help please affidavit of support assets alone

[razspaz13 30]

I am the petitioner and have been "home duties" with no income. We are planning on selling our family home before moving to the USA, it has a valuation of $340,000. Can we use this valuation alone? we have some savings but nowhere near the poverty guidelines. we both plan on finding full time work in usa, I have one former employer that is considering hiring me back upon our return.

can we use our house?

how do we show the valuation?

is there anything else we should do?

we have no sponsor available usa side, our family members are either retired or unwilling to sponsor.

thank you so much!

[Penguin_ie 5,999]

*** Moving from CR-1 Progress Reports to CR-1 Process ****

1. Maybe. Many embassies do not like you using foreign assets, not sure on Australia specifically. Any chance you can sell the home now and move the money from the sale to a US based bank account?

2. You'd need a professional evaluation done.

[razspaz13 30]

oh ok, had not thought of that, I suppose if we sold, we then have to find another place to live and then rent until we could leave

I think I read somewhere that there can be a limit as to how much money you can move to a us bank account as well but could not find amount

cool, so we can get the professional eval done now, we have the evaluation from our council rates (taxes) wondering if that would suffice?

thank you so much for the reply, wondering how I might find out the rules for our country regarding the asset, I will try and email them

[Penguin_ie 5,999]

I don't think there is a limit to how much money you can move. Over a certain amount, it needs to be declared, ie the bank needs to make a report to the government, but that is not a problem.

Tax rates doesn't count for the value of the house, as these often do not reflect true market rates. The evaluation needs to be recent too, ie within the last few months.

[pushbrk 13,370]

I don't think there is a limit to how much money you can move. Over a certain amount, it needs to be declared, ie the bank needs to make a report to the government, but that is not a problem.

Tax rates doesn't count for the value of the house, as these often do not reflect true market rates. The evaluation needs to be recent too, ie within the last few months.

Correct, but I doubt your equity in the family home in Australia will be considered a "liquid asset". See that section of the I-864 instructions. If you sell the home, then it will be a cash liquid asset. I expect that's what you'll need to do.

Please be aware though that it will only be the equity, not the full value that will be considered, unless there is no mortgage, in which case the equity and full value are the same.

You'll need a minimum of three times the liquid assets, as the income requirement.

What is the equity in the house? What is your household size? (Are there children, etc.?)

Edited May 8, 2014 by pushbrk

[razspaz13 30]

thanks push

we factored in household size and equity, very good points and made me look at it again

thought I read somewhere about being able to have it within access in one year or less, not sure

also wondered if they factor in superannuation (or is usa 401K), funds can be withdrawn from that but there is a penalty and has strict procedures for taking it out in Oz

trying to cover all the bases

[pushbrk 13,370]

Read the I-864 instructions regarding "liquid" assets with particular emphasis on the words "without undue harm to the sponsor or their family".

If you want to use real estate to qualify as sponsor, it's best to convert it to cash before the affidavit of support is submitted.

Edited May 8, 2014 by pushbrk