Hi, friends, I need your valuable opinion. My mother-in-law's brother, Bob, is a naturalized US citizen and the petioner of the immigration application filed for my parents-in-law with a priority date of September 1994. Their attorney in US just recently received a letter from National Visa Center asking them to pay $380/person for immigrant visa application processing fee and $70 for Affidavit of Support Processing Fee. It appears that, once the fees are paid, INS will start sending forms and other paper work for them to proceed. Based on the current visa bulletin, Hopefully they will get a consular interview later next year.
However, we got a few major issues to solve here. Bob has spent much of his time out of US in the past few years and has not filed income tax return with IRS, coz he has been in poor health condition and generated little income in recent years. However, as a petioner and sponsor for our parents immigration case, I believe he has to explain to INS (now USCIS) his current situations: (1) the reason for missing tax return for the past 3 years; (2) the reason he has spent so much time overseas and his intension to return to US in the future. Is my undertanding correct?
Regarding the tax reports, even though he could be considered making no income in the past few years, I guess it can make his Affidavid of Support inscrutable to INS. If Bob claims paying no tax, because of his staying in China for past few years, will it be reasonable for INS to double the necessity of having his sister's family coming to join him in US as immigrants? Some people suggest he might be better off to pay a little tax with the exlanation of his sickness. However, we still don't know if this is the best way to handle his tax reports, as it's possible that INS will then suspect his creditability and integrity as well as the truthfulness of all his statements. Am I correct
I understand that a US citizen living abroad still has to file US tax and claim his worldwide income. However, if his annual income was under the minimum level for tax filing purpose (around a couple thousands), he does not have to file a return, right? So, I suggest to my parents-in-law that Bob should retain an attorney to write a defense statement for him, explaning the reason for his failure to file tax due to insufficient income and bad health, as well as his frequent stay overseas for business reasons. As another option, he might be able to file previous tax retroactively and probably doesn't have to pay INS at all. If he files retroactively, tax records can be retrieved from IRS later on and provided to INS. Am I correct?
At the mean time, we are trying to find a joint sponsor for the case to make up for Bob's financial weakness. Both my wife and myself are US greencard holder, but we have been living abroad since last year due to my job responsibility. Thus, we are not qualified to be a joint sponsor. However, my father-in-law has a uncle who is a 70 year old retired religious worker in US. He owns a few properties which generate monthly income for him ( I guess he also enjoy certain retirement benefit such as receiving pension). His wife is much younger and agrees to be a joint sponsor. I just wonder, in your opinion, a joint sponsor like this will make a good case of financial support ability?
My parents-in-law, both retired with little monthly income, can still provide certain proof of their financial ability too. They own several real estates in their home country worth around $200K in terms of market value. However, when deciding the value of properties, should they use current market value or the original purchase price? How can they prove the acceptable proof of the property value?
That is the long story of immigration petition for my parents-in-law. I would highly appreciate it if you can offer me insights or opinions regarding above mentioned 3 issues: (1) petitioner's failure to file returns; (2) Petitioner's prolonged stay overseas; (3) qualification of a joint sponsor. -Sincerely, Edward
However, we got a few major issues to solve here. Bob has spent much of his time out of US in the past few years and has not filed income tax return with IRS, coz he has been in poor health condition and generated little income in recent years. However, as a petioner and sponsor for our parents immigration case, I believe he has to explain to INS (now USCIS) his current situations: (1) the reason for missing tax return for the past 3 years; (2) the reason he has spent so much time overseas and his intension to return to US in the future. Is my undertanding correct?
Regarding the tax reports, even though he could be considered making no income in the past few years, I guess it can make his Affidavid of Support inscrutable to INS. If Bob claims paying no tax, because of his staying in China for past few years, will it be reasonable for INS to double the necessity of having his sister's family coming to join him in US as immigrants? Some people suggest he might be better off to pay a little tax with the exlanation of his sickness. However, we still don't know if this is the best way to handle his tax reports, as it's possible that INS will then suspect his creditability and integrity as well as the truthfulness of all his statements. Am I correct
I understand that a US citizen living abroad still has to file US tax and claim his worldwide income. However, if his annual income was under the minimum level for tax filing purpose (around a couple thousands), he does not have to file a return, right? So, I suggest to my parents-in-law that Bob should retain an attorney to write a defense statement for him, explaning the reason for his failure to file tax due to insufficient income and bad health, as well as his frequent stay overseas for business reasons. As another option, he might be able to file previous tax retroactively and probably doesn't have to pay INS at all. If he files retroactively, tax records can be retrieved from IRS later on and provided to INS. Am I correct?
At the mean time, we are trying to find a joint sponsor for the case to make up for Bob's financial weakness. Both my wife and myself are US greencard holder, but we have been living abroad since last year due to my job responsibility. Thus, we are not qualified to be a joint sponsor. However, my father-in-law has a uncle who is a 70 year old retired religious worker in US. He owns a few properties which generate monthly income for him ( I guess he also enjoy certain retirement benefit such as receiving pension). His wife is much younger and agrees to be a joint sponsor. I just wonder, in your opinion, a joint sponsor like this will make a good case of financial support ability?
My parents-in-law, both retired with little monthly income, can still provide certain proof of their financial ability too. They own several real estates in their home country worth around $200K in terms of market value. However, when deciding the value of properties, should they use current market value or the original purchase price? How can they prove the acceptable proof of the property value?
That is the long story of immigration petition for my parents-in-law. I would highly appreciate it if you can offer me insights or opinions regarding above mentioned 3 issues: (1) petitioner's failure to file returns; (2) Petitioner's prolonged stay overseas; (3) qualification of a joint sponsor. -Sincerely, Edward