General Freaking out

[mrsaright 0]

Heya, so our appointment to petition for my husband's DCF is in 1 week from today, and I have got these gnawing doubts that are now making me really nervous.

1. My husband just quit his job two weeks ago because his boss wasn't paying him the salary they had agreed upon and because he kept making up excuses as to why he wasn't registering him as an employee. Since I don't have rights to work in Brasil, my husband's income is our only means of sustaining ourselves. Now my husband is shopping around for another job, but here in Brasil the employer has the option to leave you "off the books" for the first 3 months. My doubt with this is that since there's no official record of my husband's last and only job here in Brasil for the time we've been living here, how do we prove that he was working and receiving income if there's no record of it and if his last employer didn't pay taxes for his labor? Also, should we list this last job under "employment last five years". If it was his boss who was jerking him around, should we still write it on the G325a and the I-130 form? Is there another way we could prove that he was working? Is a letter from his last employer sufficient? He received his money as cash (as is normal in some cases in Brasil) so we don't have any personal records of his income and the worst part is that there's no record of his work with the "Ministerio de Trabalho" (Ministry of Work). I just don't know if Immigration is going to find it suspicious that since my husband's been back in Brasil he has no formal record of having worked.

2. I was abroad on a Work-Holiday visa for 1 year... working in and out of restaurants/cafe's and marketing companies doing temporary promotional events. I didn't exactly make a lot of money, but I didn't realize that I should have claimed this income with my taxes when I filed them last year. It's only from reading these forum posts that I'm seeing that I should have claimed my foreign income. Am I going to get slammed for this? I have all of the addresses of my previous employers from when I worked abroad, but I don't have any of the W-2's. Should I file a tax correction form for the income I didn't claim? I don't think I'll be able to make it take effect before our appointment for our petition next week, but should I do it anyway?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

For initiating the process you don't have to worry about income, just about residence (that includes benefitiary and the USC, who must prove they are legally entitled to live in Brazil), -- just present your I-130 and G-325 in Rio with supporting documents and you'll be fine. As per your taxes, file them asap (you can actually do it through most Embassies) and just in case get a co-sponsor that is willing and has enough money to help you guys out.

Good luck, L.

[mrsaright 0]

For initiating the process you don't have to worry about income, just about residence (that includes benefitiary and the USC, who must prove they are legally entitled to live in Brazil), -- just present your I-130 and G-325 in Rio with supporting documents and you'll be fine. As per your taxes, file them asap (you can actually do it through most Embassies) and just in case get a co-sponsor that is willing and has enough money to help you guys out.

Good luck, L.

Thanks for the reply. I see what you mean about not having to worry about income to initiate the process--the affidavit of support in the 2nd interview will be where that concern arises. And yes, we have a co-sponsor for help in the money area. My concern is more how to fill out the form correctly if his last job was not officially recorded by the company to say that he was ever an employee. He went to speak with his ex-boss, and he was given a letter that stated that he worked as a "consultant" for them, but that makes him sound as though he were self-employed. (It frustrates me that these things are considered perfectly OK in Brasil.) Anyway, if we write down on his forms that he was employed for Company X for 5 months, but then the US Consular officers try to confirm this and Company X denies having had him as an employee--what are the consequences?

And if he has a change in his employment status during the application process are we supposed to inform them about this, like a change in address? do these things slow down the process?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I don't think it really matters if he puts down "unemployed". You have a cosponsor. Some folks apply who are receiving social assistance, so don't fret and do what you think is best: if the boss would back up the consultant position fine - if there's doubts, then put "unemployed" and voila.