JenGav

Hello all, newbie to the site here.....I was given the link to the visa that my husband will need and I have been through all the information pages. I can provide evidence of everything very easily as we have been married for over 20 years, but I don't have evidence of my US income and tax information. I haven't lived in the US since I was 9 years old, will I need to speak to the Embassy about this or will I need to move out to the US first, get a job, etc and then continue with the process for my husband's visa? Many thanks for any advise you can give me.

Pulaski

Have you been completing US tax returns? ..... They are required by the IRS no matter where in the world a US citizen is living, so long as you have more than a very low level of income (about $4k IIRC). If you haven't been completing US tax returns, submitting them in arrears for the last three years will be sufficient for visa application purposes - or an explanatory note as to why (very low income) you were not required to submit tax returns.

If you don't have the income to support a spouse visa application, you might qualify under the "assets basis" (savings or other realiseable assets of at least three times the federally defined annual income poverty rate),

OR travel ahead and get a job in the US at 25% over the Federally defined poverty rate,

OR, get a joint sponsor who has "spare income" (their income is sufficient to include the immigrant and not be below the Federal poverty level for household of that size). .... perhaps your brother? (It can be any US citizen or permanent resident so long as they live in the US.)

JenGav

Oh wow, thank you. I didn't know anything about filing a US tax return.

The information you have given below is really great, thank you for taking the time to let me know, I really appreciate it.

Pulaski

You're welcome.

BTW US citizens living overseas get a fairly generous foreign income deduction, and credit for tax already paid outside the US, so the chances of you owing any tax is pretty small.

One other thing you mentioned, about "asking the US embassy for advice" is never going to work. They aren't set up to provide advice, and the call number is staffed by people without specialist knowledge and who can't be relied on to provide useful information. Ever.

Unless your husband has a criminal record or a drug habit, and at least one of you can read the forms, completing a visa application is quite straightforward and doesn't usually require the assistance of a lawyer. Simple questions can be asked here in BE and we'll be pleased to help.

Noorah101

If you are using assets, it's only 3x the income amount, not 5x.

Rene

carlrush

You're certainly not alone, it comes up a lot on here. My wife had the same situation with back-dated tax returns and it was more straightforward than we feared to get up-to-date. Take a look at this for a start..

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/inte...ion-procedures

There are lots of posts on here you could search for too.

Also, need to be aware of FBAR. This is a good place to start...

https://www.fincen.gov/forms/bsa_forms/fbar.html

Again, they'll be plenty on this forum about it too.