i864 Form Question

[gvanderford 0]

Hi All,

I am confused about a couple parts of my i864 form. Namely, section 6. Sponsor's Income and Employment. I am a graduate student who is currently living on student loans. My grandmother will also be filling out an i864 form as a joint sponsor. There is no space to put down "student" so I marked the box "employed as" by putting "Graduate Student" and the name of my university as my employer. Is this correct?

For the financial part, do I count my student loans as income? Right now I'm leaning towards putting down zero income since loans are borrowed money and not income, is this right?

Also, I'm not sure if I need to also fill out an i864A in addition to the i864? I am petitioning for my wife who is the beneficiary (we were married in Vietnam less than 2 years ago) and are intending to get married again here in the US and put her on the track to citizenship.

Finally, I have not filled out a tax return for a couple years while I was abroad and had a low income (my accountant said that I didn't need to). So I guess I just complete the most recent tax return information that I have from a few years ago?

Any help is much appreciated! Thank You.

Greg and Tuyen

[Ryan H 3,812]

Also, I'm not sure if I need to also fill out an i864A in addition to the i864?

No, that is not a form you will out.

[Anh map 2,098]

Married is married. Having some sort of party/celebration in the US is great. But it will have zero impact on eligibility for US citizenship.

Read through the form I-864 instructions. They have a lot of great information. There you will see that if a sponsor was not required to file a tax return for any of the most recent 3 years they should submit an affidavit explaining such. (Page 8 of the form instructions)

Both you and your grandmother will be completing I-864s and including all required documentation. The I-864 FAQ link below in my signature may be helpful to you.

[gvanderford 0]

Married is married. Having some sort of party/celebration in the US is great. But it will have zero impact on eligibility for US citizenship.

Read through the form I-864 instructions. They have a lot of great information. There you will see that if a sponsor was not required to file a tax return for any of the most recent 3 years they should submit an affidavit explaining such. (Page 8 of the form instructions)

Both you and your grandmother will be completing I-864s and including all required documentation. The I-864 FAQ link below in my signature may be helpful to you.

Thank you this is very helpful

[gvanderford 0]

Thank you this is very helpful

Anh Map, quick question:

I noticed after sending my DS230 that the form expired on June 30th. It didn't seem to matter that our i864 form had expired but now I'm worried that this one may get rejected. However, it was the most recent one that I could find on their website at the time (a couple weeks ago). Do you think this is an issue?

Also, I was curious about how you went about changing your wife's surname (if you did so). Since all of my wife's documents have her maiden name including on her birth certificate and marriage papers, how do we go about legally changing her surname to mine? It seems like when we apply for her citizenship and passport in the US would be the appropriate time but then her documents wouldn't all match up it seems to me...? Thanks in advance for your answers!

Greg

[ScottThuy 140]

Anh Map, quick question:

I noticed after sending my DS230 that the form expired on June 30th. It didn't seem to matter that our i864 form had expired but now I'm worried that this one may get rejected. However, it was the most recent one that I could find on their website at the time (a couple weeks ago). Do you think this is an issue?

Also, I was curious about how you went about changing your wife's surname (if you did so). Since all of my wife's documents have her maiden name including on her birth certificate and marriage papers, how do we go about legally changing her surname to mine? It seems like when we apply for her citizenship and passport in the US would be the appropriate time but then her documents wouldn't all match up it seems to me...? Thanks in advance for your answers!

Greg

We changed my wifes surname after the wedding using the wedding license. Looking back I wish we had not as it is a pain having the passport in maiden name and the rest in married... if you decide to change it, it will be easier after she gets here than doing it in the initial visa stage IMO.