break the rules?

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

Hi Everyone, 

 

Need some help and opinion. I know that you are not allowed to work under K-1 visa or while waiting for AOS. However, the past few months, I started filling up survey online. You get reward when you fill take a survey (in terms of points) with that points, you can redeem it to a gift card (such as, amazon, PayPal, Visa Prepaid and etc). I just doing on my free time. Now, my points is enough to redeem a gift card. Just wondering, is it okay for me to redeem it? Or it is considered I'm working and I break the rules of K-1 if I redeem it now? 

 

 

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

Interesting question. I'll be interested to hear opinions of those who know.

 

I know I was surprised in discovering that the cash back from credit card use was not considered income by the IRS. They treat it as discounts on purchasing. Perhaps there's something similar with gift cards earned via surveys. You might search around on the IRS.gov site and see if they classify that as income. I'm guessing that if the IRS doesn't classify it as earned income, then USCIS probably doesn't either.

[Crazy Cat 41,201]

Sounds like entertainment instead of work.

[GreatDane 366]

I would say that filling out the surveys constitutes work. There is compensation (IRS taxable - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2292014-are-gift-cards-from-rewards-sites-taxable-as-income) and they only allow a fixed number of survey applicants. By doing the survey, he/she is taking away the opportunity for another person based in the US with work authorization from earning that income.

[Villanelle 4,121]

Honestly it doesnt matter if its considered work or not. As a spouse of a USC they will not hold any unauthorized work against you. 

[Umka36 781]

It actually does matter even if the work is forgiven by marrying a US citizen in regard to work. If one wants to work right away, then go for the CR1/IR1. The K1 does not allow you to work without authorization plain and simple.

 

OP, personally I don't think what you are doing is considered work but that's just my opinion. What are the terms/condition/rules? Do they report such prize to the IRS?

[little immigrant 800]

Those surveys and gift cards aren't taxable therefore I don't think you'd get in trouble. 

[A&H2018 146]

Congrats on the first gift card as missileman said that’s entertainment . If you start doing it 24hrs a day, then buy stuff from the gift cards then sell it to neighbors. Well....

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

13 hours ago, Damara said:

Honestly it doesnt matter if its considered work or not. As a spouse of a USC they will not hold any unauthorized work against you. 

I heard about that, but I really don't want to break the rules even though they will not hold any unauthorized work against me. 

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

13 hours ago, Umka36 said:

It actually does matter even if the work is forgiven by marrying a US citizen in regard to work. If one wants to work right away, then go for the CR1/IR1. The K1 does not allow you to work without authorization plain and simple.

 

OP, personally I don't think what you are doing is considered work but that's just my opinion. What are the terms/condition/rules? Do they report such prize to the IRS?

Nope, they didn't report such prize to the IRS. When I registered before, they only need my email. Nothing more than that. If I want to redeem the prize to Amazon or Walmart card, they will just send it through email. 

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

8 hours ago, A&H2018 said:

Congrats on the first gift card as missileman said that’s entertainment . If you start doing it 24hrs a day, then buy stuff from the gift cards then sell it to neighbors. Well....

Nope, not doing it 24 hours. I just doing it on my free time. I started doing it since April until now, and currently I can only redeem to $100 PayPal. I guess basically I do it whenever I feel like I want to do it or when I get bored. 

12 hours ago, little immigrant said:

Those surveys and gift cards aren't taxable therefore I don't think you'd get in trouble. 

Awesome! Thank you so much! ☺️

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

14 hours ago, GreatDane said:

I would say that filling out the surveys constitutes work. There is compensation (IRS taxable - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2292014-are-gift-cards-from-rewards-sites-taxable-as-income) and they only allow a fixed number of survey applicants. By doing the survey, he/she is taking away the opportunity for another person based in the US with work authorization from earning that income.

I click on that link and I see this

 

”Since you did not receive any tax documents, the IRS is not expecting you to report any income from this. Once you do the math and deduct your expenses, you might have a loss.

Personally, I would not bother reporting this unless this is how you earn a living. The IRS is not expecting you to report gross receipts and you probably don't have income once the expenses are considered. I would not report a loss because the IRS is likely to disallow this as a hobby loss."

 

Agree that it is basically loss. so far from April until now, I can redeem it to $100 to my PayPal account. Furthermore I just do it during my free time and whenever I feel bored and have feel to do that.

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

15 hours ago, Russ&Caro said:

Interesting question. I'll be interested to hear opinions of those who know.

 

I know I was surprised in discovering that the cash back from credit card use was not considered income by the IRS. They treat it as discounts on purchasing. Perhaps there's something similar with gift cards earned via surveys. You might search around on the IRS.gov site and see if they classify that as income. I'm guessing that if the IRS doesn't classify it as earned income, then USCIS probably doesn't either.

I searched about it. It is considered as income if you earn your living by doing that. Personally after read others respond, I think what I'm doing is not working since I'm not doing it everyday and spend the whole day doing it. Feel relieved now! Will redeem it right away. 😁😁😁😁😁

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

15 hours ago, missileman said:

Sounds like entertainment instead of work.

Yes, I think what I'm doing entertainment too. Since I didn't do it everyday and just on my free time and whenever I feel like I want to do it. Thanks for your response! ☺️

[geowrian 22,337]

I concur that it doesn't sound like unauthorized employment. Whether or not the money is taxable or needs to be declared as income doesn't matter immigration-wise. The issue is with employment, not income.

 

I disagree that it "doesn't matter"...unauthorized activities is a violation of status whether or not they are a bar to AOS.