DO I QUALIFY FOR I-864EZ? 4 1/2 months unemployed THIS year

[josayow 0]

Up until last night i was pretty sure i could use the I-864EZ form since i met the 3 criterias:

1. You are the person who filed or is filing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for a relative being sponsored;

2. The relative you are sponsoring is the only person listed on Form I-130; and

3. The income you are using to qualify is based entirely on your salary or pension and is shown on one or more Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-2s provided by your employers or former employers.

My total income from tax years 2013, 2014 and 2015 exceed the 125% of HHS Poverty Guidelines for a household size of 2.

However here comes the issue:

I was unemployed for the first 4 and a half months of this year (2016) and began working on may 16. (i only have 3 pay stubs). My monthly salary (per 12) exceeds the poverty guidelines but since i'm only going to work for 7 and a half months (out of 12) it won't meet the criteria THIS YEAR.

On part 5, item 4 it asks me for my Current Individual Annual Income.

-Should i multiply my monthly salary by 7 or 7 and a half?

-Should i multiply my monthly salary by 12?

-Should i use the the I-864 form and add proof of my assets? (banks accounts, paid mortgage...etc)

on the instructions it says:

Item Number 4. Current Individual Annual Income. Enter your current individual earned or retirement annual income that you are using to meet the requirements of this affidavit and indicate the total on this line. You may include evidence supporting your claim about your expected income for the current year if you believe that submitting this evidence will help you establish the ability to maintain sufficient income. You are not required to submit this evidence, however, unless specifically instructed to do so by a Government official. For example, you may include a recent letter from your employer showing your employer’s address and telephone number and indicating your annual salary. You may also provide pay stubs showing your income for the previous six months.

I don't know what to do, since i really want to file the EZ (if possible).

Any advice would be appreciated

[heyguy 12]

From my experience, I'd just file the I-864 if you have doubts. It doesn't hurt. The I-864 is still an easy enough form to fill out. You just leave a lot of sections blank or N/A'd.

For your current annual income, from what I understand, you have to have been employed for 6 months and have 6 months of pay history in order for the NVC to consider it as your current employment, but that's just from reading other people's experiences. You may need to include assets in order to meet the requirements. I'd recommending searching other forums on this site about it as I've seen quite a few questions about "I-864 annual income".

Edited September 10, 2016 by heyguy

[josayow 0]

Since we have our case completed at NVC (just waiting for our interview date) i wanted to share what we did:

We sent our package on october 18th

1. We decided to submit the I-864 Form just to avoid any checklists or RFE's.

2. Even though the form says we don't have to, on part 7 - Use of Assets to Supplement Income (optional), we submitted my husband's house deed, and his bank accounts' statements.

3. On part 11 - Additional Information, section 3.d - my husband wrote down the following:

"I was unemployed for the first 4 months of the year. I began working on may 16 and my company pays it's employees once a month. This gives me only 5 pay stubs at the end of September. if i would have worked the full 12 months, i would have cleared the poverty line for my wife and I. Since i did not, i wanted to compliment this form with my assets. Thank you for your time"

We got no checklists or RFE's. so if anybody has this problem, they might use our case as a solution.

Good luck to every one.

Edited December 28, 2016 by josayow

[NikLR 13,227]

Yes, you qualify. My husband used it when he had been employed at sept 2012 and i interviewed in june 2013. His yearly income far exceeded the poverty guidelines but his w2 that year didnt (it did on previous years though.) He filed a tax extension in 2013 so that he could file after I had arrived. We provided 6 months of paystubs showing his yearly salary.

Edited December 28, 2016 by NikLR