Documents accepted but further 1099s needed?

[EM_AA_032020 2]

Hey all! We have been patiently waiting for our NVC docs to be reviewed and just got a few messages all at once! 

 

The first says: 

 

This case does not meet the minimum income requirement to sponsor the intending immigrants. To avoid delays, an additional Affidavit of Support Form I-864 from a joint sponsor may be submitted. For more information visit https://nvc.state.gov/aos. The consular officer will make a decision regarding this requirement at the time of the interview.

 

The second says: 

Please submit every 2020 W-2/1099 form .

 

I assume this is because I qualified as a financial sponsor using assets rather than income - unfortunately, I currently live abroad, so my income cannot be counted. I am certain my assets qualify, and I assume they just need my 1099s for the various accounts. Does that sound right? I'm confused because I do qualify based solely on assets. 

 

I'm also confused because all of our affidavit of support and financial evidence documents have been accepted as well. Does accepted not mean that they have been approved? I'm also a bit thrown by the mention of the consular officer - will this just go ahead to the embassy, and be further reviewed there? 

 

Like everyone else, we've been waiting for ages and I would hate for this to get delayed any more than it already has.

 

Any insight would be helpful - I could get a joint sponsor, but it seems unnecessary, all things considered.

[JeanneAdil 6,510]

1099 is for self employment /  is this the case

1099 R is retirement and that income would continue when living in the US

 

for assets did u have property that can be easily liquidated within a year that is not your primary residence?

if house did u include quailifed appraisal of the property and statement saying any mortgage held on it?

or use savings, etc

 

 

[EM_AA_032020 2]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

1099 is for self employment /  is this the case

1099 R is retirement and that income would continue when living in the US

 

for assets did u have property that can be easily liquidated within a year that is not your primary residence?

if house did u include quailifed appraisal of the property and statement saying any mortgage held on it?

or use savings, etc

 

 

Hi Jeanne,

 

Apologies for not being more detailed! The assets are a savings account, an investment account, and a checking account, so it would be a 1099-INT and a 1099-DIV. I understand that investments can be used, and in this case it's an index fund, so not terribly unstable, but the majority comes from the savings anyways (over 80%), so I would think it isn't an issue. 

 

It's quite annoying - I live in the same country as my spouse, and we both have been employed, full time, in careers that are easily transferable to the US (we are also in the UK, so English-speaking). We have a place to live rent-free upon arrival (confirmed in a letter!), and really there's no reason to think we won't be able to find employment relatively soon!

[Saqib-s 188]

We initially wanted to use our assests to avoid having to ask someone to be a joint sponsor, but our attorney advised us against it. He said that the NVC are trained to look for income primarily and making a case based on assets can be difficult, the assets have to be way over the threshold, note that Assests in the beneficiary and sponsors names are counted differently (factor of 3 compared to 5). He advised us to use a joint sponsor as it would be the quickest route through this stage. 
 

With the NVC taking 63+ days each time to review documents you should consider getting some expert advice, or advice from the NVC about why your case does not meet the requirement and then submit. Sorry I can't be of more help. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

12 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

 

I assume this is because I qualified as a financial sponsor using assets rather than income - unfortunately, I currently live abroad, so my income cannot be counted. I am certain my assets qualify, and I assume they just need my 1099s for the various accounts. Does that sound right? I'm confused because I do qualify based solely on assets. 

May I ask a few more things?

1. Did you provide a photocopy of your  2020 tax return?  OR was it an IRS tax return transcript of your 2020 return?
2. Did you report the interest and dividend income, capital gains, etc as shown on your 1099’’s on the 2020 return.
3. DId you report your foreign salary in Section 6, even thought it won’t count for the I-864?
4. Did you provide financial statements that proved your investment balances reported on Form I-864 section 7. 
5. Does your Section 7, #10 (total assets exceed 3 times the poverty level for your household?

 

 

[EM_AA_032020 2]

13 hours ago, Saqib-s said:

We initially wanted to use our assests to avoid having to ask someone to be a joint sponsor, but our attorney advised us against it. He said that the NVC are trained to look for income primarily and making a case based on assets can be difficult, the assets have to be way over the threshold, note that Assests in the beneficiary and sponsors names are counted differently (factor of 3 compared to 5). He advised us to use a joint sponsor as it would be the quickest route through this stage. 
 

With the NVC taking 63+ days each time to review documents you should consider getting some expert advice, or advice from the NVC about why your case does not meet the requirement and then submit. Sorry I can't be of more help. 

Hi Saqib - thanks so much for the explanation! The sad thing is, we actually have had a lawyer through the whole process, who did not flag that this could be an issue. After emailing this morning, they have now said that consulates don't like seeing just assets. I'm very frustrated with them - I also think they should have asked for the 1099s before. 

[EM_AA_032020 2]

6 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

May I ask a few more things?

1. Did you provide a photocopy of your  2020 tax return?  OR was it an IRS tax return transcript of your 2020 return?
2. Did you report the interest and dividend income, capital gains, etc as shown on your 1099’’s on the 2020 return.
3. DId you report your foreign salary in Section 6, even thought it won’t count for the I-864?
4. Did you provide financial statements that proved your investment balances reported on Form I-864 section 7. 
5. Does your Section 7, #10 (total assets exceed 3 times the poverty level for your household?

 

 

Thanks for responding!

 

1. I believe we included a photocopy, as it hadn't been accepted yet at the time we uploaded this info!

2. Yes, all was reported, and has been for the past 4 years.

3. No, I only reported income from interest earned in the US.

4. Yes, I was told by lawyers to include the past 3 months.

5.  Yes - I thought it had to be 5 times more though? I am at about 6x the poverty level for our household.

[EM_AA_032020 2]

Upon further reading in the forum, it seems like this type of message isn't uncommon for those trying to qualify through assets, and that they may be DQ'd anyways. However, we have not received a DQ message - I assume it is the 1099s holding it up? Our lawyer has suggested just going ahead and adding the joint sponsor, which is fine, but very frustrating, as I understand it will take us back to the end of the NVC line. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

3 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

I believe we included a photocopy, as it hadn't been accepted yet at the time we uploaded this info!

Makes sense. The blokes at NVC are not tax return geniuses. If they get a photocopy of the return, they are expecting a W2 or 1099 wage statement from an employer with it. You don’t have one because your US spouse works in the UK. That didn’t click with them. Your dividend and interest 1099s aren’t wage statements so don’t solve what they asked for.

 

3 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

 ✅Yes, all was reported, and has been for the past 4 years.

Great. More to add to this farther down.

 

3 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

 ✅No, I only reported income from interest earned in the US.

 

3 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

 ✅Yes, I was told by lawyers to include the past 3 months.

 

3 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

✅Yes - I thought it had to be 5 times more though? I am at about 6x the poverty level for our household.

From I-864 instructions:

Item Number 10. Total Value of Assets. In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the total value of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and the current Federal Poverty Guidelines for your household size. However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or child age 18 years of age or older, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference.

You have enough to sponsor and don’t need a joint sponsor. There’s two possibilities here. Your wife can respond (as the one submitting the I-864) something along these lines. —-
1) I am not qualifying as a sponsor of my spouse John E. Smith based on income. I am not employed by a US employer and have no W2 or 1099 wage statements to provide you as requested.  An IRS transcript is not available yet due to processing backlogs at the IRS. My return is sufficient for the IRS without employer wage statements. Foreign earned income is self reported to the IRS and requires no supporting wage documentation. 
I am sponsoring my spouse based on assets for which I have already provided documents to support Section 7, item #10. My total assets far exceed the minimum 3 times threshold needed with no employment income. I am requesting that you approve my I-864 as submitted and qualify it to be sent to London where the consular officer will evaluate it as sufficient. 
 

2) The other approach I wanted to mention is your dividends and interest should show up as income on your tax return because you can’t excluded them like you can foreign wages. Look at your form 1040. Line 9 is called “Total Income”. It would contain your investment income. If it happens to exceed your sponsorship threshold (around 20k for two people) then you theoretically have enough income to sponsor. You would need to provide copies of your 1099-INTS and -DIVs to support that approach and structure the wife’s letter to say you have enough unearned income to sponsor. And because often investment income varies, previous tax transcript would be useful to show you have enough investment income three years running that is over the poverty guidelines threshold.

 

I think the first method is the easier to explain to a tax novice at NVC.