I-864 questions

[asafrommaui 1]

Great topics covered here about the 864 and related tax forms. As I read the instructions, I had the option of sending my copies of the 1040 forms and W2 ..or..the tax transcript from the IRS website without the W2. I chose to send the IRS Transcripts.

On translations, the NVC rep in the USA told me that I didn't need to translate the various documents like our Marriage cert. (Konin todoke) or my wife's Japanese birth cert. because it was going to be sent to the Tokyo Embassy and they could read it. Only non-Japanese documents would need translation. (For example) if my wife was from lets say Korea and her birth cert was in Korean...then it would need translation. But Japanese language documents to be read by the Embassy staff in Japan ...need not be translated with the signature of the translator stating competency etc. That is what I was told and we submitted those documents to the NVC and have not received a checklist back to translate them.

[elvenshadow 19]

Wow you seriously didn't translate anything for the NVC phase? I have heard that some people got checklists for not doing it so we already went ahead and got everything translated. I even have translations for my Japanese equivalent of W2s for the tax info. I might as well send them just to be safe.

[elvenshadow 19]

So, I just want to clarify something and I apologize if this is redundant but…

I am filling out the I-864. I will not meet the requirements for financial support because my total income is $0 for purposes of this form due to my foreign job ending when I move back to the US. I have assets and so does my wife, but they will not be enough to meet the requirement, so we are relying on our joint sponsor to fulfill the requirement (which he will due to having enough income.)

My question is, should I just fill in the section about my own assets anyway to at least show them that we do have some money and won’t actually need to rely completely on the joint sponsor? Of course, I would rather just leave it blank because it results in a lot less work for me and I won’t have to provide the documents to show bank account balance and things like that, but I am certainly willing to do it if it will help our case. So, is there any chance that leaving it blank would hurt our case? (or at least writing “N/A” in all fields). I know that I do not HAVE to fill that section out, but will doing so anyway have any merit at all or is it a complete waste of time?

[pushbrk 12,616]

Good question. I recommend you complete the asset related section anyway but only state liquid assets that are easily documented, with things like bank or investment account statements. Don't list any real estate that would need an appraisal. It could help if they know you can take care of yourself a while using savings etc.

[elvenshadow 19]

Good question. I recommend you complete the asset related section anyway but only state liquid assets that are easily documented, with things like bank or investment account statements. Don't list any real estate that would need an appraisal. It could help if they know you can take care of yourself a while using savings etc.

OK, I will go ahead and do that then. Thank you.

One more question. My dad is my joint sponsor and his annual income by itself is above the poverty line requirement. He will use my mother's income to combine it in the household income just to increase it and make the case stronger, so she will fill out a I-864A in addition to his I-864. In the case of their forms, is there any merit to listing the optional assets and providing documentation? Is there any reason that they would deny our case if their current income is above the line but they did not list assets? They would rather not bother with it but they will do it if they really have to.

[pushbrk 12,616]

If their combined income is marginal, I would go ahead and list the same kind of assets I suggested you list. If they are comfortably over the requirement, no need.

[elvenshadow 19]

For household size used to get the required amount, is it the household size of the joint sponsor or the household size of the petitioner/beneficiary what is used to determine which poverty line number to use? Our joint sponsor’s household size is 3. Does that mean the poverty line used in this case is $24,737? The total household income for my joint sponsor is $31,000. That is not very much higher than the poverty guidelines limit. Is there a chance they would reject us based on this information? It’s still above the required number but I don’t know how strict they will end up being so I’m a bit worried.

Also, what documents specifically would be required if they list an apartment that they own and the house that they own as assets?

[elvenshadow 19]

Oh and sorry but I just thought of something else as well. My wife and I are listing our intended address in the US as my parents’ house. We will only be living there at first until we find our own place. They are going to write a letter stating this to the NVC. If we are planning to live there, would NVC see that as their household size increasing? There would be 5 people living there then if the 2 of us are added and that would make the poverty line limit higher than their current income. Is this something to worry about or are we OK?

Edited May 26, 2014 by elvenshadow

[pushbrk 12,616]

Temporary visitors, whether family or not, do not increase a sponsor's household size. The joint sponsor's household size would be themselves, their spouse, the intending immigrant, any claimed dependents, plus any previously sponsored immigrants who are still permanent residents of the USA, and not yet citizens.

Your household size is yours. Your joint sponsor's is theirs. Looks marginal to me. I would include and document the liquid assets.

[elvenshadow 19]

So the joint sponsor's household size DOES include the intending immigrant (my wife) even if she is only staying with them temporarily?

Currently my father, mother, and brother live at that house. So does their household size remain 3 or does my wife count as part of their household size for purposes of my joint sponsor's I-864?

Sorry for the confusion

[pushbrk 12,616]

So the joint sponsor's household size DOES include the intending immigrant (my wife) even if she is only staying with them temporarily?

Currently my father, mother, and brother live at that house. So does their household size remain 3 or does my wife count as part of their household size for purposes of my joint sponsor's I-864?

Sorry for the confusion

Your wife, the intending immigrant is part of the sponsor's household size whether she ever sees their house, BECAUSE she is the intending immigrant.

Your brother only counts if he is still a dependent of your parents. It takes more than living in the house to require being counted in the household.

If your brother is not shown as a dependent on your parents' tax returns, then their household size will be 3, consisting of the married couple plus the intending immigrant. If brother is a dependent, your parents need income to cover a household of 4.

If your brother is NOT a dependent and has income, he AND his income can be included, making the household size five but increasing the income.

Read those instructions about using income from household members, and read the actual form. If you had, you would already know the intending immigrant is counted in any sponsor's household size.

Edited May 27, 2014 by pushbrk

[elvenshadow 19]

Your wife, the intending immigrant is part of the sponsor's household size whether she ever sees their house, BECAUSE she is the intending immigrant.

Your brother only counts if he is still a dependent of your parents. It takes more than living in the house to require being counted in the household.

If your brother is not shown as a dependent on your parents' tax returns, then their household size will be 3, consisting of the married couple plus the intending immigrant. If brother is a dependent, your parents need income to cover a household of 4.

If your brother is NOT a dependent and has income, he AND his income can be included, making the household size five but increasing the income.

Read those instructions about using income from household members, and read the actual form. If you had, you would already know the intending immigrant is counted in any sponsor's household size.

OK. I think I understand. I read the instructions a while back but I needed a refresher. I just re-read the entire thing, but I would just like to confirm my situation if you could just please bear with me.

My brother is listed on their tax returns as a dependent, so yes, he would count and that would make the household size 4 (father, mother, brother, my wife). He works a low pay part time job and is a college student so including his income wouldn’t make much of a difference.

According to my parents' jointly filed tax return (1040), their total income from line 22 in 2013 was (roughly) $32,000. I don’t have their pay stubs yet so I don’t know their exact current household income but for the sake of things right now, let’s just assume it is roughly the same.

According to I-864P, the poverty guideline for household size of 4 people is $34,287. This means that based on income alone, they will NOT have enough to cover the requirements, meaning we will absolutely need to use assets.

Difference between their household income and the requirement is $2,287. (Let’s just use $2,300 to make this simpler to calculate). So their combined assets must equal 5X2,300 or in other words, $11,500. With just their savings alone, this should be no problem to cover. Also, according to the I-864 instructions, the beneficiary can use her assets regardless. It also says if doing so, she is not required to fill out her own I-864A and can just show proof of such assets (and we would write the numbers on my father’s I-846). Is this correct?

In regards to my wife’s assets, currently she has a lot of money in a bank account here in Japan. Technically it is both of ours but only her name is on the account due to Japan not having joint bank account options. My wife and I also currently have a US bank savings account that is under both of our names together. My mother’s name is also on the account because we wanted to give her access to make things easier for us when sending money back to the US and whatnot. Currently in the Japanese account, there is roughly $10,000 (in yen). Given this information, would it be best to

A. Leave the money as yen in the Japanese account that only has my wife’s name on it

Or

B. Send all this money back to the US and convert it to USD, and put it in our joint savings account (which has about $6,000 more dollars in it as well).

?

Basically, I am asking because I am unsure if the people reviewing our case will still hold assets as being as credible if multiple people’s names are on it instead of just the beneficiary alone. Since my mother is part of the household of the joint sponsor anyway, I would like to think it shouldn’t matter, but I just wanted to check because it does not say anything about that in the instructions.

So, sorry for making things difficult but I just want to make sure we get this right. Thank you for any help you can provide.

[JRluvsLhyn 0]

OK. I think I understand. I read the instructions a while back but I needed a refresher. I just re-read the entire thing, but I would just like to confirm my situation if you could just please bear with me.

My brother is listed on their tax returns as a dependent, so yes, he would count and that would make the household size 4 (father, mother, brother, my wife). He works a low pay part time job and is a college student so including his income wouldnt make much of a difference.

According to my parents' jointly filed tax return (1040), their total income from line 22 in 2013 was (roughly) $32,000. I dont have their pay stubs yet so I dont know their exact current household income but for the sake of things right now, lets just assume it is roughly the same.

According to I-864P, the poverty guideline for household size of 4 people is $34,287. This means that based on income alone, they will NOT have enough to cover the requirements, meaning we will absolutely need to use assets.

Difference between their household income and the requirement is $2,287. (Lets just use $2,300 to make this simpler to calculate). So their combined assets must equal 5X2,300 or in other words, $11,500. With just their savings alone, this should be no problem to cover. Also, according to the I-864 instructions, the beneficiary can use her assets regardless. It also says if doing so, she is not required to fill out her own I-864A and can just show proof of such assets (and we would write the numbers on my fathers I-846). Is this correct?

In regards to my wifes assets, currently she has a lot of money in a bank account here in Japan. Technically it is both of ours but only her name is on the account due to Japan not having joint bank account options. My wife and I also currently have a US bank savings account that is under both of our names together. My mothers name is also on the account because we wanted to give her access to make things easier for us when sending money back to the US and whatnot. Currently in the Japanese account, there is roughly $10,000 (in yen). Given this information, would it be best to

A. Leave the money as yen in the Japanese account that only has my wifes name on it

Or

B. Send all this money back to the US and convert it to USD, and put it in our joint savings account (which has about $6,000 more dollars in it as well).

?

Basically, I am asking because I am unsure if the people reviewing our case will still hold assets as being as credible if multiple peoples names are on it instead of just the beneficiary alone. Since my mother is part of the household of the joint sponsor anyway, I would like to think it shouldnt matter, but I just wanted to check because it does not say anything about that in the instructions.

So, sorry for making things difficult but I just want to make sure we get this right. Thank you for any help you can provide.

125% Poverty line for 48 contiguous states, the district of columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Island, Guam and Commonwealth of the northern Mariana Islands for a family of 4 is 29,812 But if you live in Hawaii yes for the household size of 4 will be 34,287...just wondering coz your profile says, IL Edited May 27, 2014 by JRluvsLhyn

[elvenshadow 19]

125% Poverty line for 48 contiguous states, the district of columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Island, Guam and Commonwealth of the northern Mariana Islands for a family of 4 is 29,812 But if you live in Hawaii yes for the household size of 4 will be 34,287...just wondering coz your profile says, IL

*smacks head* yea... I was looking at the wrong chart. We will be living in IL, so that is correct. I guess then we technically would just barely make the requirements without assets but as Pushbrk said, it probably is a good idea to include them anyway, so I am still curious if all the stuff I posted is correct otherwise.

[pushbrk 12,616]

I would get the Yen to the USA, yes. Sounds like you'll still be marginal, so document parents' liquid assets with several months of statements, so they can see it's been there a while. Yes, list and document your assets on your affidavit too.