Submitting new financial forms/records after DQ but before embassy welcome letter?

[JPLaw 6]

My wife and I have been debating this point and I'd love some input to minimize potential issues. We have an attorney but feel that the advice given so far has delayed our case and think this may be an area of bad advice...

 

Background: At the NVC stage I had submitted a letter explaining I was a student with no income last year and did not file a return but included evidence of current salary (started job January 2023 (qualifying income)). Due to no prior tax filing, the joint sponsor is my father who had tax extensions until October and does not utilize W2s or 1099s (partner in a partnership). My mother does not work and did not sign any forms although they file taxes jointly. Basically, our attorney directed us to submit letters and schedules each time DQ asked for w2/1099 forms so we have a fairly cluttered and confusing income/tax submission... even the 2022 income on my joint sponsor's 864 is different than what is on his actual 1040 since the lawyer used business schedule forms to extrapolate projected income. 

 

We were DQ'ed from NVC in August but received a notice at the same time (screenshot attached) stating our reported income is insufficient.🫠 After that we submitted the newly acquired 1040 for 2022 on behalf of my joint sponsor which still shows "Submitted" on CEAS since mid-September.

 

I am afraid that my mother not being on these financial forms at all, my joint sponsor's original 864 with incorrect income remaining on file, and tons of schedules& miscellaneous tax filing forms now on CEAC for my joint sponsor that we will encounter problems at the interview. Our immigration attorney stated that by submitting my joint sponsor's final 1040 after being DQ'ed that we effectively corrected the i864 form. We were never advised on using tax transcripts which would have greatly simplified these issues.

 

Specific Questions: In your experience/opinion...

1). If total income was corrected post-DQ but before receiving an interview date should my joint sponsor resubmit a new Form i864 at this point?

2). Being DQ'ed already, should we submit a 864a for my mother (joint sponsor's spouse filing jointly) at this point to be safe?

3). Would requesting and uploading 3 years tax transcripts from the IRS likely save us headache later or add more problems at this point?

 

We are afraid that having been DQ'ed and waiting for an interview date +2 months that adding too much or new critical documents would slow our case or mess up our case from being scheduled. I asked our attorney about adding these documents/corrections and got a simple "no need" answer.. my gut is telling me different.

Any thoughts?

[pushbrk 12,997]

4 hours ago, JPLaw said:

My wife and I have been debating this point and I'd love some input to minimize potential issues. We have an attorney but feel that the advice given so far has delayed our case and think this may be an area of bad advice...

 

Background: At the NVC stage I had submitted a letter explaining I was a student with no income last year and did not file a return but included evidence of current salary (started job January 2023 (qualifying income)). Due to no prior tax filing, the joint sponsor is my father who had tax extensions until October and does not utilize W2s or 1099s (partner in a partnership). My mother does not work and did not sign any forms although they file taxes jointly. Basically, our attorney directed us to submit letters and schedules each time DQ asked for w2/1099 forms so we have a fairly cluttered and confusing income/tax submission... even the 2022 income on my joint sponsor's 864 is different than what is on his actual 1040 since the lawyer used business schedule forms to extrapolate projected income. 

 

We were DQ'ed from NVC in August but received a notice at the same time (screenshot attached) stating our reported income is insufficient.🫠 After that we submitted the newly acquired 1040 for 2022 on behalf of my joint sponsor which still shows "Submitted" on CEAS since mid-September.

 

I am afraid that my mother not being on these financial forms at all, my joint sponsor's original 864 with incorrect income remaining on file, and tons of schedules& miscellaneous tax filing forms now on CEAC for my joint sponsor that we will encounter problems at the interview. Our immigration attorney stated that by submitting my joint sponsor's final 1040 after being DQ'ed that we effectively corrected the i864 form. We were never advised on using tax transcripts which would have greatly simplified these issues.

 

Specific Questions: In your experience/opinion...

1). If total income was corrected post-DQ but before receiving an interview date should my joint sponsor resubmit a new Form i864 at this point?

2). Being DQ'ed already, should we submit a 864a for my mother (joint sponsor's spouse filing jointly) at this point to be safe?

3). Would requesting and uploading 3 years tax transcripts from the IRS likely save us headache later or add more problems at this point?

 

We are afraid that having been DQ'ed and waiting for an interview date +2 months that adding too much or new critical documents would slow our case or mess up our case from being scheduled. I asked our attorney about adding these documents/corrections and got a simple "no need" answer.. my gut is telling me different.

Any thoughts?

Your quoted message from NVC is of concern.  First, yes to your first two questions and no to the third.

 

What the NVC message means is that the "total income" line from your latest 1040 is not enough.  

 

You would have gotten this notice because you submitted no tax information for yourself.

The self employed do not "project" income.  Dad's current income is the number on the total income line of his latest tax return, no matter what your attorney thinks or what is entered on the I-864.