**Urgent Please help** Tax return for sponsor who is unemployed

[Marrienne 112]

Emily you are absolutely right!! I don'tknow how to answer you because I am asking the same question myself.

I gathered that after he talks to his lawyer on Monday and we hear from the Embassy, if they insist he WILL do it. I mean what else is there to do?

Keeping fingers crossed this resolves positively one way or another in the beginning of the week!!

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Do your FIL & MIL understand that there is ZERO obligation by signing these forms to support you guys financially? Exactly ZERO obligation for that.

The only obligation is IF the immigrants use means tested benefits (food stamps etc) the government may go after the sponsors for repayment. That's unlikely to ever happen.

1) most likely the immigrants would not qualify and therefore would not receive benefits in the first place (most states only give it to LPRs if they have had a GC for 5 years)

2) even if benefits were received the government rarely ever asks for repayment (although it can happen)

3) even if the government wanted repayment, they would go after the primary sponsor (your husband) FIRST (even if he showed no income on his I-864) and only go to the joint sponsors if the primary sponsor would not pay.

[Marrienne 112]

You are making excellent points. Thank you!!

I don't know guys all I know is he instructed me to fight this.

Btw after reading your comments, it does sound ridiculous!

[3rd 84]

At this rate it would be quicker for you to find another joint sponsor...

It sounds like your FIL doesn't fully understand the severity of his son's situation by holding this up unnecessarily.

[B&Z 201]

Also, they'll be off the hook for I-864 for you if become a citizen just three years from receiving green card..don't know how fast after that your other two children could get citizenship, but three years is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Edited May 13, 2016 by B&Z

[EmilyW 1,434]

His son's body is shutting down and his first thought is 'Oh, I need to protect my wife'. Is there something shady going on with their assets that he is scared will emerge? Is the wife your husband's mother? If so, shouldn't she be telling the husband to stop being a jacka** and get him home?

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

Some of you guys need to cut it out!! OP, You are so wrong for allowing folks to attack your FIL.

He has his personal reasons why he doesn't want MIL on it.

His son is an adult.We don't know the relationship he has with him. And if OP's husband has good relationship with his mum (assuming that's his mum), then should have been made aware by her son.

This FIL has been generous enough to sign for them. He probably doesn't understand that it is unlikely for him to be on the hook. But looking at the situation of his son's medication condition, saying unlikely is even a stretch. OP's husband hasn't worked for couple of years and has poor health. FIL is trusting OP to not put them under but y'all got nasty words for the man.

There are parents who kicked their kids off their inheritance and left them to fight their way thru. What if MIL has some medical situation also?

Since we don't know why FIL doesn't want to include his wife in the situation, stop attacking him.

And OP should be defending him too.

I hope everything works out for OP..good luck!!

[3rd 84]

Given the severity of the son's health condition with no insulin to treat his type 1 diabetes, I'd hope that there was some kind of action plan. The I-864 is a financial responsibility but not unless the OP picks up welfare. From the sounds of it OP's husband will be in much better health as soon as he's here, given that his condition will be treatable. My ex always told me just how awful the yo-yoing with blood sugars was and how a hypo in a day could make you feel so ill it was unbearable.

We're all wishing the best for you, and that the RFE is able to be resolved as soon as humanly possible.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Hello!

We just got an email from the Embassy handling our immigrant visa requests saying this:

" Based on our records, we have received all the supporting required documents except of your Tax statement 1040 of 2015"

Well here is the thing: my husband who is petitioning for us, hasn't earned any income in the last 15 years (his ex wife made enough and he was taking care of the house and whatnot).

We included a printout that said people not making enough or making less than a limit are not supposed to file a tax return.

So what is the Embassy asking us????

We sent them the IRS link (we had it printed too in our papers) and we have a great joint sponsor who meets all criteria etc. So what now???

15 years and NO INCOME? Or do you mean no "reported income"? How did he eat?

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

15 years and NO INCOME? Or do you mean no "reported income"? How did he eat?

This is answered earlier in the thread. He took care of the household while his ex-wife worked.

[Marrienne 112]

Good morning guys!!

Thank you all so much for helping out!!

Ice Man is right. He has been more than generous helping out. I mean they even got a house for us.

Yes his wife is my husband's mom

We have insulin for the moment the problem is not this month, the problem is that since my husband remains unemployed paired with the horrible financial condition of the country, we cannot keep buying insulin month in month out out of pocket. Or keep doing all the blood tests and doctor's visits and what not out of pocket.

There is nothing shady, he just doesn't think she has the state of mind to deal with anything potentially complex.

We will give all parties one more working day (Monday) to talk to lawyers, the Embassy to REALLY look through the 300 pages of financial evidence we sent them and I will update you Tuesday.

At this moment I am more annoyed with the Embassy because this is 5th time they hitting us with a request that has no legal grounds in federal law.. quite the opposite actually.

[Marrienne 112]

Now that I am on the computer and can type, let me give you some examples of what they have hit us with since January:

His divorce decree is from Germany. We translated it into Greek and English like it was requested. We get a call 2 days after submission that a paragraph was missing in the translation of the English one but not the Greek. It was not but they made us translate it again because they couldn't understand German. Ok, we paid another $150 to translate the 10+ pages.

Then a month after that they decided this was not the type of paper/divorce they wanted and they wanted some other form of his divorce paper that was a one page thing. That took us two months to get since he no longer lives in Germany. We used a service to get them the exact type they wanted. Note: The Greek government when they issued our marriage license had no problem accepting this long form of the divorce paper neither did any other organization we used it with.

Then after it was translated directly from German into English *like they asked*, they make us wait another week and ask us to send them the Greek translation, because from their experience, the translation agency first does Greek, then English. However, it was CLEARLY stated on the translation that it was translated from the original German to English directly, with the name and signature of the translator. We had to call them like 3 times, highlight and fax over the documents again to point out that YES the Greek Bureau of Foreign affairs CAN translate something from German to English directly as the EMBASSY requested.
After that we finally got our I-130s approved.

I mean it feels like at every turn we have to point out their rules to them or the federal law etc. As we've said, it is one thing to make us jump through quirky internal regulation hoops and another thing completely to go against federal law. The lawyer said if THEY delay this and have no legal grounds (in this case they do NOT as the law and regulations governing the I-864A and who should sign one, are very clear and we are well within bounds), they will be in a world of trouble.

As I've said, I just think they didn't REALLY scrutinize the financial evidence or weren't aware of the fact that a sponsor can use only his income (and prove it is his income alone) even if filling jointly without the spouse getting involved.

Looking back it WAS an oversight of mine not to include a written statement of why my husband did not have to file taxes. I thought them seeing $0 on the form and the printout from the IRS website where it said he shouldn't have to file, would have been enough. But that was corrected easily enough

Let's wait and see what Monday brings
Thank you all SO much for taking the time to help me out!!!!
I will keep you posted!!!

[nab-400 16]

This is what you need to do, write a letter stating that in 2015 he did not have income and based on irs requirement he is not required to file taxes. Make sure to notorize it.

This is what Happened with my brother my mother is the primary sponsor and I am the join the sponsor she did not have a job in 2015. And at the day or the interview they have him 221G requesting reason for not filing taxes, next day I wrote a letter took my mother to notorize it, we scanned it and send it to my brother and he took it to the embassy after a week visa has been issued.

[Villanelle 4,122]

So you have a lawyer? Is he based in the US or overseas? Just curious. Honestly it doesnt matter because your lawyer is wrong. The 864 policy instructions for adjudicating are worded specifically vague. Id have to find the official source but the wording is along the lines of 'if all points are met it should be approved' but it gives discretion to the officer to deny.

So there is no big federal law saying if it meets X amount it must be approved. It says should approve but gives discretion. Some embassies have asked for the 864A when the instructions say its not needed. Remember these are the instructions NOT the policy.

You are in no position to fight this. It would cost a significant amount of money and take a significant amount of time. Somewhere some day I suspect someone will challenge them on it and dig their heels in so much they end up in court but its not going to be you.

The best you can do is try. Explain its not needed in the instructions and plead your case but realize the longer you argue with them the longer the process is going to take. I have seen it go both ways. Sometimes people argue and the embassy backs off and accepts what they are presenting (assets or paystub proof) Other times the Embassy takes a hard line of you need this or its denied. If they take the hard approach you will need the 864a or another sponsor.

[Villanelle 4,122]

I also understand your frustrations but I honestly dont see major mistakes on the Embassies part. You first talk about a divorce decree being translated but part was still in German so it was rejected. Thats reasonable. You also state you didnt have the correct divorce decree they require and had to jump through hoops to get it since he was no longer in Germany. Thats unfortunate but on the DOS website I believe there are links to documents you may need (country specific) and where and how to get them so a lack of knowledge on your part is not Embassy error. Finally them clarifying the translation you submitted was done properly by a legitimate place- well- thats a bit overkill.

I wouldnt say its mishandling but it falls into the 'local customs' realm. I mean they said from experience the translations go Greek then English so getting a direct to English was weird. It shouldnt have taken 3 phone calls to fix though.

Your current problem of not having a statement of no tax being due was your error. It says to do so on the 864 if you have not filed. The 864A again I explained above- its discretionary.

It does appear the embassy there is pretty strict based on what youve stated so far and they dont have much traffic coming through so they have the time. Because of that I dont think they are going to back down from wanting the 864A but I dont know. I hope Im wrong.

Best of luck to you and your family.