Affidavit of support: I864 Advice required

[a_booth]

I would be most grateful if someone could give me some advice on completing this form.

I am a U.K. citizen. My wife, a U.S. citizen and my sponsor is not employed although she does have some savings. We live in the UK and I am the sole source of income. Obviously, moving from the U.K. to the U.S., will mean I will have no immediate income, although both my wife and I will have enough savings to live for a few years without either of us needing to work, but this form requires the sponsor to show means of support through employment, which she clearly does not have.

Do I need another sponsor aswell as my wife, to supplement the income?

Could I include my current salary and file a second I864, even though by getting the Visa approved, I would be giving up that income to move to the U.S?

Will we be OK, simply to declare what savings and assets we have, as obviously neither of us will be employed when we decide to move to the U.S.?

I have skills and experience that would mean I could easily find employment in the U.S., but would even flip burgers or wash cars rather than sponge off the state. It seems strange to me that we have to show proof of employment, when we will be giving up that employment by moving to the U.S.

 

[Jane Green]

You are right - It doesn’t make a lot of sense to include your income, since you are not even employed in US. Also, since your wife doesn’t work, then she might not have some or all of the tax returns for the last 3 years.
But evidence of employment of your wife/sponsor is not the only option.
You certainly can include your assets and saving if they will be your main course of income for the next couple of years in America.

Here is the information from a Form I-864 Instructions, pages 2-3:

If you want to use your assets, the assets of your household
members or dependents, and/or the assets of the immigrant
are sponsoring to meet the minimum income requirement,
you must provide evidence of assets with a cash value that
at least five times the difference between your total household
income and the minimum income requirement.

Evidence of Assets
All assets must be supported with evidence to verify location,
ownership, and value of each asset. Any liens and liabilities
relating to the assets must be documented. List only assets that
can be readily converted into cash within one year. Evidence
assets includes, but is not limited to the following:​

•Bank statements covering the last 12 months, or a
statement from an officer of the bank or other financial
institution in which you have deposits, including
deposit/withdrawal history for the last 12 months, and
current balance;
• Evidence of ownership and value of stocks, bonds,
and certificates of deposit, and date(s) acquired;
• Evidence of ownership and value of other personal
property, and date(s) acquired; and
• Evidence of ownership and value of any real estate,
and date(s) acquired.​

http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/I-864.pdf

you might also want to consult a lawyer, to ensure your financial statements will meet the INS requirements.

 

[philote]

I apologize for bumping this thread when it is obviously very old . . . I am having a very similar issue however, and I am pretty worried at the moment!

I am a college student and will still be in school when I file the I-130 (my fiance and I have decided to do direct consulate filling at the US Consulate in Sydney, Australia). We will be married in December and file shortly after, but we are very wary of the I-864.

I have $0 income and have not earned enough over the past three years to generate any tax returns. My fiance's income at the time of filing will also be $0, as he is a programmer (on contract) and will be taking time off of work to go through immigration procedures! However, he has substantial assets - all money in the bank, no weirdness w/ stocks or equity or anything like that - and we are about $35,000 over the 5x 125% poverty level limit for a household of two.

So, my question is this: will we be rejected at our interview? I have read a few other sites on this issue and have seen only bad stories about trying to use assets with no income, so I am scared to death (none of these stories were at the Sydney consulate, however)! I am not sure about cosponsorship as my parents (who would be the obvious choice) are both retired and thus their income does not meet the poverty level for what would be a household of six people, including my fiance - their assets are extremely substantial, however and do meet the 5x poverty level.

What do you all think? Any suggestions or experience? Is it really that bad to try and use assets instead of income? My fiance and I already meet the asset requirements by ourselves for a household of two, and we would prefer to file that way.

 

[cherr1980]

Doesn't matter if the sponsor doesn't have any income, he/she should file anyway because is the one who is petitioning for you. The rest is best to get a joint sponsor. But the assests is good in the case that you really get things on your own and can be added.
Now is important to understand about the requierements the sponsor should be domiciled in the US, and in the first case I don't know how that apply if she is living in the UK? or you have a domicile in the US? I always get a little confuse about this case. There was one like that in this forum, they were living in Venezuela but they have a residency in the US.

For philote, is the same thing, even you don't have an income because you are a student and there are many cases over this forum like yours. Search and check out. You will anyway have to file and be her sponsor, you will need to take a joint sponsors to help you out. You can use more than one joint sponsor but they have to meet the 125% poverty line.

Good luck,

 

[philote]

Thank you very much I will do more searches on here when I get a free moment, for sure. Joint sponsor it is then, darn it . . . I wonder why assets are treated as second-class money. We meet the 5x 125% poverty line and then some (which means we could support ourselves for five years, technically? even if we were lazy bums and sat around all day doing nothing), but it's still not good enough

 

[cherr1980]

Probably the bad stories with assests are because they don't give enough support information and financial data. The point is how you fill out the forms and what information you give. The more you can demostrate that you won't be a "charge" the better. It is wise if one of you have an employment especially your sponsor, even he doesn't meet the poverty line, then the joint sponsor help in that situation. As I said don't worry you will be fine, there are many people that had visited this forum that are students and their parents, family members will help them out. The other way you can wait until get a regular job and get a joint sponsor to meet the requierements.
Good luck!