Sun808

Thank you!

Perfect, we'll take that plus the passport and good to go for at least those first 90 days! And we'll get to work on the AOS as soon as she gets here too and then make sure to have the relevant documents that show the AOS is in process with us on those trips too. Someday the paperwork will end, someday... I appreciate the heads up!

To anyone confused about this since it was moved from the original thread, the reason this is a concern is because when coming back from South Texas folks have to pass through an internal border checkpoint. It's the same when visiting other cities in the USA that are close to the border, there are internal border checkpoints one must pass through on the way back to the deeper interior of the USA.

My Fiancee will arrive soon and we'd like to visit my mom and dad in South Texas, we won't have an AOS because we will not have filed for it yet (we have a NOA1 but for the K1 visa application, not for an AOS), we may not have even married yet, as we have 90 days to do so and my parents want to see her. Does that mean she cannot visit my mom and dad in South Texas without risking deportation or a legal mess? Of course we'll get married as soon as possible but it's good to know ahead of time if she isn't actually free to move about the USA. Thanks for any info guys.

For the record we were just approved for the K1 Visa a few days ago, she's still 21. She's knocking out the CFO in a few days and flying to the USA in a few weeks. Our NOA1 was on December 30, 2022, today is December 13, 2023.

^^ Note that our case had no kids, no prior marriages, no other issues.

I went ahead and checked "Other" and wrote a little note about being a landlord in the blank space provided next to "Other" and we were approved with no issue. I included two years of bank statements, two years of tax transcripts, and two years of 1040's. I also included records of Xoom transfers and a signed letter totaling the Xoom transfers to my fiancee over the past few years. I did not get the bank letter that's supposed to be signed by an officer of the bank, we didn't do that. Also, this was Manila/Philippines and they didn't ask any questions at all on income or even ask to look at the I-134 or the financial documents we included, like IWander mentioned might happen. Hope that helps someone in the future.

In layman's terms yes it's as simple as "I'm a property manager," it just gets more complex once discussing actual legal classifications. Property owners get a lot of preferential treatment under tax laws and one of the perks is to be able to not have to be classified as "Self-Employed" under the law when you own properties that give you rent (so you don't have to pay taxes every 3 months or pay the extra self employment taxes). But back to the original question, I think D-R-J's response of "I think I would check other and write “real estate investment income - see schedule E" is pretty reasonable. They can see that note, check the AGI on the tax transcript and the Schedule E, and hopefully it'll be good to go. I'll update this once we get approved (hopefully) so in future others can know what we did.

Right I'm not a full time manager working 40 hours per week on the rentals, don't pay quarterly taxes, and it's reported on the Supplemental Income Schedule E so yes the $53k shows up on the official Tax Transcript as AGI. I could check the "Unemployed or Not Employed" box or the "Retired" box like you said, but I would assume that would look bad? And I do show the places, do leases, cleanings, paint, light repairs, and manage everything but it's nowhere close to 40 hours a week, it's a small fraction of that, averaged out. I could also check the "Other" box and then add a note in the additional info section regardless of which box I check. I'll have to pick one but hopefully we'll be ok either way since the amount clears the requirement.

That's great to know the bank account could help then! And apologies that was a typo/error on my end I had just been reading the other posts on the forum on gross income and net income from rentals before I posted, the $53k is the net take home after all the expenses and such. Hopefully we'll be good to go, appreciate the insight.

You just took a big weight off my shoulders, thank you, this helps us put things in perspective. Thanks again!

Interesting option. And yeah for K1 Fiancee Visas for Manila you can't use assets anyways so the properties wouldn't help anyways so not even exploring that. Luckily I do make enough income (it's just her and I, just the two of us no kids or exes on either side) and the bank account is healthy and shows all the monthly deposits...I just want to fill the form out the "right" way, the "best" way to make the immigration agent's job the easiest.

Hey guys I'm filling out the I-134 and I'm very confused with so much of it, I'd appreciate some help. So my only income last year (2022) was from my rental properties, for a total of about $53,000 on my taxes, that's gross, as in my actual income from rents that I took home, after all expenses and before paying taxes for the year. The I-134 asks if I'm "Self-Employed" which in tax terms I'm not as I don't file a form 1099 like people that are "Self-Employed" for tax purposes do. All my rental income goes on the Schedule E, where landlords enter their rental income. But in layman's terms I'm "Self-Employed" as I don't work a 9 to 5 or get a W2. So I'm thinking on "Section 11 Employment Status" I should put "Self Employed" since in layman's terms I'm self employed and embassy employees probably will give me grief if I instead check the "Other (Explain)" box and then enter: "I'm a landlord, rents come in every month since 2013." However if I do that I'm afraid they'll for sure want a 1099 since I'm "Self Employed." But I'm not "Self Employed" by the tax definition, it's just rental income so there's no 1099 (I'm not a real estate agent or anything like that). Basically will I be shooting myself in the foot by selecting the "Self-Employed" box and then sending my 2022 tax transcript (and 2023 also if we get there in a few months) plus bank statements for all of 2022 and 2023, but no 1099? Or should I select the "Other (Explain)" box knowing that box will definitely open up a can of worms since by clicking on that box you definitely get on the embassy's "very extra special attention" list. I also definitely don't want to list my properties as assets since that will entail thousands of dollars in costs for absolutely nothing just to get them appraised, so I'm for sure not listing the properties as assets. Thanks guys, just wanting to get past this, it's so frustrating, paperwork is the absolute bane of my existence but I managed to do a solid job on the initial K1 application and got approved with no RFE on that part so I want to make sure I fill out the I-134 in a way that raises no red flags/doesn't create any extra work for the embassy folks that would cause them to cause trouble for us. Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Mike, yes, she's 21 now, but the rule applies to ages 18 to 22 so there's still about two years left of that (all of 21 and all of 22). So at some point we'll get the letter done but we're waiting until it's nearer to the time of the interview and the CFO. Hoping for a speedy process!

Ok guys we went ahead and filed and I've updated our timeline to help other folks! Super appreciate this forum and will keep everything updated!