Need advice

[ryna 132]

OK, long story short...

My wife came to the U.S. in January on a K-1 visa she received last October (2010). We filed for AOS in March but, as of yet, haven't heard a single word on the GC (she has her EAD/AP).

I am a contract engineer who had been working for a client since she received her visa up until 8/5/11. I really thought her GC would have been approved within the 4 month target window and we'd have no issues with what is my normal job situation of working contracts.

I have contracted throughout most of my career, usually earning in the 60-85K/yr range for averaging 9 months/yr of actual time spent on client projects. My worst year ever was 2010 (still >25K) because I made the conscious decision to spend several months in Colombia with my then-fiancee and travel. The problem is that it has always W-2 contracting through job shops, so my tax returns don't show self-employed earnings, just wages. Yes, it was always less than it would have been going solo but, in the past, it was a good trade-off for having someone else be my business development arm. It worked great for me in the past, giving me plenty of schedule flexibility when I was single (and USCIS didn't care about my cash flow).

Now, with the ending of my last gig, I want to go solo and form my own engineering consulting business. I'm actually preparing my Articles of Incorporation as I write this. I anticipate 2-3 months of start-up slack before landing my first client. It could be a bit more, it could be a bit less.. The problem is, it couldn't have come at a worse time, i.e. right when we are expecting to have an AOS interview (which we still aren't sure we will even have). I have assets but a portion (enough to make us fall short the 3X poverty level) will need to be invested in the start-up.

I do have parents willing (and able) to be a co-sponsor but it really seems ridiculous that someone who averages ~70K/year and should be making in the low 6 figures through the new business should have to ask their parents for help all because of an ill-timed 2-3 month gap in income. I would actually rather have them invest (as shareholders) in the business which would allow me to preserve personal assets to an extent and avoid a co-sponsor.

• If we do get called for an interview, will she be denied (w/o a co-sponsor)?
• If so, would they give us time to gather the documentation from a potential co-sponsor?
• If the interview is still more than a couple months away and I have managed to line up my first client by then, would this (business) income count or would I be subject to having to show two-years of self-employment income on my tax returns? Or,
• If I plan to pay myself a small salary (over the 125% threshold), can my company be my employer from an I-864 Letter of Employment/paystub perspective? As I mentioned above, this will be an incorporated business and either structure it as a pass-through (Schedule C Self Employment Income) or make myself a W-2 employee of the corporation...

I'm pretty much numb with so much going on at once on top of being worried about tomorrow's InfoPass appointment where we hope to find out why we've not heard a thing about her AOS/GC. My worst fear is that we go there together and they'll tell us the interview was 2 months ago and she was denied for being a no-show (even though we never received any notice) and they'll detain her on the spot.

I'm sure that's not likely (though nothing surprises me anymore) but I'm pretty stressed out right now with all that's going on and, ironically, the only thing that's not bothering me are my finances (only USCIS's view of them).

Any ideas, suggestions, perspective, etc. would be appreciated...

P.S. Just wanted to add that, now that I am married, it has always been my intention to go solo but I was putting it off until the GC situation was resolved. Now, beyond my control, my hand was forced by the timing but now that it has been, I want to go forward but without risking my wife's immigration situation.

Edited August 17, 2011 by ryna

[caly 48]

Were you able to find an answer to this problem yet? If not, hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come by and see this again.

Good luck and hope things work out for you both.