Specific immigration question regarding the financial affidavit of support

[HopefulSponsor 0]

Hello, specific immigration question regarding the financial affidavit of support:  

Brief Details: 
Husband wishes to sponsor his Wife.
Wife is not a U.S. citizen, but she lived in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years, and had to return to her home country in August, 2017 to fulfill a two-year home country presence obligation due to a Fulbright scholarship she took from 2004-2006.
Husband is U.S. citizen currently living in the U.S.  
Husband has been unemployed for 3 years, and is currently a student.
   
While Wife lived and worked in the U.S., she accumulated approximately $59,000 in savings in her bank account.  
Husband was added to Wife's bank account two months ago.  
Since the bank account was originally opened by Wife, should the $59,000 be listed under Wife's assets or under Husband's assets?   
How negatively would it reflect that Husband has no assets?
If all money/assets are listed under Wife, and Husband is sponsoring Wife while Husband shows no assets/income, how significant a problem would that be? 
In addition to the $59,000 savings, Wife also earned her 401K in the amount of $28,000.  
Husband is the primary beneficiary of Wife's 401K.  
If her 401K is cashed out/liquified, the amount would be at least $17,000.  
So the bank account money and liquified 401K would total at least $76,000.  
Would $76,000 be sufficient to satisfy the financial affidavit of support?  
Considering that 125% of the 2018 U.S. poverty guideline = $20,575 for a 2-person household, and three times that number is required if sponsoring a spouse, the minimum assets required should be $61,725.  
Since the couple can show $76,000 in available/liquifiable assets, can the couple confidently file?
Any thoughts?  Comments?  Experience with a similar scenario?

[fdhs 9]

If you use the search function for the forums you can find quite a lot of threads discussing whether you can use 401Ks or not... the "hardship" part of the I-864 instructions is the relevant question:

 

Quote

Only assets that can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to the owner may be included. 
 

 

It seems to be up to the CO at the interview whether to permit the 401k or not - they might consider the fees&taxes incurred from liquidating it as a "financial loss" to the owner (which would then prevent them from using it...).

 

Your math at the end seems to be correct, and you would *technically* fulfill the requirements of the I-864. However, just fulfilling the requirements isn't enough-you have to convince the CO that the wife is unlikely to become a public charge. This is a bit subjective-I guess including things like the wife's US employment history, tax records etc might help.

 

It would be interesting to hear from other couples where the intending immigrant has been the primary "breadwinner" (so to say).

 

I don't know if the couple can "confidently" file (or if anyone should ever be "confident" about their chances of success in the immigration process) - but if there is nothing else they can do, then there is nothing else they can do...

[NikLR 13,232]

It's possible with her US work history ahe has accumulated enough work quarters to use the I-864w. 

[fdhs 9]

1 hour ago, NikLR said:

It's possible with her US work history ahe has accumulated enough work quarters to use the I-864w. 

True - per the I-864w instructions, she MUST use the I-864w if she has more than 40 quarters:

Quote

You must use Form I-864W instead of Form I-864 or Form I-864EZ with your application for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status if any of the following apply:

1. You have earned or can receive credit for 40 quarters of coverage under the Social Security Act (SSA). If you have 40 quarters of SSA coverage, you are exempt from the requirement to file Form I-864 or Form I-864EZ. You can acquire 40 qualifying quarters in the following ways: A. Working in the United States for 40 quarters in which you received the minimum income established by the Social Security Administration;

 

[pushbrk 13,260]

Hopeful sponsor needs to know if the spouse has 40 qualifying quarters of income.  This can be done online by the foreign spouse using their SSN at https://secure.ssa.gov/RIL/SiView.do

[HopefulSponsor 0]

Many thanks to fdhs, NikLR, and pushbrk for kindly replying.  I neglected to mention in the original posting that the wife accumulated 33 working credits during her time in the U.S.   I have added that important detail and pasted the posting in its entirety below.   Continued input and suggestions would be much appreciated! 

 

Hello, specific immigration question regarding the financial affidavit of support:  

Brief Details: 
Husband wishes to sponsor his Wife.
Wife is not a U.S. citizen, but she lived in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years, and had to return to her home country in August, 2017 to fulfill a two-year home country presence obligation due to a Fulbright scholarship she took from 2004-2006.
Husband is U.S. citizen currently living in the U.S.  
Husband has been unemployed for 3 years, and is currently a student.
 
Wife accumulated 33 working credits during her time in the U.S.    
While Wife lived and worked in the U.S., she accumulated approximately $59,000 in savings in her bank account.  
Husband was added to Wife's bank account two months ago.  
Since the bank account was originally opened by Wife, should the $59,000 be listed under Wife's assets or under Husband's assets?   
How negatively would it reflect that Husband has no assets?
If all money/assets are listed under Wife, and Husband is sponsoring Wife while Husband shows no assets/income, how significant a problem would that be? 
In addition to the $59,000 savings, Wife also earned her 401K in the amount of $28,000.  
Husband is the primary beneficiary of Wife's 401K.  
If her 401K is cashed out/liquified, the amount would be at least $17,000.  
So the bank account money and liquified 401K would total at least $76,000.  
Would $76,000 be sufficient to satisfy the financial affidavit of support?  
Considering that 125% of the 2018 U.S. poverty guideline = $20,575 for a 2-person household, and three times that number is required if sponsoring a spouse, the minimum assets required should be $61,725.  
Since the couple can show $76,000 in available/liquifiable assets, can the couple confidently file?
Any thoughts?  Comments?  Experience with a similar scenario?

Edited June 5, 2018 by HopefulSponsor
typo corrected

[pushbrk 13,260]

If by file, you mean file the petition, yes.  Whether to be confident of your affidavit of support being accepted is a separate question.  If you want "confidence" get a job.  The public charge concern is ALWAYS a judgment call on the ground at the visa interview.  If you haven't filed the petition yet, those numbers may well change, even significantly, in either direction, BEFORE you provide the affidavit of support.