Pik82

Hello all,

My husband and I (US citizen) currently live in Ireland with our young child (also US citizen) and are trying to move back to the USA. We filed for an IR-1 in August 2019, and he had his interview at the Dublin embassy yesterday. Unfortunately, our I-864 did not qualify.

- As we are living outside of the US and I do not have 3 years of tax returns showing qualifying income, we are using assets. We thought that since we are married and living together (same household), we could use my husband's assets on the I-864 as well. However, he was told at the interview that our assets did not qualify. The interviewer only seemed to take into consideration my assets and did not mention my husband's assets at all. We did not file an I-864A as it seemed to us that it did not apply to our situation (the instructions for the I-864A only mention that the intending immigrant can file this if their income is to continue after acquisition of the permanent residence, which is not our case. It does not mention the assets of the intending immigrant, only income.)
- He was told by the interviewer that the easiest way to proceed would be for me (the petitioner) to show qualifying assets, or to get a joint sponsor. While this very well may be the easiest route in terms of processing, finding a joint sponsor is easier said than done! (I do not have family in the US).
- We thought that the assets would have to be at least 3 times 125% of the poverty guideline for our household size, since we are applying for a green card based on marriage. However, the interviewer said that since we are looking at moving to Florida, it would have to be 5 times 125% of the poverty guideline instead of 3. While we would still have the assets necessary if my husband's assets were to be taken into account, I am very surprised by this as I cannot find any written evidence of this online.

So to sum up, our questions are:
1) Should we submit an I-864A to have my husband's assets considered?
2) If not, could my husband add me as a primary user on his Irish bank accounts so we can use his assets? Or would I have had to be on his accounts for at least 12 months? And would the fact that these are Irish accounts be an issue?

Could somebody shed some light on all this for us please? We are confused as to how we should proceed from here. Thank you so much.

Noorah101

Wow. That officer was wrong on everything.

Since you are married, your husband's assets are considered your assets, even if your name is not on them. Also does not matter where in the world the assets are.

No I-864A is necessary.

The assets need to be 3x the amount lacking in income. (If it were not marriage based, or if it were a joint sponsor's assets, then it world be 5x). Florida has nothing to do with anything. It doesn't matter which state you're moving to.

That all being said, I'm not sure how you can get past the requirements now that the officer has rejected the I-864, even though she was wrong in doing so.

So to answer your questions:
1. No I-864A is necessary, but if the officer wants one, then do one.
2. Yes, I assume you can be added to his accounts if that's what the officer wants to see. It should not matter where in the world the accounts are.

Rene

Pik82

Thank you so much for your reply, Rene. It is dispiriting to have apparently done things correctly and to have little recourse! Hopefully they'll be satisfied with us submitting more docs

Noorah101

Are the assets all cash in the bank? That is the best kind. And do you have 5x the amount lacking in income? (Even though only 3x is actually needed.)

Rene

S Folinsky

When there is an error(s) of law in a denial, there are procedures in place to have the denial internally reviewed. If the denial remains one of law, it is possible to ask for a request for an advisory opinion from the Visa Office in D.C.

scrubbedexpat099

Sometimes the USC moves forst and gets a job, current income is what counts not 3 years.