The Dreaded RIE (Request for Initial Evidence)

Hello,

I'm in the process of sponsoring my wife for AoS. I submitted the I-485 recently and received a request for initial evidence. My salary is well above the poverty guidelines, but I do have two very important questions:

First, the letter states that I need to submit evidence of my current income, and that such evidence should include the following: "Letter of employment containing the following: Dates of employment, nature of the job, wages or salary earned, number of hours per week worked, and prospects for future employment and advancement."

I have spent days on the phone with HR at my company, and the best they can provide me with is a printable screen in the "myHR" system that shows my employer (them), my department, my employment status as "active", my salary, my title, etc.

I was also able to find documentation that looks like it's essentially what companies use to verify your employment history when they hire you. My problem here is that none of this looks official (it's not an official letter on company letterhead or anything like that. It's basically just a screenshot of my HR information printed out), and it also doesn't include the nature of my job or my prospects for future employment and advancement. Again, I've spent days on the phone with my HR department, and they claim that this is all they offer as far as employment verification for immigration purposes.

Second, the letter states that I need to provide supporting tax documentation for the most recent tax year. Since the new year has come, does that mean I need to provide my 2016 tax information? If so, it's impossible for me to do so, since I haven't even received my W-2 yet! Would 2015 suffice since we started this whole process a month ago in 2016?

Thank you for any help that you can provide. I greatly appreciate it. I'm sure most of you understand how difficult and stressful this situation is!

 

Whether you have an employer letter or not isn't critical, so the one you have is fine. Make sure you include recent pay stubs for proving current income.

Since it's before April 15, the most recent year's tax returns can be the 2015 ones.

 

Thanks for the information! I feel a lot more confident now that it's going to get accepted this time.