I-864 Affidavit of Support - Completing and filing in US Embassy based in London

[npson 0]

Hi

My wife (the petitioner) filed an I-130 on my behalf and we have received a letter confirming it has been approved. (My wife is the US citizen and has resided in the UK for a while and I am a British Citizen currently residing in London, UK).

We are now completing the I-864 in preparation for my visa interviewand really need some help with completing this form.

Just a little background, my wife's income from her job in the UK is not going to transfer to the US once we move over and based on the instructions in the I-864 I am not able to use my income to meet the poverty line as the income will not continue from the same source. With that in mind, we will have to use a joint sponsor to help us meet the requirements.

With that in mind, here are my questions:

In Part 3 Q10, Would we still need to enter 1 i.e. me even though we will be using a joint sponsor?

In Part 6 Q23 this would be my wife's current UK income converted into dollars even though it will not continue on in the US?

In Part 6 Q24 do we leave this blank, if not, what figure do we input? Which box d or e, if any, does my wife need to tick as part of Q24?

My understanding is that we leave all Part 7 blank on the basis we will be using a joint sponsor?

Thanks in advance for your help with this!!!

[npson 0]

Just to add, that my wife and I are currently living with my mother in the UK but we wouldn't use her income as part of this or the household size?

NB: my mother would not be coming with us to USA.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Nobody has answered you, so I'll try to help a little.....

The form is geared toward a sponsor who lives and works in the US, so it's not going to be a perfect fit for your wife to fill out. She does need to do it as it's required of the petitioner of the I-130. Since you will have a joint sponsor, it doesn't really matter if you wife puts zero income. They are wanting to know US source income.

In Part 3 Q10, Would we still need to enter 1 i.e. me even though we will be using a joint sponsor?

Yes, you are listed in Part 2 as the principal immmigrant. Your wife checks #8 as "yes" she is sponsoring you. And you are counted in the Box 10. The "No" part of #8 doesn't apply to your case. Imagine somebody was sponsoring their brother and family of 6 with this same form. Nobody qualifies to sponsor all six. It's possible that Cousin Joe in the US agrees to sponsor 4 of the kids, so he would say "no" to the question of sponsoring the principal immigrant (Brother). And mother-in-law, another joint sponsor is going to sponsor Brother and his wife, so she says "yes" to sponsoring the principal immigrant.

In Part 6 Q23 this would be my wife's current UK income converted into dollars even though it will not continue on in the US?

I personally would check box D. Unemployed since and write in "when I move to the USA". If you want to name her current position and employer in the UK, then tick both boxes.

In Part 6 Q23 this would be my wife's current UK income converted into dollars even though it will not continue on in the US?

For the intent and purpose of this form, I would not list the UK salaries. I would put zero or N/A. Same for the next question.

My understanding is that we leave all Part 7 blank on the basis we will be using a joint sponsor?

Part 7 is your assets. If you have significant savings or whatever, you could list those because, unlike your salaries, that money won't disappear because you move. Well...a good chunk of it will LOL because of the whole visa process and costs to ship items overseas.

So then your other sponsor in the US will fill out the same I-864 but list his/her income. If it's enough by a healthy margin, then she does not have to list her assets. I did the same form for AOS, and didn't bother with the assets....just left the pages blank. You will need proof of the joint sponsors legal status in the US (lphotocopies) like a US born birth certificate, a US passport, naturalization documentation, etc.

So that's my opinion of how I would do the forms, but I have no experience filling it out as a UK resident whose source of income won't continue. It's just how I interpret a document that is used for so many different situations.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Moving to the DCF forum from UK sub-forum for further and more specific replies. There are a number of people who are filing via DCF in London right now who might be able to give some further assistance.

[npson 0]

Hi Nich-Nick

Thanks for your help and getting back to me. In our draft version, as part of Q8, we checked against "I am sponsoring the principal immigrant name in Part 2 above", then checked the follow up question as no for #8 because we thought as we were going to have a co-sponsor (family member in the US) . Is that not the right process?

Nobody has answered you, so I'll try to help a little.....

The form is geared toward a sponsor who lives and works in the US, so it's not going to be a perfect fit for your wife to fill out. She does need to do it as it's required of the petitioner of the I-130. Since you will have a joint sponsor, it doesn't really matter if you wife puts zero income. They are wanting to know US source income.

Yes, you are listed in Part 2 as the principal immmigrant. Your wife checks #8 as "yes" she is sponsoring you. And you are counted in the Box 10. The "No" part of #8 doesn't apply to your case. Imagine somebody was sponsoring their brother and family of 6 with this same form. Nobody qualifies to sponsor all six. It's possible that Cousin Joe in the US agrees to sponsor 4 of the kids, so he would say "no" to the question of sponsoring the principal immigrant (Brother). And mother-in-law, another joint sponsor is going to sponsor Brother and his wife, so she says "yes" to sponsoring the principal immigrant.

I personally would check box D. Unemployed since and write in "when I move to the USA". If you want to name her current position and employer in the UK, then tick both boxes.

For the intent and purpose of this form, I would not list the UK salaries. I would put zero or N/A. Same for the next question.

Part 7 is your assets. If you have significant savings or whatever, you could list those because, unlike your salaries, that money won't disappear because you move. Well...a good chunk of it will LOL because of the whole visa process and costs to ship items overseas.

So then your other sponsor in the US will fill out the same I-864 but list his/her income. If it's enough by a healthy margin, then she does not have to list her assets. I did the same form for AOS, and didn't bother with the assets....just left the pages blank. You will need proof of the joint sponsors legal status in the US (lphotocopies) like a US born birth certificate, a US passport, naturalization documentation, etc.

So that's my opinion of how I would do the forms, but I have no experience filling it out as a UK resident whose source of income won't continue. It's just how I interpret a document that is used for so many different situations.

[uk2usa2010 2]

Also based only on my interpretation of the form I agree with everything Nich-Nick said. Although it could be interpreted that they are effectively being asked the same question twice in number 8, I would tick "I am sponsoring the principal immigrant name in Part 2 above" and then "yes". The notes make it clear (as mud) that you only tick "no" if you have more than two joint sponsors and one of those sponsors is effectively only sponsoring your accompanying family members (e.g. in the case you were taking your parents or children with you).

Just a further note, we are exactly in the same boat as you, as my wife is the USC (I am UK) and she will not have an income in the US when we move. We have therefore put zero for her income, and I have put zero for mine also (as I cannot guarantee it will come from the same source as it does now, although I am hopeful my firm will keep me on, as they have US offices). We have, however, been lucky enough to rely on assets.

Assuming zero income for you both, if you can muster roughly £60,000 (3x over the 125% poverty threshold) in assets between you (cash, property, vehicles - although you must have more than 2 and one cannot be included) you will not need a joint sponsor.

If you do need a joint sponsor (e.g. one of your inlaws), they will fill out I-864 as well and need to do the calculations on income. They can also use assets if they need to, but the calculation is slightly different (if income is less than the poverty guideline, then the calculation is that they need 5x the shortfall).

[uk2usa2010 2]

Apologies the £60,000 is my own figure as my household size is 4 (we have 2 children). If it is just you and your wife (assuming she is not sponsoring anyone else or has other dependents identified on her tax returns etc) then the figure is roughly £36,500 on the 2009 figures - which are gonna be updated shortly.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi Nich-Nick

Thanks for your help and getting back to me. In our draft version, as part of Q8, we checked against "I am sponsoring the principal immigrant name in Part 2 above", then checked the follow up question as no for #8 because we thought as we were going to have a co-sponsor (family member in the US) . Is that not the right process?

Look at the instructions (p. 3, column 1) "What is a Joint Sponsor?"

The third paragraph of that section talks about a second joint sponsor. "If the first joint sponsor completes Form I-864 for some rather than all the family members, a second qualifying joint sponsor will be required to sponsor the remaining family members."

So in my example I gave you before (expanded a little):

Mary is petitioner and PRIMARY sponsor of Brother, Wife, and 4 kids. She can't qualify for 6 people plus her family on her own.

Grandma is FIRST joint sponsor, and sponsors the prinicipal immigrant Brother and also Wife.

Cousin Joe is SECOND joint sponsor and sponsors the 4 kids, and ticks NO in the box that he is sponsoring the named immigrant Brother..

I think you are confused with the TWO joint sponsor thing. Your wife is Primary, then you could have one or two joint. Your wife isn't counted as one of the joint.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Nich-Nick

[npson 0]

Thanks to you both for help.

We've filled it out, like you have said most of it will not apply as we will be needing to use a co-sponsor for my wife and I.

Look at the instructions (p. 3, column 1) "What is a Joint Sponsor?"

The third paragraph of that section talks about a second joint sponsor. "If the first joint sponsor completes Form I-864 for some rather than all the family members, a second qualifying joint sponsor will be required to sponsor the remaining family members."

So in my example I gave you before (expanded a little):

Mary is petitioner and PRIMARY sponsor of Brother, Wife, and 4 kids. She can't qualify for 6 people plus her family on her own.

Grandma is FIRST joint sponsor, and sponsors the prinicipal immigrant Brother and also Wife.

Cousin Joe is SECOND joint sponsor and sponsors the 4 kids, and ticks NO in the box that he is sponsoring the named immigrant Brother..

I think you are confused with the TWO joint sponsor thing. Your wife is Primary, then you could have one or two joint. Your wife isn't counted as one of the joint.

[npson 0]

I might be over complicating things but have a last couple of questions just to make we are doing everything correctly.

My wife has completed the I-864 (being the petitioner and US citizen) and as our incomes won't be travelling with us from the UK when we get to the US, we have a co-sponsor. Does the co-sponsor in Part 3 check no (applicable only in cases with two joint sponsors) as part of Q8 and also leaves the box unchecked that reads "I am sponsoring the principal immigrant name in part 2 above"? My wife already checked that on her form.

Does our co-sponsor need to put my wife's details in Q9 or just leave that blank? I think it's blank based on the example you gave above. I just thought that our co-sponsor would need to sponsor both my wife and I on the basis that my wife's income isn't coming from the same source when we get to the states.

Thanks for your help.