Received Request for Evidence (I-485) re income, please advise

M

mannybluejay

New Member
Hi,

Long time lurker on these forums and first time poster.

I submitted a I-130, I-485, I-693, I-864, I-765, and I-131 as a package to the Chicago lockbox. My spouse is a USC.

My spouse is a recent college graduate and did not have much income in the past three years (since she was still in school) but she started work about a month ago and is currently making $50k per year, which would easily pass the income requirements set in form I-864.

Despite my spouse's current job, I received a Request for Initial Evidence yesterday regarding my I-485. It stated that my spouse's most recent tax return (2009) did not meet 125% of the poverty guideline and is asking for her to submit three pieces of information:

1. Her most recent tax return (which we already did, the EZ version)
2. Evidence of current income
3. Submitting evidence of assets or obtaining a joint sponsor

I have a few questions:

1. Does the EZ version of her tax return suffice as a tax return in the eyes of USCIS? That is what she filed and that is what we included, so I do not understand why they are asking for her tax return again.

2. She started working her full-time job in June, 2010. USCIS wants pay stubs for the previous six months, which she obviously does not have. Would a letter of employment from her employer and her pay records for the past month suffice? Or is one-month's worth of employment too short in the eyes of USCIS?

3. USCIS is asking for evidence of assets or obtaining a joint sponsor, is this really necessary in my case? Can I just omit this if you guys feel that a letter from her current employer and her one-month pay stub would suffice?

4. I would rather not have to find a sponsor and would prefer to answer the request for evidence by submitting my spouse's employment letter and one-month pay stub. If after receiving this, USCIS does not feel that is sufficient, will I have another chance at that point to present a sponsor or will my application be completely rejected?

Thank you very much for your help guys!
 
So I found out a few answers I'd like to share to others that might be in the same situation.

The first thing I learned was that calling the USCIS can be an extremely frustrating experience when you deal with the first line of people that answer the phone. Actually, they sound more like robots reading from a script and are unable to answer a single question and could only direct me to contact a lawyer. I called several times inquiring about the tax return issue and each time I was directed to consult a lawyer. Finally, instead of asking about the tax return issue first, since I thought that would be the easier question, I inquired about acceptable proofs of income and I was transferred to an immigration officer that responded like a thinking human instead of a robot.

The answer to question one is that it is not uncommon for USCIS to ask you to submit a document that has already been submitted before, so the EZ version of my spouse's tax return is acceptable.

For the second question, the immigration officer told me that one month's worth of pay stubs should suffice as long as the income requirements are met. If not, they said they will send me another request for evidence.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope everything goes smoothly from now.

Does anyone have any idea how long it will take for them to process the request for evidence after they received it? Will it update online?

Thanks again!
 
Here's the thing - the RFE is not about correct tax return form, or figuring out which form they would accept. I assume that you didn't read the 864 instructions thoroughly. It's always better to obtain and send OFFICIAL documents. A copy of your 1040EZ is not an official document, I mean what is the guarantee that she actually filed the form with IRS? That's why an official tax transcript is always suggested. It's free from IRS.

But like I said, this RFE is not about sending the correct tax form, but sending proofs that your spouse is actually making what she says she's making. If the most recent tax return showed a less than required income for her, why didn't you include more proofs with your original submissions? I mean, what proof did you provide that says she meets the income requirements?
 
The tax return we sent was what was sent to her by the IRS because I think they made a minor adjustment. Does that constitute as an official document or is something else needed.

I didn't include more proof with my original submission because she started working two days before we filed my application. I read the application form and it didn't state that it was an absolute that a letter from her employer was required, so I didn't think including proof was necessary but that was my mistake. Now we have responded to the RFE with her pay stub for five weeks, do you think that is good enough or should I start looking for a sponsor.

Also, any idea how long it will take for them to put me back in the que and continue to process my application?

Thank you very much for responding.

VisaNutz said:
Here's the thing - the RFE is not about correct tax return form, or figuring out which form they would accept. I assume that you didn't read the 864 instructions thoroughly. It's always better to obtain and send OFFICIAL documents. A copy of your 1040EZ is not an official document, I mean what is the guarantee that she actually filed the form with IRS? That's why an official tax transcript is always suggested. It's free from IRS.

But like I said, this RFE is not about sending the correct tax form, but sending proofs that your spouse is actually making what she says she's making. If the most recent tax return showed a less than required income for her, why didn't you include more proofs with your original submissions? I mean, what proof did you provide that says she meets the income requirements?
Click to expand...
 
mannybluejay said:
The tax return we sent was what was sent to her by the IRS because I think they made a minor adjustment. Does that constitute as an official document or is something else needed.

I didn't include more proof with my original submission because she started working two days before we filed my application. I read the application form and it didn't state that it was an absolute that a letter from her employer was required, so I didn't think including proof was necessary but that was my mistake. Now we have responded to the RFE with her pay stub for five weeks, do you think that is good enough or should I start looking for a sponsor.

Also, any idea how long it will take for them to put me back in the que and continue to process my application?

Thank you very much for responding.
Click to expand...

You said you sent 1040EZ. If it is an official copy of her tax return from IRS, then it's official. Did she pay IRS to get that?

Yes, 864 doesn't specifically request a letter from employer or pay-stubs, but it does say that you can send those if you think it will help establish the income claim. You could have enclosed a letter from the employer stating her position and income. Think about it, if you are renting, and someone shows up saying he makes 50K a year but the only document he brings to show is a prior year tax return that says he made 10K, what would you do?

If she meets the income requirements now, no need for additional sponsors - just some proofs of her income will do.

I am not trying to suggest what to do for this RFE - you already know what to do. But your comment about dumb USCIS employees and what not is kinda out of line. I am sure there are some dumb USCIS employees - but in this case, I wouldn't be bad mouthing them if I were you because you should have thought this out logically and included some proof of her income.

I would think the process would resume quickly. You will get an email about the status change in the system. Good luck to you man.
 
VisaNutz said:
You said you sent 1040EZ. If it is an official copy of her tax return from IRS, then it's official. Did she pay IRS to get that?

Yes, 864 doesn't specifically request a letter from employer or pay-stubs, but it does say that you can send those if you think it will help establish the income claim. You could have enclosed a letter from the employer stating her position and income. Think about it, if you are renting, and someone shows up saying he makes 50K a year but the only document he brings to show is a prior year tax return that says he made 10K, what would you do?

If she meets the income requirements now, no need for additional sponsors - just some proofs of her income will do.

I am not trying to suggest what to do for this RFE - you already know what to do. But your comment about dumb USCIS employees and what not is kinda out of line. I am sure there are some dumb USCIS employees - but in this case, I wouldn't be bad mouthing them if I were you because you should have thought this out logically and included some proof of her income.

I would think the process would resume quickly. You will get an email about the status change in the system. Good luck to you man.
Click to expand...
I would say the same,you gave them what they asked for it wasn't good enough. Okay well come back with more proof, send a letter from the employer or the current work position and her salary, submit current paystubs that shows the current year to date on it. That alone will show you already met the requirements. Keep uploading all paystubs that she gets it will show that she is hitting the threshold. So now USCIS will see when she files taxes the following year she has met her requirements
 
mannybluejay said:
The tax return we sent was what was sent to her by the IRS because I think they made a minor adjustment. Does that constitute as an official document or is something else needed.

I didn't include more proof with my original submission because she started working two days before we filed my application. I read the application form and it didn't state that it was an absolute that a letter from her employer was required, so I didn't think including proof was necessary but that was my mistake. Now we have responded to the RFE with her pay stub for five weeks, do you think that is good enough or should I start looking for a sponsor.

Also, any idea how long it will take for them to put me back in the que and continue to process my application?

Thank you very much for responding.
Click to expand...
I'm going through the same thing and I've sent them bank statements, a letter from my employer with my current position and department that includes my hourly pay along with my grants that was granted to me by my company. Every paystub I get from my employer I upload to USICS so they can see that I'm almost at the required limit before having to file taxes again.
 
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