AOS November 2016 Filers

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

52 minutes ago, samack said:

So I've been wracking my brain all evening trying to figure out what else to send in response to that RFIE. I took pictures of the I-864 we sent and was able to see that we put my husband's current income down as a little over $30,000, which is actually a low estimate but far more than what they're looking for. I know the onus is on us to prove it, so I'm going to resend the pay stubs and include the most current ones as well as some we left out because they're much smaller and from secondary employers, send bank statements, resend his work contract and highlight the financial aspects, copies of the invoices he's submitted every month, and maybe even a copy of the schedule for the team he covers to show how often he works. I'll also write a letter and summarize everything, even though I included one with the original application. We're sitting here tonight pretty mystified by the whole thing because every pay stub we sent to them was for between $2000 and $6000. Maybe someone actually did misplace something.

 

Something that confuses me, though: on the RFIE itself, they highlighted a line that says that they look at line 22 of the tax return, not the gross income (despite asking for the gross income amount on the I-864). I checked my husband's tax return for 2015 and line 22 is around $7000 less than what he actually made. That's the difference between being just shy of the $20,025 and very, very far from it. Does anyone know why they look at that particular number instead of the gross income?

 

I'm planning to call tomorrow to see if I can get any kind of guidance from them because there's absolutely no way we're under.

Well that is strange. They are supposed to look at line 22 for self-employed and gross income for others...

[Mthldou 45]

39 minutes ago, samack said:

So I've been wracking my brain all evening trying to figure out what else to send in response to that RFIE. I took pictures of the I-864 we sent and was able to see that we put my husband's current income down as a little over $30,000, which is actually a low estimate but far more than what they're looking for. I know the onus is on us to prove it, so I'm going to resend the pay stubs and include the most current ones as well as some we left out because they're much smaller and from secondary employers, send bank statements, resend his work contract and highlight the financial aspects, copies of the invoices he's submitted every month, and maybe even a copy of the schedule for the team he covers to show how often he works. I'll also write a letter and summarize everything, even though I included one with the original application. We're sitting here tonight pretty mystified by the whole thing because every pay stub we sent to them was for between $2000 and $6000. Maybe someone actually did misplace something.

 

Something that confuses me, though: on the RFIE itself, they highlighted a line that says that they look at line 22 of the tax return, not the gross income (despite asking for the gross income amount on the I-864). I checked my husband's tax return for 2015 and line 22 is around $7000 less than what he actually made. That's the difference between being just shy of the $20,025 and very, very far from it. Does anyone know why they look at that particular number instead of the gross income?

 

I'm planning to call tomorrow to see if I can get any kind of guidance from them because there's absolutely no way we're under.

What did your RFE letter exactly say?

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

Or is your husband counted as self-employed? Just saw smth about contractor?

Edited February 22, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

This link gives you the very most common mistakes and how to fill out the most important lines of the i-864. It's the clearest explanation that I've come across.

Look it over see if you did it all that way.

https://cliniclegal.org/resources/five-most-common-mistakes-completing-i-864

[LionessDeon 2,060]

6 hours ago, samkam said:

Hi guys, just wondering if this has happened to anyone else. This past Thursday I received an approval letter in the mail for I-131 (AP) and the notice date says 02/13/2017 and that my card will be mailed out to me in another letter. I didn't receive a letter for the I-765 (EAD). My status has not changed on the USCIS and they still just say case received. Checked the mail today and have not received the card... I feel like I wanna be checking the mailbox 5 times a day! Haha. 

Yes this has. Review previous pages in this thread. If you filed both, EAD/AP will come as a combo card. 

[LionessDeon 2,060]

14 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

Or is your husband counted as self-employed? Just saw smth about contractor?

So does that mean if their 2016 tax return showed sufficient income, USCIS still would not accept it?

Do self employed sponsors have different criteria?

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

Just now, LionessDeon said:

So does that mean if their 2016 tax return showed sufficient income, USCIS still would not accept it?

Do self employed sponsors have different criteria?

The criteria is what you expect to make the current tax year. For a "normal" employee, it's what you would expect to put as gross income. For a self-employed person it's what you would expect to put on line 22. Simply cause you can deduct costs of running the company, which is not considered income that is at your disposal for living expenses. Now on the parts for past returns, everyone puts what's on line 22, what you "actually" made. That's how I have understood t. The link has numbers from the form that are from an older version, but the explanation is the same.

[Wes&Charlotte 4]

OK I'm soooo confused....my RFIE said to use line 22, my husband is NOT self employed.....I'm reading on here that even though his 2016 TR is way over, that it will be ignored as we applied with 2015 tax return...I'm just about tearing my hair out right now.  I CANNOT wait another 3 months to start working. In form I-864 I was asked to provide his "current Annual Household Income" (page 5 part 6 Q 15) which states that THIS is the figure that will be compared to the FPG.  If that is the case, then the figure I have provided is more than of $6000 OVER what is required.  The ONLY mistake that I can see in the form is that I checked that I was sending TRs for THREE most recent years and only actually sent one.  On page 12 part 11 Q 3d. we explained that the increase was due to finishing school in 2015 and therefore working full time instead of part time.  NOWHERE, ANYWHERE on form I-864 does it say anything about proving current income, payslips, bank statements or anything else.  P***ED OFF does not even begin to describe how I am feeling

[samack 79]

14 minutes ago, Mthldou said:

What did your RFE letter exactly say?

It was the standard "doesn't meet 125% of the poverty limit guidelines", "send evidence of assets or get a joint sponsor" that people get. The only difference is that there was a handwritten amendment that said "listed assets on I-864 but did not include evidence". At first I thought that wasn't the case, but I was looking at what we sent and saw that my husband had written down the amount between his checking/savings account in the optional assets section but we didn't send in proof of it. I'll be including bank statements with the response.

 

I've been doing some reading and saw that they apparently treat people who are considered self-employed differently than regularly employed individuals, including looking at different amounts on the tax return. My husband has to list himself as self-employed because he technically is, and had to create a business account because of it, but he also isn't really. He signs a contract with a national sports league every year. He's signed the same contract for the past 4 years and will continue to do so until he decides it's not what he wants to do anymore. We only sent the contract for the 2016-2017 season, which I'm realizing was a mistake on my part because it makes it seem like it's a new job. I'll send copies of all of his contracts with the response to the RFIE and include in a letter that it's essentially a permanent position but that they consider their correspondents "freelancers" because they're paid per game/written piece instead of a yearly salary. It's a difficult thing to explain for this purpose, I guess, but he's a "self-employed freelancer" with what's basically a permanent position because it's one of the highest profile teams in the league.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

3 minutes ago, Wes&Charlotte said:

OK I'm soooo confused....my RFIE said to use line 22, my husband is NOT self employed.....I'm reading on here that even though his 2016 TR is way over, that it will be ignored as we applied with 2015 tax return...I'm just about tearing my hair out right now.  I CANNOT wait another 3 months to start working. In form I-864 I was asked to provide his "current Annual Household Income" (page 5 part 6 Q 15) which states that THIS is the figure that will be compared to the FPG.  If that is the case, then the figure I have provided is more than of $6000 OVER what is required.  The ONLY mistake that I can see in the form is that I checked that I was sending TRs for THREE most recent years and only actually sent one.  On page 12 part 11 Q 3d. we explained that the increase was due to finishing school in 2015 and therefore working full time instead of part time.  NOWHERE, ANYWHERE on form I-864 does it say anything about proving current income, payslips, bank statements or anything else.  P***ED OFF does not even begin to describe how I am feeling

I'm sorry if I confused...  line 22 for what he MADE past years.... gross income that's expected to be on the current tax year's form, for CURRENT income  Does that make sense with your rfe?

Edited February 22, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

You only need to send ONE tax return but you need to report the last three (19a-c). The one tax return that you do send needs to match line 22 to what you write that he made that year (19a). ALthough this is NOT what they use to compare! It needs to be correctly entered.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

8 minutes ago, samack said:

It was the standard "doesn't meet 125% of the poverty limit guidelines", "send evidence of assets or get a joint sponsor" that people get. The only difference is that there was a handwritten amendment that said "listed assets on I-864 but did not include evidence". At first I thought that wasn't the case, but I was looking at what we sent and saw that my husband had written down the amount between his checking/savings account in the optional assets section but we didn't send in proof of it. I'll be including bank statements with the response.

 

That explains it  Your other option is to take it out if you don't need it and send a new i-864 without the assets and include a letter that you did not intend to include it.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Chardon Ne' 71]

1 hour ago, samack said:

So I've been wracking my brain all evening trying to figure out what else to send in response to that RFIE. I took pictures of the I-864 we sent and was able to see that we put my husband's current income down as a little over $30,000, which is actually a low estimate but far more than what they're looking for. I know the onus is on us to prove it, so I'm going to resend the pay stubs and include the most current ones as well as some we left out because they're much smaller and from secondary employers, send bank statements, resend his work contract and highlight the financial aspects, copies of the invoices he's submitted every month, and maybe even a copy of the schedule for the team he covers to show how often he works. I'll also write a letter and summarize everything, even though I included one with the original application. We're sitting here tonight pretty mystified by the whole thing because every pay stub we sent to them was for between $2000 and $6000. Maybe someone actually did misplace something.

 

Something that confuses me, though: on the RFIE itself, they highlighted a line that says that they look at line 22 of the tax return, not the gross income (despite asking for the gross income amount on the I-864). I checked my husband's tax return for 2015 and line 22 is around $7000 less than what he actually made. That's the difference between being just shy of the $20,025 and very, very far from it. Does anyone know why they look at that particular number instead of the gross income?

 

I'm planning to call tomorrow to see if I can get any kind of guidance from them because there's absolutely no way we're under.

Yes that is the adjusted gross income. Thats what they go by so if it is low then you may require a co sponsor. 

[Mthldou 45]

10 minutes ago, samack said:

It was the standard "doesn't meet 125% of the poverty limit guidelines", "send evidence of assets or get a joint sponsor" that people get. The only difference is that there was a handwritten amendment that said "listed assets on I-864 but did not include evidence". At first I thought that wasn't the case, but I was looking at what we sent and saw that my husband had written down the amount between his checking/savings account in the optional assets section but we didn't send in proof of it. I'll be including bank statements with the response.

 

I've been doing some reading and saw that they apparently treat people who are considered self-employed differently than regularly employed individuals, including looking at different amounts on the tax return. My husband has to list himself as self-employed because he technically is, and had to create a business account because of it, but he also isn't really. He signs a contract with a national sports league every year. He's signed the same contract for the past 4 years and will continue to do so until he decides it's not what he wants to do anymore. We only sent the contract for the 2016-2017 season, which I'm realizing was a mistake on my part because it makes it seem like it's a new job. I'll send copies of all of his contracts with the response to the RFIE and include in a letter that it's essentially a permanent position but that they consider their correspondents "freelancers" because they're paid per game/written piece instead of a yearly salary. It's a difficult thing to explain for this purpose, I guess, but he's a "self-employed freelancer" with what's basically a permanent position because it's one of the highest profile teams in the league.

Okay. Here's what I would do. Other members feel free to correct me. 

 

I would 

-send his contract again! With the yearly income and all the requirements of the employment letter. Make sure the contracts he has includes a salary or pay. 

-re do the i864 and make sure everything is correct. 

-as for the tax stuff just send what you have. I only submitted one year 2015. 

-include bank savings or any evidence of assets. Appraisal or bank statements. Have them stamped by the bank. Point things out to them. I've been told they don't really look for small details and if anything looks confusing they issue RFEs. 

-I also included a copy of the poverty line form 864p I believe and highlight the household size and income limit. Like I said, make it obvious. 

For the EAD your wait may or may not restart. I've seen plenty of people getting RFE and having the EAD approved a short time after, some not so soon. It depends. Wish I could give you a uniform answer. Other members please correct any of this statements if I said something wrong 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 minutes ago, Chardon Ne' said:

Yes that is the adjusted gross income. Thats what they go by so if it is low then you may require a co sponsor. 

No, they don't  "go by" the AGI. They go by what is your estimated current income for the present tax year when you apply.