Assets no longer accepted?

[Patrick_M 0]

Hi All,

My wife and I live in Germany, I'm a US citizen and she is a Korean citizen. I've just recently filed our I-30 application with the help of an attorney. 

Since we're both living abroad I'm aware that our income does not count so we were planning on using my assets in order to complete her sponsorship. Our attorney said the other day that "recently" the USCIS is not accepting assets as means of sponsorship and that I would have to either get a US based job or find a joint sponsor. 

Has this been anyone else's experience? 

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

[LucindaLou 43]

Really curious about the answer here. We were told by our lawyer not to worry about income as we have assets.

[pushbrk 12,877]

2 hours ago, Patrick_M said:

Hi All,

My wife and I live in Germany, I'm a US citizen and she is a Korean citizen. I've just recently filed our I-30 application with the help of an attorney. 

Since we're both living abroad I'm aware that our income does not count so we were planning on using my assets in order to complete her sponsorship. Our attorney said the other day that "recently" the USCIS is not accepting assets as means of sponsorship and that I would have to either get a US based job or find a joint sponsor. 

Has this been anyone else's experience? 

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

Your lawyer is wrong.  First, for a visa case, USCIS is not the agency that makes the decision on financial issues.  It's the sole discretion of the Consular Officer.  They definitely WILL accept liquid assets but it takes $3 in liquid assets for each $1 of income shortfall as a minimum.  Maybe your lawyer is saying your assets are insufficient, or not liquid.

[Patrick_M 0]

42 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Your lawyer is wrong.  First, for a visa case, USCIS is not the agency that makes the decision on financial issues.  It's the sole discretion of the Consular Officer.  They definitely WILL accept liquid assets but it takes $3 in liquid assets for each $1 of income shortfall as a minimum.  Maybe your lawyer is saying your assets are insufficient, or not liquid.

Thanks very much for the reply. Here are his exact words:

"Recently, National Visa Center does not accept the assets as the financial resources to support the intending immigrant, especially when the petitioner is also outside of the States."

 

Between my wife and I we have over 100k in assets which could be easily converted to cash in less than 1 year and we have no dependents. Some of our assets are here in Germany, some in the US, and some in Korea. As well I have a 401k but I was told that didn't count. 

I believe he's drawing on his own experience so I'm wondering if anyone has seen this recently? Or maybe I should push back on him to do a bit more research. Time is on our side for the moment as we only just filed the application a week ago.

[pushbrk 12,877]

1 minute ago, Patrick_M said:

Thanks very much for the reply. Here are his exact words:

"Recently, National Visa Center does not accept the assets as the financial resources to support the intending immigrant, especially when the petitioner is also outside of the States."

 

Between my wife and I we have over 100k in assets which could be easily converted to cash in less than 1 year and we have no dependents. Some of our assets are here in Germany, some in the US, and some in Korea. As well I have a 401k but I was told that didn't count. 

I believe he's drawing on his own experience so I'm wondering if anyone has seen this recently? Or maybe I should push back on him to do a bit more research. Time is on our side for the moment as we only just filed the application a week ago.

First you said USCIS.  NVC is Dept. of State.  However, NVC does not make the final decision. What we have been seeing here is that when income from the most recent tax return is not sufficient, NVC will go ahead and send the case to the Consulate, but give you a message, saying a couple key things.  Most important is that "The Consular Officer will make the final decision."  Second most important is that you "MAY want to add a joint sponsor..."

 

The I-864 defines liquid assets.  Seems you've read that.  When the assets are abroad and NOT YET LIQUID, you may have a problem.  My advice is to liquidate and move the assets to the USA at least a few months before the visa interview.

If you've "recently filed" the I-130, then you have well over a year to liquidate the assets before the NVC stage.  100k for two people is marginal though.  You can easily go through a good chunk of that in relocation and temporary living expenses.  It's a judgment call, but definitely, liquid assets are still accepted by USCIS (not relevant), NVC, and Consular Officers.

[Crazy Cat 41,844]

40 minutes ago, Patrick_M said:

"Recently, National Visa Center does not accept the assets as the financial resources to support the intending immigrant, especially when the petitioner is also outside of the States."

I don't believe that is true.  The law allows assets, and the Consulate Officer is the sole approval authority. 

[Boiler 45,482]

When it comes to it as far as I can tell it is both subjective and varies by Consulate, Time and maybe Officer.

 

I know they prefer income.

[Mike E 11,739]

6 hours ago, Patrick_M said:

Has this been anyone else's experience?

As an aside, I finally figured out who @Redro is. Redro, you devil, you changed your user name!

[Redro 4,611]

11 minutes ago, Mike E said:

As an aside, I finally figured out who @Redro is. Redro, you devil, you changed your user name!

We did done that move from korea to us so needed to change that name 😉

[Redro 4,611]

@Patrick_M Germany is a fairly easy consulate. But I suggest you have assets in an easy to understand format (move $70k or so to US based bank account).  This accomplishes two things 1.) Shows assets are in US so accessible  2.) Show USCs intent to relocate to USA. 
Lawyers like straightforward cases… using assets complicates things. 
If you read my thread you’ll see we had to remind the consulate we were using assets and we made sure to bring updated bank statements to interview. 

[Patrick_M 0]

4 hours ago, pushbrk said:

First you said USCIS.  NVC is Dept. of State.  However, NVC does not make the final decision. What we have been seeing here is that when income from the most recent tax return is not sufficient, NVC will go ahead and send the case to the Consulate, but give you a message, saying a couple key things.  Most important is that "The Consular Officer will make the final decision."  Second most important is that you "MAY want to add a joint sponsor..."

 

The I-864 defines liquid assets.  Seems you've read that.  When the assets are abroad and NOT YET LIQUID, you may have a problem.  My advice is to liquidate and move the assets to the USA at least a few months before the visa interview.

If you've "recently filed" the I-130, then you have well over a year to liquidate the assets before the NVC stage.  100k for two people is marginal though.  You can easily go through a good chunk of that in relocation and temporary living expenses.  It's a judgment call, but definitely, liquid assets are still accepted by USCIS (not relevant), NVC, and Consular Officers.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I've pushed back on my lawyer to give us more of an explanation for what he's telling us.

 

Regarding the use of assets: Would it raise any red flags if my wife were to transfer money into my US account? Just so it's all in one place and easy to verify.

Are there any problems with claiming a tax deferred 401k account as part of liquid assets? There would be a penalty to theoretically liquidate.

[Patrick_M 0]

25 minutes ago, Redro said:

@Patrick_M Germany is a fairly easy consulate. But I suggest you have assets in an easy to understand format (move $70k or so to US based bank account).  This accomplishes two things 1.) Shows assets are in US so accessible  2.) Show USCs intent to relocate to USA. 
Lawyers like straightforward cases… using assets complicates things. 
If you read my thread you’ll see we had to remind the consulate we were using assets and we made sure to bring updated bank statements to interview. 

Thanks very much! I just read through it.. congrats on making it to the other end!

I saw a bit in the comments about people showing employment contracts as further support of livelihood. Even when the employment is abroad (and therefore income ineligible). Did you consider this or has anyone else seen this being helpful? 

[Boiler 45,482]

Just now, Patrick_M said:

Thanks very much! I just read through it.. congrats on making it to the other end!

I saw a bit in the comments about people showing employment contracts as further support of livelihood. Even when the employment is abroad (and therefore income ineligible). Did you consider this or has anyone else seen this being helpful? 

Employment Contracts and pay slips should work.

 

As has been mentioned a lot of the assets issue is subjective so there is no clear this will work and this will not.

[Redro 4,611]

2 hours ago, Patrick_M said:

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I've pushed back on my lawyer to give us more of an explanation for what he's telling us.

 

Regarding the use of assets: Would it raise any red flags if my wife were to transfer money into my US account? Just so it's all in one place and easy to verify. It won’t raise any issues. You’re married. You share finances. And they pretty much expect couples to have a joint bank account. 

Are there any problems with claiming a tax deferred 401k account as part of liquid assets? There would be a penalty to theoretically liquidate. I would keep it to liquid assets. Don’t touch your 401K and don’t use it in calculation of assets. Only refer to actual liquid assets or assets you really would liquidate for interview. 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by Redro

[Caro1 78]

My visa was processed in Frankfurt and was approved in the beginning of the year, and we used only assets to sponsor. About 80k were in a US savings account in both of our names, more was in different accounts / some stocks in Germany in only my name. 
At the interview they barely glanced at the updated statements I had brought. They only confirmed our household size.