IR/CR help for a USC...

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s been awhile since I posted on VJ, but I was wondering about the following. Before I continue, please note that this is NOT for my immigration situation (see my timeline for my unrelated situation), merely, it is information to be passed on to someone that I know.

The person that I know is a USC that is filing a CR/IR visa for their spouse in the Philippines. This is the situation as follows:

-The USC had their I-130 with an NOA-1 by the USCIS received in May 2007

-Their case was forwarded to the NVC, and the USC got the bill for the I-864 in August 2007. However, the USC is looking for a co-sponsor (since they do not have enough income), and will delay sending in their I-864 forms and fees for a couple of months (possibly January or February 2008) until they hear back from the potential co-sponsor. Will this delay in sending in the completed I-864 from both sponsors cause a delay in their immigration case? Is there a deadline and/or expiry date for this form and the other forms (for example, the I-130) for them to submit it? Will their case have to start all over again, because they fail to submit the forms on time?

-The potential co-sponsor is currently living in another country, but is a USC and will be moving back to the US to start a job in September 2007. Therefore, that co-sponsor will only have a couple of months of US pay stubs, and only one tax return for the year. Will this be enough to prove financial/tax information?

-The USC says that if the co-sponsor can’t help, they will consider borrowing money from the bank, putting it in a bank account in their name, and using that money to count towards their assets as a sponsor and in this case they will be the only sponsor. Does this count towards their income? Is this even legal? Will they have to declare and/or report this, especially with the IRS? Will they get in trouble for doing this? Will it be grounds for denial for their immigration application?

-The person who is being sponsored over from the Philippines currently has a health issue (a breast lump) and is undergoing treatment for it. Would this affect their immigration medical exam? Will they have to declare and/or report this? Can they be denied because of this medical condition?

Any thoughts, suggestions, insights, or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ant

[Stabu 0]

I personally think that this is a case where a laywer may be needed. But here is what I can say directly.

1) The I-130 is valid for one year since the NOA2 and thus they need to be thru NVC in one year from their approval. That'll be around July 2008 in this case, if I read correctly.

2) The most reacent financial information is more important. This goes for a co-sponsor too. In any case they need to be sure that the co-sponsor passes the income limits with his pay. You can count about how much he would make brutto in a year and thus see if he passes the federal poverty limits.

3) In general you don't count debt as assets. Assets are counted by reducing debt from your total asset value. The only way they could go around this would be if they would lend the money from a country that has very strickt bank securicy laws (thus preventing the government of seeing where their money comes from). Examples of good countries are Switzerland, Bermuda or Luxembourg (I however do not suggest to do this, since this is definitely going around the rules).

4) 90% of breast lumps are non-cancerous. If this is a non-cancerous lump it doesn't matter. If it is a cancerous one I would think that this issue would matter, cause the mortality rate for breast cancer is around 30%. However it is luckily rather hard to fail the visa because a medical exame.

Don't take my advice too seriously though. I'm not a medical doctor and I'm not even a USC.

Edited August 21, 2007 by Stabu

[antda 13]

Hi Stabu (and other VJers),

Thanks for your reply and your suggestions. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t take a lawyer, doctor, or anyone else with any other expertise to answer questions on VJ. In fact, most of the answers on VJ have been just as equal to, if not better than any advice any so-called professional will give. It’s experience really, and the people who have been through the immigration process themselves, that one can say they are an “expert” on immigration matters.

As for the particular situation that I talked about, I agree, the USC in this case might need to talk to a lawyer directly if they cannot figure it out themselves. It’s better safe than sorry to have legal expertise on your side, especially in a complicated situation. I have suggested the name of the immigration lawyer that I used for my case, and have suggested that they find other immigration lawyers too (in case they don’t like the one that I used).

Here are my replies to your comments, along with some more questions too:

1) For the one year validity of the I-130, do they count the time that it was approved by the NVC or approved by the USCIS? For this case, the I-130 was approved by the USCIS in May 2007, and they got their NVC case # in August 2007. Therefore, is the year expiry date for their I-130 May 2008 or August 2008? I don’t know whether or not they got an NOA 2 for that I-130.

2) Ok about the most recent financial information being the most important (in this case, I guess it would be the 2007 taxes?) and that the income needs to be past that income limits. So they just estimate what the co-sponsor makes for the year, even though they only worked for a couple of months in 2007? Does the co-sponsor still have to submit past tax returns (within the last three years) too, even if the taxes are from a different country?

3) It would make sense that debts don’t count as assets. Lol…and I’m pretty sure that the USC wouldn’t be going to a bank in Europe to have to borrow such money. I agree, it would definitely be fraud, and I too have warned the USC about doing this (but again, they still didn’t listen) and I don’t think that they would want to get in trouble with the immigration personnel either. If that doesn’t work out with borrowing the money from the bank directly, the USC has also suggested about selling their possessions or lending money from another source (other than a bank), and putting it in a bank account with their name in it, and using that as assets. And yes, I’m trying to talk them out of doing this too! Even though they acquired their money elsewhere (other than lending it from a bank) and putting that money in a bank account in their name, would that be considered fraud too? Would they have to report that “new money” to the IRS? Would the immigration personnel asked specifically where they acquired that money from?

4) Good to hear that not all breast lumps are cancerous. Not sure what they do with the medical examination in this instance, but I have told the USC that they should be aware that their spouse would have to report this medical diagnosis and treatment when they have their immigration medical. Will the immigration personnel ask specifically about this health condition, and deny them because of it?

Thanks again for your reply, and thanks in advance for any other replies. I'll forward your reply to the USC who needs help in this situation.

Hope your visa immigration journey goes well too!

Ant

I personally think that this is a case where a laywer may be needed. But here is what I can say directly.

1) The I-130 is valid for one year since the NOA2 and thus they need to be thru NVC in one year from their approval. That'll be around July 2008 in this case, if I read correctly.

2) The most reacent financial information is more important. This goes for a co-sponsor too. In any case they need to be sure that the co-sponsor passes the income limits with his pay. You can count about how much he would make brutto in a year and thus see if he passes the federal poverty limits.

3) In general you don't count debt as assets. Assets are counted by reducing debt from your total asset value. The only way they could go around this would be if they would lend the money from a country that has very strickt bank securicy laws (thus preventing the government of seeing where their money comes from). Examples of good countries are Switzerland, Bermuda or Luxembourg (I however do not suggest to do this, since this is definitely going around the rules).

4) 90% of breast lumps are non-cancerous. If this is a non-cancerous lump it doesn't matter. If it is a cancerous one I would think that this issue would matter, cause the mortality rate for breast cancer is around 30%. However it is luckily rather hard to fail the visa because a medical exame.

Don't take my advice too seriously though. I'm not a medical doctor and I'm not even a USC.