situation following your post. So again, I'd like to say thanks for the help!

Hey thanks alot, I think we'll need the luck

I just wanted to add something to this, since it seems to be getting more complicated by the minute.

-I did not file taxes in the US for the time that I have been in italy, including the F2555 form which states that I have income abroad. I didnt even think before to do this since I was a legal resident in Italy and paying taxes here, etc. Does that completely screw up our chances of this process going smoothly?

-Also my wife and I were only recently married, does her income before our marriage count towards our 'total income'? This would be necessary to prove that we make the minimum to get above the poverty limit.

-We are in Italy, and now I am seriously considering hiring a lawyer who is versed in this area of immigration and tax things. Would it be best to hire someone in the US and correspond electronically, or someone here?

This is just a bit disappointing and I really cannot afford to screw this up.

Any help or suggestions are super appreciated.

OSM

Hello everyone. This is really a great forum and tool for people dealing with immigration issues, so thank you.

I have more of a financial question regarding my income for the past 3 years and what I should probably put on the I-864. My wife (Italian) and I have been living together in Italy for 3 years and my income has been solely from here (a modest salary as a PhD student). Both of our salaries combined would be enough to be considered more than the 125% of the poverty line cutoff, but I will be moving to the US to begin work at University of Michigan in October and she will remain here without employment (we are expecting our first child in September ). So the point is, I DO NOT have US tax return forms for the past 3 years, but do have them from early 2006 and back. Are there other ways to provide proof of income without submitting US tax returns? Also we have a substantial amount of savings and she herself is a PhD level scientist so it should be clear that she will not be a burden to the USA.. Does anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences?