RFIE For Self-Enployed I-864: VERY Confusing Situation!

[samack 79]

Hey everyone,

 

I've been posting about this in the November case status update thread, but since I'm so stressed out that I barely slept last night I thought it might be a good idea to open it up for more advice.

 

We got an RFIE in the mail yesterday (day 93) that was sent on the 16th but didn't update online. It's the standard "didn't meet 125% of the poverty guidelines" pink sheet of doom. What I didn't understand going into the process is that my husband, who is technically self-employed but in a confusing way, was going to be scrutinized differently than a traditional employee and now I'm not sure what we can do. 

 

The situation:

My husband is a writer and has worked covering a professional team for one of the national sports leagues for the past 4 years. He'll continue to do so until he decides he'd like to do something else because he's their "guy". He signs a contract with them every year and, at this point, that contract is basically a formality because it's a foregone conclusion that he will. Because the league pays a set rate per game/story instead of a yearly salary, writers who work for them are considered freelancers and are asked to set up a business (in name only) in order to be paid. He submits monthly invoices under his business's name based on the work he's asked to do (we have emails that show how that process works) and receives monthly pay stubs (again, in his business's name), so he has his own "business" but technically has an employer. He also has to file taxes as self-employed because of it, which means USCIS looks at line 22 (net income) instead of the gross income because of business deductions. On his 2015 return, his gross income was just slightly below the poverty guidelines but his net income was somewhere around $13,000. I didn't realize that that was the number they were going to be looking at until we got the RFIE yesterday. Along with the tax returns, we sent pay stubs (which he wouldn't have if he was traditionally self-employed) that averaged from $2,000-$6,000 a month to show that he's currently making more than enough to meet the guidelines (his earnings are based on how long the team's season is. They did, and are continuing to do, well), a copy of his contract for the current year, and a brief letter explaining the situation. Not understanding that it's much more complicated if you have to say you're "self-employed", we were really surprised to get the RFIE and I've been feeling sick to my stomach since because if we can't prove he's made significantly more than enough in the past year we're totally out of options. We have no one to act as a joint sponsor and don't have assets enough to compensate for the disparity on the 2015 return. 

 

I've already learned that we need to amend the I-864 with the amounts from line 22 on his tax returns because he filed as self-employed, though one of my worries is that they'll all be below the poverty limit because he was still in school/just starting for the first year and deductions have dragged the other two down. There are some other documents we can send but I'm really concerned about making it as convincing as possible, so if anyone can think of anything else we should send the advice would be greatly appreciated.

- Amended I-864 with a current gross income of over $30,000.

- All of the pay stubs he's received from this time last year until now, only one of which is under $2000. Pay stubs from several other major outlets like the Associated Press for work he's done both during the season and during the offseason.

- Copies of all of his annual contracts. They don't list a yearly salary but show a breakdown of payment for work per game/story. We can connect this to the invoices he's sent, which we can also include, so they can see how much he does in a month. We can also include emails from his editors that shows almost constant communication about work. 

- A letter detailing the nature of his job, an explanation of the fact that the team he covers is very high profile and therefore provides constant work and job security, information about his educational background (he has a journalism degree from a very good school), explanation of earnings, and anything else that might be pertinent. 

- Copies of year-long press passes that show his position and employer, stories he's written that appear almost daily on the league's website, and examples of his social media presence. I know this stuff isn't financial, but I'd think it would help prove the legitimacy of his job.

- Bank statements for both his business and personal accounts for the past year.

- Copy of the poverty guidelines highlighting what's needed for a household of two.

 

Someone in the November thread mentioned that his 2016 tax return, which hasn't been filed yet but could be if necessary, wouldn't be helpful, but I'm wondering if it would be. I'm sure that the net income would be above the poverty guidelines, especially if he's careful about deductions. He'll have to pay in more than he was already going to have to, but that's preferable to me having to go back to Canada because our application got turned down.

 

I apologize that this got so long, but it's not really a standard situation and I wanted to outline everything as best as I could. I'm really worried about getting this wrong, having our application be denied, and being forced to leave because we have no other options. It's really frustrating to know that he makes more than enough (and that our combined earnings will be beyond more than enough because I have decent earning potential with a Masters degree) while facing an uphill battle to prove it.

 

Any guidance anyone can provide would be really, really appreciated. 

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

The 2016 tax filing would be beneficial if line 22 meets the requirements. Would it ?
I am not an expert by far on the financial aspect of meeting the poverty line in complicated cases but

it seems you must make it clear in the fewest words to the IO that you make enough.
I had the same problem though less complicated than yours.

 

As self employed I was over the line 22 but they still wanted more.
I submitted:
Professional state license

Business ledger income for the past 12 months
Projected income for the next 12 months and why I projected it

Bank letter

Bank statements 12 past months

Tax Transcripts past 3 years

Letter narrating and explaining my income and reason why I project it will continue to be successful

(20 years in business) . Do not make this complicated, keep it very short and to the point. 1/2 page with the actual

numbers crunched and 1/2 page explaining. I opted to keep the numbers and explanation on separate pages,

then pulled it together again in a third page.
I got a free consultation from a lawyer and a free consultation from a CPA that said they can't help because everything

I already did was plenty and they could not understand why they send the RFE.

The RFE response was accepted.
Member Damara gave me some good ideas, perhaps you can pm him.