additional sponsor document

[OlesiaS 0]

Maybe someone had the problem of sponsorship documents?  We have received a request for additional documents.  USCIS wrote that there was not enough money and needed an additional sponsor.  My husband works for himself.  Income for the past year is not large.  But he has his own savings.  And there are enough of them to be a sponsor.  But USCIS asked for another sponsor.  We do not understand why.  And what do we do.  Maybe go to their office and clarify the situation? Or maybe they missed something?

[geowrian 22,337]

The IO makes a public charge determination based upon a totality of the circumstances.

Assets for the spouse of a USC are counted at 1/3 that of income.

 

What exactly does the RFE say?

What exactly was submitted with the I-864 packet, including  supporting documentation?

What are the income and assets being claimed?

[OlesiaS 0]

income over the past year is not large. We showed it. And personal savings  exceeding three times the minimum.

But for 2019, we did not submit any documents.  Because they are not yet. Also, we did not write a cover letter.  Maybe it was our mistake

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove attachment containing personal information

[OlesiaS 0]

In general, the situation is rather strange.  I took biometrics two months ago.  And recently I received this letter.  It looks as if they were not looking at all the papers.  And they estimated income only by the last year filed

[geowrian 22,337]

3 hours ago, OlesiaS said:

income over the past year is not large. We showed it. And personal savings  exceeding three times the minimum.

But for 2019, we did not submit any documents.  Because they are not yet. Also, we did not write a cover letter.  Maybe it was our mistake

I requested that a mod remove the un-redacted attachments. This is a very public website and your personal info (i.e. name) is on there.

 

Specifically, the RFE says that the (net value of) assets do not make up the difference between the sponsor's income and the poverty line.

How much in assets was claimed (ballpark figure)? What evidence of those asserts was included (i.e. bank statements? how many and how long)?

 

What was their income on the 2018 tax return (since they appear to be self-employed, this is where their income comes from). For 2018, this is line 6 on the 1040.

It's not uncommon for somebody who is self-employed to have a lot of write-offs, making this number very low, or even negative.

 

The lack of a cover letter shouldn't be the cause, but it is possible they overlooked something and having a cover letter indicates that it should actually be there.

Either way, provide a cover with your response.

 

3 hours ago, OlesiaS said:

In general, the situation is rather strange.  I took biometrics two months ago.  And recently I received this letter.  It looks as if they were not looking at all the papers.  And they estimated income only by the last year filed

What's strange about that? That is the norm from my understanding.

When you initially file, they only do a very basic check to ensure that you are eligible to file - you have an underlying petition for the AOS basis, all papers are signed, payment is correct, etc. They do not look at or review the actual eligibility of the applicant at that time.

Then they schedule the biometrics to do background checks. This is necessary before they can process the I-485, or any dependent applications (like the I-131 and I-765).

At some point later, they do an initial review of the I-485 to ensure necessary paperwork is provided, the I-864 is sufficient, etc. This is done before they adjudicate the I-131 or I-765, and generally before they put you I-485 in line for an interview.

Edited February 10, 2020 by geowrian

[geowrian 22,337]

17 hours ago, OlesiaS said:

And they estimated income only by the last year filed

Sorry, missed this...

 

That is correct. He is self-employed. Anything he earns within the year is revenue, not income.

[OlesiaS 0]

we can write a cover letter and provide copies of documents from the bank about the amount in the account.  The amount of three times or more exceeds $ 21,000.

And what is better to do.  Send a letter with documents or make an appointment at the office and bring documents there? 

[geowrian 22,337]

I'd suggest bank statements going back 12 months to show that the assets are stable and really his own (people have been known to ask for money from friends/family, or take out loans, just to meet I-864 requirements then returning it).

 

You can try to make an appointment, but they typically will not do so for this sort of purpose. They are prohibited from providing legal advice. They also stopped Infopass scheduling, so any request for an appointment has to be scheduled via phone and meet their criteria.

No harm in trying. I'm just personally doubtful of getting an appointment or of them being of any use if you did get one.

 

At the end of it, there are really 2 ways to respond to the RFE:

1) Assume they incorrectly interpreted the income/assets. This would be resolved by re-sending with a cover page, more evidence of assets, etc. Make sure the packet is complete with all paperwork.

2) Find a joint sponsor and submit an I-864 packet for them.

 

The risk of #1 is USCIS typically (but not always) does not issue an RFE for a stated reason more than once.  So if the issue is they don't believe the net value of the assets are sufficient (sufficient does not necessarily just mean above the minimum), there is the possibility that they deny AOS. At that point you would have to refile from scratch.

[OlesiaS 0]

Thanks!  You help me a lot with your advice.

But what  if we made a mistake?  We filled out the form with all the amounts correctly.  I did read this many times. But We did not provide evidence.  Will this be taken into account?  I'm already starting to doubt myself.  Maybe we missed something and didn’t put it in an envelope🤔

[OlesiaS 0]

"refile from scratch" - Do you mean to submit all documents again and make a new payment?😕

[OlesiaS 0]

Sorry, one more question .  We have only one attempt to send documents, or until April, as indicated in the letter, can we send something yet? unfortunately I can’t find information on how to do it correctly, if you need to send some documents. 

Thanks!

[arken 4,197]

You submit in one package not multiple but can submit anytime before the due date.

 

You may wanna list here what you are planning to send so you get a good opinion on whether that will suffice.

[geowrian 22,337]

21 hours ago, OlesiaS said:

Thanks!  You help me a lot with your advice.

But what  if we made a mistake?  We filled out the form with all the amounts correctly.  I did read this many times. But We did not provide evidence.  Will this be taken into account?  I'm already starting to doubt myself.  Maybe we missed something and didn’t put it in an envelope🤔

That is the big issue with the RFEs for the I-864 - they tend to be pretty generic and therefore not easy to identify the actual cause.

If the cause was documentation, then just sending the documentation fixes it.

If the cause was a determination that the assets were actually insufficient, then a joint sponsor (or change in income.assets) is necessary.

 

21 hours ago, OlesiaS said:

"refile from scratch" - Do you mean to submit all documents again and make a new payment?😕

Correct. It would be an entirely new I-485 packet, including payment.

 

57 minutes ago, OlesiaS said:

Sorry, one more question .  We have only one attempt to send documents, or until April, as indicated in the letter, can we send something yet? unfortunately I can’t find information on how to do it correctly, if you need to send some documents. 

Thanks!

You can only respond to a given RFE once.

[OlesiaS 0]

Thank you very much!  You helped me a lot!