NVC Filers - July 2014

[Saylin 1,605]

I will make that very clear to the NVC!

[tuskls 1]

Hi! I was in a similar situation and received a checklist a few weeks ago asking for proof of income even though it is foreign-earned and will not continue once we move. I didn't send it originally because i figured it didn't matter since it won't continue, plus I have a joint sponsor. I agree that for 13 a/b/c you should put zero, but for part 6 line 5 (current income) I'm honestly still confused as to what I should have put originally to not receive a checklist.

Given that the system and form instructions are very biased towards USCs living in the US and not abroad with their spouses, I would highly recommend you call or email them directly for an answer to your question. Unless you can find someone in your situation who did not get a checklist and do exactly what they did, it's probably safer to contact NVC directly. Getting a checklist used to mean a few weeks difference in approval, but with how things are now you are looking at a 1.5 month delay.

As you can probably tell, I have major regret over not looking into this more closely myself.

Hello lcl! Thanks for sharing your experience. I will definitely contact the NVC before making any decisions. Just out of curiosity what did you fill in for part 6 line 5? Did you fill in your foreign-earned income or $0?

[Abby&Mario 100]

Thanks good luck to you both as well. I can imagine changing back to Columbia would be a headache so I hope for a speedy interview for him.

I spoke with a rep and because my husband is a French citizen working in Japan, he said all I needed to do was send them an email with a copy of his French passport and a brief explanation for why we need the change. He has a work contract in Japanese I was hoping to avoid being translated if possible.

Here is hoping for he best all around!

Oh awesome, that's not bad at all. Good luck with everything! I know how stressful an international move on top of all the visa stuff can be.

[jsumner86 403]

Hello lcl! Thanks for sharing your experience. I will definitely contact the NVC before making any decisions. Just out of curiosity what did you fill in for part 6 line 5? Did you fill in your foreign-earned income or $0?

My wife put 0.00 as her income, she included her job notice of termination of when she is quitting with it as well. She put a post it note on that page with an explanation, to refer to the cover letter, and the extra piece of paper she added to the package as well....so they would get the point. Hope this helps.

Edited July 21, 2014 by jsumner86

[left.coast.love 17]

Hello lcl! Thanks for sharing your experience. I will definitely contact the NVC before making any decisions. Just out of curiosity what did you fill in for part 6 line 5? Did you fill in your foreign-earned income or $0?

For Part 6 line 5 I originally put zero and put a post-it next to that item saying "Foreign-earned Income". I also emphasized in my cover letter that my income will not continue, and that´s why I have a joint-sponsor.

About a month later I received a checklist asking for proof of current employment. I called NVC that same night to say, Do you understand that my job won´t continue in the US? Why do you need proof of my current employment? The NVC guy basically said that if you have a job, whether it will continue or not, you need to show proof of that job via a letter from your employer, pay stubs, etc.

So, I had my HR Manager sign a letter indicating my contract length and annual salary both in Chilean pesos and USD (according to the official exchange rate). I then filled out a new I-864 and in P6L5 put the same salary in USD as indicated in the company letter. In my checklist cover letter, I included these two notes:

Important note regarding Form I-864, Part 6 Question 5:

In the first copy of form I-864 sent in May 2014, I mistakenly put my annual income from my 2013 1040 tax form (zero) in Part 6 Question 5 instead of my current annual income for 2014. In the new copy of form I-864 included in this packet, I have corrected the amount to represent my current individual annual income, as confirmed by the attached job letter from my employer.

Important note regarding job continuity:

I currently live and work in Santiago, Chile, and my current income as indicated in Form I-864 Part 6 Question 5 will not continue upon arrival to the United States. For this reason, my father [NAME] is the joint sponsor.

I´m still waiting on a response regarding the check-list, so unfortunately I can´t tell you if this worked or not. If you find out the correct way to proceed in these situations, I hope you´ll share it with VJ so that other people don´t make the same mistake as I did. Best of luck!

[tuskls 1]

My wife put 0.00 as her income, she included her job notice of termination of when she is quitting with it as well. She put a post it note on that page with an explanation, and to refer to the cover letter and the extra piece of paper she added to the package as well so they would get the point. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the information! I will definitely also be doing this.

Okay, hopefully my last question for all of you fine folks. For some strange reason my accountant put my total income and gross adjusted income as $1 on my form 1040. So should I actually be filling in $1 for part 6 line 5 and 13.a.1. instead of $0?

Thank you all for the help so far! I will definitely pay it forward in this thread in the future.

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks for the information! I will definitely also be doing this.

Okay, hopefully my last question for all of you fine folks. For some strange reason my accountant put my total income and gross adjusted income as $1 on my form 1040. So should I actually be filling in $1 for part 6 line 5 and 13.a.1. instead of $0?

Thank you all for the help so far! I will definitely pay it forward in this thread in the future.

I'd say go with what the tax information says. If you put $0, then you'll likely get a checklist as there's a discrepancy between that and the tax information you provided.

[stackeria 280]

Thanks for the information! I will definitely also be doing this.

Okay, hopefully my last question for all of you fine folks. For some strange reason my accountant put my total income and gross adjusted income as $1 on my form 1040. So should I actually be filling in $1 for part 6 line 5 and 13.a.1. instead of $0?

Thank you all for the help so far! I will definitely pay it forward in this thread in the future.

You should put *exactly* what is on your IRS return or transcript in the line indicated in the instructions.

Even if you claim the foreign earned income exclusion, there are many reasons why this value can be greater than 0. The most common would be interest income from a US bank account.

[astrogirl 10]

No fear of flying for either of us, but I do have a fear of being detained at the POE which is why I haven't visited since the wedding It's an unlikely scenario, I know, but still.

Charlie only gets 5 days off a year and he's used them all! Tbh, I'm not so bothered about the time apart as I am the fact that I can't pinpoint an estimate as to when this will all be over. Whenever I think things are moving along, they screech to a grinding halt again! I'm sure as soon as we DO get the IV invoice, we will be waiting a hella long time for our case to be completed.

I'd still be honoured to be the record-holder, but in all seriousness, if we can't get anyone to unlock it by the end of next week we'll be contacting Charlie's congresswoman to light a fire under their butts.

I am currently in the USA now, I have my application since 09/20/13 and have visited him twice, for 1 month at christmas and 2 months now. I have had a return trip each time. It is up to the customs officer whether to let you in or not, but you can travel on a tourist wavier as long as you don't look like you are going to settle. I have had questions like "Are you going to live here?" to which I honestly replied eventually, and *touch wood* to this point I have never had an issue :-)

No fear of flying for either of us, but I do have a fear of being detained at the POE which is why I haven't visited since the wedding It's an unlikely scenario, I know, but still.

Charlie only gets 5 days off a year and he's used them all! Tbh, I'm not so bothered about the time apart as I am the fact that I can't pinpoint an estimate as to when this will all be over. Whenever I think things are moving along, they screech to a grinding halt again! I'm sure as soon as we DO get the IV invoice, we will be waiting a hella long time for our case to be completed.

I'd still be honoured to be the record-holder, but in all seriousness, if we can't get anyone to unlock it by the end of next week we'll be contacting Charlie's congresswoman to light a fire under their butts.

I am currently in the USA now, I have my application since 09/20/13 and have visited him twice, for 1 month at christmas and 2 months now. I have had a return trip each time. It is up to the customs officer whether to let you in or not, but you can travel on a tourist wavier as long as you don't look like you are going to settle. I have had questions like "Are you going to live here?" to which I honestly replied eventually, and *touch wood* to this point I have never had an issue :-)

[lucybelle 453]

For Part 6 line 5 I originally put zero and put a post-it next to that item saying "Foreign-earned Income". I also emphasized in my cover letter that my income will not continue, and that´s why I have a joint-sponsor.

About a month later I received a checklist asking for proof of current employment. I called NVC that same night to say, Do you understand that my job won´t continue in the US? Why do you need proof of my current employment? The NVC guy basically said that if you have a job, whether it will continue or not, you need to show proof of that job via a letter from your employer, pay stubs, etc.

So, I had my HR Manager sign a letter indicating my contract length and annual salary both in Chilean pesos and USD (according to the official exchange rate). I then filled out a new I-864 and in P6L5 put the same salary in USD as indicated in the company letter. In my checklist cover letter, I included these two notes:

Important note regarding Form I-864, Part 6 Question 5:

In the first copy of form I-864 sent in May 2014, I mistakenly put my annual income from my 2013 1040 tax form (zero) in Part 6 Question 5 instead of my current annual income for 2014. In the new copy of form I-864 included in this packet, I have corrected the amount to represent my current individual annual income, as confirmed by the attached job letter from my employer.

Important note regarding job continuity:

I currently live and work in Santiago, Chile, and my current income as indicated in Form I-864 Part 6 Question 5 will not continue upon arrival to the United States. For this reason, my father [NAME] is the joint sponsor.

I´m still waiting on a response regarding the check-list, so unfortunately I can´t tell you if this worked or not. If you find out the correct way to proceed in these situations, I hope you´ll share it with VJ so that other people don´t make the same mistake as I did. Best of luck!

Part 6 line 5 you need to put "$0" and include proof of employment. I got checklisted for that as well. The first time I sent in a letter explaining my employment will not continue and that's why I put $0, which is what the NVC people told me to do. I got another checklist. Then I simply sent in a letter signed by my boss "lucybelle has been working at ___ school for __ years and plans to move to the USA when the visa is approved". Kept my "income" as $0. It went through fine.

I've seen lots of people have problems with this (including me, obviously!)

Saylin, do you think you could put a bullet addressing this issue on the wiki?? PLEASE? For "current income" for those who work/live abroad you need to put $0 UNLESS the income will continue after moving to the USA. But you STILL NEED TO SEND IN PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT.

Also where you write where you work I put "School Name (Costa Rica)"

Edited July 21, 2014 by lucybelle

[syedi01 3]

Hello, I am hoping someone can help me with the following question:

1. I have got NVC case# and Invoice identification number from customer service Rep. over the phone. can i go ahead and fill DS 261 or i have to wait for the email from NVC requesting to fill DS 261?

thanks in advance.

[jsumner86 403]

Hello, I am hoping someone can help me with the following question:

1. I have got NVC case# and Invoice identification number from customer service Rep. over the phone. can i go ahead and fill DS 261 or i have to wait for the email from NVC requesting to fill DS 261?

thanks in advance.

You can fill it out anytime it becomes available. No need to wait for the e-mail.. It will take a while until your DS261 becomes available though. Read the wiki and study other's signatures about how long they had to wait for theirs!

[left.coast.love 17]

Part 6 line 5 you need to put "$0" and include proof of employment. I got checklisted for that as well. The first time I sent in a letter explaining my employment will not continue and that's why I put $0, which is what the NVC people told me to do. I got another checklist. Then I simply sent in a letter signed by my boss "lucybelle has been working at ___ school for __ years and plans to move to the USA when the visa is approved". Kept my "income" as $0. It went through fine.

I've seen lots of people have problems with this (including me, obviously!)

Saylin, do you think you could put a bullet addressing this issue on the wiki?? PLEASE? For "current income" for those who work/live abroad you need to put $0 UNLESS the income will continue after moving to the USA. But you STILL NEED TO SEND IN PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT.

Lucybelle, thank you SO much for commenting! I´m typing up a new letter from my employer right away! Thank you for saving me from a second checklist!

I 100% agree with adding a bullet to the wiki!

[Saylin 1,605]

[....]

Saylin, do you think you could put a bullet addressing this issue on the wiki?? PLEASE? For "current income" for those who work/live abroad you need to put $0 UNLESS the income will continue after moving to the USA. But you STILL NEED TO SEND IN PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT.

Well, that's definitely big and bolded (I do read every single post, so no worries about getting my attention )

But yes, that's a good idea! I'll go add it now

[lucybelle 453]

Well, that's definitely big and bolded (I do read every single post, so no worries about getting my attention )

But yes, that's a good idea! I'll go add it now

Huzzah!

Saylin is the greatest!