I-485 Denial due to co-sponsor insufficient financials

[Jari112]

Hello, I hope this is the right section. My wife (from Chile) and I have been working through ********* for her immigration. It was recommended that my mother come on as a co-sponsor, as I lost my job during the start of the pandemic and at the time we calculated my mother to be financially sufficient as a co-sponsor.

When we first filed I-485, they showed that my mother was sufficient, but the evidence we provided wasn't enough. We submitted additional evidence, but it came back being denied as not meeting the 125% requirement. We were all surprised by this, but I don't believe USCIS made a mistake here. Very disappointing and definitely not what we wanted to see, but it's how things go.

Going forward, my grandmother offered to be a co-sponsor. Financially she is very well off, fully owning her $500,000 home and living by herself with a sizable savings and receiving retirement payments. We don't live with her, but we do live very close.

I'm not sure the best way to proceed now though. Since our Form I-485 was denied, do we start over with a new I-485, and fill out an I-864 for myself and an I-864 for my grandmother and send it in? Would it be possible to file a motion to simply add my grandmother as an additional co-sponsor without having to start over the I-485 form?

I'll include some of what the denial letter stated below, as I'm not sure if it affects how we should go forward changing or adding a cosponsor or if we simply start over with a fresh I-485 and the two I-864 for myself and my grandmother.

"You may not appeal this decision. However, if you are issued a Notice to Appear, you will have an opportunity to renew your application for adjustment of status and/or to request any other relief that may be available in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge. See Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (8 CFR), section 245.2(a)(5)(ii). Furthermore, this decision is without prejudice to future applications filed with the appropriate USCIS office.

If you believe that the denial of your Form I-485 is in error, you may file a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider using Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion. You must submit Form I-290B within 30 days from the date of this notice. If USCIS does not receive the motion to reopen or reconsider within the required period, this decision will become final."

[mnewportland]

Sorry that you have to go through that! Did you have an interview? Did the interviewing officer tell you that you need another co-sponsor or an updated form I-864 or maybe this never came up?
Also you said that you believe USCIS didn't make any mistakes, so do you mean that your mother fell under that 125% requirement, or just failed to submit enough evidence to proof that she makes that much or more? (W-2s, 1099s, tax return, etc)?

Answering these questions would helps better understand what happened and hopefully better advise you.
In any case I think it might be worth it to try to send a motion with the updated form I-864 to USCIS as soon as possible! I would even consult an attorney about this or have a congressman/congresswomen contact them on my behalf to appeal the decision by attaching the additional I-864. This could help you avoid paying all the filing fees again and of course save a lot of money.

Is you wife working, or has she been working with maybe an EAD? Did you include her income on your own form I-864?

Thanks and good luck!

[mnewportland]

Sharing which Field Office your case is with and your timeline could also help!

[Jari112]

Sorry that you have to go through that! Did you have an interview? Did the interviewing officer tell you that you need another co-sponsor or an updated form I-864 or maybe this never came up?

We have not had any interviews yet, we do have her Biometrics appointment set for the 3rd though. I just realized too, I'm not sure if this is canceled now or not, I'll try to get in contact with someone to confirm we're still set for this appointment.

Also you said that you believe USCIS didn't make any mistakes, so do you mean that your mother fell under that 125% requirement, or just failed to submit enough evidence to proof that she makes that much or more? (W-2s, 1099s, tax return, etc)?

The first time we submitted the I-485 it was returned with a pink letter stating that my mother *does* meet the federal minimum, however the evidence we had provided wasn't sufficient. I believe this was party due to my mother owning her own business and didn't provide the necessary documents proving that originally. After we submitted the full evidence we then got a notice saying her financials weren't enough to cover, and after much discussion and checking everything we think this might be because she only has one vehicle. We had originally claimed the full value of the vehicle as an asset. Very unfortunately she had sold her second car just weeks before we filed.

Answering these questions would helps better understand what happened and hopefully better advise you.
In any case I think it might be worth it to try to send a motion with the updated form I-864 to USCIS as soon as possible!

Definitely! It seems like filing a motion is our best way to go, we're trying to have everything handled ASAP since I'm starting a new job in two weeks, which is fantastic but also stressful given everything happening at once.

I would even consult an attorney about this or have a congressman/congresswomen contact them on my behalf to appeal the decision by attaching the additional I-864. This could help you avoid paying all the filing fees again and of course save a lot of money.

Is you wife working, or has she been working with maybe an EAD? Did you include her income on your own form I-864?

We did have an independent attorney through the website I mentioned before, but it was only during the application phase unfortunately. I'll have to look in my area and see if there's an attorney we could meet with just to quickly discuss the current situation and see what would be best moving forward. I don't have much experience regarding contacting someone in congress, is there any resources where I could learn more about that process? We definitely would like to save money

For the question regarding her working, we haven't received her EAD yet because I believe that comes after her biometrics appointment. She doesn't have income, but we've had enough in savings and from my own income to be living comfortably thankfully.

Sharing which Field Office your case is with and your timeline could also help!

I'm not 100% sure of this, we live in Sacramento and was told before that our case was being processed in Sacramento and/or San Francisco since they are very close by, although I'm not sure if this is the Field Office you might be referring to.

Thanks and good luck!

Thank you very much for your response!

[mnewportland]

Thank you for clarifying! It does look like your original packet was rejected just because it was missing some information, then the second packet was denied because the requirement wasn't met anymore. I would say the only good thing in what happened is that it seems to have happened fairly quickly. You wouldn't want to have waited a year or more for an interview date just to get denied because the original I-864 wasn't sufficient. And I was surprised that the case got denied so quickly since they usually send a request for evidence first; but now it looks like they already did.

I had requested a congressman to help inquire on my case before as well as to help expediate an EAD before and it's fairly simply. Congressmen are expecting to help in these cases and if you just google the congressmen of your state; looks like it's California in your case, you'll find that their website has an immigration part or form on it. So you'd fill that form and ask them to inquire this case on your behalf. You might also get the chance to talk to someone in the senator's office to explain to them the situation and what exactly you need help with. I've been extremely grateful to my senator's help with our case being delayed. We're in Oregon though. I would suggest you write a letter explain the whole confusion that happened, how you expected and thought that your mother's income would be sufficient and why you believe that USCIS should let you add another joint-sponsor or reconsider this case.

The website or service you used got changed into stars by this forum so I couldn't see it. I believe they're just trying to prevent ads for such services here. Unfortunately as you said you're not able to use the first vehicle as an asset and only the second vehicle can be used as an asset. I'm sorry again that you've been through all this confusion and issues. I really hope things work out for you and that you won't need a new application, though if you do it's not a big deal either since you already have the forms filled out and ready. You'd just need to pay all over again for these applications.

As far as I'm aware and I've asked a lot about these, you can used unemployment in form I-864 as it's considered an income. So if you're receiving any I would suggest you add that to the form. I would also suggest adding what you have in your bank account in the assets part of form I-864 even if you end up needing a co-sponsor anyway; as it shows USCIS that you have money too and kinda helps with that form being approved; but of course you have to absolutely need the 125% requirement no matter what.

[Jari112]

I had requested a congressman to help inquire on my case before as well as to help expediate an EAD before and it's fairly simply. Congressmen are expecting to help in these cases and if you just google the congressmen of your state; looks like it's California in your case, you'll find that their website has an immigration part or form on it. So you'd fill that form and ask them to inquire this case on your behalf. You might also get the chance to talk to someone in the senator's office to explain to them the situation and what exactly you need help with. I've been extremely grateful to my senator's help with our case being delayed. We're in Oregon though. I would suggest you write a letter explain the whole confusion that happened, how you expected and thought that your mother's income would be sufficient and why you believe that USCIS should let you add another joint-sponsor or reconsider this case.

Thank you very much for this. I did some research yesterday and feel confident in what I have typed up today to send over. I'm hoping things can work out as it was just a simple oversight on how we were declaring my mother's assets that ultimately lead to the denial. From a human perspective, being within $1000 of that requirement, it seems like it would be simple and easy to add someone that makes over 5x the poverty guideline. I'm still kicking myself for not having just went with my grandmother originally, not wanting to inconvenience her and saving time working with my "local" mother made sense at the time. Fingers crossed I can hear some good news from the congressman.

As far as I'm aware and I've asked a lot about these, you can used unemployment in form I-864 as it's considered an income. So if you're receiving any I would suggest you add that to the form. I would also suggest adding what you have in your bank account in the assets part of form I-864 even if you end up needing a co-sponsor anyway; as it shows USCIS that you have money too and kinda helps with that form being approved; but of course you have to absolutely need the 125% requirement no matter what.

The good news is I was confirmed for starting a new job a week ago, so if we do end up re-filing the I-485 and I-864's I'll at least be able to show something much better than just unemployment.

My only concern is previously I had two vehicles, only worth $1100 and the other worth $18500. Of course I put down the higher one as an asset, but I sold the cheaper one a few months ago. In the end, I'll still need the co-sponsor after all.


Thank you again for the tip regarding reaching out to a congressman, although I won't expect anything it certainly won't hurt our case at all for trying.