August 2020 - AOS Filers

[lgb2015 51]

5 hours ago, lgb2015 said:

Looks like I'm getting two letters from USCIS today (thanks USPS Informed Delivery!) - what's the guess it's just two requests for I-944? 😅 I'll let y'all know.

So I got 2 identical RFE letters today asking for I-944. Letter is dated November 9th, and I have until February 4th 2021 to respond. I plan on having in the mail tomorrow though! 

[houyuanpingguoshu 7]

Hi all, I receive the letter today and it is for 944.

[GetOutside 164]

I have 2 questions for everyone that I never really got clarification for while I was working on the i944 over the summer:

 

1) I have a year long travel insurance plan that expires March 2021. Will this suffice for “health insurance” I944 requirement? I have a full time job lined up with benefits for whenever I get my EAD. It seems silly to get a short term insurance plan before I start working at my job. (I don’t even know if it’s possible to get a short term plan here. Health insurance in this country seriously confuses me, I have a hard time comprehending it all.)

 

2) do I need to send in my foreign tax return from this year? The directions state to send foreign tax returns- correct? Just curious why some people on here say they only send US tax return. This confuses me. 

[AM_2020 20]

Sent off my I-944 form to NBC, it was delivered today. Now I’m waiting to see how long the status will take to update to “Received RFIE”.

[partyintheUSA 86]

18 minutes ago, GetOutside said:

I have 2 questions for everyone that I never really got clarification for while I was working on the i944 over the summer:

 

1) I have a year long travel insurance plan that expires March 2021. Will this suffice for “health insurance” I944 requirement? I have a full time job lined up with benefits for whenever I get my EAD. It seems silly to get a short term insurance plan before I start working at my job. (I don’t even know if it’s possible to get a short term plan here. Health insurance in this country seriously confuses me, I have a hard time comprehending it all.)

 

2) do I need to send in my foreign tax return from this year? The directions state to send foreign tax returns- correct? Just curious why some people on here say they only send US tax return. This confuses me. 

1. My wife said the exact same thing about Health insurance, you are definitely not alone!

 

The more your travel insurance looks like a "traditional" US plan (will get to what that means in a second), the more likely it is to make the USCIS count it positively, but it's tough to give a guarantee. 

 

Do you pay a monthly fee, and is there a clear list of benefits/what is covered? Critically, is there a limit to your coverage under the plan? Basically USCIS wants to make sure that if some kind of event occurs that requires you to pay substantial $ in medical bills, that it will not bankrupt you and taxpayers will not have to cover your treatment. Whether your travel insurance will satisfy them is borderline. If the plan only covers a small portion of costs, probably not that helpful to your case.

 

You can sign up for a plan to carry you from now until you receive your benefits via the "Healthcare Marketplace" https://www.healthcare.gov/  This marketplace was established when it was decided that every American needed access to a certain base level of insurance, and whatever plan you pick from here is almost sure to give the USCIS officer reviewing your file a positive mark for the insurance section.

 

If the temporary expense isn't a problem (these plans are more expensive than you will pay for coverage through your employer), I'd consider it. Normally there are all sorts of rules about when you can actually enroll in one of these plans, but we happen to be in the annual "open enrollment" window (until December 15th), so you're automatically eligible and don't need to worry about "qualifying events" or anything like that. I believe coverage is billed monthly, and you can cancel at any time. Honestly, given how insane even the most routine medical costs can be in this country + the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic, signing up may not be the worst decision you've ever made!

 

For 2., this is the requirement for submitting a foreign tax transcript, from https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-944instr-pc.pdf : 

 

Quote

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.

The "if" language doesn't apply to everyone -- those people are only instructed to send US transcripts. 

 

11 minutes ago, Amw_2020 said:

Sent off my I-944 form to NBC, it was delivered today. Now I’m waiting to see how long the status will take to update to “Received RFIE”.

 

Hopefully soon!

 

Ours was delivered by FedEx and signed for by R. Shannon yesterday (11/17) morning. This morning our USCIS account updated to show: 

 

On November 18, 2020, we received your response to our Request for Evidence for your Form I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR ADJUST STATUS, Receipt Number XXX. USCIS has begun working on your case again. We will send you a decision or notify you if we need something from you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
 

Was very surprised. Someone who submitted in October took over two weeks to see their status change. 

[AM_2020 20]

1 minute ago, partyintheUSA said:

Hopefully soon!

 

Ours was delivered by FedEx and signed for by R. Shannon yesterday (11/17) morning. This morning our USCIS account updated to show: 

 

On November 18, 2020, we received your response to our Request for Evidence for your Form I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR ADJUST STATUS, Receipt Number XXX. USCIS has begun working on your case again. We will send you a decision or notify you if we need something from you. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.
 

Was very surprised. Someone who submitted in October took over two weeks to see their status change. 

Wow that was very quick !

[Toby_HB 39]

I was going to submit my i-944 without medical insurance, while I know it's going to be a negative I don't believe I'm going to be rejected since I haven't used any public assistance or anything and my credit score is good, etc. BUT since it's open enrollment I guess I may as well, looking MarketPlace seems super intimidating. Since my spouse is on a grandfathered plan where she pays very little, I'm going to just need it for myself. For anyone not on their spouses plan around how much are you paying a month for Medical Insurance, I am also unemployed obviously. 

 

 

 

[mogiftney 144]

33 minutes ago, Toby_HB said:

I was going to submit my i-944 without medical insurance, while I know it's going to be a negative I don't believe I'm going to be rejected since I haven't used any public assistance or anything and my credit score is good, etc. BUT since it's open enrollment I guess I may as well, looking MarketPlace seems super intimidating. Since my spouse is on a grandfathered plan where she pays very little, I'm going to just need it for myself. For anyone not on their spouses plan around how much are you paying a month for Medical Insurance, I am also unemployed obviously. 

 

 

 

My wife is also uninsured but about to get health insurance of her own, we’re in Southern California and anthem blue cross is looking like good cheap catastrophic coverage. I think it’s around 155 dollars a month with cheap options for vision and dental ~20 bucks a month for both on top of the 155 if you’re interested in that too. I think it’s non subsidized too which I believe is a heavily weighted positive factor. 
 

I think kaiser permanente is another company with similar catastrophic coverage but it’s like 20 dollars more than anthem blue cross. 

Edited November 18, 2020 by mogiftney

[partyintheUSA 86]

4 minutes ago, mogiftney said:

I think it’s non subsidized too which I believe is a heavily weighted positive factor. 

Correct, not being subsidized is part of the determination of whether the insurance coverage is a "heavily" positive factor, instead of just "positive".@GetOutside and @Toby_HB I should have flagged this as one thing to watch for if selecting a plan from the marketplace. 

 

Quote

Having private health insurance^[55] is a strong indicator of self-sufficiency.^[56] Therefore, having private health insurance is a heavily weighted positive factor in favor of a finding that the alien is not likely to become a public charge.

USCIS considers having private health insurance a heavily weighted positive factor if:

• The private health insurance is appropriate for the expected period of admission;^[57] and

• The alien is not receiving subsidies in the form of premium tax credits under the ACA, as amended, for this private health insurance.

Insurance obtained from a private health insurance provider through the ACA marketplace is considered private health insurance for the purpose of this heavily weighted factor if the alien does not receive premium tax credits under the ACA.^[58]

 

As far as appropriateness and guidance for evaluating health insurance plans, USCIS says the following: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-8-part-g-chapter-9#S-A-4

 

Quote

Not all health insurance programs plans provide for adequate coverage. An officer should generally consider whether a plan meets the requirements under the Affordable Care Act in limiting cost-sharing, including deductible, copayments, and out of pocket maximum amounts.^[25] The health insurance Summary of Benefits and Coverage^[26] should provide sufficient information of the costs and coverage of the insurance. A health insurance with a high deductible or other cost-sharing costs would carry less positive weight in the totality of the circumstances consideration.

Generally, the following plans do not provide adequate coverage for reasonable foreseeable medical costs:^[27]

• Plans that only provide for vision and dental care;

• Worker’s compensation;

• Plans that only provide for specific diseases or conditions; and

• Plans that only provide for discounts on medical services.

Lack of health insurance is a negative factor in the totality of the circumstances. Officers must not speculate as to the cost of an applicant’s medical conditions. In addition, officers must not speculate as to what medical conditions a person may be diagnosed with in the future. For example, an officer must not assume that a person will need long term care or institutionalization with increasing age.

 

So if you can financially afford it, I would strongly consider obtaining marketplace insurance, because there's no telling how USCIS is going to decide these cases, e.g. they haven't said anything like "we'll approve applications that have less than X number of negative factors". It's up to the IO. 

 

[DanCode7703 20]

Guys,

 

Any comments about this?

I admit that I don't take a deep look yet, but if you guys have already known about it, please share with us!
Thanks.
 

 

 

 

 

[partyintheUSA 86]

8 minutes ago, DanCode7703 said:

Guys,

 

Any comments about this?

I admit that I don't take a deep look yet, but if you guys have already known about it, please share with us!
Thanks.
 

 

There isn’t much new information here, the general summary is that there are no guarantees for anyone, and no calculations or formulas that they apply to cases. At the end of the day it’s up to the officer to determine whether to approve your application or not based on what they find in the entire application. If your application has no negative factors, or if the officer finds the positive factors outweigh the negative, and you are eligible to adjust, they will generally approve. If they find the negative factors outweigh the positive, they must deny. 

[DanCode7703 20]

Thanks for sharing!

That's extremely concerning.

I can imagine how many cases will be denied for nothing, not reason at all.

 

[AM_2020 20]

22 hours ago, Amw_2020 said:

Sent off my I-944 form to NBC, it was delivered today. Now I’m waiting to see how long the status will take to update to “Received RFIE”.

Update:
My status updated today to “Received” and that they began working on case again. 

[partyintheUSA 86]

1 hour ago, Amw_2020 said:

Update:
My status updated today to “Received” and that they began working on case again. 

Awesome, looks like they're processing within 1 day. Did you send via USPS or courier? (To the PO Box or the other address? There were different processing times for both locations in the past for the Chicago lockbox, curious if it's the same here.)

 

 

1 hour ago, DanCode7703 said:

Thanks for sharing!

That's extremely concerning.

I can imagine how many cases will be denied for nothing, not reason at all.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about getting rejected for no reason. They expressly cannot deny for NO reason. That would be an "arbitrary" denial and they are not allowed to do that. Nor can they be inconsistent, so they can't approve 1 application on Day 1 and then reject someone for the same reason on Day 2.

 

Quote

The exercise of discretion does not mean the decision can be arbitrary, inconsistent, or dependent on intangible or imagined circumstances. At the same time, the exercise of discretion does not involve a calculation or bright line test that is outcome determinative.

 

But they do have freedom ("discretion") to decide that factors that you or I may consider to be not that big a deal are so negative that the application is rejected. I don't think this release should change anything for anybody -- all we can really do is submit the best applications we can and then it's in their hands.

[AM_2020 20]

42 minutes ago, partyintheUSA said:

Awesome, looks like they're processing within 1 day. Did you send via USPS or courier? (To the PO Box or the other address? There were different processing times for both locations in the past for the Chicago lockbox, curious if it's the same here.)

USPS Priority Mail (Regular Mail), so the P.O. Box address.