# Sponsorship and is it relevent for me?



## Yukichon (Mar 16, 2011)

We are in the early stages of immigrating. I'm a UK citizen, but my wife and children are all US citizens. We have had a home in Florida for over 3 years now in my name. I am about to apply for. K-3 visa with a I-130 filed first. 
I am currently a MD of a business that will continue to pay me whilst I live in the US. We will be buying a house outright and will be comfortable financially. My wife currently runs her own salons which we will be selling prior to our move so she won't be in employment when we do unless she gets an offer between now and then. Will this be an issue despite us being financially stable as I read that the sponsor(my wife) must be able to financially support the family, or is the irrelevant as we are financially stable?


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

We are in exact same situation. We are very financially stable but still need a sponsor.

Question: 

Has your wife filed taxes? 
Has your wife filed the FBAR? 

If not this might be your biggest problem. I left the states as a baby and they still expect this from us. We are at the moment figuring out what to do .

There are some very nice people with alot more information that can help you on here.


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## Yukichon (Mar 16, 2011)

She hasn't ever filed taxes as she left when she was 13. I have filed returns as a homeowner and have a US accountant that deals with filing for our Florida home. My wife has family in Colorado which is where we are looking to move to, and I'm sure her Grandparents would be willing to sponsor us but it just seems irrelevant when I will have no mortgage, healthy savings and an income of circka $6k per month and that's without any salary from a coaching position I have been offered.
What is the Fbar?


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

I left the states when I was 9 years old and this is the first question they ask. And also If you look at the i864 which your wife as petitioner has to fill out it is question 25. if u have a tax lawyer in th states drop him a line and ask your wifes obligations he will be sure to tell you. Apparently no matter how young you are you have to declare your world wide income if you are born in the states . 

I own property in Europe and been CEO for 7 years I won't go into figures but we also are very stable. I am hoping that te sponsor we got is irrelevant and we we get to the interview they will just use our assets. We are in final stages already receives approval and packet now just have interview and this is where they discuss the affidavit of support I 864. 

I really don't mean to confuse you more this whole thing is ludicrous. The FBAR Geeze you are going to laugh according to USA law every time your bank balance goes over 10k you must report it to the IRS with a form I'll send a link in a moment. If you don't comply you can be penalised up to 25% of your savings. Don't laugh your hearing right lol wait till you read the information on the IRS site will post it now


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=234900,00.html

Most interesting question 52, nos 2 

They must be kidding


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

Ok to answer your other question to get to were we are now . 

20th nov we filed all the docs 
I130 for husband and children 
G325a for husband

Received package end January with approval

Had to get police conducts and several documents what is taking time was this massive hiccup of the I 864 and the taxs and FBAR


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Just to clarify - every candidate for an immigrant visa to the US needs a sponsor. If you're going on a work visa, then your sponsor is your employer. For those applying based on family ties, the sponsor is the US citizen you'll be moving with (spouse, in your cases). Normally it's the primary sponsor who must show that they are capable of supporting the visa applicant in order to keep them off welfare. If the primary sponsor isn't able to support their spouse and/or kids, then they can find a co-sponsor, usually a parent or other family members who are willing to be financially responsible for the visa candidate until they get themselves established.

Your American wife will have to file her US taxes for the last three or four years in order to be able to sponsor your visa application. Her "earned income" (i.e. salary or what she was earning in her business) is subject to the overseas earned income exclusion, so shouldn't result in any taxes due. If you've already got a tax advisor in the US, there should be no problem setting up and filing those back tax returns. 

The FBAR thing is not really such a big deal. Each year you are supposed to report your overseas bank and financial accounts (i.e. any non-US account) to the Treasury Dept (separately from your tax return) - but only if the total balance of all your non-US financial accounts is greater than $10,000 at any time during the year. US citizens are supposed to report their own accounts, any accounts held in joint ownership and any account they have signature authority over (like for a company, if the US citizen is a check signer on the company account). It's a PITA. It's intrusive, but it's about 10 to 15 minutes worth of filling out the forms, and then you pretty much copy the information each year from last year's forms.

For your wife to act as financial sponsor for you, she will need to show some sort of resources you plan to live on when you get to the US. This can be savings, or a job offer, plus you should indicate what you are planning on doing about a place to live - staying with friends or family (in which case they could co-sponsor you), or your budget for temporary accommodation until you buy a house with your savings.

Be careful about mentioning your arrangement with your employer in the UK. Technically you aren't allowed to work in the US until you have the appropriate visa. You also will be expected to enroll in US social security and pay local employment taxes, so you'd be better off setting yourself up as a "consultant" with the responsibility for handling your own taxes, etc. (Your tax accountant can advise you on this - but again, it will have to wait until you have your visa and are "legal" to work.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

Bev may I please ask, does the wife still have to show filed taxes even if not financial sponsor?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Jen114 said:


> 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative
> 
> Most interesting question 52, nos 2
> 
> They must be kidding


Your link goes to an IRS press release that doesn't have questions by numbers. I'd also not worry too much about this "Voluntary disclosure of offshore accounts" thing. It's really directed at those who have Swiss bank accounts or other "secret" accounts designed to withhold information from the tax people (in the US or elsewhere).

For most of us common folks, just filling out the standard disclosure form for your non-US financial accounts is a fairly quick and painless process and it gets you off the hook. That US citizenship carries a few inconveniences with it and unless you're willing to renounce, you just have to kind of grin and bear it.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

Thanks bev just out of interest go to the questions and answers of that page and read number 52 etc


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## Jen114 (Mar 5, 2011)

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/article/0,,id=235699,00.html

Or try this


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Jen114 said:


> Bev may I please ask, does the wife still have to show filed taxes even if not financial sponsor?


It would really be best if she did. The US spouse IS the visa sponsor, no matter what and filing taxes is one of those annoying obligations of US citizenship. Chances are, you will owe no taxes to the US - they are pretty much informational returns only.

As a US citizen married to a non-citizen, you are only required to report income in your name. Your husband's income is of no concern to the US until and unless he gets his visa and becomes a US resident. You do not have to split his income or anything tricky like that for reporting purposes.

If you have had no income during those back years you need to file, you can simply indicate that on your forms, sign them and send them in. It's really not that big a deal.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Yukichon (Mar 16, 2011)

My goodness this all sounds daunting. A company called Global visas is offering to do the whole process for £1560 and have a 100% success rate, is it worth it or a waste of money?


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Jen114 said:


> 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative
> 
> Most interesting question 52, nos 2
> 
> They must be kidding


IRS is not hampered by a sense of humor when it comes to taxes and penalties.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Yukichon said:


> My goodness this all sounds daunting. A company called Global visas is offering to do the whole process for £1560 and have a 100% success rate, is it worth it or a waste of money?


Use the search option to find a Candian family trying to move to HI. Global advised B1/B2 overstay. There is no 100% rate as the result depends on the situation of the client. If you want to use an attorney pick one with a proven tack record. Martindale.com is a good source of information.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Yukichon said:


> She hasn't ever filed taxes as she left when she was 13. I have filed returns as a homeowner and have a US accountant that deals with filing for our Florida home. My wife has family in Colorado which is where we are looking to move to, and I'm sure her Grandparents would be willing to sponsor us but it just seems irrelevant when I will have no mortgage, healthy savings and an income of circka $6k per month and that's without any salary from a coaching position I have been offered.
> What is the Fbar?


UK/US divided by one language:>) What exactly does your US accountant file for you?

Irrelevant or not - it is part of the rules.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Jen114 said:


> Thanks bev just out of interest go to the questions and answers of that page and read number 52 etc


Look, however, at the answer to question 2 on that same page. They are looking for people who have been using offshore accounts to evade taxes. 

Not growing up in the US, you don't understand how the IRS works. They love issuing scary information like this, basically to scare miscreants into compliance. But they simply do NOT have the manpower to pursue every US citizen abroad who "forgot" to report their overseas bank accounts or didn't realize they were supposed to.

If you file three years' worth of back tax returns, showing that you don't owe anything, you can be reasonably certain they aren't going to pursue you on the report of foreign bank accounts issue. I would be certain, however, to report whatever interest you receive on those foreign bank accounts. If it's anything like my accounts, you won't have more than a couple hundred $$ interest to report - i.e. not enough to generate any tax liability to the US.

While "good faith" isn't a defense should they decide to single you out, if you demonstrate through the filings you do that you're not hiding anything, and (probably more importantly) that you don't actually owe them anything, they aren't going to bother you any further. Now, if you've got "hidden accounts" that are paying you tons of money you don't want to report, you may have a problem. But in that case, you can probably afford a tax attorney to advise you.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Yukichon (Mar 16, 2011)

Does the sponsor have to be of a certain age, as our most likely source is my wife's grandparents due to the fact that my wife cannot show enough financial income to support me even though we don't need it....


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Yukichon said:


> Does the sponsor have to be of a certain age, as our most likely source is my wife's grandparents due to the fact that my wife cannot show enough financial income to support me even though we don't need it....


Again - it does not matter what you need or do not need. Translate it to "you want something from them which is a Green Card. The game has rules. 

The sponsor has to agree to be financially responsible for you for a period of ten years. I have never heard of a financially capable and breathing sponsor being turned down.


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

the K-3 is pretty much obsolete ..you application will be changed to a CR1 or IR1
The US citizen may have to prove existing domicile and have a US income for the affidavit of support


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

twostep said:


> Use the search option to find a Candian family trying to move to HI. Global advised B1/B2 overstay. There is no 100% rate as the result depends on the situation of the client. If you want to use an attorney pick one with a proven tack record. Martindale.com is a good source of information.


Is this what you were reffering to?

I would question anything from Global Visas, especially after reading a post on the "America" forum, titled, 'Canadian Family moving to Maui", the poster said GlobalVisas told them they could go to the states as a tourist, stay for 6 months, leave for 24 hours, come back and stay for another 6 months. Which is 100% false, (based on the info the poster was giving), and also from my personal research and experience.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

gringotim said:


> Is this what you were reffering to?
> 
> I would question anything from Global Visas, especially after reading a post on the "America" forum, titled, 'Canadian Family moving to Maui", the poster said GlobalVisas told them they could go to the states as a tourist, stay for 6 months, leave for 24 hours, come back and stay for another 6 months. Which is 100% false, (based on the info the poster was giving), and also from my personal research and experience.


Ambulance chasers:>) Unfortunately there are always those who think they found a hole in the system. Active and almost real time data sharing of not only US government agencies is closing more and more of those holes. 
I like the advise to overstay. Job security for their legal department?


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