USC with no tax return, no job... how to sponsor foreign wife?

[USC-husband]

I'm a US citizen and got married to a foreign girl who entered the US legally on a visa waiver program (ESTA) but overstayed 2 years.

I never filed a tax return, and never worked at a job for someone else.

My family has a little family business, we have some houses and apartments in which we rent out rooms, kinda like Airbnb, but we've been doing it for 20 years.

My parents were technically running the business while I was just helping out. I used to be a dependent on their tax return when i was younger, but now I'm in my 30s and not on their tax return anymore as a dependent.

We run the business together with my parents, we handle the finances, the repairs on the houses, the tenants, everything together.

I wasn't really getting paid. We live in our own apartments (my parents in one, me and my wife in another), so I never had to pay for rent. Food, clothes or whatever I needed was always provided for me from the family income. I have no individual "income", no paystubs, not even a bank account. Never needed it.

So that's why I never filed a tax return, and never held a job.

I got married this year and we are ready to file all the paperwork to get the green card for my wife.

Obviously I cannot sponsor her. So I can have my parents as joint sponsors.

Will it be a problem that I have no income on my own for the future? Do I need to get a job and file my own tax returns from now on? Or do my parents need to "hire me" on paper and give me a salary? Or can everything stay as is?

Thanks for the help!

[RIMB]

I'm a US citizen and got married to a foreign girl who entered the US legally on a visa waiver program (ESTA) but overstayed 2 years.

I never filed a tax return, and never worked at a job for someone else.

My family has a little family business, we have some houses and apartments in which we rent out rooms, kinda like Airbnb, but we've been doing it for 20 years.

My parents were technically running the business while I was just helping out. I used to be a dependent on their tax return when i was younger, but now I'm in my 30s and not on their tax return anymore as a dependent.

We run the business together with my parents, we handle the finances, the repairs on the houses, the tenants, everything together.

I wasn't really getting paid. We live in our own apartments (my parents in one, me and my wife in another), so I never had to pay for rent. Food, clothes or whatever I needed was always provided for me from the family income. I have no individual "income", no paystubs, not even a bank account. Never needed it.

So that's why I never filed a tax return, and never held a job.

I got married this year and we are ready to file all the paperwork to get the green card for my wife.

Obviously I cannot sponsor her. So I can have my parents as joint sponsors.

Will it be a problem that I have no income on my own for the future? Do I need to get a job and file my own tax returns from now on? Or do my parents need to "hire me" on paper and give me a salary? Or can everything stay as is?

Thanks for the help!

Hi

I would not be able to answer questions, but I don't see any disadvantage for your parent's family business to hire you and pay salary. And you totally should file your tax return going forward.

Even from the family business perspective, paying your salary can lower the business's tax due, because salary is wrote off as a business expense instead of going into profit, which is taxable.

Good luck!

[k6543]

I'm a US citizen and got married to a foreign girl who entered the US legally on a visa waiver program (ESTA) but overstayed 2 years.

I never filed a tax return, and never worked at a job for someone else.

My family has a little family business, we have some houses and apartments in which we rent out rooms, kinda like Airbnb, but we've been doing it for 20 years.

My parents were technically running the business while I was just helping out. I used to be a dependent on their tax return when i was younger, but now I'm in my 30s and not on their tax return anymore as a dependent.

We run the business together with my parents, we handle the finances, the repairs on the houses, the tenants, everything together.

I wasn't really getting paid. We live in our own apartments (my parents in one, me and my wife in another), so I never had to pay for rent. Food, clothes or whatever I needed was always provided for me from the family income. I have no individual "income", no paystubs, not even a bank account. Never needed it.

So that's why I never filed a tax return, and never held a job.

I got married this year and we are ready to file all the paperwork to get the green card for my wife.

Obviously I cannot sponsor her. So I can have my parents as joint sponsors.

Will it be a problem that I have no income on my own for the future? Do I need to get a job and file my own tax returns from now on? Or do my parents need to "hire me" on paper and give me a salary? Or can everything stay as is?

Thanks for the help!

Now that's life!! haha
I do not know much but I think your parents can sponsor her & when you file your papers you can also submit a formal hiring letter from you family owned business head with your pay on it, your job duties etc...
So if you file in Jan-2019, you'll have enough pay slips and bank transactions for your marriage to show you get paid for your work.

In this case, your parents are the key since you probably do not have much evidence that you and your wife stay together, like lease agreement, medical insurance, join bank account etc
Or hire a community lawyer in your area who works for immigration's for minorities, t hey will do it for cheap.
I had my lawyer do it for $1000 in CT state.

[USC-husband]

So if you file in Jan-2019, you'll have enough pay slips and bank transactions for your marriage to show you get paid for your work.

Thanks for the tips! I didn't think of this.
That's only like 1 month of work. How many pay slips and bank transactions are ENOUGH? Don't I have to show many months worth of stable income?[/QUOTE]

In this case, your parents are the key since you probably do not have much evidence that you and your wife stay together, like lease agreement, medical insurance, join bank account etc

We are together for a year and a half, and live together from the start. We have a ton of evidence for this, she gets letters on her name to our address, we can show with iphone location history and shopping receipts and photos that we've been literally going everywhere together every single day. We do everything together every day! We just started a joint bank account, and I put both of our names on the gas and electric bill also... so showing that it's bona fide marriage and that we live together is not gonna be a problem. (I've been reading this forum and am following the huge Table of Contents list that UScitizenFilingforspouse shared to put together a ton of evidence.)

My wife helps out in the family business, my parents are getting older, and they are not doing it anymore, so we are kinda taking over all the property management activities from them. We are just not getting paid for it "on paper".

I've been buying everything for years with my parents credit cards on which I'm added on as a second user. We (me and my wife) do all the shopping for the whole family, my parents don't go shopping anymore. We buy all the food, and stuff we need for ourselves, for our households, and for the apartments repairs with these cards. She is not added on these cards as a user, but we can prove with her iphone location records that she's been there at all the stores and restaurants and events at the exact dates and times, where i've been using these cards every day for over a year and a half.

The problem is no income to show for the future for myself as an individual.

I'm thinking: If i got a job and made like 21 grand in a few months, that would be over the poverty guideline for a 2 person household. So maybe then I could be the only sponsor, and my parents could even withdraw from being joint sponsors. And I could bring a new affidavit of support form to the interview with me... Would something like this work or be sufficient enough proof for an income?

[2018memcan]

Thanks for the tips! I didn't think of this.
That's only like 1 month of work. How many pay slips and bank transactions are ENOUGH? Don't I have to show many months worth of stable income?

We are together for a year and a half, and live together from the start. We have a ton of evidence for this, she gets letters on her name to our address, we can show with iphone location history and shopping receipts and photos that we've been literally going everywhere together every single day. We do everything together every day! We just started a joint bank account, and I put both of our names on the gas and electric bill also... so showing that it's bona fide marriage and that we live together is not gonna be a problem. (I've been reading this forum and am following the huge Table of Contents list that UScitizenFilingforspouse shared to put together a ton of evidence.)

My wife helps out in the family business, my parents are getting older, and they are not doing it anymore, so we are kinda taking over all the property management activities from them. We are just not getting paid for it "on paper".

I've been buying everything for years with my parents credit cards on which I'm added on as a second user. We (me and my wife) do all the shopping for the whole family, my parents don't go shopping anymore. We buy all the food, and stuff we need for ourselves, for our households, and for the apartments repairs with these cards. She is not added on these cards as a user, but we can prove with her iphone location records that she's been there at all the stores and restaurants and events at the exact dates and times, where i've been using these cards every day for over a year and a half.

The problem is no income to show for the future for myself as an individual.

I'm thinking: If i got a job and made like 21 grand in a few months, that would be over the poverty guideline for a 2 person household. So maybe then I could be the only sponsor, and my parents could even withdraw from being joint sponsors. And I could bring a new affidavit of support form to the interview with me... Would something like this work or be sufficient enough proof for an income?[/QUOTE]




When your parents file their corporate tax (business tax), do they show the dividend. If yes, you can share the dividend in the next tax return.

If I would be you, I would definitely give some sacrifice and hire an attorney; just to be on safe side.

[newacct]

I'm a US citizen and got married to a foreign girl who entered the US legally on a visa waiver program (ESTA) but overstayed 2 years.

I never filed a tax return, and never worked at a job for someone else.

My family has a little family business, we have some houses and apartments in which we rent out rooms, kinda like Airbnb, but we've been doing it for 20 years.

My parents were technically running the business while I was just helping out. I used to be a dependent on their tax return when i was younger, but now I'm in my 30s and not on their tax return anymore as a dependent.

We run the business together with my parents, we handle the finances, the repairs on the houses, the tenants, everything together.

I wasn't really getting paid. We live in our own apartments (my parents in one, me and my wife in another), so I never had to pay for rent. Food, clothes or whatever I needed was always provided for me from the family income. I have no individual "income", no paystubs, not even a bank account. Never needed it.

So that's why I never filed a tax return, and never held a job.

I got married this year and we are ready to file all the paperwork to get the green card for my wife.

Obviously I cannot sponsor her. So I can have my parents as joint sponsors.

Will it be a problem that I have no income on my own for the future? Do I need to get a job and file my own tax returns from now on? Or do my parents need to "hire me" on paper and give me a salary? Or can everything stay as is?

Thanks for the help!

It should be fine if your parent is willing to be a joint sponsor and he/she has sufficient current household income.

Not filing taxes is not a problem if your income is below the threshold for being required to file taxes.

[USC-husband]

When your parents file their corporate tax (business tax), do they show the dividend. If yes, you can share the dividend in the next tax return.

My parents' business is not incorporated, unfortunately. So it's more like a sole proprietorship on my mother's name. Since it's not a separate entity, there's no dividend. Also there's not much extra profit for dividends, because we spend most of the income... But I like your tip. maybe we'll make it into a corporation! I've been wanting to do this for years anyways for the other benefits having a corp would provide...

It should be fine if your parent is willing to be a joint sponsor and he/she has sufficient current household income.

Not filing taxes is not a problem if your income is below the threshold for being required to file taxes.

But what about my individual future income? I know past tax returns are not as important as showing the "current income" that is expected for the end of the current year. So can I just keep on not working, and not having my own income for years, and they would find my parents' income sufficient for sponsoring her? Or do I eventually have to show my own income too even though I have sponsors initially?

Thanks.

[USC-husband]

...I don't see any disadvantage for your parent's family business to hire you and pay salary.

...when you file your papers you can also submit a formal hiring letter from you family owned business head with your pay on it, your job duties etc...

Thanks guys for these tips. So how exactly can I prove that my mother hired me and she pays a salary to me every week? Are there any formal hiring letter samples on this site or somewhere else that I could use for this?
What else do I need besides my mother writing a letter?

My mother has a checking account into which all the rental income is being deposited. I'm added onto this account as a second user. Now we created a new checking account together with my wife to prove combined finances. Would it work if every week my mother would transfer a set amount of money from our the rental income account to me&mywife's account? Would I be able to show that as a salary? Or is that a problem that I'm also a user of the rental income account? And does it matter how the transfer happens? Like wiretransfer, or zelle, or paypal, or deposit? Or does she have to write out a check to me? Would this be good enough as proof of salary? Or do we need to use actual paystubs?

What is the best way for us to do this?

Thanks