I-864 Counting Household size

[furble 3]

Seriously this form is so poorly written.

It has you put numbers in boxes that have very clear answers then it has you add them up to get your household size. It specifically says "don't count anyone twice" however if I were to follow that instruction then I'd be lying on the one where it asks me to enter 1 if in married.

My situation is as follows:

I'm sponsoring my wife. We have a baby. Baby is a US citizen. Seems pretty simple to me, family size = 3.

Not sure why a big complicated form that doesnt even work right, with all these boxes is neccessary to come to that.

Moving on, the form has me put a 1 in for number of immigrants I'm sponsoring and a 1 if you are married. So if I'm not supposed to duplicate anyone then which one am I supposed to omit? I'm certainly not going to omit the 1 for being married given I am filing for a greencard for my spouse without very CLEAR instructions in writing from the goverment to do so. And it seems stupid given this is the AOS form to write 0 for number of immigrants in sponsoring. If I'm not sponsoring anyone then why on earth would I be filling out this form in the first place.

So seems to me best move is to put 1s in all the right boxes and when I add up the boxes I should omit one of the 1s in the sum, and then attach a written explanation stating that's how I did it.

Anyone got a better idea? What worked for you?

[Ryan H 3,812]

If you read the I-864 carefully, in the space between A and B for question #21 on the form reads the following sentence in bold and italic: Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit

When a US spouse fills out this form to sponsor their foreign spouse, their foreign spouse is who is being sponsored in the affidavit and obviously would not be counted a second time.

Since this form is by anyone who is sponsoring any kind of immigrant be it a sponsor or joint sponsor and not exclusive to a US spouse sponsoring a foreign spouse, there is nothing wrong with the format of the form.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Ryan H

[pushbrk 12,883]

If you read the I-864 carefully, in the space between A and B for question #21 on the form reads the following sentence in bold and italic: Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit

When a US spouse fills out this form to sponsor their foreign spouse, their foreign spouse is who is being sponsored in the affidavit and obviously would not be counted a second time.

Since this form is by anyone who is sponsoring any kind of immigrant be it a sponsor or joint sponsor and not exclusive to a US spouse sponsoring a foreign spouse, there is nothing wrong with the format of the form.

Correct. Although it is counter-intuitive to leave the spouse box blank, when married, you have been instructed TWICE to do exactly that.

1. Heading "Persons NOT sponsored in this affidavit"

2. Do NOT count anybody twice.

[furble 3]

Ok I see what you guys are saying.

So last question on the matter?

Leave 21c blank or put 0 in it. I of course prefer to leave it blank unless that is incorrect. I have put a 0 in all the other boxes that did not apply to me.

[pushbrk 12,883]

Ok I see what you guys are saying.

So last question on the matter?

Leave 21c blank or put 0 in it. I of course prefer to leave it blank unless that is incorrect. I have put a 0 in all the other boxes that did not apply to me.

Blank or zero are equally acceptable.

[furble 3]

Thank you very much

[John and Ann 10]

So I have a minor child, who is listed "on another petition", on a 130 petition, wife's minor child,..#9..says NOT to list them here....

9."Do not include any relative who is listed on a separate visa petition."

I "think" what the agency wants to know, is how many persons I'll be supporting in the future with immigrations, so wife and child and myself makes three;

Do I also fill out another I-864 form (two), one for each petition to submit to NVC ?? If so, seems to me, I need to make them both total 3, regardless of what seems to be correct in how to fill in the blanks??? Hope the investigators understand or ask how I come up with 3? I suppose they have many people wondering this also from the questions asked here.

[pushbrk 12,883]

So I have a minor child, who is listed "on another petition", on a 130 petition, wife's minor child,..#9..says NOT to list them here....

9."Do not include any relative who is listed on a separate visa petition."

I "think" what the agency wants to know, is how many persons I'll be supporting in the future with immigrations, so wife and child and myself makes three;

Do I also fill out another I-864 form (two), one for each petition to submit to NVC ?? If so, seems to me, I need to make them both total 3, regardless of what seems to be correct in how to fill in the blanks??? Hope the investigators understand or ask how I come up with 3? I suppose they have many people wondering this also from the questions asked here.

The instruction you are reading is for that section only. Don't put any names in that section, in your case, for either if the two separate affidavits you'll submit but DO count your spouse on the child's affidavit in 21c and count the child on the spouse's affidavit in 21d.