question about IR-1, I am a USC but unemployed

[canuk2usa 7]

Hi guys,

I'm a US citizen by birth, my husband is a Canadian citizen. We were married 10 years ago in the US.

We have been living in Canada for 5 years now, during this time I have been unemployed, I just have been helping my husband out (off the books, not on payroll). Since he earns a 6 figures income I do not need to work. We don't have kids.

1) Can I still sponsor him with IR-1? I was just reviewing i-864.pdf, and I see it asks a lot about my employment/salary, my last 3 years of IRS taxes filed (none done, due to no income). How do we overcome this?

2) In order to pass the interview and prove the domicile, would you recommend that we first sell our house in Canada (then I go to the US and get a rental lease agreement in my name) before we start the process? Would this be enough to show domicile? (once the process is on final stages and we're ready to move to the US, my husband will close all bank accounts etc to further prove our intention to move to the US)

3) Based on this, do you see any other problems we need to watch out for or be prepared for?

Thx!!

[NikLR 13,227]

1) you can use assets. I suggest they are joint assets as then you only need 3x the poverty guidelines instead of 5x for the beneficiary assets. Check out the I-864P on the USCIS website. It will change (if it hasn't) sometime this spring as each year the poverty guidelines change. If you can't use assets you will need a joint sponsor that meets the requirements.

2) Domicile only needs to be proven at interview. You can wait until the NVC stage to sell your house and get a lease if you choose. You'll have a better idea then as well how long the process will take as you can slow it down if needed. They don't need to know about the beneficiary's intent to move, only the USC. There is a thread in the Canada subforum about proving domicile to Montreal. They're quite strict about it.

3) I don't see any other problems

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[canuk2usa 7]

Thanks so much for replying NLR.

1) Ok, so for example our $400k house is in both of our names. We could show it as asset and prove equity via mortgage statement. When sold, the equity would be about $200k , so hopefully this can make up for not having employment?

[NikLR 13,227]

How the value of a house works is you have to have it appraised and then the appraisal value minus the mortgage is how much assets you have. I'm not sure exactly how all the assets work. Pushbrk is the best person for that IMHO.