K-1 AOS - received RFE, not sure what I did wrong

[sz1lk 2]

Hi all, just got an RFE and need some advice. I went to my USCIS online account and saw that they've uploaded some of the documents that they received from me in my original submission, but they have specifically not included either of the I-864 forms, the copy of our marriage certificate, the K-1 approval notice (I-797) or our joint sponsor's birth certificate, which I did submit. I know the text of the RFE is generic and the fact that they didn't upload it probably means I made some error on the I-864, but I'm not sure why the rest of the documents were excluded.

 

Here's specifically what I submitted, in order of the points on the RFE:

Petitioner I-864 

• My wife did not have income past the threshold for the most recent tax year, so we were using a joint sponsor.
• For household size, we put 2 (for herself and me). We do not live with anyone else.
• She is currently unemployed, so for current income we put 0.
• She wasn't required to fill out a tax return for 2018, so we checked No for 23.a. Have you filed for each of the most recent 3 years, and we attached a statement (which USCIS scanned and uploaded to my online account, so presumably they accepted it) explaining it was because she had no income in 2018.
• In the 3rd most recent total income we put "N/A"
• We also attached her most recent Tax Return Transcript directly from the IRS website.
• She signed and dated the form. 
• I suspect that the reason this got brought up at all might be because they did not accept/lost the copy of the joint sponsor's birth certificate and it's falling back onto my wife, but I'm not sure.
• I just checked the form we submitted and see no errors.

 

Petitioning sponsor's status

• We proved her status with her birth certificate in the K-1 process, and to my knowledge and based on their instructions, I was not required to submit her birth certificate again.
• I did not submit her birth certificate, but I am wondering if the issue has something to do with her name change.

 

Joint sponsor

• I submitted the joint sponsor's 3 most recent Tax Return Transcripts, as sourced from the IRS website.
• The joint sponsor put 6 for the household size, and I believe this to be correct - 1 for me, 1 for them, 3 for dependents that appeared on their most recent Tax Return Transcript and 1 for a previous person they sponsored.
• The joint sponsor's income as reported in the most recent Tax Return Transcript was $88k, so well over the threshold and plenty for a household of 6.
• Having to get the joint sponsor's birth certificate was a last minute realisation for us, and our joint sponsor couldn't find theirs and had to order a new one - they took an photo of it for us, so it's a little warped but it's perfectly legible and good quality. It is a long form Florida birth certificate, but only the front page - if that's relevant.
• I printed it out the sponsor's birth certificate black and white, as I was under the impression that it didn't matter one way or the other, but some googling led me to believe that they prefer black and white copies over colour.
• Edit: I gather that the actual joint sponsor I-864 we submitted is fine, as there is no mention of the joint sponsor not qualifying.

 

Marriage certificate

• I had some confusion over this, as our marriage certificate says "Marriage Licence" on it, but some googling led me to understand that in some states the Marriage Licence becomes the Marriage Certificate once the officiant and probate judge sign it and the probate court puts the seal on it, so I figured that was the case with ours (Georgia). 
• I photocopied the certified copy that was given to us and submitted the photocopy, as we only had the one certified copy and I know that a certified copy is not strictly required.
• I think the issue with this might be that the seal is hard to see on the photocopy, as it is just an embossing in the paper that doesn't show up that well on photocopying, but I'm not sure if they might have just lost it or something. As long as I am correct about this document *actually* being our marriage certificate and not just the licence, I will probably just submit the certified copy itself and hope this remedies the issue.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice! In a bit of a panic over this, but I'm sure it's probably not as bad as I'm thinking..

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by sz1lk

[Rocio0010 5,579]

20 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

Hi all, just got an RFE and need some advice. I went to my USCIS online account and saw that they've uploaded some of the documents that they received from me in my original submission, but they have specifically not included either of the I-864 forms, the copy of our marriage certificate, the K-1 approval notice (I-797) or our joint sponsor's birth certificate, which I did submit. I know the text of the RFE is generic and the fact that they didn't upload it probably means I made some error on the I-864, but I'm not sure why the rest of the documents were excluded.

 

Here's specifically what I submitted, in order of the points on the RFE:

Petitioner I-864 

• My wife did not have income past the threshold for the most recent tax year, so we were using a joint sponsor.
• For household size, we put 2 (for herself and me). We do not live with anyone else.
• She is currently unemployed, so for current income we put 0.
• She wasn't required to fill out a tax return for 2018, so we checked No for 23.a. Have you filed for each of the most recent 3 years, and we attached a statement (which USCIS scanned and uploaded to my online account, so presumably they accepted it) explaining it was because she had no income in 2018.
• In the 3rd most recent total income we put "N/A"
• We also attached her most recent Tax Return Transcript directly from the IRS website.
• She signed and dated the form. 
• I suspect that the reason this got brought up at all might be because they did not accept/lost the copy of the joint sponsor's birth certificate and it's falling back onto my wife, but I'm not sure.
• I just checked the form we submitted and see no errors.

 

Petitioning sponsor's status

• We proved her status with her birth certificate in the K-1 process, and to my knowledge and based on their instructions, I was not required to submit her birth certificate again.
• I did not submit her birth certificate, but I am wondering if the issue has something to do with her name change.

 

Joint sponsor

• I submitted the joint sponsor's 3 most recent Tax Return Transcripts, as sourced from the IRS website.
• The joint sponsor put 6 for the household size, and I believe this to be correct - 1 for me, 1 for them, 3 for dependents that appeared on their most recent Tax Return Transcript and 1 for a previous person they sponsored.
• The joint sponsor's income as reported in the most recent Tax Return Transcript was $88k, so well over the threshold and plenty for a household of 6.
• Having to get the joint sponsor's birth certificate was a last minute realisation for us, and our joint sponsor couldn't find theirs and had to order a new one - they took an photo of it for us, so it's a little warped but it's perfectly legible and good quality. It is a long form Florida birth certificate, but only the front page - if that's relevant.
• I printed it out the sponsor's birth certificate black and white, as I was under the impression that it didn't matter one way or the other, but some googling led me to believe that they prefer black and white copies over colour.
• Edit: I gather that the actual joint sponsor I-864 we submitted is fine, as there is no mention of the joint sponsor not qualifying.

 

Marriage certificate

• I had some confusion over this, as our marriage certificate says "Marriage Licence" on it, but some googling led me to understand that in some states the Marriage Licence becomes the Marriage Certificate once the officiant and probate judge sign it and the probate court puts the seal on it, so I figured that was the case with ours (Georgia). 
• I photocopied the certified copy that was given to us and submitted the photocopy, as we only had the one certified copy and I know that a certified copy is not strictly required.
• I think the issue with this might be that the seal is hard to see on the photocopy, as it is just an embossing in the paper that doesn't show up that well on photocopying, but I'm not sure if they might have just lost it or something. As long as I am correct about this document *actually* being our marriage certificate and not just the licence, I will probably just submit the certified copy itself and hope this remedies the issue.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice! In a bit of a panic over this, but I'm sure it's probably not as bad as I'm thinking..

 

You seem to have done everything alright, and you seem to be on the right track for the documents you think are confusing. 
Does your joint sponsor file the taxes jointly with their spouse? 

[sz1lk 2]

Thanks for the reply. I just tried to edit my original post to add that but too much time passed, but no, the joint sponsor does not file taxes jointly - all income on the Transcripts is their own

[Rocio0010 5,579]

Did you include an employment verification letter and 3 months of paystubs from your joint sponsor?

Paging @Wuozopo

[sz1lk 2]

No, we included only the 3 most recent Tax Return Transcripts. I was under the impression that if we submitted Transcripts, nothing else was required. I do think the I-864 and evidence we submitted for our joint sponsor is correct since they only asked for proof of the joint sponsor's status and made no mention of them not being qualified.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

46 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

and to my knowledge and based on their instructions, I was not required to submit her birth certificate again.

You got this right.

The letter you uploaded is really small. I'm trying to read it all and maybe I misread something. They do mention if your joint sponsor is using assets to qualify. Is he using any assets?

[sz1lk 2]

Sorry, I tried to combine all the pages into a single image - it seems to work okay if you open it in a new tab, but I'll upload them separately again.

[sz1lk 2]

7 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

You got this right.

The letter you uploaded is really small. I'm trying to read it all and maybe I misread something. They do mention if your joint sponsor is using assets to qualify. Is he using any assets?

The joint sponsor is only using income, and they left the assets section blank as the income was more than sufficient.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

15 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

The joint sponsor is only using income, and they left the assets section blank as the income was more than sufficient.

Then it seems that the issue is with your spouse's birth certificate, even though this would contradict with the instructions...

[sz1lk 2]

I will re-send them both the sponsor's and my wife's birth certificates.

 

Regarding the marriage certificate - we did receive a "keepsake" certificate that says "Marriage Certificate" from the probate court when we got married. It has the relevant information on it as to where the marriage record is located but since they called it a keepsake, I assumed it was commemorative only and not intended to be used as proof of marriage. I also saw a couple of threads on VJ advising not to send in the commemorative certificate. If anyone could clarify whether the marriage license in Georgia becomes a marriage certificate once it's got the embossed seal and signed by the officiant and probate judge, I'd appreciate it - it's hard to find a clear answer on any government or other website.

[SalishSea 17,835]

40 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

I will re-send them both the sponsor's and my wife's birth certificates.

 

Regarding the marriage certificate - we did receive a "keepsake" certificate that says "Marriage Certificate" from the probate court when we got married. It has the relevant information on it as to where the marriage record is located but since they called it a keepsake, I assumed it was commemorative only and not intended to be used as proof of marriage. I also saw a couple of threads on VJ advising not to send in the commemorative certificate. If anyone could clarify whether the marriage license in Georgia becomes a marriage certificate once it's got the embossed seal and signed by the officiant and probate judge, I'd appreciate it - it's hard to find a clear answer on any government or other website.

You sent a 'keepsake' MC?  How would USCIS determine whether that is authentic, since anyone could print something like that out?

 

You need a certified copy of the original marriage certificate, which is on file with the jurisdiction where you got married - county usually.  Certified copies are considered to be equivalent to originals.  They have a court seal with a wet signature.

[sz1lk 2]

19 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

You sent a 'keepsake' MC?  How would USCIS determine whether that is authentic, since anyone could print something like that out?

 

You need a certified copy of the original marriage certificate, which is on file with the jurisdiction where you got married - county usually.  Certified copies are considered to be equivalent to originals.  They have a court seal with a wet signature.

If you read my post and my subsequent comment, I sent the a copy of the marriage certificate not the keepsake certificate - which I understood, correctly it seems, to be commemorative only. My confusion arose from the fact that the county only gave us a document entitled "Marriage License", with the embossed court seal and signatures from the probate court clerk and the officiant. I understood this to be our actual certified copy of the marriage certificate, although I could not find a resource that explicitly says that the marriage license becomes the marriage certificate once it has the seal and officiant/probate signatures in Georgia. I could only find some sites stating that the marriage license becomes the marriage certificate in this manner in "some states".

 

USCIS does not actually require the copy of the marriage certificate to be certified, a photocopy is supposed to be sufficient.

[SalishSea 17,835]

58 minutes ago, sz1lk said:

If you read my post and my subsequent comment, I sent the a copy of the marriage certificate not the keepsake certificate - which I understood, correctly it seems, to be commemorative only. My confusion arose from the fact that the county only gave us a document entitled "Marriage License", with the embossed court seal and signatures from the probate court clerk and the officiant. I understood this to be our actual certified copy of the marriage certificate, although I could not find a resource that explicitly says that the marriage license becomes the marriage certificate once it has the seal and officiant/probate signatures in Georgia. I could only find some sites stating that the marriage license becomes the marriage certificate in this manner in "some states".

 

USCIS does not actually require the copy of the marriage certificate to be certified, a photocopy is supposed to be sufficient.

Okay, well then why are you questioning what you sent in as far as the MC?

 

The comment I quoted does not indicate that you did not send the keepsake certificate, btw.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Jorgedig

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

If your spouse was not required to file taxes, then a simple letter  stating this and the reason for it (e.g. annual income was under filing threshold) is usually also required. One sentence, signed & dated.

[sz1lk 2]

17 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Okay, well then why are you questioning what you sent in as far as the MC?

 

The comment I quoted does not indicate that you did not send the keepsake certificate, btw.

In the comment you quoted, I say that I assumed it was commemorative only and not intended to be used as proof of marriage. In my original post, I also said I figured it was the case with our Marriage License that it becomes the certified Marriage Certificate and sent a photocopy of that. My only confusion was whether I had to separately request a copy of a marriage *certificate* from the county. There is no mention of certificates, or whether licenses become certificates, on the county or state websites. The fact that there was a keepsake document entitled Marriage *Certificate* threw me off because our actual legal proof of marriage document is only entitled Marriage License. What I was asking was for someone to clarify whether the document entitled "Marriage License" was in fact the one I needed to send. It was, so I was correct in including that in my original submission. USCIS either lost it or rejected it based on the quality of the photocopy.

 

 

4 hours ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

If your spouse was not required to file taxes, then a simple letter  stating this and the reason for it (e.g. annual income was under filing threshold) is usually also required. One sentence, signed & dated.

I mentioned that

On 1/2/2022 at 5:47 PM, sz1lk said:

we attached a statement (which USCIS scanned and uploaded to my online account, so presumably they accepted it) explaining it was because she had no income in 2018.

I assumed there was no problem with the statement that we sent in, since USCIS uploaded it to my online account, but thank you for mentioning "signed & dated" - we didn't actually sign or date the statement and now I'm wondering if that has caused an issue. I'll re-send a signed and dated version with another copy of my wife's I-864 just in case.