Question about I-864 joint sponsorship & taxes

[LostInLA 0]

Hi everybody,

I have a question about the the I-864 Affidavit of Support for adjustment of status or consular processing after an approved I-130.

The sponsor has a problem with the I-864 requirements because he has not filed tax returns in several years (for various complicated reasons).

He will be using a joint sponsor who has much more than the required income and no problems with his tax returns.

My question is, since there is a joint sponsor being used, will the USCIS still require the original sponsor to submit his tax returns or not? The instructions seem unclear about this.

Thanks for any help.

[georaldc 0]

I'm guessing they will question that. I'm in a similar situation where I'm the primary sponsor for my wife. I grew up in the Philippines, worked there for a few years and never filed any US tax returns (since I never knew that US citizens living outside the country were required to). Even though we got through the k1 visa process just fine, and even with my mom acting as the joint sponsor, we still got an RFE like a week after we submitted the AOS papers asking for my tax returns. I'll probably have to file back taxes as was suggested to me and submit a copy of the latest together with the RFE

[KayDeeCee 4,896]

Yes. The petitioner is always the primary sponsor and must fill out their own I-864 even if they have zero income. The instructions for the I-864 state you must provide at least the most recent tax transcript or a statement as to why you were not legally required to file. You also must include the info from the last 3 years of filing on the form itself, even if you do not send in all 3 years. If you were legally required to file and did not, then you need to file your back taxes.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Yes, the petitioner is always the primary sponsor and MUST submit tax returns (or a letter of ex[lanation if they were not required to file taxes because they had no income). The petitioner should backfile taxes asap.