Petitioner quitting job before AOS interview

[Melibelle 10]

My husband (beneficiary) and I are in the midst of the AOS process but are still awaiting our interview date. I'm hoping that it will be sometime in September, but who knows. In the meantime, due to a management change, my job situation has become very painful and I have recently - more than once - thought about quitting on the spot.

I have enough money in the bank to meet the 3x poverty level requirement. He also has US income but he's a contractor and his current contract only lasts to the end of the year.

My questions are:

1. I filled out the I-864 using my current income. Do I just need to fill out a new one to bring to the interview with supporting docs? Or does it need to be sent in advance?

2. Should we include my husband's income, or due to his contract ending, should we just forget it and use the assets?

3. Does anyone have experience with presenting new support documentation at the interview and could you share how that went?

Yes, I know it would be good to hold on to my job until after the interview, but since i have the savings, I figure suffering might not be necessary.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You can use the assets on a new I-864 and present it at the interview. If you qualify on assets alone, then I would not bother complicating it by adding in the husband's information. Good luck.

[Melibelle 10]

Thanks, Harpa!

[genddob 10]

If using assets instead of income to meet the requirements, you must show assets equal to FIVE times the poverty level for your household size, not 3 times.

[Melibelle 10]

Please be wary of giving advice as fact if you're not certain what you're talking about. Many people use this forum to find information that their livelihood is dependent upon and giving out bad information is a huge disservice to the community. Certainly you wouldn't want your visa app screwed up because someone gave you half-assed data.

On page 7 of the I-864 instructions, it states:

"In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the total value of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and the current poverty guidelines for your household size. However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or minor child, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference."

[Dave&Roza 748]

If using assets instead of income to meet the requirements, you must show assets equal to FIVE times the poverty level for your household size, not 3 times.

It is three times for a spouse or child. Another thing that trips people up is they think they can use their house as an asset. The USCIS states that the asset must be readily convertible into cash (within one year) and not cause undue hardship in doing so. Selling the primary residence would cause undue hardship and is thus excluded. So is the only car for the same reason. All assets must be properly appraised. Of course since the OP is using savings she only needs to have 3X the poverty level for herself and her husband in the bank. She should complete another I-864 based on the savings alone and does not need to stay in her current job.

Dave

[jxn 86]

Selling the primary residence would cause undue hardship and is thus excluded. So is the only car for the same reason.

Is that hard and set or subjective? Living in a large city with several public transportation options would presumably allow a car to count as an asset that could be sold, no?

[Melibelle 10]

Actually, quoting instruction page 7 again:

"You may include the net value of your home as an asset." It does also say that "Only assets that can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to the owner may be included" but figure, if you have to sell your house and you net $60k, you're doing fine financially for USCIS purposes.

By contrast, page 7 also says "You may not include the net value of an automobile unless you show that you have more than one automobile, and at least one automobile is not included as an asset."

To me, that seems like a very specific instruction. I would consider that a hard rule myself.

[Melibelle 10]

Just a follow up to this in case anyone else has to present a new i-864 at the interview - I brought a new i-864 to the interview with me with a year's worth of statements for my bank account and 3 retirement accounts. I had enough savings to cover the 3x requirement, but wanted to make sure we were well covered so I included the retirement money as well. I included a rough "cash out value" calculation for my retirement accounts on a separate piece of paper to justify the amount entered on the form. My plan was not to bring up the new form unless the IO specifically asked about it or my job, but she did, so it was good I was prepared.

She looked pretty closely at my 2013 tax transcript and then the most recent statement from each account (I had each account's statements paper-clipped together with the most recent on top). Despite my worries that this would delay our case, we were still approved on the spot.