I-864 sponsor/domicile questions

jbkilgore

New Member
I have read through the forums looking for pieces of information that would fit together well enough to answer my questions but no success. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Context: I am an American citizen teaching abroad for the past four years and I plan on moving back to the US this summer with my foreign wife. The i-130 has been approved and I am working on the next submission package which will include form i-864. My permanent address is that of my parent home. I plan on using my parents address to establish domicile as all my tax returns, bank statements, driver’s license and investment accounts reflect the same address. I plan on staying at my parents house with my wife until I am able to secure gainful employment and rent or buy a home. I have income from my current teaching job abroad but it will not continue once I return to the US. My mother and father will be joint sponsors one and two, allowing us to meet the income requirements. My parents file a joint tax return. My parents will also provide a letter stating that we will be staying at their home with them when we return to the US. I am the petitioner filling the i-864, I am using my parents home to establish domicile and using them as joint sponsors. My wife and I are in Turkey, there is no councilor processing at the embassy here so we must file through the Chicago Lockbox.

Questions:

A. Since I am using my parent’s home to establish domicile should I include my mother and father and on my i-864 as part of the ‘Sponsors Household Size’ in Part 5 Question 21 section G? If this is what I should do would I include their name and income under ‘current household income’ Part 6 question 24 section B of my i-864 then have both my mother and father complete separate i-864a forms?

Or

Should I leave my parents off the ‘Sponsors Household Size’ and ‘current house hold income’ sections of my i-864 and have my father complete his own i-864 and mother the accompanying i-864a?

Or

Do I misunderstand it all and should be doing something completely different?

B. Since my income will not continue into next year should I include my current income or write none in the box of my i-864?

I would be grateful for any advice.
 
Do you need the combined income of both your parents to satisfy the income requirements?

According to the poverty guidelines on the USCIS site my mother would qualify for a family of four by a small margin of a couple thousand dollars a year. With my father added it would leave no question of whether or not I met the requirements. Since my parents file a joint tax return and I have already ordered IRS tax transcripts I figured it was very little work to include my father as a secondary joint sponsor for the added reassurance of meeting the guidelines. Am I wrong in assuming this?

So to directly answer your question, no I do not need both parents. But by a very thin margin of safety.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.
 
A couple thousand dollars margin is more than enough breathing room. There's no need to have your father's income added to this. People are routinely approved with less than that.

Fill out the I-864 yourself, and have your mother fill out one I-864A and that's it. Put zero for your own income on the I-864, because your current income does not qualify for the purpose of the I-864.

You said your parents file joint returns, however the I-864A has separate questions for individual income and tax return income. So she'd write her own income for Q10 and the joint income (as listed on the tax return) for Q11.
 
A couple thousand dollars margin is more than enough breathing room. There's no need to have your father's income added to this. People are routinely approved with less than that.

Fill out the I-864 yourself, and have your mother fill out one I-864A and that's it. Put zero for your own income on the I-864, because your current income does not qualify for the purpose of the I-864.

You said your parents file joint returns, however the I-864A has separate questions for individual income and tax return income. So she'd write her own income for Q10 and the joint income (as listed on the tax return) for Q11.

That makes sense. Thank you very much for taking to the time to respond to my post, it helped a lot.
 
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