I-864 evidence of support

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Can Unemployment Insurance be used as a basis of income to support the requirements for the I-864 affidavit of Support?

Unemployment is only for a short period.

Right, in general, USCIS uses a three-year standard but it's not hard and fast. For instance, if you use assets instead of income, you need triple the assets you would need in annual income for a spouse and five times for any other beneficiary.

We have no reports of success using unemployment benefits to qualify to sponsor an intending immigrant. A joint sponsor would be a good idea if possible.

The instructions for the I864 specifically state that unemployment income can be included.

In other words, an AO cannot disclude that income from the total income of the sponsor.

HOWEVER, an unemployed sponsor (or one without independant means of support other than a J-O-B job) will not find success.

I'm pointing this out for one reason only - in the current economic climate there will be many of you out who have lost a job while your loved ones petition was in process. If you were paid unemployment and need that income to meet the annual poverty guideline requirements, you CAN count it.

But it cannot be your current means of supporting your loved one.

We've gone round and round on this but actually have no reports of success OR failure using unemployment as THE CURRENT source of income. I'm not sure what "counting it" does for somebody if it can't be used to currently qualify but certainly if you're stating your past year's income from line 22 of a 1040 and unemployment income is part of it, it "counts" on that line as income for the applicable year. When stating current income, you also include it and state its source. The 64,000 dollar question is, "Will the adjudicator deem you qualified based on unemployment as your source of income?" It stands to reason, IMO that the answer would be "NO".

OK - I thought the way I worded my post made sense, but maybe it didn't?

Unemployment can be counted. It's in the instructions.

It's possible that a NOW GAINFULLY EMPLOYED individual would need the UI he/she drew to qualify for the I864. And that's ok.

An adjudicating officer cannot 'redline' that income from the total income on the 1040.

The point in noting this is because you qualify for the I864 on last years documented taxable income from the 1040.

Thanks for all the replies. It appears that I am in no mans lands because there is no hard evidence either way that you can use Unemployment Insurance to qualify as your "current" source of income for the I-864.

When I called the USCIS they said you can use U.I. as income but they didn't say "current" and I didn't specify if it was current or a previous year. I'm going to call them back tomorrow and ask again and re post.

Thanks for your sharing your experience at the interview. I called the USCIS 3x and went to a supervisor on the Unemployment Insurance question and no one really had a straight answer. If it's part of your income you need to include it past or present. If it's your sole basis of current income would it be counted as qualifiable income? But the question of timing comes into play too. When did the U.I. begin? How long are the benefits? And when did your spouse arrive? Also, money due you in the future doesn't count either like commissions. Note: there are no instructions or verbage on I-864 that specifically mentions Unemployment Insurance. I don't where the person who posted here got that.

So, I called an Immigrations Attorney and he didn't know either and wanted to be paid to research it. In short the attorney said: My understanding is that unemployment income is taxable, therefore it can be argued that it is income. However, while the USCIS may accept eh unemployment income as income, they also look at prospective income, which they may know, in advance, cannot continue when the UI insurance runs out.

There is not quick ort easy answer to this question, as it is likely evolving as we speak. I cannot conduct an exhaustive search on this issue unless it is a case that I must resolve for an existing client –i.e I am being paid for my time spent researching this issue. Admittedly if the answer where readily available, it would not be so vague and unreachable for so many people. If you would like a definitive answer to this question, I can research more for research and opinion fee. If interested, feel free to contact my office.

Jeff

J.P. Larson & Associates, LLC

3212 Hennepin Avenue South, Suite 204

Minneapolis, MN 55408

Ph. 612.879.8223 Fx. 612.822.1067

Spanish line: 612.879.8480

If you are currently unemployed and unemployment is your current sols source of income...get a co-sponsor.

If you collected unemployment last year, it is part of last year's income but you qualify on current income. Get a job, or a co-sponsor. Failure to do this will likely result in not being approved.