RE: My options in regards to Assets/Income

[JFox762 18]

So I suffered a job loss in December of 2016. At the time, my parents offered to fly me out to visit them for Christmas since... work has mostly kept me from visiting them, as well as the fact that I was already planning a trip to go visit my (then) girlfriend (now wife) in Thailand (she's originally from the Philippines). I also had to get recertified for a prior job I used to work, so I basically decided to wait until late January 2017 to return to work for a previous company. I make about the same take home pay, that I did at my old job. Annualized, it comes out to about $27K/yr but... that doesn't take into consideration overtime, which I avail of myself quite frequently. Well I also went overseas to the Philippines back in July in order to get married to my wife. We were there for  a month and a half. 

So basically at the end of the year, I am expecting to meet the income requirements.. but just barely. Does USCIS extrapolate your weekly paycheck into a year? Or do they go off of just your tax records? Previous years, I have made give or take $30k/year. 

Additionally, I have about $120,000 in equity in my home. Actually, I only owe about $6,500 on it. So I know that I can just fall back on the "Assets in lieu of income", should I have to. 
How likely is it that USCIS will take issue with my economic situation? I typically have quite a bit of disposable income after all my monthly expenses are paid for.....which I usually throw into my savings or pay down my wedding debt and home equity loan (my only debts). 

So again, 1st question is.... Does USCIS extrapolate your weekly paycheck into a year? Or do they go off of just your tax records? Or do they go off of paycheck stubs? Previous years, I have made give or take $30k/year. 

2nd Question: Does USCIS/Embassy care about frequent job changes? I have had a number of job changes over the past 4 years, and my current job is underpaying me (based on equivalent jobs I see on craigslist). I've been wanting to stay at the company just to show "stability"... because while the job doesn't pay the best, it offers the best job security. So my current plan is just to stay at the company until my wife gets here, at which point... I will have more freedom to take risks, advance into a proper career,  especially since she can also work.  

3rd Question: I know this seems a bit outlandish of an idea. But if they *DO* accept Assets in Lieu of income... should I be fine if I were to decide (and this is just a thrown out there idea), to just rent out my house for a year or so... and move overseas to Thailand to live with my wife until her Visa approves? I wouldn't be able to show any income, aside from rental income. As I understand it, USCIS does not accept overseas income (even though the IRS will surely tax your overseas income... which is a bit.. stupid. If you can be taxed, it should be counted) so if I decided to teach English overseas (as my wife does in Thailand) I wouldn't be able to claim that. How RELIABLE is it to use Assets in Lieu of income?

If I had some sort of assurance that Assets in Lieu of Income was acceptable, I would be putting my house up on one of those rental agencies right now, packing my stuff, and join my wife overseas ASAP. For two reasons: 1. I miss her terribly. 2. Living in Thailand for a year sounds awesome.  This isn't exactly something I'm dead set on doing, but just sort of a hair brained idea I thought about. As far as I know, 33% of your equity can be used in lieu of assets... and that equals to about $40,000

FWIW: I have *NEVER* been on the dole... even when I was at my poorest, I never relied on government benefits, aside from Unemployment benefits... but even then it has been at least 5 years (maybe closer to 7?) since I last claimed unemployment benefits. 

[Khallaf 650]

11 hours ago, JFox762 said:

So I suffered a job loss in December of 2016. At the time, my parents offered to fly me out to visit them for Christmas since... work has mostly kept me from visiting them, as well as the fact that I was already planning a trip to go visit my (then) girlfriend (now wife) in Thailand (she's originally from the Philippines). I also had to get recertified for a prior job I used to work, so I basically decided to wait until late January 2017 to return to work for a previous company. I make about the same take home pay, that I did at my old job. Annualized, it comes out to about $27K/yr but... that doesn't take into consideration overtime, which I avail of myself quite frequently. Well I also went overseas to the Philippines back in July in order to get married to my wife. We were there for  a month and a half. 

So basically at the end of the year, I am expecting to meet the income requirements.. but just barely. Does USCIS extrapolate your weekly paycheck into a year? Or do they go off of just your tax records? Previous years, I have made give or take $30k/year. 

Additionally, I have about $120,000 in equity in my home. Actually, I only owe about $6,500 on it. So I know that I can just fall back on the "Assets in lieu of income", should I have to. 
How likely is it that USCIS will take issue with my economic situation? I typically have quite a bit of disposable income after all my monthly expenses are paid for.....which I usually throw into my savings or pay down my wedding debt and home equity loan (my only debts). 

So again, 1st question is.... Does USCIS extrapolate your weekly paycheck into a year? Or do they go off of just your tax records? Or do they go off of paycheck stubs? Previous years, I have made give or take $30k/year. 

2nd Question: Does USCIS/Embassy care about frequent job changes? I have had a number of job changes over the past 4 years, and my current job is underpaying me (based on equivalent jobs I see on craigslist). I've been wanting to stay at the company just to show "stability"... because while the job doesn't pay the best, it offers the best job security. So my current plan is just to stay at the company until my wife gets here, at which point... I will have more freedom to take risks, advance into a proper career,  especially since she can also work.  

3rd Question: I know this seems a bit outlandish of an idea. But if they *DO* accept Assets in Lieu of income... should I be fine if I were to decide (and this is just a thrown out there idea), to just rent out my house for a year or so... and move overseas to Thailand to live with my wife until her Visa approves? I wouldn't be able to show any income, aside from rental income. As I understand it, USCIS does not accept overseas income (even though the IRS will surely tax your overseas income... which is a bit.. stupid. If you can be taxed, it should be counted) so if I decided to teach English overseas (as my wife does in Thailand) I wouldn't be able to claim that. How RELIABLE is it to use Assets in Lieu of income?

If I had some sort of assurance that Assets in Lieu of Income was acceptable, I would be putting my house up on one of those rental agencies right now, packing my stuff, and join my wife overseas ASAP. For two reasons: 1. I miss her terribly. 2. Living in Thailand for a year sounds awesome.  This isn't exactly something I'm dead set on doing, but just sort of a hair brained idea I thought about. As far as I know, 33% of your equity can be used in lieu of assets... and that equals to about $40,000

FWIW: I have *NEVER* been on the dole... even when I was at my poorest, I never relied on government benefits, aside from Unemployment benefits... but even then it has been at least 5 years (maybe closer to 7?) since I last claimed unemployment benefits. 

to answer questions 1, the USCIS will only ask for your tax return, if that isn't sufficient, they will ask for bank records, and such. You will need a copy of W2, and to be safe the last 3 years of tax records is all they will care about. You only need to make 125% of poverty level. 

Household Size	Annual Income Federal Poverty Guideline (FPG)	125% FPG
1	$12,060	$15,075
2	$16,240	$20,300
3	$20,420	$25,525
4	$24,600	$30,750

 

2. USCIS will not care about your job changes the Evidence of support paper that you fill out is all they are going to care about.

 

3. you will not need to worry, relax take a deep breath and things will be fine.