Form Questions

[Coatal 0]

Hey everyone, my wife and I have been married for almost a year and were married before we came back to the US. My wife is Chinese and we've been together for almost three years now. She is here on a B-2 Visitor visa and has until April 4th, then she can leave and come back in if needed to have until July 4th. We're considering getting an attorney but also trying to do it ourselves, but I have some questions about the forms, please.

1. My wife does not have an a-number yet, what should we do when forms require an a-number?

2. I was out of the country and not working for the last four years, on part 6. of the I-864 it asks for my tax returns for the past three years, I don't have any and I think they'd be blank anyway, no idea what to do with that. I do have two jobs now at the Hilton and GNC but no idea how to calculate my income or prove it, I'm guessing it'd be like 20,000ish a year just on the minimum wage I'd be getting, then considerably more once you added in the commissions from GNC and the tips at the Hilton.

3. Also on form I-864, if I'm only sponsoring my wife, on section five "Sponsor's Household Size," do I put a 1 in the first box "Enter the number you entered on line 7 of part 3," and then another 1 under "If you are currently married, enter '1' for your spouse?" It says not to count anyone twice, so I'm thinking I just put a 1 in the first box and leave the other one blank, but it's confusing since it says Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit and it's talking about my spouse.

4. Dumb question, but on the G-325A for me in ”Complete this box" at the bottom it asks for an A-number. I'm a US citizen and don't have one, do I just leave it blank?

Edited January 17, 2014 by Coatal

[Boiler 46,176]

Then she can leave and come back in if needed to have until July 4th.

What do you mean by that?

[slowlyman 118]

Hey everyone, my wife and I have been married for almost a year and were married before we came back to the US. My wife is Chinese and we've been together for almost three years now. She is here on a B-2 Visitor visa and has until April 4th, then she can leave and come back in if needed to have until July 4th. We're considering getting an attorney but also trying to do it ourselves, but I have some questions about the forms, please.

1. My wife does not have an a-number yet, what should we do when forms require an a-number?

2. I was out of the country and not working for the last four years, on part 6. of the I-864 it asks for my tax returns for the past three years, I don't have any and I think they'd be blank anyway, no idea what to do with that. I do have two jobs now at the Hilton and GNC but no idea how to calculate my income or prove it, I'm guessing it'd be like 20,000ish a year just on the minimum wage I'd be getting, then considerably more once you added in the commissions from GNC and the tips at the Hilton.

3. Also on form I-864, if I'm only sponsoring my wife, on section five "Sponsor's Household Size," do I put a 1 in the first box "Enter the number you entered on line 7 of part 3," and then another 1 under "If you are currently married, enter '1' for your spouse?" It says not to count anyone twice, so I'm thinking I just put a 1 in the first box and leave the other one blank, but it's confusing since it says Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit and it's talking about my spouse.

4. Dumb question, but on the G-325A for me in ”Complete this box" at the bottom it asks for an A-number. I'm a US citizen and don't have one, do I just leave it blank?

1) if no A number leave blank

2) one year of returns if required for the 864. Also include a letter from your employer, pay stubs, bank statements, anything to verify your current income.

3) If only you and your spouse. you have 2 in the household.

4) If you don;t have an A number leave the space blank

DO read the instructions for the all the forms you are working with. A few have changed recently and the guide for leaving a space blank or entering N/A - None has changed in some cases.

[Coatal 0]

What do you mean by that?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something somewhere but I believe she can extend her stay by leaving the country and coming back in.

[Coatal 0]

1) if no A number leave blank

2) one year of returns if required for the 864. Also include a letter from your employer, pay stubs, bank statements, anything to verify your current income.

3) If only you and your spouse. you have 2 in the household.

4) If you don;t have an A number leave the space blank

DO read the instructions for the all the forms you are working with. A few have changed recently and the guide for leaving a space blank or entering N/A - None has changed in some cases.

2. I wonder what's going to happen with that since I wasn't even in the country. We came back to the States last October and I just started working recently, haven't even gotten my first paycheck from either place yet, just tips from the Hilton. The instructions say we are not required to submit any evidence but yeah I'm sure it's better if we do.

Oh I thought of another questions if you have time to answer it (or someone else) please:

On the G-325A it says "This form is submitted in connection with an application for..." then there are three choices; Naturalization, Other (Specify) and Status as Permanent Resident. I checked the box for "Status as Permanent Resident" and I'm pretty sure that's right, but with this kind of stuff I really don't want to take any chances, which is why we might hire an attorney.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Coatal

[Boiler 46,176]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something somewhere but I believe she can extend her stay by leaving the country and coming back in.

She could certainly try, but having filed to adjust status (which would be abandoned if she left), trying to get back in so soon would be interesting.

[Coatal 0]

She could certainly try, but having filed to adjust status (which would be abandoned if she left), trying to get back in so soon would be interesting.

We haven't filed yet, I believe once we submit the application she's actually not allowed to leave the country unless we filed an I-131 with the other paperwork?

I read or heard that somewhere, no idea if it's true or not.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Coatal

[ManCharsey 254]

If you are a US citizen and you are petitioning for your wife and she is adjusting status while here in the US, then she does NOT have to leave the US after she files for the paperwork. Leaving and coming back will be deemed abandoning the process and it will be automatically denied. Even if she overstays, USCIS forgives overstays and she only needs to prove that you two are married in good faith - which is easy to prove if you are truly married in good faith. Now to answer your questions -

1. On some of the forms the instructions states that if you do not have an serf to what is being asked, leave blank. Such forms are forms I-485 and I-864. With that being said if she has no Alien registration number, she should leave it BLANK on those forms. With forms I-130 the instructions says to either answer or state None or N/A when you have no answer. So with such forms where necessary, she should either state NONE or N/A.

2. If you do not have tax returns because you were not REQUIRED to file tax returns. Include an explanation letter in the application stating why you did not file and was not required to file and attach the publication of the IRS that states the said requirement. Most of the requirements are found in publication 501. For your current income, state whatever you are currently earning as gross income. But have some official documentation as proof for it such as pays tubs, an employment letter stating your annual salary etc. if despite all this you do not meet the requirements, find a joint sponsor and have them also fill another form I-864 for her.

3. For the household size, if you put 1 in the box above, Do NOT put another 1 in the 'if married, put another 1 here' box. That field will be zero. So yes, 1 at the top and zero or blank in the other.

4. US citizens do not have alien numbers so it's either NONE or N/A for you.

Hope this helps :-)

[Coatal 0]

Hey thanks for all the answers guys, have a couple more questions:

1. Can we notarize everything? Will it help? I've seen a couple places recommend it.

2. I-485 Section B. List your present spouse and all of your children, if I am a US citizen and sponsoring my wife, am I considered to be "Applying with her" and I should check "Yes" in the "Applying with you" box? Or am I considered a sponsor and should check "No?"

Thanks a lot!

[Coatal 0]

I just found out we can't translate the documents ourselves, is this true? I called the general information hotline and they said that as long as evidence is provided that the translator is competent to translate (I speak fluent Mandarin and I have the test results to prove it), it does not matter who translates the documents, but then they decided it was best to transfer me to an immigration officer who unfortunately I don't have the time to wait for since I have to go to work and the wait time was 169 minutes. I had them schedule a callback and I told my wife who speaks decent English what to ask but I don't think it's going to go well.

Also, when you guys mail everything do you stick it all in separate labeled folders? Like you have a folder labeled I-130 with the form and all the other required documents in there, then one for I-485, etc etc?

Thanks a lot again!