I-485 RFE (I-864, income didnt meet 125% poverty line)

[miamiboy 0]

hello, i just got the RFE notice, saying based on the documents submitted with Form I-864, for the petitioner/sponsor, the income did not meet 125% of the federal poverty line for the petitioner/sponsor's household size.

According to my spouse's 2012 tax return, her gross income was 19,114$ which is 273$ less than 125% of the poverty line for a household of 2 persons. However, she started a new job january 2013, and her current individual income is approximately 31,000$ a year. This is the number we put in part 6 question 10 of I-864 form - current annual household income. The form says that this number will be compared to poverty guidelines.
We have submitted my spouse's employer's letter, stating her current annual income -31k $ as well as pay stubs for past 6 months (jan-june, by july she already had made over 15K)

For some reason, uscis guys were not satisfied with the documents provided to them, and instead of asking for additional evidence (hm, what would it be, if we already sent them pays stubs and employer's letter?) they are asking for a joint sponsor or any assets to cover the difference.

We have found a joint sponsor to help us out. The problem is she just filed her taxes a few days ago, so she doesn't have a tax return yet. Do we have to wait for IRS to accept and process her tax return first? in other words, should we wait for IRS to issue a tax refund check for her (if they owe her any money of course) or we can submit to USCIS all the forms like 1040, etc that she had filled out already when filing them to IRS?

Most importantly, has the joint sponsor fill out a separate I-864? If so, what would be the difference from i-864 my spouse had submitted earlier? I mean part 1 would say I'm the only joint sponsor instead of I'm the petitioner, then goes info on principal immigrant (me, stays as it is), then part 3 stays as it is as well, since i'm the only one principal immigrant, part 4 - i would put the joint sponsor's info instead of my spouse's info, part 5 - the household size is still 2, right? Me and a joint sponsor (she is single, no kids, no other dependants)? Is my spouse counted?
then in part 6 i would use my joint sponsor's income amount. Do i understand everything right? thanks!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Yes, that is how it would be filled out by the joint sponsor. The USC petitioner/sponsor is not counted in their household size unless they claim them on their taxes. They can provide a complete copy of their return with all forms, schedules, W-2s and/or 1099s. They also supply proof of their current income with a letter from employer and/or recent pay stubs. A joint sponsor also needs to provide proof of being a USC or LPR.