Foreign Income Exclusion

[mcsowb 0]

My wife and I recently attended my adjustment of status interview with our documentation meticulously prepared. After initial pleasantries with the interviewer and requests for copies of certain documents, we were somewhat shocked when she implied that my wife made less than the poverty line. She held copies of her tax forms from the last two years and referred to the last box on form 1040 which indeed stated that my wife paid taxes on $10,000. What she failed to acknowledge was the line directly above it which stated my wife's income to be over well over the poverty line, but that she was entitled to a foreign income exclusion for income up to $80,000 because she lived abroad for the last two years. We pointed this out to the interviewer and showed her copies of my wife's statements of earnings and the copies of the tax forms for foreign income inclusion, but she replied that she only looks at one line only on form 1040 and nothing else. As a result, she said she needed time to review the case and would let us know her decision in 90 days, and that was it! My wife also had letters from her employers showing that she did in fact earn more than the povery line and 3 years of bank statements, but the interviewer was not interested. This is incredibly frustrating for both of us as basically due to her incompetence and unwillingness to try to understand we have been forced to wait an extra 3 months. To add further insult to injury she asked for my original I-130 acceptance letter as they had 'misplaced' their copy. Has anyone else had a similar experience in regards to foreign income exclusion or general incompetence of their interviewer?

Edited November 22, 2006 by mcsowb

[Jenn! 918]

I was able to use my foreign-earned income towards meeting the poverty level requirements. My husband's AOS application was tranferred to CSC and he was approved without interview.

We received an RFE for the I-864 and in my reply I alerted them to the fact that my income was well above poverty level (as evidenced by my W2s) and that my tax returns indicated no income due to the foreign-income exclusion. That seemed to work, since we got the approval.

I'm sorry to hear that you got such a stickler. I don't have any advice for you, but I just thought I'd share my own experience with this. Best of luck to you.

Edited November 22, 2006 by jenn3539

[motu 6]

I think that your interviewer may have been new at her job and didn't know which line to look for - Hopefully she will check with a supervisor/reviewer and approve your AOS shortly. Hang in there and let us know what happens - especially because she didn't reject your application. I am assuming there is also a way to appeal when and if you are not approved and maybe going for an infopass once you hear from them might be a way to explain your situation. Your situation is a little different and may have thrown her off. Many of us just use our US incomes to meet the requirements and the exclusion of all the income (foreign earmed income) may be something very new to her. Good Luck