Confusion regarding self-employed fiancee and work permits

[Rocio0010 5,579]

11 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

I want to give her all the information so she can make a decision on her own

Here is the link for unauthorized work and adjustment of status. This is where you should get all your information Policy manual

12 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

Do you know what the risk is then

I am afraid I can’t comment on something that is unauthorized. Your best bet is to study the policy manual that I just linked, and make a decision. I personally wouldn’t risk it.

[Ayrton 965]

1 hour ago, mattUsUkr said:

I'd like to clarify from my last post - It does sound like you're not supposed to work remotely while waiting for the EAD...but I know people get away with it, while still reporting during the AOS process that they did work for some time. I don't know if that's because immigration officers consider the laws antiquated, luck, a combination of both, etc. I'm trying to understand is there a risk of not getting the green card, or do the problems lie afterward the IRS, or something else.

The answer is no for immigration. There's no risk of having the GC rejected because illegal work for spouses of USC is forgiven. Your spouse must tell the truth and say that they're working without authorization on the forms and if questioned.

 

For taxes, as a US person, your spouse must declare all the income she has and pay taxes on the money she's making. It doesn't matter where the money is coming from (some foreign income could be exempt, but your spouse wouldn't qualify since they're not living outside of the US). If it's for a foreign company, the company needs to follow some rules with IRS to make sure they're paying all their taxes.

 

And just to show that it's illegal do work without authorization for a foreign company. There are a couple of cases here where the immigrant wanted to use the foreign remote income as part of the 864, and USCIS sent RFEs asking for proof of their work authorization so the income could be used.

Edited November 25, 2021 by Ayrton

[Rocio0010 5,579]

8 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

There are a couple of cases here where the immigrant wanted to use the foreign remote income as part of the 864, and USCIS sent RFEs asking for proof of their work authorization so the income could be used.

Exactly. There was actually a post not long ago about an applicant in this exact same situation: he thought he was authorized to work remotely, and counted his income as part of the i864. Long story short, last thing I know USCIS sent a RFE for proof of employment -and he would have to disclose his remote work. This was recent, so I’m not sure if we know the outcome yet. I’ll try and see if I can find the post.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

Found it! 

 

[TBoneTX 45,321]

This in-thread warning is to adhere to the site's Terms of Service in regard to following all immigration laws as if your status depends on it, which it does.  Thanks to several participants here for clarifying the proper way to proceed.

 

VJ Moderation

[art1234 14]

6 hours ago, ra0010 said:

Found it! 

 

Situation update from the OP if anyone’s interested… they’re printing my new EAD card right now - means it was approved and the main AOS case is ready for interview to be scheduled. So, as much as it is not an legal advise, it doesn’t seem to cause any big problems at least until interview. Let’s see what happens in the interview. But like I kept mentioning it in other posts if they had seen an issue with remote work I’d be typing this from Europe already. You most certainly cannot include the income from remote work in I-864 so worth keeping that in mind. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

10 minutes ago, art95 said:

Situation update from the OP if anyone’s interested… they’re printing my new EAD card right now - means it was approved and the main AOS case is ready for interview to be scheduled. So, as much as it is not an legal advise, it doesn’t seem to cause any big problems at least until interview. Let’s see what happens in the interview. But like I kept mentioning it in other posts if they had seen an issue with remote work I’d be typing this from Europe already. You most certainly cannot include the income from remote work in I-864 so worth keeping that in mind. 

So, I’m assuming you had to find a joint sponsor?

[Boiler 45,541]

11 minutes ago, art95 said:

Situation update from the OP if anyone’s interested… they’re printing my new EAD card right now - means it was approved and the main AOS case is ready for interview to be scheduled. So, as much as it is not an legal advise, it doesn’t seem to cause any big problems at least until interview. Let’s see what happens in the interview. But like I kept mentioning it in other posts if they had seen an issue with remote work I’d be typing this from Europe already. You most certainly cannot include the income from remote work in I-864 so worth keeping that in mind. 

You certainly can include income from remote work assuming it will continue etc, you can not include income from illegal work.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

Just now, Boiler said:

you can not include income from illegal work.

I feel this is a really gray area. My understanding is that OP was engaging in unauthorized work, and that borders with “illegal”. But again, might be my interpretation.

Regardless, the law that states that you need to have authorization to work while waiting on your gc was probably written right after the dinosaurs extinguished, and it needs to be updated yesterday. “Work” does not mean having to physically go to a workplace anymore.

[Boiler 45,541]

9 minutes ago, ra0010 said:

I feel this is a really gray area. My understanding is that OP was engaging in unauthorized work, and that borders with “illegal”. But again, might be my interpretation.

Regardless, the law that states that you need to have authorization to work while waiting on your gc was probably written right after the dinosaurs extinguished, and it needs to be updated yesterday. “Work” does not mean having to physically go to a workplace anymore.

If you want to go back a few hundred years very few people worked in a workplace, that came along with the Industrial Revolution.

 

Unauthorised/illegal that is semantics.

 

K1 being able to work for 90 days struck me as probably an OK area, but by the time anybody is interviewed now that will have long past so irrelevant.

[art1234 14]

39 minutes ago, ra0010 said:

So, I’m assuming you had to find a joint sponsor?

Nope. We had enough savings to outweigh the minimum requirements times 3 or 5. 

37 minutes ago, Boiler said:

You certainly can include income from remote work assuming it will continue etc, you can not include income from illegal work.

I had the same impression before, but remote work for company outside of US is considered illegal by some interpretations because, like I said before, nothing in law states about remote work. 

[art1234 14]

37 minutes ago, ra0010 said:

I feel this is a really gray area. My understanding is that OP was engaging in unauthorized work, and that borders with “illegal”. But again, might be my interpretation.

Regardless, the law that states that you need to have authorization to work while waiting on your gc was probably written right after the dinosaurs extinguished, and it needs to be updated yesterday. “Work” does not mean having to physically go to a workplace anymore.

The law is a bit older than that...think right before big bang  

[Boiler 45,541]

2 minutes ago, art95 said:

Nope. We had enough savings to outweigh the minimum requirements times 3 or 5. 

I had the same impression before, but remote work for company outside of US is considered illegal by some interpretations because, like I said before, nothing in law states about remote work. 

You seem to be assuming it matters whether you work from home or visit a place of work or go to a local coffee shop whatever. Work is work. Why would there need to be any mention.

[art1234 14]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

You seem to be assuming it matters whether you work from home or visit a place of work or go to a local coffee shop whatever. Work is work. Why would there need to be any mention.

It is not the same as home vs coffee shop vs office. It about working for entirely different country and company that has nothing to do with US.  I don't how from moral point of view working for company in UK can be harmful to US workforce, because thats what original immigration law is about - don't take away jobs from locals before you get a permit. 

Say I would own a business in Narnia for what I perform certain duties, possible to fulfill from anywhere in the world, and marry US citizen - do I have to throw it away for one year just so that potentially I wouldn't break unclear rule which appears to be forgiven anyways even if you DID work for entity in US illegally?

These types of misleading posts are all over on the internet and are usually from people who have no first hand experience in remote work under these circumstances. I would advise this topic to be only discussed amongst people who have dealt with similar situations. Everyone else just muddies the water with their 2ct. 

Having said all that if anyone is in the spot of choosing between K1 or CR1 with similar remote work possibility - CR1 would be my choice any day out of the week. K1 is built so that the potential immigrant would be as miserable as possible and be on hold for up to 2 years since all this covid situation. You cannot drive, open a bank account, cross internal CBP without stress, etc for longer than you think you'd be okay with it. So it's better life experience to live abroad for both parties till the CR1 is approved. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

1 minute ago, art95 said:

CR1 would be my choice any day out of the week

That’s why @Jorgedigkeeps rooting for people to go the CR1 route. If finances and the ability to work is an issue, then CR1 it is!