I-864A question.

[deer 1]

Hi, I am getting ready to file my wife's AOS packet and have a quick question on the I 864A. My sister is our co-sponsor, makes well over the required income to be our sponsor, but she files her taxes jointly with her husband. Now, do we list her individual income, taken from her W-2, or list the total on line 22 of the form 1040, total income, which is the combined income of her and her husband's income?? Question 11 on I-164A asks for TOTAL income as reported on the federal tax returns, but I thought only SHE can be the co-sponsor. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[trailmix 77]

Technically:

You would enter only her income and provide slips to back that up. So say she has W2s - you must send those along (with the tax transcript or tax return).

I say technically as this is sometimes CO specific. I have seen cases where the W2s were provided and the CO insisted that the joint tax filer must also fill out an I-864A.

I know that's not really helpful - but there you have it.

From the Adjudicator's Filed Manual - Enforceable Affidavits of Support:

If a sponsor filed a joint tax return with a spouse, but is qualifying using only his/her own individual income, the sponsor must submit evidence of that individual income. This evidence would include, for example, the sponsor’s own W-2(s), Wage and Tax Statement, and if necessary to reach the income requirement, evidence of other income reported to IRS which can be attributed to him/her, usually on Forms 1099.