Received RFE regarding Marriage-based green card application, unable to find a joint sponsor

[edieedi3]

Hello!

I'm an intending immigrant currently in the process of a marriage-based green card application. (my spouse is a US citizen)

My application package was submitted to The USCIS about a month ago, and soon after I received an RFE letter requesting for a joint sponsor, because according to my spouse's latest year's tax return, he did not make enough to be above the 125% of the poverty guideline for a 2-person household. (it was only about approx. 3000 USD difference.. )

We did submit evidence to prove that he is making more than enough this year (55000/year), such as the employment verification letter from his current employer, and pay stubs from the last 6 months. However it seems the USCIS does not consider this is a strong evidence.

Our difficulty at the moment is the find a joint sponsor who would like to sign the form, since this sponsorship indicates 10 years of responsibility.

Our first question is - is there any other way than finding a joint sponsor, and how should we respond to USCIS? It seems USCIS did not give us any other option, at least that is what was stated in the letter, but what if we can't find a joint sponsor?

Our second question is - If we fail to give the proper evidence to USCIS, will our case be denied? Will we have another chance to respond, or reapply without me leaving the US?

The deadline is 2 months from now, we are thinking if we still have another chance to respond or reapply later after filing this year's tax in April 2024, we would be able to meet the requirement since my spouse makes enough income this year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my questions, I can not be grateful enough for your generous help!

 

[newacct]

since this sponsorship indicates 10 years of responsibility.

Correction - the obligation is not for 10 years; it is forever, until one of the conditions are met: the immigrant naturalizes to become a US citizen, the immigrant can be credited with 40 quarters of Social Security credits (including credits earned by spouse during the period of marriage), the immigrant gives up their green card and leaves the US, the immigrant immigrates again on another basis, or the immigrant dies. If the immigrant never naturalizes, and never works, the obligation can last much longer than 10 years.

However, failure to meet the obligation only matters if the immigrant sues the sponsor, or the immigrant uses means-tested public benefits, so if the sponsor can trust the immigrant to do neither of those things, then the sponsor might not need to worry about anything.

Our first question is - is there any other way than finding a joint sponsor, and how should we respond to USCIS? It seems USCIS did not give us any other option, at least that is what was stated in the letter, but what if we can't find a joint sponsor?

I don't know. The other option would be to show that your household income and household assets are enough (potentially including the intending immigrant's income and assets), but it seems like you already showed sufficient current income, but they still don't think it's enough.

Our second question is - If we fail to give the proper evidence to USCIS, will our case be denied? Will we have another chance to respond, or reapply without me leaving the US?

The deadline is 2 months from now, we are thinking if we still have another chance to respond or reapply later after filing this year's tax in April 2024, we would be able to meet the requirement since my spouse makes enough income this year.

Yes, it can be denied. Another possibility I have read about is they can allow you to post a public charge bond in their discretion, but I don't know much about it and don't know in what circumstances they would allow someone to do it. It might be a rare thing that almost never happens.

Yes, you can file I-485 again without leaving the US. (You wouldn't need to file I-130 again since that's not affected by inadmissibilities.) You are in the Immediate Relative category and so you do not need to be in status when filing I-485, so even if you are out of status now, it would not affect your eligibility to file a second I-485.

Of course, you would have to pay the huge fee again, and you would still have the same problem of needing the I-864, but maybe by then you will have the 2023 W-2 and/or tax return, and can enter that on the I-864. You do not need to wait until April to file a tax return; you can usually file by the end of January or beginning of February.

The process also depends on whether you are put into removal proceedings after the denial of the first I-485. I don't know if they have some process which puts people into removal proceedings soon after I-485 denial or not. If you do get put into removal proceedings, you would have to file I-485 with the immigration judge in removal proceedings, instead of with USCIS. It would still be doable, but with more hassle.