RFE for Affidavit of Support

[Michael2017 368]

Did you look into assets? You may add any assets that qualify to bridge any gap.

[pushbrk 12,883]

9 hours ago, Pzs said:

On the I-864 our attourney calculated $23,800. Our package was sent around 4 months ago so he’s made more since then and received a raise. The RFE mentions: letter from employer, tax transcripts, assets, joint sponsor. 

You are free to have him submit an updated affidavit showing his new current income.

[Infidel 46]

I am worried about this situation too. My 2017 taxes only showed 20,000 as my income because I didn't move back to the US until June 2017 and didn't start work until July. My current income is $40,000, but my taxes don't reflect that currently. I didn't get a checklist for this though, and I got my CC yesterday. If we, like you might, get denied at the consulate for not enough income, we won't have anyone for a joint sponsor either. It is very scary not to have anyone to ask and therefore nothing you can do about it. 

 

If he has anything in his bank account as savings, he could also submit that. I submitted my bank records as evidence too. 

 

Hoping the best for both of us. 

[NikLR 13,227]

I'm a little lost... are you IN the USA adjusting your status or waiting for a Visa to enter the USA?

[Pzs 12]

2 hours ago, NikLR said:

I'm a little lost... are you IN the USA adjusting your status or waiting for a Visa to enter the USA?

Yes I am in the US, adjusting status. I am sorry if  I posted in the wrong thread, I thought this was the AoS one. 

[Pzs 12]

4 hours ago, Infidel said:

I am worried about this situation too. My 2017 taxes only showed 20,000 as my income because I didn't move back to the US until June 2017 and didn't start work until July. My current income is $40,000, but my taxes don't reflect that currently. I didn't get a checklist for this though, and I got my CC yesterday. If we, like you might, get denied at the consulate for not enough income, we won't have anyone for a joint sponsor either. It is very scary not to have anyone to ask and therefore nothing you can do about it. 

 

If he has anything in his bank account as savings, he could also submit that. I submitted my bank records as evidence too. 

 

Hoping the best for both of us. 

I am sorry if i caused any confusion I’m actually in the US adjusting status. Not having a joint sponsor is really frustrating and makes you feel very helpless. Fingers crossed for everyone in our situation and I’m hoping it all goes well. 

[Pzs 12]

5 hours ago, Michael2017 said:

Did you look into assets? You may add any assets that qualify to bridge any gap.

We did look into it, however we don’t really have any assets that we can use in this case. We have a car, but I’m not sure if that counts. He is the only one making money in our household, as I’m not allowed to work so we really don’t have enough money for expensive assets or big savings. 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Pzs
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[Pzs 12]

4 hours ago, pushbrk said:

You are free to have him submit an updated affidavit showing his new current income.

We will definitely do that. We will make sure our attourney sends the current edition in the form as well... she did assure as that sending an otdated form was not the issue, but I feel like it might have something to do with it too. 

[NikLR 13,227]

17 minutes ago, Pzs said:

Yes I am in the US, adjusting status. I am sorry if  I posted in the wrong thread, I thought this was the AoS one. 

Thank you.  It makes a difference since the advice given would be different. 

 

~~moved to AOS from work, tourist, and student visa from IR1/CR1 process and procedures~~

[NikLR 13,227]

9 minutes ago, Pzs said:

We will definitely do that. We will make sure our attourney sends the current edition in the form as well... she did assure as that sending an otdated form was not the issue, but I feel like it might have something to do with it too. 

I actually suggest that you send a NEW I-864 with updated evidence.  Since his current income has changed (please do the math yourselves... ).  Your attorney isn't exactly straightforward with you unless you're misunderstanding. 

[geowrian 22,337]

16 hours ago, Kmr92 said:

call USCIS help line and ask a representative there if those proofs will be sufficient.

They will not be able to determine that nor answer that kind of question. 1) The IO makes the decision based on the totality of the circumstances. The rep may think it's fine but the IO could say no, or vice-versa. 2) They are not permitted to provide legal advice. 3) It's called the misinformation line for a reason.

[Amadia 711]

18 hours ago, Pzs said:

He started working in the middle of 2017

THAT is why the officer requested a joint sponsor and gave the RFE for Affidavit of Support. YOU know he has been working there for past 12mths but the officer is looking at it as though he has not been established concrete in his employment. Hopefully your attorney writes a convincing argument to the RFE.

 

Best of luck!

[Dutchster 1,107]

When we adjusted status , my husband just got promoted a few months before and the 2015 tax return showed he barely made $20,300 (at that time it was ,300 something) but with his current promotion came a good raise so we had to find every bit of evidence for the USCIS to look at his current income and not at the 2015 income. So while we did send the 2015/2015/2013 tax returns, we also made sure to put all of his new paystubs (the pay and such highlighted) with the petition as well as my husband and his boss writing a letter stating his promotion, the position, what he currently makes per hour and what his annual income is with the raise. 

[Tilly87 14]

21 hours ago, Pzs said:

Unfortunately we don’t have anyone who can be our co-sponsor. His family doesn’t make any money and theres no one else who could help us out with that...

I was in the same boat: we received an RFE requesting we send evidence of my husband's income (6 months of paystubs, tax returns, etc). However, we had already filed for his parents to act as his joint sponsors, as we knew my husband's income would not quite cut it; he is a car salesman, and had very expensive health insurance that ate up a good chunk of his income (long story). The RFE in our case was because they had not seemed to notice the joint sponsor situation; our lawyer helped us craft a response, including all evidence asked for but reaffirming that we were relying on his parents as joint sponsors. The RFE was accepted and I am now in the "Ready to schedule for an interview" phase.

 

What I wanted to point out is that you can use multiple joint sponsors (the joint sponsor can include all of the income from their household). I know you said you don't have anyone that can, as no one in his family makes enough money, but perhaps they do as a household? Our lawyer said the joint sponsor must meet $23,000 of income for 2 people in their household, plus $5,500 for each additional person (the immigrant counts as an "additional person"; we filed this Feb so the amounts should still be valid). I believe that works out to something like this: say the Joint sponsor's household is 2 (JS and spouse of JS), they would need as a household an income of $28,500. If the JS has an income of say 15k, and spouse income is 15K, they would make 30K as a household, which would meet the requirement. This can be found on the USCIS website under Joint Sponsor: https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/affidavit-support  I would suggest checking into this with your lawyer, and then maybe approaching husband's family, it would probably need to be quick since you're running close to the deadline. I know even some government benefits can be counted as income from the joint sponsor, such as social security pensions (again, another thing to ask lawyer, depending on your situation). Just something to look into, since you only get one shot at satisfying an RFE! Hope that helps, best of luck, I know it's rough! 

 

EDIT: And note, income doesn't have to be spouse of joint sponsor to count income as part of household, just someone in the household (so if there are any adult siblings living at home and working perhaps?) 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Tilly87

[geowrian 22,337]

2 minutes ago, Tilly87 said:

What I wanted to point out is that you can use multiple joint sponsors (the joint sponsor can include all of the income from their household). I know you said you don't have anyone that can, as no one in his family makes enough money, but perhaps they do as a household? Our lawyer said the joint sponsor must meet $23,000 of income for 2 people in their household, plus $5,500 for each additional person (the immigrant counts as an "additional person"; we filed this Feb so the amounts should still be valid). I believe that works out to something like this: say the Joint sponsor's household is 2 (JS and spouse of JS), they would need as a household an income of $28,500. If the JS has an income of say 15k, and spouse income is 15K, they would make 30K as a household, which would meet the requirement. This can be found on the USCIS website under Joint Sponsor: https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/affidavit-support  I would suggest checking into this with your lawyer, and then maybe approaching husband's family, it would probably need to be quick since you're running close to the deadline. I know even some government benefits can be counted as income from the joint sponsor, such as social security pensions (again, another thing to ask lawyer, depending on your situation). Just something to look into, since you only get one shot at satisfying an RFE! Hope that helps, best of luck, I know it's rough! 

To clarify...

You only need 1 qualifying joint sponsor. You cannot combine incomes or assets across sponsors.

 

I think you are referring to a household member agreement with a sponsor via an I-864A. This allows the household member to have their income/assets included with the sponsor's (primary or joint) income/assets. That said, there are a number of restrictions on an I-864A as well - namely it must be a qualified relative (spouse, sibling, son/daughter, or parent) living in the same residence as the sponsor (which is different than a household member, which may or may not live in the same residence).