I-864 Affidavit of Support

F

Fairy Floss

New Member
Hi Everyone,

I would like to ask a few questions about form I-864 Affidavit of Support.

I am married to a US citizen. We were living together in Australia. My husband went back to US a few months ago to look for a job to be my financial sponsor. He found a job last week but it is an on-call job. Eventhough the pay is high, he can only provide pay slips to immigration. Because his employement contract will say that he is on an on-call position without any estimation of annual income. His mom is willing to sponsor me but she has only done 2 tax returns for the last 2 years. She also has a good income.

My questions:
1. My husband was living and working in Australia for the last 4 years. He has done his tax returns but his gross income on the tax returns are low because US tax return doesn't take overseas income into account. Will it become a disadvantage to us because his last 4 years of income doesn't show a good amount?

2. Can he just provide pay slips to immigration without showing his employment contract?

3. Can I use the money I have in my bank account to sponsor myself? Does it means that I have to have 5 times the amount of the current poverty guidelines?

4. Can his mom sponsor me eventhough she only does the last 2 years of her tax return? I read on form I-864 and it asks for the last 3 years.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)
 
1. no
2. yes
3. yes, your income can be added to the sponsor's. It needs to be 3 times
4. yes. I-864 only asks for one year's tax return or tax return transcript. She also needs to provide the "total income" number from the tax returns for the last 3 years. If she didn't file a tax return because she was not required to file, it is okay. If she didn't file a tax return and she was required to file, she has a tax problem, and needs to be taken care of first.
 
newacct said:
1. no
2. yes
3. yes, your income can be added to the sponsor's. It needs to be 3 times
4. yes. I-864 only asks for one year's tax return or tax return transcript. She also needs to provide the "total income" number from the tax returns for the last 3 years. If she didn't file a tax return because she was not required to file, it is okay. If she didn't file a tax return and she was required to file, she has a tax problem, and needs to be taken care of first.
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Thanks so much for your advice.

I guess my problem is to prove income stability to the government for the last 3 years because my husband was working overseas and his overseas income isn't taken into account as "gross income" on the tax return. Eventhough he has good income now but on the last 3 years of his tax return, his gross income is very low. The gross income that appeared on the last 3 of his tax returns were only came from bank interest from our saving.

My mother in-law is willing to sponsor me but her "gross income" might not reach the poverty guideline and she has only done the last 2 years of tax returns. Would this become a problem?
 
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Income from a job outside the US cannot be used to meet the requirements of the Affidavit of Support (although as a formality that non-US income would still be included in the 3 years of tax returns to be submitted with the Affidavit).

However, assets from outside or inside the US can be used; for marriage to a US citizen, every $3 of assets makes up for $1 of income. So for example if the income requirement for your household size is $20,000 then $60,000 (i.e. 3 times $20,000) would be enough to qualify with zero allowable income.
 
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Jackolantern said:
Non-US assets of the immigrant may be added, not foreign income.
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My husband has just found a job a few weeks ago and he earns above the poverty guidelines.

My concern is his tax return for the last 3 years. Even though he is now earning above the poverty guidelines but we can't show income stability to the government because he works overseas in the last 3 years. Therefore on his last 3 years of tax returns, his income looks low. In this case, would you know if we need a co-sponsor only to show income stability in the last 3 years?

Thanks very much.
 
Fairy Floss said:
In this case, would you know if we need a co-sponsor only to show income stability in the last 3 years?
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It was income from non-US employment, so it's practically ignored for the purpose of the Affidavit of Support, whether it was high or low.

If his current US income is high enough, he may not need a joint sponsor. You can go ahead with the application and hope that they'll accept it without a joint sponsor, then get the joint sponsor only if they require one, or you can proactively seek a joint sponsor right now.

Can his mom sponsor me eventhough she only does the last 2 years of her tax return? I read on form I-864 and it asks for the last 3 years.
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Yes, if she has a good explanation for not having 3 years ... such as not having sufficient income to be required to file for the missing year.
 
Jackolantern said:
It was income from non-US employment, so it's practically ignored for the purpose of the Affidavit of Support, whether it was high or low.

If his current US income is high enough, he may not need a joint sponsor. You can go ahead with the application and hope that they'll accept it without a joint sponsor, then get the joint sponsor only if they require one, or you can proactively seek a joint sponsor right now.


Yes, if she has a good explanation for not having 3 years ... such as not having sufficient income to be required to file for the missing year.
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Thanks everyone for the information.

I just found out that my mother in law who is going to be my joint sponsor has only done 1 tax return (last year tax return) in the last 3 years. Form I-864A asks for the last 3 years of tax returns, I'm afraid that my green card application could get rejected because of this issue so I spoke to a lawyer today. He told me that immigration rules has changed a couple of years ago and my mother in law only needs to provide figures for the last 2 years of her tax returns.

I was confused and called immigration today. Immigration told me that she only need to provide figure for the last year of her tax return. The officer said that eventhough there are 3 columns to fill out on form I-864A (3rd year, 2nd year and 1st year), we can just fill out the 3rd year coloumn and wrote N/A for the other columns.

Now I'm very confused because:
Form I-864A says that the joint sponsor needs to provide figures for the last 3 years of tax returns
My lawyer said that the joint sponsor needs to provide figures for the last 2 years of tax returns
Immigration officer said that the joint sponsor needs to provide figures for only the last year of tax return

Because my mother in law has only done the last year of tax return, if we only need to provide the last year of tax return, I would like to submit my affidavit of support now. Does anyone else heard about this? Is this a new regulation that just came up regarding I-864? I couldn't find any information about it on their website.

Thank you in advance.
 
The 3 years of tax returns is not absolute requirement. But less than 3 years means a written explanation would have to be attached.

The I-864 instructions say "If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law because your income was too low, attach a written explanation. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law for any other reason, attach a written explanation including evidence of the exemption and how you are subject to it."
 
Basically, anyone who has not broken tax law can satisfy the tax return requirement. You don't have to provide a tax return if you were not required to file. So the only problem would be if you were required to file and did not.
 
HI people I needed your help.

I am currently living overseas back in 2007 and married my wife in 2010. We are thinking to get her a green card to USA.

I did currently filed tax to HK and USA, and my GROSS income met the poverty rates. I also have good assets in USA which could filed in the I-864.

1st, I heard that US immigration WILL NOT count income earned oversea as the income in I-864. Is that truth?

2nd, If is truth, is it possible to just use the asset (stock) i have in usa for the requirement in I864 (6 digits value of stock).

3rd, is it truth that I needed to show 3 years of tax return (if the immigration counted my oversea earned income) to the immigration?
 
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