Withdrawal of support from joint sponsor

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

Hello. I need some advice. Here's the short version: I want to know what will happen if I withdraw my Affidavit of Support as a joint sponsor for a friend of mine who is an intending immigrant. Her AOS interview is in 2 weeks. Since originally filing, one year ago, she has started a full time job and together with her husband make over the 125% mark although not on the tax statement. (Her job started at the end of 2008). Would she have to refile all of her paperwork and wait another year for another interview or could she make the changes at the interview?

Here's the long version: I don't want anything bad to happen to her or her case. But my own circumstances have changed and I will now be sponsoring my fiancé through the fiancé visa and the I134. One year ago I would never have even dreamed I would ever fall in love with someone across the world. I'm still OK with the 125% if I sponsor both of them, but with the economy the way it is, you just never know. My fiancé will not have his interview for probably at least another 5-6 months, and anything could happen between now and then. Plus, just a few short months or less after that, we will be filing for his AOS. I just don't want anything to interfere with our own case, which is of course the most imortant of the 2 cases to me.

My friend’s circumstances have also changed, as I said. She now has full time employment. It's a totally different situation now than it was a year ago.

I brought this up to her, and she said she would talk to her lawyer but after they talked she told me that her lawyer said no, her income won't count. But I don't trust her lawyer. And I can not get a straight answer from her as to why he said the income wouldn't count. From what I read online, an intending immigrant can combine income with her spouse to meet the 125% requirement. Is it because it's so late in the game? Is it because her taxes don't show enough even if her pay stubs do? Is it because he's just a lazy, filthy pig who doesn't feel like doing extra work since everything is already pre-paid? What is the reason?

If there is honestly nothing she can do except file the whole thing over again, re-pay the fees, and wait another year, then I will continue my sponsorship. But I just want to know for sure that there is nothing else that can be done....because I really would prefer not to be involved anymore.

Thanks for your time and your responses.

[^KK^ 3]

This is the first time seeing this type of question. Someone will be able to provide their two cents.

KK

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Your friend will have to re-do his I-864 to show he can now sponsor her.

You will have to withdraw your support before she goes to the AOS. Contact USCIS.

As long as your friend fills out the I-864 before they go to the AOS interview, there should be no issues.

Your lawyer is not reading the instructions for the I-864 - says under Section "What if I cannot meet the income Requirements?", Income from the intending immigrant, can be counted, if you meet the requirements listed.

Read the form yourself and get your money back from the lawyer

Edited March 27, 2009 by Bobby_Umit

[YuAndDan 153]

Your friend will have to re-do his I-864 to show he can now sponsor her.

You will have to withdraw your support before she goes to the AOS. Contact USCIS.

As long as your friend fills out the I-864 before they go to the AOS interview, there should be no issues.

Your lawyer is not reading the instructions for the I-864 - says under Section "What if I cannot meet the income Requirements?", Income from the intending immigrant, can be counted, if you meet the requirements listed.

Read the form yourself and get your money back from the lawyer

Correct, if intending immigrant has EAD and is working they can provide an I-864A and add their income to that of their sponsor to help meet the required income level.

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

Thank you for the answers!!!!!! So what I understand from your responses are that yes, I can withdraw my support (prior to interview) and it will not harm her case AS LONG AS husband and wife fill out the I-864A PRIOR to the interview. And her income can indeed be counted with his in order to meet the 125%. If I have misunderstood anyone, please let me know.

Questions from that:

1.) Would they have to FILE the I864 before the interview or just have it filled out and bring it along wtih proof. (Interview is in 2 weeks)

2.) She has only had this job 3-4 months. I don't think it's reflected on their 2008 taxes. Do you think a letter from her employer and a bunch of paystubs would meet their requirements?

And just to clarify a couple of things:

1.) The lawyer is not my own lawyer. I don't have one, nor do I want one. He is her lawyer working on her case. I have never personally spoken to him. She (my friend, the intending immigrant) called him to ask if we could replace my support with the combination of her and her husband's salary and he told her no. But I don't fully trust him, for a number of reasons.

2.) Her husband's(the USC) income has not changed. He is still not eligible to sponsor her alone, which is why she asked me to be a joint sponsor for her one year ago. It is the intending immigrant (my friend) who has had the change in income. Thankyou for confirming that she is indeed eligible to join her income with his to meet requirement. And yes, she does have a current EAD and is legally allowed to work.

3.) In the last 30 minutes I did call USCIS to ask this question and the lady seemed really confused and reading from a screen. She kept telling me that I was responsible for my friend for 40 quarters (or whatever it is) and I can not withdrawl support even if my friend were to get a job where she makes a million dollars a year. I repeatedly said that I know that is NOT TRUE because the the decision for the card had not been made yet, and the interview is in a couple of weeks. When she finally read something from her screen that made a light bulb go off that she said, oh yes. You're right. Then she told me that if I withdrew my support the petition would immediately be denied, even though I am the JOINT sponser with her husband, because an intending immigrant needs a sponsor, and is not allowed to sponsor her/himself. For obvious reasons I don't fully trust her answer either.

4.) The local USCIS field office is 5 minutes from work. I tried to make an info pass appt. but they are booked solid for next 2 weeks. I will continue to try to see if maybe someone will cancel, but I'm not too hopeful. 1 in 3 residents of Broward county were born outside of the USA and just about everyone I know is going through some kind of immigration process, be it petitioner or beneficiary. Infopass appointments are really really hard to book and they don't accept walk-ins. (I got lucky a few minutes ago and saw an open appointment but in the half a second it took me to click on it, the appointment had already been filled.)

Thank you again for all of your info and advice, and for reading my really long posts!

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Questions from that:

1.) Would they have to FILE the I864 before the interview or just have it filled out and bring it along wtih proof. (Interview is in 2 weeks)

Bring it with them I would suspect. Since their case file is there all ready. Ensure you withdraw your support ASAP. (you may even want to go to the interview to do so)

2.) She has only had this job 3-4 months. I don't think it's reflected on their 2008 taxes. Do you think a letter from her employer and a bunch of paystubs would meet their requirements?

Yes, she will have to prove she will continue to receive income from this job. Letter from the boss is needed.

And just to clarify a couple of things:

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

Bring it with them I would suspect. Since their case file is there all ready. Ensure you withdraw your support ASAP. (you may even want to go to the interview to do so)

Thankyou again for your answers! Right now I am 99.99999% sure that I will withdrawl the support but i need to talk to my friend and her husband face to face first, and make sure they understand everything and are comfortable with it all. Then if I do endup doing the withdrawal I will over night the notorized letter, signature required to the USCIS field office here where their interview is scheduled. I will also attempt to hand deliver a copy although I don't know how that will work with no info pass appointment and no walk ins. Maybe I'll just wait in the parking lot till the employees get off of work (kidding). I can't be at the interview with them because I'll be in Jordan at the time with my fiance.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Ok - but you do know, if they go to the interview, with your support document in place, and they get approved, you are now on the hook.

You can't rescind it once that happens.

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

Ok - but you do know, if they go to the interview, with your support document in place, and they get approved, you are now on the hook.

You can't rescind it once that happens.

Good point. But skip my trip to see my finance who I am missing with every molecule in my body for a stupid USCIS interview that isn't even my own???

I will make sure I have a signature from whoevever recieved my withdrawal letter. I will also follow up with a phone call to USCIS in a day or 2 since I do have her recipt number and confirm that my support has been withdrawn. Additionally I will send a certified letter with her to the interview to show that I have withdrawn my support. Of course, I would have to trust her, but it was never her integrity that I doubted. It was her lawyer's. If everything else fails, I can always rely on the fact that she filed just over a year ago and needs to bring my 2008 tax returns and i didn't give them to her. Do you think this will be enough? What would you do in my situation????

[Nagishkaw 510]

Does anyone have an example form for the I-864 A ??

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Ok - but you do know, if they go to the interview, with your support document in place, and they get approved, you are now on the hook.

You can't rescind it once that happens.

Good point. But skip my trip to see my finance who I am missing with every molecule in my body for a stupid USCIS interview that isn't even my own???

I will make sure I have a signature from whoevever recieved my withdrawal letter. I will also follow up with a phone call to USCIS in a day or 2 since I do have her recipt number and confirm that my support has been withdrawn. Additionally I will send a certified letter with her to the interview to show that I have withdrawn my support. Of course, I would have to trust her, but it was never her integrity that I doubted. It was her lawyer's. If everything else fails, I can always rely on the fact that she filed just over a year ago and needs to bring my 2008 tax returns and i didn't give them to her. Do you think this will be enough? What would you do in my situation????

What would I do?

Make sure it was withdrawn before leaving the country.

but that is me..

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

What would I do?

Make sure it was withdrawn before leaving the country.

but that is me..

Just to let you know, things really turned ugly in the last 24 hours.

I am a 33 year old lady and feel like I am back in high school again or living in a really strange soap opera. Without going into all the awful details, my advice to ANYONE who is considering doing a friend a favor by being a joint sponsor, really, really, really think about it first. Because if that person is DESPERATE for the green card, and he/she ever feels threatened in any way that you could cause them to be denied, they are NOT going to see things rationally and could possibly turn into a lieing manipulative no good piece of sh** monster at the drop of a hat. I regret 100% ever getting involved in this, and our friendship is over, needless to say. She has also turned so many people against me in the last 24 hours by completely twisting things around and making it seem that my intent is to cause her case to be denied.

Everything was fine as of last night, so I thought. Last I heard from her was that she had a new joint sponsor who aready filled out paper work so I was off the hook. I texted her back thank you, and asked if if she was sure everything was in place before I withdrew my support, and I recieved a positive response.

What I didn't know was that apparently if I withdrawal my joint support in writing before her interview, it will cause her case to be instantly denied. Instead she has to show her own proof at the interview or proof of the new joint sponsor, so that it's a replacement rather than a withdrawal. (And i am still going to confirm this with a call to USCIS and an immigration expert on Monday) The threats of blackmail and the verbal harrassment I recieved today by a 3rd party (who informed me of this) did not make me change my mind about the written withdrawal. What made me change my mind is finding out that my withdrawal would have this effect. All she had to do was tell me this in the first place........

I asked for a certified letter to be handed to me no later than Wednesday stating that although I did not officially withdrawal my joint sponsorship, I am being replaced by xyz. I don't know if this letter will mean anything but I will personally feel better once I have it.

Oh, one more reason to really be careful about who you jointly sponsor- who knows where all of your personal information will end up. As of my conversation with her last night, she now has a second immigration lawyer involved who has all of my documents such as taxes and SS#. How do I know this? Because the second lawyer is friends with a third lawyer who just so happens to be yet another one of our friend's boyfriend. This so called friend asked me today why I was trying to ruin our friend's case . She then went on to tell me that the new lawyer told her boyfriend , and he told her, that I made plenty of money to sponsor everyone. Is there anyone else that would like to be involved or be privy to my personal information? Perhaps I should get billboard in case someone missed something.

Time to just breath deep, step away from the situation, and think about what a fabulous trip I am going to have.

[Old Dominion 26]

No doubt your friend is in a state of panic, being fed by inept attorneys. Agreed - it is very risky for a friend to sponsor a friend. I hope you become friends again after all is said and done.

Enjoy your trip!

Edited March 29, 2009 by Old Dominion

[al-Hubb jameel 0]

No doubt your friend is in a state of panic, being fed by inept attorneys. Agreed - it is very risky for a friend to sponsor a friend. I hope you become friends again after all is said and done.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks... and no more friend sponsoring.....EVER!!!!If I want to be helpful I'll just offer a hug instead and a good luck pat on the back. I do understand her panic as well, and I understand that right now she feels like a caged animal backed into a corner...and that attornies can smell her fear and prey on it. And yeah, what's up with attornies being inept? Aren't people paying them thousands of dollars for a reason??? But as far as ever being friends again.....I don't know. At this point I really want nothing to do with her but I do wish her the best and hope everything goes smoothly. And thanks for sayin that about my trip! I don't actually leave untill next Thursday but it's the only thing keeping me going. Then it's 15 wonderful days with the love of my life in Jordan and all the stress will melt away!!!!!! OMG I can't wait!!!!!!!!