I bought a house in California in July 2000. I just took out a home equity loan on it for EB-5 investment. Any suggestion on how to prove that the house was purchased from my salary as an engineer? I regret not keeping old documents, such as house purchase document, tax return, bank statements. I have tax returns between 2008 and now. If I ask my managers from those years to write letters stating that I worked for them during that time period and what was my salary range, would that be accepted by the Immigration Services? I could also ask a title company to do research on the property since they might still have the HUD-1 settlement statement, but I am not sure if these are valid options.
You need to go back - old tax returns should be available and definitely use a tile company to do research. If there are some gaps, you may be able to use a declaration to explain, but try and get the original source documents if you can.
I would recommend providing a detailed personal source of funds declaration which walks the adjudicator through your work as an engineer, salary history, and the purchase of property. The declaration should also confirm which documents are simply not available due to the passage of time and which documents you have made an effort to obtain. I would supplement this document with any and all objective documentation that may exist that you have been able to obtain and letters from entities confirming that certain documentation is not available. I have found this strategy to be successful by being forthright with what documents are available and corroborating your declaration with objective evidence.
Perhaps you can get a copy of your mortgage and prove the payment you made towards it.
Check with your realtor or settlement agency/escrow company - they may have these. Request old tax returns from IRS.
