Question filling out I-864

[pushbrk 13,103]

Thank you for your replies.

Since I am an hourly employee, I will convert my wages into annual terms, which will be over the 2012 HHS Poverty Guideline for the size of the household.

There possibly is one ISSUE, which worries me. I will be taking a 1.5 month non-payed holiday to visit my husband (while the petition is pending) and by the time I return, it will still be short of four months since NOA1. I will be asking my employer to give me a letter stating my hourly wages, hours, etc. I will also submit pay stubs for the previous 6 months (from the day I submit I-864). Now, that 1.5 non-paying vacation is likely going to be in that 6-month period, and if they subtract the 1.5 month's worth of wages that I will have forgone by taking the trip, there will be a chance that I will be below the 2012 HHS guideline. When they will see the non-earning period of 1.5 months (no pay stubs), will they subtract that from annual income?

Thank you

Good question. First, there's no need to provide more than one pay stub. It will show your year to date income anyway. That guideline is pretty old, and predates the practice of showing year to date income on pay stubs. In your case, I would use the employer letter to document current income instead of the pay stub. Since the current income question is for now through the next twelve months, go ahead and calculate 12 months going forward at your current gross hourly rate on the date you sign the affidavit. Sounds like you can use the I-864EZ which is a bit simpler.

As an aside, I generally prefer pay stubs to employer letters for verification of current income but this case is an exception because the year to date income from the pay stub cannot be annualized to accurately reflect the income going forward.

[kg8183 1]

Good question. First, there's no need to provide more than one pay stub. It will show your year to date income anyway. That guideline is pretty old, and predates the practice of showing year to date income on pay stubs. In your case, I would use the employer letter to document current income instead of the pay stub. Since the current income question is for now through the next twelve months, go ahead and calculate 12 months going forward at your current gross hourly rate on the date you sign the affidavit. Sounds like you can use the I-864EZ which is a bit simpler.

As an aside, I generally prefer pay stubs to employer letters for verification of current income but this case is an exception because the year to date income from the pay stub cannot be annualized to accurately reflect the income going forward.

Thank you for the advice. Just to note, the instructions for I-864 call for pay stubs from the last six months. Actually wouldn't submitting only the last pay stub be insufficient to calculate the income going forward regardless of whether one has had unpaid periods or not? It will show the year-to-date income, but I am not sure how one can annualize that figure when the pay stub does not indicate the period the individual started earning that money or what is the weekly/bi-weekly (or other payment frequency) is.

[pushbrk 13,103]

Thank you for the advice. Just to note, the instructions for I-864 call for pay stubs from the last six months. Actually wouldn't submitting only the last pay stub be insufficient to calculate the income going forward regardless of whether one has had unpaid periods or not? It will show the year-to-date income, but I am not sure how one can annualize that figure when the pay stub does not indicate the period the individual started earning that money or what is the weekly/bi-weekly (or other payment frequency) is.

In your case, I would use the employer letter instead. Nevertheless, under normal circumstances a single pay stub will show year to date income, so additional pay stubs add no value. Been there and done that over and over again. One pay stub with year to date income showing is sufficient. There are exceptions, such as when people take unpaid leave, where an employer letter is a better choice.

[kg8183 1]

In your case, I would use the employer letter instead. Nevertheless, under normal circumstances a single pay stub will show year to date income, so additional pay stubs add no value. Been there and done that over and over again. One pay stub with year to date income showing is sufficient. There are exceptions, such as when people take unpaid leave, where an employer letter is a better choice.

Hello there,

I just need to clarify few things.

Since we discussed this issue in great length in this thread, I wanted to clarify few things before I send out the AOS package.

I do have a letter from my employer stating my hourly wage and the number of hours that I currently work, with a caveat that the amount of hours can change depending on employer needs and employee's choice. I have gone ahead and calculated annual gross earnings based on the figures in the letter to put in Questions 23 and 24 on I-864 (fyi, my gross weekly earnings can be slightly higher, I just used the figures that employer provided).

I wasn't going to include pay stubs, but now I am thinking of including the pay stubs from the last 4 weeks to show that my actual gross weekly earnings match or exceed what is included in the employer letter. Hence, the intentions of sending the pay stub(s) is(are) not to show year-to-date earnings. What do you think of this?

Also, I will be submitting tax transcripts for the last 3 years. I have amended my 2010 tax returns and the amendment is not shown on the transcript. As a result, should I send COPIES or ORIGINALS of the letter from the IRS confirming that they received the amendment and COPIES or ORIGINALS of all the amended forms (both federal and state)?

Thank you in advance