affidavit of support problem!

[thaigift 0]

i recently moved back from thailand in january where i had lived with my fiance for the last three years. we decided to get married and return to the states so we could save money and move back to thailand. i had a very small business that made just enough for us to get by in thailand. i was not very smart and i kept all of my accounting on my computer. i had no hard copies of anything and never backed it up. as you guessed, my computer crashed and i lost everything. every single receipt, everything. all my accounting was done on quicken, all of my invoices were electronic and everything. i was not able to recover anything. essentially as im doing taxes now, i can only report an income for the last year as $0 because i dont want to lie, potentially get audited and then have no chance of getting my fiance over at all. on top of that, i would probably go to jail.

anyways, since returning from thailand on january 5th, i have secured a full time job and i am putting in overtime as well. i have a very insignificant amount of money in my savings account because i spent all of my money coming back to america on airplane tickets, moving, etc. i am making well over the poverty level but i am afraid that we will get denied because of the $0 for last year on my taxes, very little in my savings, securities, etc. besides money in savings, i have no assets. i am 28, just returned back from thailand and living at home, so i pretty much have no assets. i have heard from many reliable sources that thailand does not allow co sponsors so that concerns me as well.

i was going to have my parents photocopy their passport which states that their address is the same as mine. on the fiance visa i am putting my address as theirs and i have plans of putting my fiance's future address as the same residence of my parents and myself. my thought process is that it will show that she will have a place to stay that is reliable and that she will not risk being a burden on the government as they put it.

we have received the NOA2, have recieved instructions for the packet 3 and i am working as hard as i can to save up as much money as i can. i dont have a lot of time so this is the reason why i am writing.

my questions are:

1) what should i do about the affidavit of support/taxes?

2) have any of you had luck with co-sponsors with thailand?

3) should i do the whole photocopy my parents passport thing to show that they live with me and she would have a place to stay?

4) any other advice of what you would do?

please do not make comments that it was a stupid decision not to have my files backed up. i realize that and there is nothing i can do.

thank you to all that reply in advance!

Edited April 10, 2011 by thaigift

[Anh map 2,098]

Passports do not have addresses, but you don't need to prove your parents' address. If you did I would suggest using a driver's license/bank statement/mortgage or lease.

Current and ongoing income is what is evaluated unless you are presently self employed. In that case the income on line 22 of the most recent year's form1040 is used.

[Audy_Rob 26]

1) I thought you needed to declare an income each year on US Taxes and then determine what you owe. I believe the tax code allows the exclusion of foreign income for one year only but I could be wrong in that it is available every year. You should have tax forms for every year even though you were working in Thailand.

2) There have been reports which I cannot vouch for about two people being allowed to use a joint sponsor when they were younger just graduating from University with promising job prospects. You are correct, Bangkok is extremely rigorous regarding not allowing joint sponsors.

3) No

4) Determine if taxes were needed by consulting a competent CPA with a strength in Foreign Income and Taxes as I did this year since I married my Thai fiancee last year and she had a small foreign income which I needed to declare and reconcile on my taxes.

[Andrea&Mal 1]

Just wanted to confirm about tax returns, yes, you must file a US tax return each year, even if earning income abroad. However, this is a pretty straight forward process and only requires you to declare your foreign earned income on the 1040 and again on 2555/2555ez. If it is under a certain amount (approximately $90,000 but unsure of the definite amount as it does change every so often) you won't need to pay any US taxes if you were taxed abroad, at least as far as I know. I was living abroad and had not filed taxes either until this year, so I had a bit of catching up to do and had to file taxes for year 2009 and 2008. But since I didn't make more than $90,000 it was very easy to do. If you haven't done this yet I would recommend it, as you must eventually provide the last three years tax returns for your AOS following your marriage anyway.

I am a bit concerned that you stated your income as $0 for fear of lying, considering that this declaration is a lie itself. I am no accountant, but I would only advise you to be as truthful as possible, even without the paperwork to back it up. What's lost is lost, but you will need to provide your tax returns for AOS and if you declared zero income it may raise suspicions. I'm sure other VJers can give additional advice on how to do this, especially as taxes for the self employed are always more complicated. Good luck.

[pushbrk 12,994]

i recently moved back from thailand in january where i had lived with my fiance for the last three years. we decided to get married and return to the states so we could save money and move back to thailand. i had a very small business that made just enough for us to get by in thailand. i was not very smart and i kept all of my accounting on my computer. i had no hard copies of anything and never backed it up. as you guessed, my computer crashed and i lost everything. every single receipt, everything. all my accounting was done on quicken, all of my invoices were electronic and everything. i was not able to recover anything. essentially as im doing taxes now, i can only report an income for the last year as $0 because i dont want to lie, potentially get audited and then have no chance of getting my fiance over at all. on top of that, i would probably go to jail.

anyways, since returning from thailand on january 5th, i have secured a full time job and i am putting in overtime as well. i have a very insignificant amount of money in my savings account because i spent all of my money coming back to america on airplane tickets, moving, etc. i am making well over the poverty level but i am afraid that we will get denied because of the $0 for last year on my taxes, very little in my savings, securities, etc. besides money in savings, i have no assets. i am 28, just returned back from thailand and living at home, so i pretty much have no assets. i have heard from many reliable sources that thailand does not allow co sponsors so that concerns me as well.

i was going to have my parents photocopy their passport which states that their address is the same as mine. on the fiance visa i am putting my address as theirs and i have plans of putting my fiance's future address as the same residence of my parents and myself. my thought process is that it will show that she will have a place to stay that is reliable and that she will not risk being a burden on the government as they put it.

we have received the NOA2, have recieved instructions for the packet 3 and i am working as hard as i can to save up as much money as i can. i dont have a lot of time so this is the reason why i am writing.

my questions are:

1) what should i do about the affidavit of support/taxes?

2) have any of you had luck with co-sponsors with thailand?

3) should i do the whole photocopy my parents passport thing to show that they live with me and she would have a place to stay?

4) any other advice of what you would do?

please do not make comments that it was a stupid decision not to have my files backed up. i realize that and there is nothing i can do.

thank you to all that reply in advance!

Sounds like your current income will qualify you to sponsor on your own. Document it with pay stubs and/or an employer letter. When current income is sufficient, just leave all the asset questions blank on the I-134.