I-864 Income Requirements

[appstate 0]

Hi,

I'm currently living in Japan and the petition for my wife was approved several months ago, but due to uncertainties held off submitting the I-864 until the interview. According to what I was told when filing my petition, foreign earned income doesn't count towards meeting the income requirement, and therefore I am left with 2 options:

1. Use a co-sponsor. OR

2. Meet the federal poverty guidelines for a family of 3, which comes to around 54,000 USD in assets.

My question is, is one better than the other? I nearly meet the 54,000, and the rest can be borrowed from my family. Or simply forego increasing my saving account balance, and use my family as the co-sponsor? OR just do both and see what happens. I would prefer to be the sole sponsor, but really unsure as to what the people at immigration are looking for.

Of course, since foreign earned income doesn't count, should I leave the employment section blank, or proceed with filling in my foreign employer and income, even though I will wind up using assets or a co-sponsor?

Continuing on the issue of employment, if using assets or a co-sponsor, is being employed critical to receiving visa approval? My employment contract ends at the end of March, and that is when we plan to go back to the States. Living in Japan makes finding a job stateside difficult and a pain, so it will definitely be easier networking and securing employment once I return.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Edited September 25, 2009 by appstate

[MrLee 0]

Hi,

I'm currently living in Japan and the petition for my wife was approved several months ago, but due to uncertainties held off submitting the I-864 until the interview. According to what I was told when filing my petition, foreign earned income doesn't count towards meeting the income requirement, and therefore I am left with 2 options:

1. Use a co-sponsor. OR

2. Meet the federal poverty guidelines for a family of 3, which comes to around 54,000 USD in assets.

My question is, is one better than the other? I nearly meet the 54,000, and the rest can be borrowed from my family. Or simply forego increasing my saving account balance, and use my family as the co-sponsor? OR just do both and see what happens. I would prefer to be the sole sponsor, but really unsure as to what the people at immigration are looking for.

Of course, since foreign earned income doesn't count, should I leave the employment section blank, or proceed with filling in my foreign employer and income, even though I will wind up using assets or a co-sponsor?

Continuing on the issue of employment, if using assets or a co-sponsor, is being employed critical to receiving visa approval? My employment contract ends at the end of March, and that is when we plan to go back to the States. Living in Japan makes finding a job stateside difficult and a pain, so it will definitely be easier networking and securing employment once I return.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

I've just had a similar experience in London. My wife (USC) is living in the UK with me so her income won't continue. We used assets as an alternative and were well above the poverty limit (by over 50%). Unfortunately when we submitted this during the interview we were informed that in the 'current climate' they wouldn't accept the house as an asset so wouldn't accept the affidavit of support. I'm now left trying to find a joint sponsor or months away from my wife as she gets a job in the USA.

I would suggest that you try the asset route and show them what you have. I assume if it's only cash/shares assets then you should be fine. However I would recommend taking a completed I864 from a joint sponsor so that if they do turn round and reject your assets you can provide the joint sponsor information straight away.

This way you might be able to avoid tying in your family to the joint sponsorship if they do accept your assets but won't experience a delay if they don't.

Good luck!

Lee

[riz 0]

I am USC, working outside USA and when I filed AoS (I-864) for my wife, I used assets (saving accounts) which is well above poverty level. Co-sponsor is hassle, as you need to depends on him/her to provide documentations (Tax returns).

Regarding employment section of I-864 I put my current job and converted my salary to US $ using current conversation rate.

[redglasses 1]

We also had enough assets for I-864, but ended up using a joint sponsor because we didn't want a RFE using assets.

My husband (USC) put his then-employer on the employment section and turned in an employment letter as well.

[trailmix 77]

Hi,

I'm currently living in Japan and the petition for my wife was approved several months ago, but due to uncertainties held off submitting the I-864 until the interview. According to what I was told when filing my petition, foreign earned income doesn't count towards meeting the income requirement, and therefore I am left with 2 options:

1. Use a co-sponsor. OR

2. Meet the federal poverty guidelines for a family of 3, which comes to around 54,000 USD in assets.

My question is, is one better than the other? I nearly meet the 54,000, and the rest can be borrowed from my family. Or simply forego increasing my saving account balance, and use my family as the co-sponsor? OR just do both and see what happens. I would prefer to be the sole sponsor, but really unsure as to what the people at immigration are looking for.

Of course, since foreign earned income doesn't count, should I leave the employment section blank, or proceed with filling in my foreign employer and income, even though I will wind up using assets or a co-sponsor?

Continuing on the issue of employment, if using assets or a co-sponsor, is being employed critical to receiving visa approval? My employment contract ends at the end of March, and that is when we plan to go back to the States. Living in Japan makes finding a job stateside difficult and a pain, so it will definitely be easier networking and securing employment once I return.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

I've just had a similar experience in London. My wife (USC) is living in the UK with me so her income won't continue. We used assets as an alternative and were well above the poverty limit (by over 50%). Unfortunately when we submitted this during the interview we were informed that in the 'current climate' they wouldn't accept the house as an asset so wouldn't accept the affidavit of support. I'm now left trying to find a joint sponsor or months away from my wife as she gets a job in the USA.

I would suggest that you try the asset route and show them what you have. I assume if it's only cash/shares assets then you should be fine. However I would recommend taking a completed I864 from a joint sponsor so that if they do turn round and reject your assets you can provide the joint sponsor information straight away.

This way you might be able to avoid tying in your family to the joint sponsorship if they do accept your assets but won't experience a delay if they don't.

Good luck!

Lee

Can you please clarify, Lee, whether this house you own is in the UK or the U.S.?

Thanks

[Anh map 2,098]

2. Meet the federal poverty guidelines for a family of 3, which comes to around 54,000 USD in assets.

The 2009 income requirement for a family of 3 is $22,887 (18,310 x 3). Assets required would then be $68,661. Cash recently aquired via a loan may not be accepted. And as stated by Mr Lee, the CO has a lot of discretion as to the type of asset allowed.