Remote work income from non-US company caused RFIE

[art1234 14]

3 hours ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

@art95 I do not have an answer to your original question. I am wondering, though, if this would be a good opportunity to request to expedite your EAD/AP on the basis of financial loss so that you can continue working remotely. I think it may be worth a shot.  

Wondering if there could be any bad consequences of asking expedited EAD for a wrong reason?

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

8 minutes ago, art95 said:

Wondering if there could be any bad consequences of asking expedited EAD for a wrong reason?

@art95 The agents who take the requests to expedite often times do not even ask for evidence to support your request to expedite. 
 

the way i see it - USCIS knows you’re working remotely. If they were going to take any adverse action, they would have done so already.

 

 

[HRQX 4,145]

On 7/11/2021 at 2:38 PM, Nitas_man said:

The gray area is category of visa and category of petition.

Not a gray area. INA 245(c)(2) and INA 245(c)(8) is explicitly clear. OP's I-485 won't be denied for the unauthorized work. I-130 is not needed in OP's case.

 

The reason an I-130 is needed when a couple marries after the 90th day is because INA 101(a)(15)(K)(i) requirement was not met. Totally different scenario than OP's case.

 

@art95, a properly completed (i.e. the foreign income excluded) I-864 (or I-864A) must now be submitted per 8 CFR § 213a.2(c)(1)(i)(C).

Edited August 15, 2021 by HRQX

[Nitas_man 3,100]

5 hours ago, HRQX said:

Not a gray area. INA 245(c)(2) and INA 245(c)(8) is explicitly clear. OP's I-485 won't be denied for the unauthorized work. I-130 is not needed in OP's case.

 

The reason an I-130 is needed when a couple marries after the 90th day is because INA 101(a)(15)(K)(i) requirement was not met. Totally different scenario than OP's case.

 

@art95, a properly completed (i.e. the foreign income excluded) I-864 (or I-864A) must now be submitted per 8 CFR § 213a(c)(1)(i)(C).

Hope you’re right

[arken 4,197]

The underlying fiance petition for AOS remains active as long as one gets married within 90 days of entering US on K1. Any other violations like working unauthorized or staying out of status beyond 90 days before filing AOS will be forgiven due to one being the spouse of a USC.

 

The RFE has nothing to do with OP's alleged violation for i485 processing. It's solely for accepting or not accepting OP's income for i864. USCIS isn't asking OP why he worked without proper authorization. Since OP included current income (regardless of foreign) in i864, they are saying it has to come from a legal employment and so asking him to provide work authorization if they were to accept his income.

 

The solution is OP should exclude his any income and submit a new i864. If OP's sponsor's income isn't sufficient, use assets, if still not good, get a joint sponsor.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by arken

[art1234 14]

7 hours ago, HRQX said:

Not a gray area. INA 245(c)(2) and INA 245(c)(8) is explicitly clear. OP's I-485 won't be denied for the unauthorized work. I-130 is not needed in OP's case.

 

The reason an I-130 is needed when a couple marries after the 90th day is because INA 101(a)(15)(K)(i) requirement was not met. Totally different scenario than OP's case.

 

@art95, a properly completed (i.e. the foreign income excluded) I-864 (or I-864A) must now be submitted per 8 CFR § 213a(c)(1)(i)(C).

Thanks for your input. Do you think I shouldn't send explanation on why I included my income previously? Let's just assume my remote work is illegal I would then think there's no point explaining it as it would be forgiven anyways. 

[art1234 14]

1 hour ago, arken said:

The underlying fiance petition for AOS remains active as long as one gets married within 90 days of entering US on K1. Any other violations like working unauthorized or staying out of status beyond 90 days before filing AOS will be forgiven due to one being the spouse of a USC.

 

The RFE has nothing to do with OP's alleged violation for i485 processing. It's solely for accepting or not accepting OP's income for i864. USCIS isn't asking OP why he worked without proper authorization. Since OP included current income (regardless of foreign) in i864, they are saying it has to come from a legal employment and so asking him to provide work authorization if they were to accept his income.

 

The solution is OP should exclude his any income and submit a new i864. If OP's sponsor's income isn't sufficient, use assets, if still not good, get a joint sponsor.

 

 

You make a lot of sense. If my violation would be unforgivable I'm pretty sure I would have been deported already. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

3 hours ago, art95 said:

You make a lot of sense. If my violation would be unforgivable I'm pretty sure I would have been deported already. 

Removal proceedings are not initiated until the application is denied

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

18 hours ago, art95 said:

Thanks for your input. Do you think I shouldn't send explanation on why I included my income previously? Let's just assume my remote work is illegal I would then think there's no point explaining it as it would be forgiven anyways. 

This is about the I-864 for the I-485. Your I-485 won't be denied for your remote work, it is just that your income cannot be counted on the I-864. You don't need an explanation about why you included your income, what you did or didn't do/think. You just need to answer the RFE with what they asked for because it can be denied for lack of proper sponsorship. They asked for for proof that your income could be included OR proof of assets for your spouse and of course the 12 months of bank statements they asked for. Send in the proof that your spouse meets the requirement with income and assets. If the requirement cannot be met with just assets added, then provide a joint sponsor. 

[art1234 14]

Update on this:

 

We sent a response to USCIS today with about 150 pages of bank statements pages worth of 12 months from both of our banks (should have use credit card for minor purchases 😂).

We prepared new I-864 form without my (intending immigrant’s) income and the difference between my wife’s current part time job income and minimum income requirement is exceeded 7 times with assets. So it should, theoretically, be fine. Will post and update here when and if the interview happens. 
Thank you all for inputs in the thread.

[Siggy 42]

On 7/30/2021 at 3:32 PM, art95 said:

Update on this:

 

We sent a response to USCIS today with about 150 pages of bank statements pages worth of 12 months from both of our banks (should have use credit card for minor purchases 😂).

We prepared new I-864 form without my (intending immigrant’s) income and the difference between my wife’s current part time job income and minimum income requirement is exceeded 7 times with assets. So it should, theoretically, be fine. Will post and update here when and if the interview happens. 
Thank you all for inputs in the thread.

I wish you a good luck. I have been following your thread. I had similar question. I had a option to work remotely too ( not for income) just to kill the time. 

I thought you gonna right a long letter  explaining/ asking them question about this grey area as nobody has the correct answer yet...😀

Edited August 15, 2021 by Siggy

[HRQX 4,145]

10 minutes ago, Siggy said:

I thought you gonna right a long letter  explaining/ asking them question about this grey area as nobody has the correct answer yet...😀

That would be futile since 8 CFR § 213a.1 is explicitly clear: "The “household income” may not, however, include the income of an intending immigrant, unless the intending immigrant is either the sponsor's spouse or has the same principal residence as the sponsor and the preponderance of the evidence shows that the intending immigrant's income results from the intending immigrant's lawful employment in the United States or from some other lawful source..,"

[art1234 14]

I guess it is worth updating here what happened with my case since I see people referring to this thread few times. 
 

At this point my EAD case has been approved and AOS case is waiting on interviewed to be scheduled. 
 

(Not a legal advise)

According to my ongoing experience remote is forgiven at least until the point of interview.

But certainly I was not able to use my remote work income to supply I-864 requirements. We were able to substitute the income shortcomings with our liquid assets worth well above of minimum threshold times 3 or even times 5. In my humble opinion these laws should be updated to meet 2021 standards. Back when current version of the illegal vs legal work law was written remote work was a sci-fi fantasy.