theotter

Hello everyone,

My wife is from the US and has been living here with me in the UK for the past two years. As her temporary spouse visa expires at the end of this year we are planning to move back to the US and have begun the process of filing for the CR1 visa at the London embassy. We have successfully filed the I-130 and also sent in the DS 230 forms as well and have got to the point of preparing our I-864 forms which we had a few questions about.

(Because my wife has lived in the UK for two years, she has had no income in the US for the last two years. Her mum is being my joint sponsor and has filled out an I-864A for us. Her income alone will be enough to take us past the necessary amount to fulfil the support requirements.)

- My mother-in-law does not have a salaried job but gets paid on an hourly basis. Because of that, we don't know the exact amount that her income will be for this year. Her income for the last three years have been very consistent so on the form, we were planning to estimate her earning for this year in line with that. Is that reasonable or should we just enter her income for last year as the expected income for this year?

- My wife has been working in the UK whilst living here. The form asks about current employment status and earning. I presume as they are interested solely in US-related earnings that from their perspective, my wife should say she is unemployed and has no income?

- My wife is up to date with her US tax returns even though she has lived here in the UK. Because she filed her tax return for last year from here, we have no W2 or 1099 form. All that we have is a stamped copy of the 1040 form she filed that the IRS returned to us when we filed. Is that sufficient in itself to prove her federal tax return for last year, or do we need to get hold of any other documentation?

Thank you for looking at my questions. This site has been invaluable as we've navigated the first few steps of this journey!

Noorah101

If Mom is a Joint Sponsor, the correct form for her to fill out is I-864. The I-864A is only if she's a contributing household member on your wife's I-864.

It's easy enough to figure out. Take her hourly wage x 2080 (if she's full-time), and that is her yearly income. A full time, 40 hr per week employee, works 2,080 hours a year. That number x the hourly wage will be the yearly income.

No, don't enter last years' income. They are looking for "current" income. Enter whatever amount you get after doing the calculation above.

No, that's incorrect. Your wife should be honest on her I-864, and should list her UK job and income.

That's good news!

Don't UK employees get some kind of wage statement form, similar to a W-2? P-something?

Rene

theotter

Thanks for the advice. My wife does have a P-60 for the previous UK tax year but I thought it might make things quite confusing as the tax year here ends in april instead of december 31st in the US so it will be out of sync with what was reported in the US tax return. Also because the documentation they are looking for is specifically for US federal tax returns, I wasn't sure that they would be interested in UK earnings?

Noorah101

The UK earnings won't be considered as qualifying, but the I-864 should be filled out with correct information. If she's employed, and has an income, it's incorrect to state unemployed with zero income.

Rene

jeffreyhy

Yes. Your mother-in-laws situation seems ideal for this since her last 3 years' income has been consistent. Her most recent income tax return will be used as verification of her current income unless her situation has changed significantly - change in rate of pay, change in hours worked, change of employer, things like that. Your wife should submit with her I-864 exactly what she submitted to the IRS - nothing less, nothing more. Assuming that she took the foreign-earned income credit, the only thing she might want to do is add that credit back to the number on line 22 of her 1040 for Part 6 Lines 13 of her I-864, even though it's a moot point. Regards, JEff