Right to contest RFE? / Co-sponsor responsibilities

[RebeccaP 4]

Hello Everyone,

My spouse and I submitted his AOS in May; this week we received an RFE, saying my income does not meet the requirements on my form I -864 affidavit of support. I submitted multiple documents verifying that my income for the past year does in fact meet the requirements (letter from my employer, copies of last 6 months check stubs, letter from my bank showing my deposits for last year, etc). I have a feeling they only looked at my last 3 year's tax returns and issued the denial (none of which met the requirements, as I was abroad with him significant portions of those years and unable to work). Has anyone had any experience with contacting USCIS and arguing against their findings? Would this only delay the process further if I tried to do this?

The letter, of course, said I can get a co-sponsor, but that would create implications for another that I don't want to subject them to, so I'd like to avoid it if possible.

However, if I do get a co-sponsor, does anyone know if the liability of each co-sponsor (myself included) would be equal to half of whatever amount the state would ask to be reimbursed, if (in a completely unexpected scenario) my spouse were to apply for welfare?

Thank you for any experience/knowledge you may have on this topic!

~Rebecca

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Arguing with USCIS is unlikely to yield results.

Even if you have a joint sponsor, you are still the primary sponsor. So in the unlikely event of the government "coming after you" for repayment, they would come after you first. They would only go after the joint sponsor if you didn't pay.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

what is your current income like? will it be over the poverty guidelines? did you send a letter from your employer stating what you currently earn?

the letter from employer and paystubs should have been from current year and not last year

[RebeccaP 4]

Hi,

My income from the last 12 months exceeds 125% of the poverty guidelines, and all of my check stubs from last 6 months, letter from employer stating my salary, and bank statements showed that. The problem is that none of my tax returns showed that result, since they were prior to the job I've held for the past year.

[aaron2020 11,651]

USCIS can consider your past earnings to determine if you qualify. It's not just current income. It's a totality of the circumstances.

You will lose trying to argue with USCIS.

Get a Joint Sponsor. The JS is like a co-signer for a loan. You are first. The JS would be secondary.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

USCIS can consider your past earnings to determine if you qualify. It's not just current income. It's a totality of the circumstances.

You will lose trying to argue with USCIS.

Get a Joint Sponsor. The JS is like a co-signer for a loan. You are first. The JS would be secondary.

This. ^

When we did the K-1. I was unemployed, my mother was cosponsoring and made OVER the limit to cosponsor for both the K-1 and AOS. They determined it wasn't good enough and asked for a second co-sponsor. We ended up providing a total of 3 i-134's, when the normal is 2 when using a cosponsor.

They can use their own discretion when looking at the papers. They can go "yeah, she meets it now, but she wasn't working for the past 3 years. What if she's only working to meet the criteria?"

Have you worked at the job for an entire year already? Did you work small jobs that were included in the past 3 years of tax returns, or did you make 0 income for the past 3 years of tax returns?They may not feel that the job is stable enough since you didn't work at it enough last year to make a tax return meet the requirements.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Ash.1101