AOS questions

P

prettyprincess7

Registered Users (C)
Hi
I am new to these forums and found it by looking for information about immigration. I am new to the immigration situation and could use some advice. I do want to add I am not looking to bringing someone to this country. Back in March 1991, my mother in law filed a petition for her sister who lives in the Phillipines. Sometime this past November my mother in law hired a lawyer to help with the paperwork, and filled out the AOS. She used her oldest sons tax income information ( she works but gets paid in cash under the table type thing) and it came to $8000. And that is not enough based on the guidelines. So my mother in law told my husband and myself to send my husbands birth record and his income tax returns. She told, not asked, which I find rude, period. Because there is no one to financially support her sister and if there is no sponsor her sister can not come to the USA. My husband is Active Duty military, we have 7 children, we don't rely on help from anyone and are not on welfare. However our tax records have everyone's SSN, our banking account number, routing numbers ( we efile) . Then last week she wants my husbands W-2's, bank statements, something with his signature on it and our tax records. We flat out told her no we will not send her the things she is demanding from us because that is our personal financial records, there is information that she does not need to see, I don't trust her ( she has opened up mail that was for my husband, she has tried breaking into our cell phone account so she could get a new phone at our expense of course) she said that when her sister ( who is 73-74 yrs old) we won't be liable for her only the person who filed the petition is liable and I know that is not true. I guess my question is, would me and my husband be held liable if we co sponsored? Can his mom name us as sponsors without our consent and can she get access to our tax records, banking records without consent?

Thank you for your help!
 
Absolutely NOT!!! She cannot use you as a sponsor without your consent and signing on the Affidavit of Support. If you agree to co-sponsor, you are liable to the immigrant until they become a US citizen or earn enough credit with the social security. If she uses your tax records without your consent, it is a crime and she could do time in prison.
 
She is guilty of tax evasion and is hurting herself by not reporting her income and paying taxes on it. You can report her to the IRS. She is cheating us all.

Under no circumstances should you or he agree to sponsor his aunt! The financial repercussions can be great. Some people report being required to support new immigrants to 125% of the poverty level on the basis of sponsorship. If you are afraid the your husband might do so over your objections, separate your finances from his. Get a new bank account in your name only, etc.

Another suggestion, put a "fraud alert" on your and his credit reports. This will make it more difficult for someone to misuse your financial information or commit identity theft on you. Read up on the requirements; they expire after a period of time and must be renewed. It is essential to do this if they have your SSNs.

Since your husband is military, ask him to speak with the JAG office or call the USCIS's Military Helpline for additional assistance if you notice anything funny on your credit report that might be due to her using your information for someone's immigration processing. With his job, it is absolutely essential that you protect your financial identity since it can impact security clearances. The base may also have some good financial advice programs that you should take advantage of. The people presenting the program will be able to direct you to appropriate resources in your community to assist with any problems she might have caused. With 7 children on a military budget, I know things are tight and you need all the hints possible to stretch the dollars coming in. You are in luck though; some of the most readable financial information booklets I have seen were produced by USAA.
 
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prettyprincess7 said:
My husband is Active Duty military, we have 7 children, we don't rely on help from anyone and are not on welfare.
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With you having 7 children, adding the two of you plus your MIL's sister would equal a household size of at least 10 for the purpose of Affidavit of Support. That would require more than $55K of income!

I guess my question is, would me and my husband be held liable if we co sponsored? Can his mom name us as sponsors without our consent and can she get access to our tax records, banking records without consent?
Click to expand...
Yes you could be held liable if you co-sponsored. She can't legally make you a sponsor without your consent, but she could try to fake it by forging your signature on the I-864 or I-864A form, and using your tax and banking records as supporting documentation.

If you're going to be a sponsor, you don't need to send her anything. You or your husband can fill out the I-864 or I-864A yourself, attach a copy of her I-130 with the supporting financial documents, and send it directly without going through her.

Did you send her any of your financial documents?
 
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I am sorry I did not realize how long it was till I posted.
In a nutshell, we are not going to be handing anything over much less signing anything. My husband has said no from the start and it still stands. We are not doing what his mother is asking. We have not given her anything and she has no access to anything that is ours except a checking account that my husband opened in 1992 when he started working but she is basically another party on the account she does not have full access to the account. We are just basically worried because she is sneaky and I would not put it past her to do something and play dumb about it later. My husband never lets anyone have access to his records anything with acct numbers is shredded. Because he has security clearance in the Air Force.
I think our main concern is her forging documents or trying to get records without consent and then we are liable. It sounds jumbled and I apologize, I am just repeating what she has said to us about it.
 
Jackolantern said:
With you having 7 children, adding the two of you plus your MIL's sister would equal a household size of at least 10 for the purpose of Affidavit of Support. That would require more than $55K of income!


Yes you could be held liable if you co-sponsored. She can't legally make you a sponsor without your consent, but she could try to fake it by forging your signature on the I-864 or I-864A form, and using your tax and banking records as supporting documentation.

If you're going to be a sponsor, you don't need to send her anything. You or your husband can fill out the I-864 or I-864A yourself, attach a copy of her I-130 with the supporting financial documents, and send it directly without going through her.

Did you send her any of your financial documents?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not, we use USAA for our banking and if she does not have our SSN (mine too) she can't gain access even for copies of anything. We won't send anything to her which is why she is on our case.
 
Take a step back.

IF you had agreed to sponsor the aunt you would be stuck not just for ordinary maintence support until she dies of old age but also Medical coverage. A 73 or 74 year old is NOT going to work for 10 years to get vested in Social Security. She probably won't naturalize either unless you pushed her to do it and pay for it. She would probably never qualify for medicaid, medicare or SSI before dying of old age.
 
Thats kinda what I was thinking too Joe
We definately won't sponsor though
My husband also has a medical condition (venous angioma in his brainstem, an anerysm basically) so we are just taking care of who is in the home and thats it
 
You seem to have everything together. If he received his SSN as a child, she will likely have record of it; she will not be able to get into existing accounts but could open others. Just be sure that you both file for your free credit report each year; you may want to check those associated with your children's SSNs as well. My child has his SSN used by someone else a number of years ago; we discovered this about the time he joined a military program and it was a big concern at the time. If she is as desperate as you state, you should be extra careful.

He may want to review the options for the account that she is on. If she has any old records on this account, it is likely that his SSN is printed on them as they did before the days of serious identity theft problems. Don't forget to use the resources you have available to you as a military family if there are problems.

I also suggest that when you select security questions for accounts that you choose questions whose answers she is not likely to know; the same for passwords on accounts. I am sure that if I wanted to do so, I could breach the security on my children's accounts - except for the one who is a security fanatic by virtue of his job - simply because of what I know about each of them.

As a parent, I am so sorry that your MIL is doing this to your family. Your husband has enough to worry about with his job, you and the children that he does not need the drama of a family feud.

By the way. Thank you both for your service. The toughest job in the military is that of spouse.
 
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