verify I864 requirements

[Robert0917]

I have a question, silly as it seems, My wife, who is my sponsore, makes 75,000 plus a year, and we got a letter stating that she does not meet the guidlines to the 125% above poverty level?? What am I missing? There is only her and I in the house.

here may be the problem??> We used her 2008, 2009 and her 2011 incomes, that may have been our mistake? in 2008 she was under the 125% poverty level needed, but was way above on the other 2, we didn't use 2010 because she has had a problem and didn't file for that year yet. Does she have to be above the 125% all three years we show or just the last one? If so how do we fix this?

Thank you

 

[Jackolantern]

The problem probably isn't insufficient income, it's either insufficient proof of it, or there is some concern that her employment is short-term (the I-864 requires the income to be expected to continue after green card approval).

When was the I-864 filed? If filed after April 18 this year, the 2010 tax return should have been included. The tax return for the most recently ended tax year is the most important one for verifying income. Also note that they require 3 years of tax returns to be submitted, or a written explanation of why there aren't 3 returns. The returns for 2007-2009 or 2008-2010 should have been included unless there is an explanation. Seems like she only included 2 returns (2008 and 2009), with no explanation for why 2007 and 2010 were excluded?

Was a recent job letter from the employer included with the application? Were any paystubs included?

Is her current job a short-term contract, or a longer contract that is close to its end date?

Did you keep a copy of the filled-in I-864 before it was submitted? Look over it closely to see if anything important was missing or erroneous.

There is only her and I in the house.

Note that it's not just people living in your house who are counted; they also count children or parents who are claimed as dependents on the tax return, and some or all of other immigrants for whom your wife filed an I-864 in the past. Having said that, it's very unlikely there would be so many people counted that $75K isn't enough, so that almost surely isn't your problem, and this is more of a footnote to other readers to be aware that "household size" for the purpose of the I-864 doesn't just mean people living in your household.