Questions about I-944

[Fr8dog 312]

needless to say, I did not have to deal with this stuff but a quick scan of the instructions https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-944instr-pc.pdf?download=1 gave me this for the tax return part:

 

If you are filing Form I-944 between January 1 and April 15 of any year, and you and/or your household members have
not yet filed the current year’s federal income tax return, submit IRS transcripts for the most recent tax year. At the time
of interview on your application, an officer may request the tax return transcripts for the current tax year. Submit any tax
transcripts for any income taxes that you or your household members filed with any foreign government if you or your
household members were residing outside of the United States during any time within the most recent tax year and you
were not required to file a federal individual income tax return with the United States government.

page 6 of 15

 

Credit score:

Item Numbers 11. - 12. Credit Card Score and Report. USCIS will review your U.S. credit report and the credit score
submitted with your declaration, if available, to review your financial status. If it is available, identify the latest credit
score number.
You can obtain a free credit report once a year under the Fair Credit Reporting Act from each one of the three credit
reporting agencies. You are only required to provide one credit report from any of the three nationwide credit reporting
agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. See https://www.usa.gov/credit-reports for more information. If there
are any errors in the credit report, you should provide evidence from the credit reporting agency that demonstrates that
you reported the error and that the error is under investigation or has been resolved.
If you have any negative history in your credit report, you may provide an explanation in the designated area of this
form. Negative credit history may include delinquent accounts, debt collections, charge-offs (delinquent accounts deemed
unlikely to be collected), repossession, foreclosure, judgments, tax liens, or bankruptcy on your credit report.
If you do not have a credit report or credit score, provide documentation that demonstrates that you do not have a credit
report or score with a credit bureau. You may provide evidence of continued payment of bills if there is no credit report or
credit score.

page 7 of 15

 

The may in the last sentence to me means you can, if you want to, but it's not required. And than I'm assuming it is going to be one of those things you want to do if you don't have a lot of other stuff to show you are making money.

 

Edit:

As with all government forms, read the instructions and fill in/provide what is requested. Assumptions and guessing are never a good thing with these forms.

 

in general:

may: indicates you are allowed but it is not required.

must: indicates that it is required

should: indicates that it is expected but for some reason they cannot say must. (treat it as a must)

if available: indicates that you include it if you can get it, but if you cannot get it than that's ok to.

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Fr8dog

[J&S12 295]

9 hours ago, kec523 said:

The form doesn't ask for the credit info for the USC, but it does want detailed information about their assets and financial resources.  

That’s good to know. The instructions and questions on the form aren’t very clear. 

[kec523 256]

2 hours ago, J&S12 said:

That’s good to know. The instructions and questions on the form aren’t very clear. 

I know what you mean! I'm on about my 10th reading or so and finally feel like I'm starting to really understand it! 

[J&S12 295]

1 minute ago, kec523 said:

I know what you mean! I'm on about my 10th reading or so and finally feel like I'm starting to really understand it! 

I’m glad someone is understanding it!

[Jessica58789 0]

Hi, guys,  here have a question from I-485 see below, don't know what to do, someone in this site said that K-1 Filers are not exempt.  It is for refugees and people filing under other special circumstances.  does anyone have any idea? 

[Jessica58789 0]

HI, guys, I read I-944 instr as below

So in I-485 Form as below, we should select " YES" right?

[Sbrisa 41]

On 2/24/2020 at 10:55 PM, LBee1592 said:

I know I am no help at all with my reply but I just wanted to say that this topic is so relatable to me. I can't wait for answers too. It's stressful because since it's new we basically won't know what mistakes to avoid until some of us make the mistakes unfortunately.

 

A lot of the questions concern items that require to have a SSN and since some of us don't have one yet, it will be hard to provide evidence. 

I can assure you that even having the SSN dosn't make things better unfortunately. I got mine a couple weeks ago, but I can't get a credit report & score cause every credit bureau's free check I tried (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) gives me an error even after putting my entire SSN. Me and my husband contacted Equifax by calling them and the lady was very polite, so she suggested we send an e-mail to Equifax requesting a document that declares I don't have a credit score, cause that's what USCIS wants in the end, but they haven't answered yet and she said it could take weeks that we DO NOT HAVE.
My I-94/status expires next week, so me and my husband would like to send the whole AOS application by this coming friday, but we are missing this stupid credit score thing. I haven't cried as much in a while as I did last week.
Sorry about venting but I think you can understand the level of frustration we are facing 😔. I feel like we are USCIS's new cavies and obviously nobody can help us cause we are the first applicants that will have to face this enormous change.

[Sbrisa 41]

On 2/29/2020 at 1:26 AM, Jessica58789 said:

Hi, guys,  here have a question from I-485 see below, don't know what to do, someone in this site said that K-1 Filers are not exempt.  It is for refugees and people filing under other special circumstances.  does anyone have any idea? 

Nope, we K-1 are NOT exempt unfortunately. You will have to submit the I-944 so you have to check "no".

[Jessica58789 0]

Thank you very much

[Jessica58789 0]

I will also face the same problem for credit report, I haven't get my SSN yet. And the evidence of language certifications, I can speak English, not as fluent as English native language speakers, I never take a test for English certification, I also don't  have certification for my own  native language, because school never issue one for us. there are nothing I can do for this.

[kec523 256]

On 3/1/2020 at 8:24 PM, Sbrisa said:

I can assure you that even having the SSN dosn't make things better unfortunately. I got mine a couple weeks ago, but I can't get a credit report & score cause every credit bureau's free check I tried (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) gives me an error even after putting my entire SSN. Me and my husband contacted Equifax by calling them and the lady was very polite, so she suggested we send an e-mail to Equifax requesting a document that declares I don't have a credit score, cause that's what USCIS wants in the end, but they haven't answered yet and she said it could take weeks that we DO NOT HAVE.
My I-94/status expires next week, so me and my husband would like to send the whole AOS application by this coming friday, but we are missing this stupid credit score thing. I haven't cried as much in a while as I did last week.
Sorry about venting but I think you can understand the level of frustration we are facing 😔. I feel like we are USCIS's new cavies and obviously nobody can help us cause we are the first applicants that will have to face this enormous change.

I'm so sorry, and totally understand, its very stressful.  I sent in the paper form by mail last week, but I am concerned about how long it might take to come back/if it comes back at all.  I have come to the conclusion that I am going to send in my application with a letter explaining that there is no available card along with all of the error messages that I screenshotted and will print.  Then, I am just going to expect we might get an RFE, and if we do, hopefully by then a credit score will be in place and/or I will have gotten some sort of written response from the companies.  And maybe an RFE will not happen! 

 

This is not sound advice, just my way of dealing with it because I do not want to delay submitting.  

 

Edited to add: if it works, then it can become sound advice for others! : ) 

Edited March 3, 2020 by kec523

[Laura Aisha 1]

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and I see that we are all feeling nervous about this  I-944 form 😤.  My now husband came here on Feb 3rd on a K-1 visa,  we got married March 3rd and are now ready to submit the AOS forms, but I am  stressing about the credit reports and score for him since he does not even have a SSI yet. Also this question about showing English proficiency, I mean he speaks 6 languages, but never went to school to study them, he just learn them on his own. I really hope USCIS rethinks about having K-1 visa applicants submit this form during the AOS process, nothing in this form applies to him/us. Well just wanted to share a little about how I am feeling. Good luck to all of us the will be dealing with this in the next coming months. 

[Klugscheißer 183]

Just a short note:

 

I sent a letter explaining the situation with the new form and the application to request a credit report circa 3 weeks ago by mail. I sent it as a registered letter from Germany, but put my future address as sender and also told them I don't live there yet.

My fiancé told me today that he received an answer from them today. They sent a letter stating that no credit score exists for me.

 

Maybe that information helps some of you 😆

[Jessica58789 0]

Hi, MalinRonja, 

 

Might I ask who you contact with? can you share the contact information and emails? I enter US already one month, now waiting SSN, don't know how to get the evidence to prove that I don't have credit score also. Thanks.

[Klugscheißer 183]

5 hours ago, Jessica58789 said:

Hi, MalinRonja, 

 

Might I ask who you contact with? can you share the contact information and emails? I enter US already one month, now waiting SSN, don't know how to get the evidence to prove that I don't have credit score also. Thanks.

Yes, sure 😊

I found this website:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/gettingReports.action

And I used the pdf file and wrote a cover letter explaining the new form and requirements and also quoted the part from the instructions about the credit report. And thrn simply asked them if they can send me proof that they don't have any records about me.