Sponsor question

[cd3429 0]

Hi all, very helpful forum here which is great!

I have a question regarding sponsorship, but first a bit of background. I arrived on a VWP, my wife being a us citizen. my wife moved to Australia to be with me many years ago, so she has been outside of the us for some time, but upon visiting her family she has decided she wants to stay.

Now, we are in the process of preparing for AOS and filing I-130 and I-485, but since she has been out of the states for years she obviously has no income so my question is do we need a joint sponsor or co-sponsor? is there a difference?

We were hoping her mom and step dad could help sponsor but can you combine their two incomes? and also how do you figure out the household size for poverty guidelines as we will be living with her mom and stepdad for a few months, which means that there will be her mom, stepdad, sister, brother, herself, and myself. does that mean it's a household size of 6?

Sorry for all the questions but it's quite confusing for me and I'm trying to make this go as smooth as possible

Thank you for taking the time to read

Edited October 27, 2015 by cd3429

[Anh map 2,098]

Your wife is the primary sponsor regardless of current income. If she can't demonstrate sufficient current income then a joint sponsor would be needed. Your wife needs to show that she filed US income tax returns for the past 3 years or provide a signed statement as to why she was not required to file tax returns. Living abroad is not an acceptable reason. The US taxes on worldwide income. There are treaties so that people do not pay double tax.

https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Income-from-Abroad-is-Taxable

https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusion

The sponsor's household count includes any minor children regardless of where they live, any spouse, and anyone else claimed as a dependent on their most recent federal tax return. See the form I-864 instructions for how to count a household.

Any US citizen or green card holder can be a sponsor. Your spouse completes an affidavit of support as petitioner/primary sponsor no matter what and supplies all needed supporting documents. The joint sponsor does the same. Mom and her husband would file an I-864(mom) and I-864A (stepdad) respectively.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Anh map