If your co-sponsor filed taxes jointly

[Jscoope 0]

Sorry this may sound a bit complex. So I will try and keep it as simple as possible.

My wife and I have been told we need a co-sponsor for my AOS.

We are having my wife's parents co-sponsor us. As they are married they obviously filed jointly. Do we need to submit just the single I-864 for both of her parents? Or do we need to submit an I-864 for one of them (say her Dad, the primary earner) and then an I-864A the other (her mum)?

Both of her parents work, they both have W-2s, her dad is the primary earner. He earns enough on his own to co-sponsor us. I'm not sure if here mum makes enough on her own, but as she is part of the "total income" on the tax forms I assume we need her w-2 as well, I just don't know if she needs to do an 864 of her own, or an 864A.

Sorry guys, we are just so close to getting approved I don't want to go into the follow-up appointment and not have exactly what they need.

And lastly, at the start of the 864 it has the checkboxes that say something like "I am the ONLY joint sponsor" or "I am first or second of two joint sponsors". Does that mean that her mum and dad count as 1 joint sponsor as they are one household with joint taxes? or are they counted as multiple joint sponsors and they both need to file a form anyway?

[Jscoope 0]

and another point. The 864 instructions say that if you are a joint sponsor you need to show "proof of citizenship". Is that for all sponsors? So we need her mum and dads passports?

We had our interview last week and the lady said everything is fine you just need a co-sponsor, and then we set up the follow up appt for this Wed. She said we just needed to bring "their tax forms, an I-864 and his W-2s". nothing about passports or anything. Then she sent the appointment letter to us with an official form of what we need. And all that says is the same stuff, no passports/proof of citizenship. However I'm thinking that the proof of citizenship is part of the 864, so I must need it. It just means we have to make yet another 5 hour round-trip to the in-laws house to make copies of their passports (we already made that trip to get their taxes and W-2s).

[imarockstar 0]

You will need a copy of their US passport - even thought it wasn't specifically asked for, I would absolutely submit a copy of it along with the additional Affidavit of Support paperwork. I do not see any reason why you would need to drive 5 hours for it - why couldn't they make copies and overnight them to you? At this point in the game, it would be silly for you to chance not having what you needed, so play it safe, fulfill the directive on the I-864 and get the documentation.

Hopefully someone else can chime in about the other questions.

GOod luck to you - you are so close - hang in tehre!

[Jscoope 0]

Her parents are out of town. They wont be back til Tuesday night. The interview is Wednesday. That's why we had to drive down get the tax stuff and that's why we'll have to drive back down to get the passports. There's nobody else around down there to fax them/send them to us.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

You only need to have her mom sign and submit an I-864A if they are combining their income to qualify, and if she's agreeing to make her income available to support the sponsored immigrant. If her dad makes enough on his own, then it isn't necessary to have her mom sign an I-864A. The W2's will make it clear which portion of the total income on the tax return is her dad's.

A joint sponsor must be a US citizen or legal permanent resident, and must be domiciled in the US. You absolutely must provide proof of their status - either citizen or LPR. Without this proof, there is no way to confirm they are eligible to sponsor. A copy of her dad's passport will work. If he's a US citizen by birth then a copy of his birth certificate would also work. If he's naturalized, then a copy of his naturalization certificate would also work.

If her dad can scan his passport/birth certificate/naturalization certificate and send you the scanned photos by email on Tuesday night, then you can print them and take the copies to the interview. You don't need the original documents, and the copies don't have to be made with a photocopier. This is the 21st century!

[Jscoope 0]

Awesome! Thanks man that's exactly what I needed to know.

I know it sounds dumb that we have to go down to their house to pick up the stuff but there really is no other way/

They literally live in the middle of nowhere, they have no internet, no fax (either do we) and they wont be back in time to post what we need to us. They also flew out of Buffalo when they left and will be flying back into Buffalo on Tuesday evening before driving home, so we need to get everything ready so that when we pick them up on Tuesday night they can just come back to our place, sign everything they need to and fill out the 864 before they head back to the boonies. They only flew to Denver so they don't have their passports with them which would've made everything a lot easier. However her dad was born in Denver so he's going to try and get a copy of his birth cert printed while he was there, so if that happens it will make things easier.