Affidavit / I-864 advice needed re joint sponsors

[scouseredneck 0]

Hi everyone,

I am American and currenly living in the UK. My British husband and I are currently waiting to receive the affidavit of support to complete and return to the NVC. My question is regarding having joint sponsors.

I have been living and working in the UK for the past few years and am having my a dad be a joint sponsor. I have heard that foreign income can not be counted if the petitioner has worked abroad and I would rather be safe than sorry.

My only confusion is that my parents file their U.S. tax returns jointly and this is the gross income that will be used to sponsor my husband. The I-864 does not seem to accomodate for couples/sponsors who file their taxes jointly (ref. question 23 "my current individual annual income is:___")

1. Should I have my father be the joint sponsor who completes I-864 and have my mother complete a form I-864A "Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member" because her income is also considered within my dad's I-864?

2. Is it necessary to sit down and divide my parents income in order to answer question 23 for my dad, 24b (income from anyone else in your household) for my mom and put the total income into question 24c (total household income)?

I realise this is long-winded, sorry for any confusion! Any advice will be much appreciated. Good luck to everyone else in their journey!

Scouseredneck

[lquin 0]

Hi everyone,

I am American and currenly living in the UK. My British husband and I are currently waiting to receive the affidavit of support to complete and return to the NVC. My question is regarding having joint sponsors.

I have been living and working in the UK for the past few years and am having my a dad be a joint sponsor. I have heard that foreign income can not be counted if the petitioner has worked abroad and I would rather be safe than sorry.

My only confusion is that my parents file their U.S. tax returns jointly and this is the gross income that will be used to sponsor my husband. The I-864 does not seem to accomodate for couples/sponsors who file their taxes jointly (ref. question 23 "my current individual annual income is:___")

1. Should I have my father be the joint sponsor who completes I-864 and have my mother complete a form I-864A "Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member" because her income is also considered within my dad's I-864?

2. Is it necessary to sit down and divide my parents income in order to answer question 23 for my dad, 24b (income from anyone else in your household) for my mom and put the total income into question 24c (total household income)?

I realise this is long-winded, sorry for any confusion! Any advice will be much appreciated. Good luck to everyone else in their journey!

Scouseredneck

Hi there,

The general rule of thumb is that if your UK based income will not continue once you return to the US then it cannot be used, if you read the instructions for the affidavit of Support it will detail under what circumstances your income can be used.

Your UK based income should still be included on the I-864 with a cover letter explaining that this is UK based income. You are correct that you will almost definitely need a joint sponsor. If you are going to use your dads income then he will file an I-864, unless is living in the same US household as you in which case he will file an I-864A. If your mom and father file their tax return jointly you can submit his W2's along with his tax return(s). The W2's will detail just your dads income.

If your dad makes enough money on his own to sponsor then your mom should not file an I-864A

Edited September 5, 2006 by lquin

[Yodrak 7]

scouseredneck,

....

I have been living and working in the UK for the past few years and am having my a dad be a joint sponsor. I have heard that foreign income can not be counted if the petitioner has worked abroad ....

This is not necessarily correct. What is correct is that the sponsor needs to have a source of income available to them in the USA when they return there, so if the current income is from an overseas job that will terminate when the person moves to the USA it isn't going to meet the requirement.

My only confusion is that my parents file their U.S. tax returns jointly and this is the gross income that will be used to sponsor my husband. The I-864 does not seem to accomodate for couples/sponsors who file their taxes jointly (ref. question 23 "my current individual annual income is:___")

.....

Provide evidence of the source of the income (a good idea anyway), such as W-2 forms if the income is from employment or 1099 forms if the income is from pensions, investments, etc.

Yodrak

Edited September 5, 2006 by Yodrak