RFE for I-485: not enough income evidence BUT assets alone >3X poverty guideline

[sponge_gto 17]

Hi all, first post here. Apologies if this is not the right forum.

 

I sent off my AOS package on 2/26/18 and was surprised to have received an RFE for the I-485 related to I-864 this early (3/30/18). The wording is fairly standard and complains of two errors:

1. The immigrant's USC spouse did not supply sufficient evidence of current income.

2. The immigrant's own income as an F-1 student (~$30k/yr) can't be included (I didn't know that ).

 

The thing is, I had also included in the I-864 a sum of liquid assets (stocks and bonds) that exceeded the 3X poverty guideline requirement by far ($250k+ vs. 125% of HHS poverty guideline for household of 2 ~$20,300).

 

Since my spouse's income at her current part-time job is meager (< $10k annualized, also set to end pretty soon), I was wondering if we can just ask USCIS to forget about our income and just focus on the assets alone? If that's possible, do we still have to obtain all that employer letter etc.?

 

Thank you very much for your kind input. I've learned a lot reading on this forum and hope that my experience will eventually contribute to the collective body of knowledge.

[azblk 338]

26 minutes ago, sponge_gto said:

Hi all, first post here. Apologies if this is not the right forum.

 

I sent off my AOS package on 2/26/18 and was surprised to have received an RFE for the I-485 related to I-864 this early (3/30/18). The wording is fairly standard and complains of two errors:

1. The immigrant's USC spouse did not supply sufficient evidence of current income.

2. The immigrant's own income as an F-1 student (~$30k/yr) can't be included (I didn't know that ).

 

The thing is, I had also included in the I-864 a sum of liquid assets (stocks and bonds) that exceeded the 3X poverty guideline requirement by far ($250k+ vs. 125% of HHS poverty guideline for household of 2 ~$20,300).

 

Since my spouse's income at her current part-time job is meager (< $10k annualized, also set to end pretty soon), I was wondering if we can just ask USCIS to forget about our income and just focus on the assets alone? If that's possible, do we still have to obtain all that employer letter etc.?

 

Thank you very much for your kind input. I've learned a lot reading on this forum and hope that my experience will eventually contribute to the collective body of knowledge.

Find a cosponsor. You can try explaining your self but a good rule of thumb is its easier to do what they ask than getting into a back and forth with USCIS.

[sponge_gto 17]

8 minutes ago, azblk said:

Find a cosponsor. You can try explaining your self but a good rule of thumb is its easier to do what they ask than getting into a back and forth with USCIS.

I tend to agree with your general advice. However in this case, the RFE doesn't ask me to find a cosponsor either. Do you think the benefit of roping someone else into this application is significant compared to relying on information that is already on file? I guess the core of my concern is whether assets (of the immigrant) are considered inferior to other forms of financial resources.

 

Edit: where are my manners! Thank you for your advice.

Edited March 30, 2018 by sponge_gto

[azblk 338]

24 minutes ago, sponge_gto said:

I tend to agree with your general advice. However in this case, the RFE doesn't ask me to find a cosponsor either. Do you think the benefit of roping someone else into this application is significant compared to relying on information that is already on file? I guess the core of my concern is whether assets (of the immigrant) are considered inferior to other forms of financial resources.

 

Edit: where are my manners! Thank you for your advice.

It is obvious that the USCIS has decided that the stocks and bonds you presented do not satisfy the i-864. Now you can get into an argument with them and see if they will change their minds or you can liquidate some of those assets (roughly $60K) and put that money in bank then present bank statement or you can find a co-sponsor. Those are basically the choices before you. I think getting a co sponsor is easiest. If you are not in a hurry just execute another i-864 with assets only and see how that works.

Edited March 30, 2018 by azblk

[aayitrun 66]

the immigrants own income can be included if it is legitimate.

 

I included my h1-b income since my USC wife did not even have a job at the time.

[azblk 338]

15 minutes ago, aayitrun said:

the immigrants own income can be included if it is legitimate.

 

I included my h1-b income since my USC wife did not even have a job at the time.

Using intending immigrants income seems to be hit or miss depending on the io

[sponge_gto 17]

20 minutes ago, aayitrun said:

the immigrants own income can be included if it is legitimate.

 

I included my h1-b income since my USC wife did not even have a job at the time.

Thank you for sharing. The RFE letter I got contained a (presumably exhaustive) list of visa statuses that allow the immigrant's income to be considered: E-1,2,3, H-1B, H1B1, H-1C, H-2A, H-2B, H-3, I, J-1, L-1, O-1, O-1A, O-1B, O2, P-1A, P-1B, P-2, P-3, Q-1, Q-2, R-1, TC or TN.

 

So I'm not surprised that H1-B worked for you

[sponge_gto 17]

1 hour ago, azblk said:

It is obvious that the USCIS has decided that the stocks and bonds you presented do not satisfy the i-864. Now you can get into an argument with them and see if they will change their minds or you can liquidate some of those assets (roughly $60K) and put that money in bank then present bank statement or you can find a co-sponsor. Those are basically the choices before you. I think getting a co sponsor is easiest. If you are not in a hurry just execute another i-864 with assets only and see how that works.

It's interesting that you find it obvious that USCIS decided my assets do not satisfy I-864. What I imagine to be a possible scenario is that the officer looked at our reported income, saw that it's above the poverty guideline, and didn't bother to look at the optional part about assets. Is this out of the realm of possibility?

 

If they have indeed determined my assets to be somehow unacceptable (they in the US, by the way), wouldn't they have given me a reason?

 

Without indulging in second-guessing any further, what is the likely procedural outcome if I ask for my assets alone to be considered and they don't like it? Is that an instant NOID or denial?

[azblk 338]

6 minutes ago, sponge_gto said:

It's interesting that you find it obvious that USCIS decided my assets do not satisfy I-864. What I imagine to be a possible scenario is that the officer looked at our reported income, saw that it's above the poverty guideline, and didn't bother to look at the optional part about assets. Is this out of the realm of possibility?

 

If they have indeed determined my assets to be somehow unacceptable (they in the US, by the way), wouldn't they have given me a reason?

 

Without indulging in second-guessing any further, what is the likely procedural outcome if I ask for my assets alone to be considered and they don't like it? Is that an instant NOID or denial?

1. they don't look at assets unless income is not enough.

2. The RFE 's sent out already scripted catch all replies depending on the situation. They never get specific or customize.

3. Don't know but unlikely. You will probably get another RFE or if another officer looks at it they might accept it. While this is going on you case has ground to a halt for 3 to 6 months.

[arken 4,197]

So what are they asking for in the RFE? They should be pretty much specific on what they want? Your response would be based on that.

[sponge_gto 17]

2 minutes ago, arken said:

So what are they asking for in the RFE? They should be pretty much specific on what they want? Your response would be based on that.

Time for some pictures now that I have letter in hand.

 

I'm seeing 2 top-level bullet points:

- First one asks for more support of the petitioner's current income. It's very little and temporary so can't see that doing much good.

- Second one asks for me, the immigrant, to show that I was authorized to work in the US in order to include my income for consideration. Now as an F-1 student I'm of course allowed to work 20 hours a week on campus, but I don't have any of the examples they suggested. In fact, given the laundry list of visa statuses that they accept, the absence of F-1 seems to suggest that they're not gonna accept my income. Anyone had success getting income as an F-1 student to be included? I get paid just over $30k so that would be enough, if accepted.

 

 

[arken 4,197]

That means they ignored your assets part coz the income was sufficient but without any evidences. Like F1 was not listed in the category in the RFE, your income from on campus job on F1, though legal, will probably not be considered because it’s technically not a continuous employment as it’s part time job for students studying in the campus and it’s hard to prove that your job will continue after getting GC.

 

May be you can provide the income evidences of your wife and go with you current net cash value of your assets and this time they will consider the assets since the income will not be efficient. For that, you might need to submit new i864 along with the RFE response.

[sponge_gto 17]

25 minutes ago, arken said:

That means they ignored your assets part coz the income was sufficient but without any evidences. Like F1 was not listed in the category in the RFE, your income from on campus job on F1, though legal, will probably not be considered because it’s technically not a continuous employment as it’s part time job for students studying in the campus and it’s hard to prove that your job will continue after getting GC.

 

May be you can provide the income evidences of your wife and go with you current net cash value of your assets and this time they will consider the assets since the income will not be efficient. For that, you might need to submit new i864 along with the RFE response.

It's good to hear that they may not have ruled my assets to be unacceptable. Seems sensible to fill out a new I-864 at this point but I'm wondering if all the tax documents and account statements need to be resubmitted or just an addition of the latest will do. Will probably just go print out everything again though

[bad4tatt 168]

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 3:52 PM, sponge_gto said:

I tend to agree with your general advice. However in this case, the RFE doesn't ask me to find a cosponsor either. Do you think the benefit of roping someone else into this application is significant compared to relying on information that is already on file? I guess the core of my concern is whether assets (of the immigrant) are considered inferior to other forms of financial resources.

 

Edit: where are my manners! Thank you for your advice.

The letters are saying you have sufficient income but did not provide the proof. Do you have a paper trail of your income?

Edited April 5, 2018 by bad4tatt
missed previous pics

[sponge_gto 17]

11 minutes ago, bad4tatt said:

The letters are saying you have sufficient income but did not provide the proof. Do you have a paper trail of your income?

Thanks for your comment before and after the edit. May I ask if there was anything tricky at all with your assets that you wished to be included, like being overseas, in a different currency, in the form of real estate, etc.?

 

The letter said we have sufficient income but I think that's based on what we thought could be included (spouse's + mine). The rest of the letter then requested me to provide work authorization documents in a way that seems to exclude my income as an F-1 student, making our total fall way below. We can easily find a sponsor though, if the odds of the assets being included are low.