I-864 Headaches

M

mazam

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

Okay I am filing out I-864 form and I am having real problems. My wife is a US citizen and I am currently on my H1B.

I work full time for a government institution. And my wife is currently unemployed.

Part 6 of I-864 form is "Sponser's income and employment".
Since, my wife is sponsoring me she is the sponsor.

22. I am currently [Unemployed]

23. My current individual annual income is: 0.00
 
That is correct. Your income will be included in a later section of the form. You can only use your income if you expect it to continue from the same source after your GC is approved.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your fast reply. I am not sure if I follow "You can only use your income if you expect it to continue from the same source after your GC is approved." Since, I am also applying for my EAD so I might take a different job and the source of income will be different.

Another thing:

My wife is currently unemployed. But I do some online business (not a job) and make some extra money. All the online income goes to my wife and under her name. She give tax on the money I earned online. Should I consider that as my wife employment? The reason I am asking is that she has nothing to do with the actual business she just gives taxes since it is under her name?

Thanks,
 
mazam said:
Hi,

Thanks for your fast reply. I am not sure if I follow "You can only use your income if you expect it to continue from the same source after your GC is approved." Since, I am also applying for my EAD so I might take a different job and the source of income will be different.

Another thing:

My wife is currently unemployed. But I do some online business (not a job) and make some extra money. All the online income goes to my wife and under her name. She give tax on the money I earned online. Should I consider that as my wife employment? The reason I am asking is that she has nothing to do with the actual business she just gives taxes since it is under her name?

Thanks,
Click to expand...


I am currently in the same situation because my wife is not working and it wasn't a problem (well I haven't done the interview yet but I did not receive an RFE). I also know someone who's wife was unemployed but he was able to fill the income gap. So here is what I did:

22. I am currently (unemployed) and put the date.
23. My current individual annual income is: 0.00
24 b: Put your name and your income (hopefully is more than the poverty line)
24 e. Put your name.

I am not comfortable answering the question about the internet income because I truly do not know how that may impact your H1B status. But if the business is in your wife's name and she files taxes on it I guess it's really her income but I could be wrong.

Does the business have anything that has your name associated with it or is it all your wife's name?

Hope someone will be able to better help.
 
austriacus said:
That is correct. Your income will be included in a later section of the form. You can only use your income if you expect it to continue from the same source after your GC is approved.
Click to expand...

austriacus: what happens if you work somewhere after the GC?
 
Hi MaggyBan,

Well, the internet revenue is on my wife's name. She gives taxes on it. It is basically a technical website and I provide the content under my name. But the taxes are filed under my wife's name! I guess we can consider this as my wife's income since we are filing taxes under her name.

What do you think?
 
Well, as part of the filing, you have to submit proof that the intending immigrant's current employment will continue from the same source if his or her income is being used.

I don't know the details as to how that is to be interpreted. Does it have to continue from this source indefinitely? Probably not. Will it look good if you change jobs at the first opportunity you have? Probably not either. In any case, you need proof, probably in the form of an employer letter that they intend to continue to employ you. I believe you can bring an updated I-864 to the interview as well if you do switch employers, but again it wouldn't look good if you get approved based on some I-864 that has your income included and you quit the next day after you become a permanent resident.

About the internet income, my concern is you need to be able to document a continued stable revenue stream. If she reports taxes it's her income. If you run her business, I guess then you're her volunteer COO. ;)

If you file taxes jointly, is there even a distinction between your and her business income?
 
Hi Austriacus,

Thanks for the information. I guess an employer letter would be good document. I can get that easily.

For internet income you are right! Since, my wife is filing taxes on that it is her income.

Thanks,
Azam
 
Careful though about the business income, I think the logic really goes the other way, I said it too oversimplified and made some assumptions.

If it's her income, she has to file taxes on it. I'm assuming you have documentation that it is her income so she files the taxes. If she were to file taxes incorrectly on income that's not hers, it doesn't make it her income.

Let me give you an example, let's say I report $100,000 income I don't really have (for instance on the line "other" and say it was a $100,000 prize), and pay $28,000 taxes for it, I'm sure I'll make the IRS pretty happy, but it still wouldn't make me have $100,000 income.

This online business, do you file some sort of business tax return for it? Or do you include the income as a Schedule or Form in your personal taxes? If you file with your personal taxes, is your wife the sole proprietor of your business (Schedule C), or do you have a partnership (Form 1065). The income question may also depend on if you live in a community property state (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI) and if it is considered community income under your state's laws.

Long story short, in addition to tax records you should probably show something else documenting the business profits belonging to your wife, and also that these business profits are a stable recurring revenue stream. The instructions say "evidence of income is not required" but if you provide evidence, it certainly improves the chance that you won't be asked to submit more information later.

Another thing you can do is use your assets instead of income.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I would say "YES" it is my wife's income since the business is under her name. The income is random (consider it google ads) some month you made $100 and other month you made $120.

Let's move to Question 24 d,e

d) The persons listed above have completed the Form I-864 A. ........................

e) The person listed above [My name] does not need to complete form I-864 A because he/she is the intending immigrant and has no accompanying dependents.

I chose e.

Question 25) Federal income tax return information.

This is targettted to the sponsor right? Which is my wife?

I will check "I have filled a Federal ..................."

And now I need to include the amount on the tax form of my wife's form. I don't think she has all three tax returns papers. Where can I get a copy of the tax papers?
 
Another thing you may want to be careful about is saying that you have another job, especially while you are here in the US on H1B.

Any input Austriacus?
 
maggyban that's true you can only work for the employer sponsoring your H-1B (even though you can have multiple H-1Bs simultaneously). But you can own a business and not work for it.

mazam, if it's $100-$120 per month (about $1000 per year?) you may consider just not even including it as her income, it doesn't seem like it's a lot compared to the poverty guidelines (although I'm sure it's some nice side income!) and you may have difficulty establishing the total income for 2008 of your side business. It would be equivalent to reporting $3000 in assets which may be easier to prove (if you have it!) than your business income. Seems to me the real source of income for both of you is your H-1B and you need to decide to either include it (= intend to keep working for the same employer) and/or use assets or find another sponsor.
 
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mazam said:
I chose e.
Click to expand...

Correct, no I-864A required in your case.

mazam said:
Question 25) Federal income tax return information.

This is targettted to the sponsor right? Which is my wife?

I will check "I have filed a Federal ..................."

And now I need to include the amount on the tax form of my wife's form. I don't think she has all three tax returns papers. Where can I get a copy of the tax papers?
Click to expand...

Yes, these are your wife's tax returns. It would be good for you/her to keep a copy of your tax records for life, certainly for at least 10 years. But for the affidavit, you can request a transcript from IRS (google IRS transcript).
 
Hi,

Thanks for the fast reply. If I remember correctly the total income for my wife last year using online income was around $5000 (year 2006).

For the year (2007) it was around $10,000/year.

Now, if I can only find the tax return papers for the year 2006 :(

Thanks,
 
Also, I might be able to get the tax returns for the previous years (2006) but it might be very hard to get for 2005,2004, 2003 as she was working in California. Will only, one tax form for year 2006 work for I-864 form.

I asking this because the I-864 form wants the return amount for the past 3 years.
 
Hi,

In the three most recent tax years they are talking about 1040EZ. But my wife is saying she used 1099 (self employed) form. IT seems like providing the transcripts for the 2nd, third year is optional!!!
 
Well, $10,000 is a bit more than $120 per month! But since it's fluctuating by 100% from year to year, I think it would be hard for you to establish what it will be for 2008. Plus, remember you have to bring current proof of income with you to the interview, so your wife would have to show some current income from your business at that time. It just seems to me quite a bit more difficult to prove that a job with regular pay where you can provide pay stubs with substantially the same amount month after month.
 
Hi,

Yeah! it is not like a job. Let me explain what it is. I provide technical articles to a website and the website pays me for the articles. That's pretty much it. It also means, if I don't write any article I won't be paid a cent. This writing contribution is run under my wife's name and hence all taxes are filed by her.

So, what do you think how should I proceed with I-864 with the scenario above?
 
I wish I would get paid for my writing time on the internet. :D

Well, since it's something where you provide a service and your wife gets paid for it, maybe it's better not to make too big a deal out of it on your I-864. Her income is essentially dependent on you but she's sponsoring you so it's not so clear to me how an IO might think about that (of course you probably wouldn't volunteer these details but they might ask). I'd focus on your H-1B income and/or both of your assets.

Well, what happened to your wife's tax return copies when she moved from California? Were they too heavy to take with her? :p ... your wife can request a transcript from IRS for the three most recent returns. Indeed, the 2nd and 3rd year is optional. Some people include them for a stronger case, if perhaps they made consistent income over time or more in the 2nd and 3rd year than the most recent year.

1099 is an information statement reporting certain income or a statement for contractor income. It's not the main form that needs to be filed, which is usually a variety of 1040 ... 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ for example.
 
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