I-864 - just how necessary are the last THREE tax returns?

[lemayz 2]

Pushbrk, agreed. I sent a copy of my Certificate of Nat. AND all pages of my passport to the USCIS. Since I read somewhere that you must bring all original documents to the interview, I am wondering if the original Certificate of Nat. and passport will be necessary at that stage. Thanks again.

[pushbrk 12,110]

PushBrk: Is it okay to do so? because it says on the back of the my US Citizenship certificate that we are not allowed make copies of it.

Do people still do it? does it matter if it's color or black & white copies?

Sending a photocopy of a document to the government agency that issued it is not a problem. I recommend color copying anything that has color. The I-130 instructions suggest a copy of this document as evidence of citizenship. They issued the document. Yes, it's OK to copy it for this purpose.

[jessicaruizw 9]

Lemayz.....Do you have "boletas de honorario" or do you work with a contract?? I am about to do the same thing, and I am wondering what you will use as your tax evidence because like you, I have not filed that last years I have been in Chile (I did not make enough money to file).

[Matt & Rocio 28]

Thanks, everybody for your answers. A follow up: is there any way to find out before I have the interview scheduled what the Santiago specific requirements are? I have tried finding out from people who have gone through Santiago, but to no avail.

Pusbrk (or anyone else) - do you know if for the interview it is necessary to have the joint sponsor's and my ORIGINAL tax returns? My joint sponsor is in the US, as are my tax originals, so getting them would be a bit of an ordeal.

And, I realizing I'm sort of hijacking my own thread, but on the topic of originals, do I/my husband need to bring my ORIGINAL Certificate of Naturalization to the interview? That paper is also in the US....

Thanks!

I have contacted the Immigration Visa Unit at the Santiago Embassy using this email address:

santiagoimmigration@state.gov

They usually respond within a few business days and have been very helpful (unlike USCIS).

Since Direct Consular Filing is no longer offered at the Santiago Embassy make sure it is clear on your I-130 petition that you are residing with your spouse in Chile and have done so for x number of months/years. With the elimination of DCF there has been a trend where petitions filed by couples who live together overseas are processed much faster than regular I-130 petitions. Instead of waiting 5 months or more your petition could be approved in a month or less.

[lemayz 2]

Jessica, I HAVE been filing taxes in the US, you always have to file...the only difference is that with the foreign income exemption, you don't have to pay taxes if you are under the limit (about$92,500).

Matt & Rocio - I have actually contacted the Santiago Embassy, but in my case they have been horribly misleading and not helpful. I asked them a question about whether I needed to bring tax transcripts or if copies of the tax returns were fine, and they wrote back to me about medical exams!!! I wrote back again, explaining my point in more details, and they gave me another unrelated answers. I don't know if it was the person who was responding that day that was totally incompetent or what, but I did not have a good experience :-( I hope yours is better!

[jessicaruizw 9]

The thing is I am a school teacher, and only one year did I make over the minimum to require filing (which is around 9,500 us). So for that year I filed. What I am asking about is your chilean taxes.....do you pay them by a "boleta de honorario"?

[lemayz 2]

I have done both contrato and boleta de honorarios...

[Removed-02242014 19]

Hi everybody,

I am starting to think about the I-864 (I am the USC applying for CR1 for my foreign husband), and I am wondering if I'd be ok with just sending last year's tax return (and not sending the other two). I definitely do not have enough income to be a sole sponsor, so my mother will be the joint sponsor and I will DEFINITELY send all three years of her tax returns.

I am realizing that I did my taxes taxes wrong in previous years becase of the foreign income exemption, and it might take quite a few months for me to able to fix it. I am still planning on fixing it, but in the meanwhile I'd like to wait until I file my taxes for 2011 and send in ONLY that tax return, since I will make sure to do it right this time. Will this be a problem? Could they request the other 2 years? It says that only one year is mandatory on the form...

Thanks!

ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE DOES IT SAY THAT YOU NEED THE LAST THREE YEARS OF TAX RETURNS -- That is something that was created here in VJ and people get stuck on it. Here is the original documentation FOLLOW IT!

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-134instr.pdf

[max+patricia 24]

ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE DOES IT SAY THAT YOU NEED THE LAST THREE YEARS OF TAX RETURNS -- That is something that was created here in VJ and people get stuck on it. Here is the original documentation FOLLOW IT!

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-134instr.pdf

This is incorrect.

First of all, each embassy has their own preference and requirement as they have final say over approval or denial. Second, you are referring to Form I-134, not Form I-864. Read: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864instr.pdf

Part 6, #25, Federal Income Tax Information:

You must provide either an IRS transcript or a photocopy from your own records of your Federal individual income tax return for the most recent tax year. If you believe additional returns may help you to establish your ability to maintain sufficient income, you may submit transcripts or photocopies of your Federal individual income tax returns for the three most recent years.