AOS from overseas

[rofly83 0]

I'm trying to put together AOS forms at the moment and figure out what I can and can't include... any advice on filing from overseas would be much appreciated.

My wife, a USC, submitted an I-130 in October. In Dec, I changed job to work with a local, Irish branch of a larger US-based company who are happy to transfer me to their US operations once made possible by attaining visa status.

My salary would exceed the required income, but as it's currently through an Irish subsidiary, it doesn't count. My wife has been a full-time post grad student in Ireland for the five years with no income (student loans)... so neither of us have suitable tax returns for I-864. From reading other threads, it seems that her lack of tax returns will be an additional problem, so she needs to file for the last few years, even if there is no income, so I will be helping her out with that first and foremost.

It seems to me that we will need a joint sponsor, either my parents in Ireland or hers in the US, who both have property assets we could document. Would asking my employer in the US to provide an employment offer letter (which would have to be conditional on attaining a work visa) with a US salary be of any help, or is joint sponsorship the best option?

[speedwell 224]

You have an excellent grasp of the situation, I must say. Bravo!

Income in the future can't be counted as affidavit of support qualifying income. You should definitely bring the offer letter to your interview, but it won't count for the AOS. Definitely count on qualifying based on your joint sponsorship. Bear in mind that property that is a sponsor's primary residence is a poor choice of qualifying asset as it is basically illiquid and therefore can't reasonably be relied upon to support you if you should need support in the US.

Good luck!

[rofly83 0]

Wow thanks Speedwell for the quick reply. Good to know I'm somewhat on the right track, though there's still a lot to do!

For a co-sponsor, I'm undecided on who to ask. Her parents in the US have good incomes which would be better than property so, but it seems like a lot to ask of the new in-laws, I could ask my own parents to act as co-sponsors, but then the assets would be property based (not primary residence though) which may be more difficult to document!

[speedwell 224]

Wow thanks Speedwell for the quick reply. Good to know I'm somewhat on the right track, though there's still a lot to do!

For a co-sponsor, I'm undecided on who to ask. Her parents in the US have good incomes which would be better than property so, but it seems like a lot to ask of the new in-laws, I could ask my own parents to act as co-sponsors, but then the assets would be property based (not primary residence though) which may be more difficult to document!

Only assets and income in the US should be used to qualify (sorry I missed that the first time), and the sponsors must be US citizens or permanent residents. Unless your parents hold US citizenship or significant US assets, it looks like your in-laws will be the ones to ask. However, there's a few facts that can mitigate the impact on them.

First, they are not promising to support you continuously for 10 years. That's a contingency only. It will be triggered only if you and your wife are both unable to provide for yourselves to the extent that you and/or your wife need to go on government support to the poor, and even then only if the government sues your in-laws for the outlay, which seldom happens.

Second, with your good job and your wife's academic qualifications, I think there's little chance of you ever needing public support here. Remember that government support here is difficult to get anyway and pathetic when you do get it; it will almost keep you from starving while you wait months for a squalid shelter, essentially.

The only thing that might be a possible burden on your in-laws, provided you work together as a family to make sure you don't have to rely on government aid, is that they must count you and your wife in their household size if they decide to sponsor any other immigrants.

You have time to arrange this. Your case can be delayed up to a year while you gather the necessary information, so don't panic.

Edited April 20, 2013 by speedwell

[rofly83 0]

This is a great help. If the co-sponsor assets need to be US-based, it does sound like this is the best way of going about it so.

I will ask them to help me with the AOS.

Lots to do... thanks again.

[rofly83 0]

I've another question about the AOS and tax returns...

My wife (the USC) has been a student with no income (and a number of student loans) for the last few years. She's been living off of the loans and I've been helping out too from my income.

I'm reading up on the IRS filing now and trying to figure out how to help her get her tax returns in for the last few years, but I've noticed various stories on the forums here of people in some situations omitting the last 3 years if tax filings.

Penguin has some posts about this - that if there was no income, a letter explaining as much can be included instead of having to file for those years, but such posts seem to be a couple of years old at this point, so things may have changed?!

[NikLR 13,232]

If she was under the limit, she can state in a letter saying why she didn't file for the prior years.

[speedwell 224]

I've another question about the AOS and tax returns...

Niki is correct, but I wanted to add that she has only 3 years to amend her returns later, so even if she was not required to pay taxes because she made no US income, and submits a letter, she may still qualify for a refund if she later files. Look into this because it can mean significant money back to you.

If you were married on December 31 of any year, and she decides to file for that year, she must file married for that year, but she may file as "married filing separately" and not include you in consideration. You would need to file your own US tax return if you had US income or lived in the US for a significant period of time. She may also file "married filing joint" which requires you to have a tax ID number for the form, but foreign income is usually excluded under 95K dollars in the year. If this is an option for you in any tax year, there are a few people here who know about such things.

I filed married in joint with my husband, who has never lived or had income in the US, and that got me a lot more back in my return than I would have got otherwise, but I am resident in the US. Still, the money will mostly defray the cost of filing the immigration forms (but not the ink cartridges, mailing fees, overseas flights, yadda, yadda ).

Edited April 21, 2013 by speedwell

[rofly83 0]

Finally have my co-sponsors lined up and finalising my AOS docs.

The co-sponsor is in the US, and has the I-864 form filled out with the tax returns and docs... can they email the forms to me to compile into the AOS package?

I want to gather the co-sponsors docs with my wife's (the main sponsor) ones and send them all off to the NVC together...

Rather than waiting for the co-sponsor to mail the stuff over to me, could I have them scanned and emailed - would reprinting the I-864 and sending off a copy of the original compromise the form?
Does it have to be the original hardcopy?

[pushbrk 13,222]

Only US Citzens or Legal Permanent residents can serve as sponsors, so her parents it is.

Wow thanks Speedwell for the quick reply. Good to know I'm somewhat on the right track, though there's still a lot to do!

For a co-sponsor, I'm undecided on who to ask. Her parents in the US have good incomes which would be better than property so, but it seems like a lot to ask of the new in-laws, I could ask my own parents to act as co-sponsors, but then the assets would be property based (not primary residence though) which may be more difficult to document!

[rofly83 0]

Thanks pushbrk. My wife is a USC (primary sponsor) and her parents are co-sponsoring (also USCs).

The question I have is that in gathering the documents between the US and Ireland, to put the AOS package together, can I print out copies of the filled out I-864 form (plus tax docs) from emails, and send those in - or should I make sure to only send the form originals? Does it matter?

Edited April 28, 2013 by rofly83

[pushbrk 13,222]

The forms must bear original signatures, always. I was simply confirming that YOUR parents, living in Ireland, would not qualify as sponsors regardless of their finances.

[rofly83 0]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I got my joint sponsor in the US to send me their completed I-864 form + docs, and compiled it with my spouses' ones and sent the whole AOS package off together from here in Dublin.

Fingers crossed I've been thorough enough... waiting to see if NVC come back with any queries.