Help Me Please!

[myoldman 0]

Hi,

I am need of some assistance with my application for AOS. I arrived in the US on a tourist visa (B1/B2 6 month visa) and married my wife (a US citizen in December 2009). We have filed all the relevant paper work ourselves (i864, i130, i765 etc). We made a mistake however in the fact that basically my wife doesn't meet the income requirements on the i864 (125% above the federal poverty line) which for our household size is just over $18K. We made the mistake of thinking that she met the minimum requirements as I thought they considered 'gross' total's not 'net' totals.

Anyway to try and keep this as short as possible they have requested more evidence of income and assets etc or have said that we basically need to get a co-sponsor which may be tricky as my wife's family have a number of issues and so many people are simply scared to sign the i864 due to its intimidating nature of what people are responsible for and people often imagining the worse case scenarios.

I have a series of questions which I hope people can either answer or point me in the right directions -

1.) If I can find a co sponsor do they have to meet exactly the same requirements as my wife? (i.e. my wife wrote down on the i864 her amounts earned for the last 3 years which read something like $12K, $12K, $45K. If she is currently only earning $12K projected income for 2010, does the co-sponsor need to be earning over $18K themselves or can they only be earning $6K to make up the shortfall).

2.) Can I have multiple co-sponsors? What if I was to provide 5 or 6 co sponsors who all had low income so that the responsibility would be divided between a number of people? Is there a maximum number of co-sponsors?

3.) Does co-sponsoring affect someone's credit score - to some people their credit score means more than their own family which I find so sad.

4.) When we submitted the papers we submitted evidence of savings which was only about $2 - $4K. I have been told since that this isn't enough. How much should we have in the bank? Can I use saving from an oversea's account?

5.) Is there any way that we can show that we are already supporting ourselves fine whilst my application is still pending?...

Basically a co-sponsor is my last resort so I'm wondering if there is anyway at all around this.

I hope someone can help. I only have about another 60days to get everything sorted out!

Keep the faith.

Myoldman

[CaptainPenguin 5]

You can find a lot of detailed answers to your questions here: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86991.pdf

1. The co sponsor will have to be able to take care of you on his own, they can't just make up the difference. And if your co-sponsor has a family of his own, the income will have to be adjusted based on that.

2. Last time I checked you could not have multiple co-sponsors. You can be sponsored by a husband and a wife (counted as one) but you cant have twenty people chipping in a few bucks each.

3. No. Absolutely not. This has nothing to do with credit.

4. When I immigrated about six years ago, the assets you needed were about 3-4 times the required yearly income. Not only in cash but you could also count houses etc. If you have money in the UK just do a SWIFT wire transfer to your own account here, should not take more than a couple of days.

5. Yes you can, if you show them current pay stubs with appropriate income they will be willing to look at different options with you. However, you guys are making 12k a year after taxes according to what you posted, so that might just make things worse. Do not use this option unless you can sustain the income needed ! It also helps to attach a letter from your work with the pay stubs.

Good luck sir !

[VanessaTony 3,567]

** moved from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to "Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas" as you are adjusting from a B1/B2 visa and the prior forum is for K1, K2, K3 & K4**

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

1.) If I can find a co sponsor do they have to meet exactly the same requirements as my wife? (i.e. my wife wrote down on the i864 her amounts earned for the last 3 years which read something like $12K, $12K, $45K. If she is currently only earning $12K projected income for 2010, does the co-sponsor need to be earning over $18K themselves or can they only be earning $6K to make up the shortfall).

A co-sponsor can only combine income with the primary sponsor if they are relatives or dependents of the primary sponsor, and live in the same household as the primary sponsor. In that case, the co-sponsor would submit an I-864A, along with their evidence of income.

Otherwise, the co-sponsor's income must meet the 125% threshold for their own household size, which includes themselves, anybody they provide support for, and the sponsored immigrant.

2.) Can I have multiple co-sponsors? What if I was to provide 5 or 6 co sponsors who all had low income so that the responsibility would be divided between a number of people? Is there a maximum number of co-sponsors?

You can only have multiple co-sponsors if multiple immigrants are being sponsored. For example, if two immigrants are being sponsored then one co-sponsor can sponsor one of the immigrants, and the other co-sponsor can sponsor the other immigrant.

3.) Does co-sponsoring affect someone's credit score - to some people their credit score means more than their own family which I find so sad.

No, under normal circumstances it will not affect the co-sponsor's credit score. In the rare event that the sponsored immigrant collects means tested benefits, and the co-sponsor ends up being sued by the government for reimbursement, the judgment against the co-sponsor could affect their credit score.

4.) When we submitted the papers we submitted evidence of savings which was only about $2 - $4K. I have been told since that this isn't enough. How much should we have in the bank? Can I use saving from an oversea's account?

Assets are valued at 1/3. This means if your income is short by $6K then you'd need $18K worth of assets to make up the difference. For a co-sponsor who is not related to the sponsored immigrant, assets are valued at 1/5.

You can use any asset that you can convert to cash with as little as 12 months notice without undue hardship or financial loss. You have to provide proof that you own the asset, and proof of it's value.

5.) Is there any way that we can show that we are already supporting ourselves fine whilst my application is still pending?...

No. You must meet the minimum requirements established by INA 213A, which requires you have income of 125% of the poverty guidelines.

The answers to most of your questions are spelled out, in detail, in the instructions for the I-864. You should study these instructions to see what your options are.

[myoldman 0]

Thank you Captain Penguin & JimVaPhuong for your responses - they are much appreciated.

As it turns out things have developed in the last few days since I posted about my situation on here and I think (fingers crossed) that I have a co sponsor who meets all the eligible criteria and in fact works for the US government so I am thinking if that isn't going to be good enough for USCIS then I don't know what will be.

I'll keep posting to this to keep people informed (if anyone is interested he he).

I am hoping to submit my co-sponsor in the next few days and I'm just hoping he doesn't change his mind as several people have done so already.

Thanks again peeps!

Myoldman

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thank you Captain Penguin & JimVaPhuong for your responses - they are much appreciated.

As it turns out things have developed in the last few days since I posted about my situation on here and I think (fingers crossed) that I have a co sponsor who meets all the eligible criteria and in fact works for the US government so I am thinking if that isn't going to be good enough for USCIS then I don't know what will be.

I'll keep posting to this to keep people informed (if anyone is interested he he).

I am hoping to submit my co-sponsor in the next few days and I'm just hoping he doesn't change his mind as several people have done so already.

Thanks again peeps!

Myoldman

Congrats!

I wouldn't count on the co-sponsor being a US government employee making any difference to USCIS, unless the immigration officer who adjudicates your petition happens to know the co-sponsor personally. Otherwise, it's just another name on a form to them.