The affidavit of support

[Que Saudade 284]

pashalsta.........but always remember this places are just filed with empty rhetoric....before you do anything always consult a lawyer please.....

We can agree to disagree. Your liken to empty rhetoric in here followed by always consulting a lawyer is like,.... well empty rhetoric.

The OP was given the link for the 125% poverty guideline previously. Your numbers are just the poverty guideline. USCIS doesn't use those numbers unless you are active military duty petitioning for your spouse or first child.

And technically, if ANY US citizen wants to sign a legal bonding contract with the US government, they don't care as long as they have a money trail.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Que Saudade

[Little_My 464]

Vinnyic's numbers are not correct for this particular situation. Those are the poverty lines for sponsors who are on active duty in the military and are petitioning for a spouse or a child. For them, the minimum requirement is 100% of the poverty lines - for all others, it is 125%. For a family of two, it would be $18,912 - the rest are here:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf

Edited September 3, 2012 by Little_My

[Anh map 2,098]

yes technically its can be any citizen BUT its up to the immigration officers discretion to accept that person as a feasible co sponsor....you can take a joe shmoe off the street and have them sign a co sponsorship they wont accept it.....

Do you have any proof to back up this statement?

[bayojona3231 4]

Failure to file taxes is a big deal. It is called tax evasion;if you are rquired to file and you refused to. Hopefully, his income is too low; in which case he does not neccessarily need to file. If he made enough money to file. NOT only will he pay interest, he would pay penalty as well to both Federal and State.. unless he is from TX or any other non income tax states. Good luck.

2012 Poverty Guidelines

Size of Family Unit 48 Contiguous

States and D.C.

1 $11,170

2 $15,130

3 $19,090

4 $23,050

5 $27,010

6 $30,970

7 $34,930

8 $38,890

For each additional person, add $3,960 $4,950 $4,550

just in case you needed it....

[vinnylc 2]

Do you have any proof to back up this statement?

my lawyer told me this because originally i didn't want my family to be involved with this at all (family problems) but after what he told me i had to go with immediate family or run the risk of them not accepting them.......money doesn't always matter in this case it doesn't... its about legitimacy ......show me a case where someone used a friend or non family member to co sponsor and it was approved and i will think differently ....as of now ill trust my lawyer.....

[ceadsearc 516]

It doesn't matter if you have a cosponsor. The USC spouse is ALWAYS the primary sponsor and ALWAYS has to send in the most recent tax return and provide amounts for the last 3 years OR provide a statement saying why they were not required to file. There is no way around that. If your spouse was required to file and did not you will not be able to adjust your status unless you get lucky and have your case reviewed by someone who isn't doing their job properly.

[Operator 1,927]

my lawyer told me this because originally i didn't want my family to be involved with this at all (family problems) but after what he told me i had to go with immediate family or run the risk of them not accepting them.......money doesn't always matter in this case it doesn't... its about legitimacy ......show me a case where someone used a friend or non family member to co sponsor and it was approved and i will think differently ....as of now ill trust my lawyer.....

Joint Sponsor

A joint sponsor is someone who is willing to accept legal responsibility for supporting your family member with you. A joint sponsor must meet all the same requirements as you, except the joint sponsor does not need to be related to the immigrant. The joint sponsor (or the joint sponsor and his or her household) must reach the 125% income requirement alone. You cannot combine your income with that of a joint sponsor to meet the income requirement.

The above can be found here on the USCIS website.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

my lawyer told me this because originally i didn't want my family to be involved with this at all (family problems) but after what he told me i had to go with immediate family or run the risk of them not accepting them.......money doesn't always matter in this case it doesn't... its about legitimacy ......show me a case where someone used a friend or non family member to co sponsor and it was approved and i will think differently ....as of now ill trust my lawyer.....

There are thousands of examples of this... here's one: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/335882-i-864-form-and-co-sponsor/ here's another: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/372853-affidavit-of-support-co-sponsor-questions/ Then use google to find more.

A fair amount of people end up using a friend who'll sign the form, it would be unfair of USCIS to restrict it to family because some people are alone in the world. You'll also notice NOWHERE on the form does it ask for proof of relationship to the co-sponsor.

Lawyers are often wrong. The only time this MIGHT matter is for the visa process and country dependant. Some countries might decide a friend isn't trustworthy enough, but it's not a form or USCIS requirement.

[dwheels76 5,469]

my lawyer told me this because originally i didn't want my family to be involved with this at all (family problems) but after what he told me i had to go with immediate family or run the risk of them not accepting them.......money doesn't always matter in this case it doesn't... its about legitimacy ......show me a case where someone used a friend or non family member to co sponsor and it was approved and i will think differently ....as of now ill trust my lawyer.....

Well your lawyer is wrong. I have several friends K1's and IR1/CR1 that used casual acquaintance or friends no immediate at all. And were approved at embassy got Visas.

[jkelly07 120]

the HHS proverty guide lines for 2012 affidavit of support is 2 people 18.912,for three 23,862

[Jasontnyc 9]

Failure to file taxes is a big deal. It is called tax evasion;if you are rquired to file and you refused to. Hopefully, his income is too low; in which case he does not neccessarily need to file. If he made enough money to file. NOT only will he pay interest, he would pay penalty as well to both Federal and State.. unless he is from TX or any other non income tax states. Good luck.

Actually it is not that serious when living aborad...I hadn't filed for 10 years and I filed retroactively due to my VISA application as petitioner. Did it myself with no issues and you won't owe anything even if you have had a significant foriegn income. I understand your point about it being serious but that is really for those in the US as the majority of USC's abroad don't even know they need to file.

Just putting it in context - Yes, you need to file due to the requirements of the VISA process. Yes, you should file anyway to be in full compliance but you don't need to be afraid of the process. Unless you intentionally didn't file due to hiding money etc etc - If you attempt to become compliant (rather than the IRS contacting you), you will be fine.

[1nilknarf 0]

If he is your sponsor, then I will say yes. The other option which is a tough one is to find someone to co sponsor you and if they do they send in that form, however if they are married and not living in your household, then they fill out an I 864A between them and their spouse, just remember household member is the spouse and the rest of the form is the person sponsoring you, believe I messed up 3 of these forms. Now its better than going the garbage i am on that process because the wait seems endless just have him do his taxes, make sure he is above the minimum poverty line $18,900.00 or more in the previous year. If its slightly less, its a no go, and you gotta find someone else to sponsor you.

Hello to everyone. This is my first time here. My husband doesn't seem to be taking the adjustment of status process very seriously and now that I look at the affidavit of support form where it says it is required to provide the last tax return, I am getting increasingly worried. I am from the UK and so far, the forms are fine to fill out and send in except my husband has not filed a tax return in the last few years. Is this going to hold up or even prevent the application from going forward?

Many thanks for your help.

[kelnjohn 3]

Hello to everyone. This is my first time here. My husband doesn't seem to be taking the adjustment of status process very seriously and now that I look at the affidavit of support form where it says it is required to provide the last tax return, I am getting increasingly worried. I am from the UK and so far, the forms are fine to fill out and send in except my husband has not filed a tax return in the last few years. Is this going to hold up or even prevent the application from going forward?

Many thanks for your help.

Wow, this mirrors the exact situation we found ourselves in earlier this year. My husband is the U.S Citizen, I am the kiwi, he came to live in New Zealand in July 2008, and was working from december that year, until present date, and was unaware he needed to file any earnings with the IRS believing if he were paying taxes abroad, IRS were removed as an interested party.

We learned this was not the case in July of this year, courtesy of someone with the U.S Consulate in Auckland, who recommended we immediately file the missing years, and apply for an 'exemption' of sorts, meaning as he were paying taxes here, and he earned under a certain pay bracket, that we should be able to just file late if we explained in a letter why we had not filed sooner. We enlisted the help of an Accountant, who prepared the missing years, we then had the accountant courier the Income Tax reports directly to the IRS in the U.S.

We phoned the IRS last Thursday, who are sending us the required three years worth of tax transcripts which is required for the Immigration process. It apparently will take about 14 days to receive. The whole process didnt take very long, and it cost about $750 NZD, which is like $500 USD? at a guess. No penalty fines for the late filing either. (very fortunate on that front)

Anyway, I dont know if this novel addresses any of your concerns, or eases any of your worries on the matter. Sorry for the explanation being so long winded.

Best of Luck. Kelli

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

2012 Poverty Guidelines

Size of Family Unit 48 Contiguous

States and D.C.

1 $11,170

2 $15,130

3 $19,090

4 $23,050

5 $27,010

6 $30,970

7 $34,930

8 $38,890

For each additional person, add $3,960 $4,950 $4,550

just in case you needed it....

Unless the sponsor is active duty US military then the sponsor's income must be 125% of the poverty guidelines. For two people that's $18,912.

http://www.uscis.gov/i-864p

[LauraDP 10]

Was your husband living outside the US during the period when he failed to file tax returns? If so, there is a facility for reporting income earned abroad. This is something my husband has had to do since, having only worked in the UK (he is a dual national) he was not aware that he needed to file with the IRS until we began looking into relocating to the US. He found the forms easy to fill out and, since he had nil to pay on his income, there was no financial penalty for his failure to report. We have had a slight delay in the filing being complete for all three years since my husband was a bit of a doofus and failed to sign one of the forms (doh!) so it was sent back to us but otherwise the process is actually pretty straightforward even though taxation stuff usually brings me out in hives.

As for the co-sponsor, our intention is to use a close family friend who has agreed to be our sponsor. He is like a brother to my husband but is not a relative. From all of my research, this lack of a family relationship does not pose a problem. I have not come across any evidence to the contrary. Our friend will be filling out documents to state that he is willing and able to support a family of six and I am pretty sure that is all they are interested in since his declaration will be legally binding. We only need a joint sponsor since my husband (who is obviously the primary sponsor) is resident in the UK with us and also will be between jobs when we reach that stage in the immigration process - since he will obviously not be maintaining his job in the UK but may not have begun work in the US at that juncture - and we are not confident that our assets alone will cut it even though they would represent far more than the amount required.

(I have not read all of the replies in detail so forgive me if I am repeating information already provided)

Best wishes

Laura