I-864: Confused how to fill when sponsor has no income

[walletless]

My wife, who is a US Citizen is sponsoring me (Currently on H-1B and residing in US) for Greencard. We already have an approved I-130 from couple years ago when my wife was still a permanent resident.

We are now filing for AoS - however my wife is a homemaker who has no income, so we will be relying on my income.

I am attempting to fill out I-864 form, and am confused about how to fill it given this situation.

Part 6 - How does she fill this? My wife cannot check box 1, 2, or 3 since she is a homemaker, not self-employed nor retired! For box 4, she checked and put the last date she was employed several years ago. For box 5 she put $0 since she is unemployed. For 6a, 6b, 6c she put my information and annual salary; and 9c and 10 she put my annual salary.

Based on instructions from I-864A, it seems that I am not required to file I-864A. Here is the part of instruction that I am basing this on:

Q: If the Intending Immigrant Is a Household Member, Must He or She Complete This Form?
A: If you are the intending immigrant and the sponsor is including your income on Form I-864 to meet the eligibility requirements, you need to complete this form only if you have accompanying dependents. If you are the intending immigrant and the sponsor is including only your assets on Form I-864, you do not need to complete this form, even if you have accompanying dependents.

Since my wife has no income, we will be relying solely on my income for sponsorship.
So, now I am still confused what boxes should my wife check in I-864 to indicate that she is a homemaker? Or can we file I-864EZ?
I am confused between box 11 and 12 - do I need to fill I-864a? We have filed tax returns jointly since last 3 years, so question 13 should not be a problem. Part 7 will not be required since my income is well above the poverty line.

One other question was, for Question 5 on part 1 (A#), should I enter the A# that was printed on my EAD card that I received with OPT after completing my school?

So, in summary, I need help on:

1) Part 1 Question 5 (Should I enter the A# listed on my Student OPT EAD Card?)
2) Part 6 - what boxes to check/uncheck/fill?
3) Part 6 - Below Question 12 there is a box to fill with Name(s)... what names should I fill in here - the intending immigrant's name?
4) Can my wife file I-864EZ since we have been filing taxes jointly since last 3+ years? I am guessing no since it is not her own income, but just wanted to confirm..

I read through the I-864 instructions but am not very sure about these questions

 

[walletless]

So far, here is how I have filled:

Part 1 Question 5: Entered the A# Listed in Student OPT EAD card
Part 6:
=============
Q1: Unchecked
Q2: Unchecked
Q3: Unchecked
Q4: Checked, and entered date when she resigned from her last job in 2011
Q5: $0
Q6: Put wife's name, relation as "self", and her income of $0
Q7: Put my name, relation as "spouse", and my annual income which is well above 125% of poverty line
Q8 & 9 left blank
Q10: My annual income
Q11: Unchecked
Q12: Checked, put my name (intending immigrant) in Name(s) field. Not sure what they want here...
Q13: Checked, and entered wife's income of $0 for 2012, and her correct income from W2+1099 in 2011 and 2010 (she does not have any 1099 from 2012).
Q14: Checked, and requested IRS to send certified transcripts from 2012,2011,2010.
Part 7 left blank
Part 9 left blank

My biggest unanswered question is just the Name(s) field below Q12 in part 6 - what do they want there? Also, should I put the A# from Student OPT/EAD card in Part 1 Q5?

 

[Jackolantern]

For Part 6 Q13 you should write the joint income from the tax return if you filed as married-jointly. For her individual income there is Q5 which you correctly wrote as $0.

 

[walletless]

For Part 6 Q13 you should write the joint income from the tax return if you filed as married-jointly. For her individual income there is Q5 which you correctly wrote as $0.

Thanks Jackolantern. If I do so, the form would seem to indicate that my wife is financially sponsoring me by herself rather than on my income, no?

 

[Jackolantern]

No. There are separate questions Q13 and Q5 for tax return income (which may be joint) and individual income respectively, so they won't get the impression that she's sponsoring with her income. They'll see in Q5 that her own income is $0, and they'll check that your income in Q10 is consistent* with the joint income of Q13.


*consistent doesn't necessarily mean it has to match exactly, as there are various rules of what can be included/excluded from the tax return.

 

[walletless]

OK - thanks!! Did that. Thanks Jackolantern

Now there are just 2 things I need to know:
Part 1 Q.5: Should I enter the A# printed on my Student OPT EAD card?
Part 6 Q.12: What should I enter in the "Name(s)" text box after checking the option indicating that I-865A is not required?

 

[newacct]

1) Part 1 Question 5 (Should I enter the A# listed on my Student OPT EAD Card?)

No. If you have never applied for a green card before, you will not have one. The non-immigrant A# is different.

2) Part 6 - what boxes to check/uncheck/fill?

The box for unemployed

3) Part 6 - Below Question 12 there is a box to fill with Name(s)... what names should I fill in here - the intending immigrant's name?

Yes

4) Can my wife file I-864EZ since we have been filing taxes jointly since last 3+ years? I am guessing no since it is not her own income, but just wanted to confirm..

No, because you are not only using her income.

Q6: Put wife's name, relation as "self", and her income of $0

No. Do not put your wife here. It says "any other person".

Q13: Checked, and entered wife's income of $0 for 2012, and her correct income from W2+1099 in 2011 and 2010 (she does not have any 1099 from 2012).

No. As Jackolantern says, just put exactly what the total income field says on your tax return.

 

[walletless]

ow! Thanks a lot newacct and jackolantern!! very much appreciate the detailed replies

 

[Jackolantern]

Clarification: Part 7 Question 10 is about assets, not income. So you should leave that question 10 blank or zero, because you don't need assets meet the 125% requirement. Part 6 Question 10 would have your income.

Write your own income for Part 6 question 6c, and don't mention your wife anywhere in question 6, since question 6 is about income from people other than the sponsor.

I don't like how they changed up the form with restarting the numbering in different sections. They used to have the questions running from #1 to #29 without restarting the numbers in different sections, so any given number would uniquely refer to one place in the form.

 

[seorankers86]

I heard of WWICS Group and few more consultants

I would like to migrate to Canada under skilled worker category. I have contacted big names in immigration consultancy like wwics group, and few more. Kindly tell me the detailed procedure to apply for immigration in canada

 

[walletless]

Clarification: Part 7 Question 10 is about assets, not income. So you should leave that question 10 blank or zero, because you don't need assets meet the 125% requirement. Part 6 Question 10 would have your income.

Yes, I left all of part 7 blank. It does not apply to us since my income alone is enough to put us well above 125% of poverty line.

Write your own income for Part 6 question 6c, and don't mention your wife anywhere in question 6, since question 6 is about income from people other than the sponsor.

This is what I am confused about.. the I-864 Instructions state that the sponsor's income should be listed in 6c, and only if that is not sufficient you should proceed to fill question 7,8,9,etc. Here is the quote from i864instr.pdf page 5:

Take your annual individual income from Item Number 5. and enter it on Item Number 6.c. If this amount is greater than 125 percent (or 100 percent if you are on active duty in the U.S. military and sponsoring your spouse or child) of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for your household size from Part 5., Item Number 8., you do not need to include any household member's income.

Additionally, the instructions define the requirements on using the additional members listed in questions 7 through 10, but not 6:

To determine the filing requirements for your relatives included in Part 6, Item Number 7. - 10., follow these instructions

I don't like how they changed up the form with restarting the numbering in different sections. They used to have the questions running from #1 to #29 without restarting the numbers in different sections, so any given number would uniquely refer to one place in the form.

Agreed.. the form is designed to confuse :-(

 

[walletless]

No. If you have never applied for a green card before, you will not have one. The non-immigrant A# is different.

Thanks - I removed the A#. In any case, they require providing copies of ALL EAD cards, so if they need the A# it is on that copy anyway, or I can fill that in when I go for the interview..

 

[walletless]

I would like to migrate to Canada under skilled worker category. I have contacted big names in immigration consultancy like wwics group, and few more. Kindly tell me the detailed procedure to apply for immigration in canada

Hi seoranker86 - this seems like the wrong forum for your question. This forum is for family-based immigration into U.S.A.