Affidavit of Support questions

[Velsay 5]

Hello VJ community,

 

I filled out the i-864 to sponsor my spouse but want to leverage the experience people have here to make sure I didn’t make any obvious mistake that could result in an unwanted delay.

 

I have been a permanent resident since December 2017 and have started to work as a contractor for a Canadian startup in January 2018. The startup has a few US-based contractors but doesn’t have an entity in the US yet, to make all of us regular employees.

 

My startup also applied for a grant to pay part of my compensation, the first check (about 3 months worth of salary) and my December salary all lended on my account in January 2019 and don't show up on my 2018 returns.

 

I filed my 2018 taxes as self-employed. I reported $38k that year, excluding everything that was credited in 2019. I also reported about $12k worth of stocks that I sold that year (reported as capital gain income). So total income was just over $50k for 2018.

 

At the beginning of 2019, I got promoted and my salary is now much higher. Also at the beginning of 2019, my spouse got a job in the US in academia on an H1-B visa. As I’m working remotely, we’ve now been living together for almost 9 months. She makes a little over 60k/y.

 

We also have about 100k in savings and are in the process of buying a condo with a closing date on November 22nd.

 

I know it’s unusual to go through consular processing when the beneficiary already lives in the US but it was mostly due to bad timing (and a family emergency a few months after settling in that forced us to return home for a month and a half), by the time we looked into it, consular processing was much faster and slightly less expensive (not accounting for travel cost). We both can work remotely for a few weeks and her boss also immigrated to the US and is understanding.

 

Back to the i-864:

 

• If put my total 2018 income (self-employed compensation and capital gain income) and will upload my 2018 tax returns.
• I put our combined annual salaries for the current annual household income, I will upload our current contracts and her pay stubs and our current lease agreement that shows we’re living together. Seems we don’t need to fill out form i-864a as she won’t immigrate with any dependents and I can safely add her since we’ve been living at the same US address for over 6 months.
• I put our savings in the optional assets section and will upload recent bank statements. It doesn’t seem we need it and by the time of the interview it will probably be inaccurate as a huge chunk of it will have mad it towards our down payment, so I’m considering dropping it altogether. Just wondering if the more we show, the better it is.

 

So basically, I’m wondering if I missed anything obvious (or made an obvious mistake) and if I should remove our assets completely from the form.

 

Apologies for the wall of text and thanks!

[Villanelle 4,122]

Ok so the 864 is all about CURRENT income. Also your spouse is the intending immigrant, not a household member. So there is no 864A. On the 864 there is a place for the intending immigrants assets and income if applicable. Is her income US based (that she works remotely?) Will it continue when she moves to the US? If so you guys should be able to count her income. For you as self-employed, do you have a tax return filed for at least 1 year of self employment, and does it show (after any losses or expenses claimed) an amount higher then the poverty guidelines for your household size? If so youre OK. Assets are optional to list. 

[Velsay 5]

42 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

Ok so the 864 is all about CURRENT income. Also your spouse is the intending immigrant, not a household member. So there is no 864A. On the 864 there is a place for the intending immigrants assets and income if applicable. Is her income US based (that she works remotely?) Will it continue when she moves to the US? If so you guys should be able to count her income. For you as self-employed, do you have a tax return filed for at least 1 year of self employment, and does it show (after any losses or expenses claimed) an amount higher then the poverty guidelines for your household size? If so youre OK. Assets are optional to list. 

Hi, thanks for taking the time to answer!

 

Funny, just started watching Killing Eve yesterday. 😉

 

Just a few clarification:

• My spouse is both the intending immigrant and a household member. She has been working and living in the US for the past 8 months (on a 3 year contract) and we have been living together since. Her income will continue after she becomes a permanent resident. We have decided not to file for adjustment of status and continue with consular processing.
• For my tax returns and 2018 income, yes and yes, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Cheers

 

[Villanelle 4,122]

Oh its a great show!

 

Anyway, I get what you are saying about her being a household member but for the purposes of the 864 you can only be one thing. She is the intending immigrant first, foremost, only. You are in a weird situation, but it is a totally acceptable way to do things. Most people who are in the US choose to do AOS but you are allowed to do consular processing if you choose. It just requires her to leave the US for the interview. Can be a nice vacation for her to do such. It seems like your income will be enough for your household size. The following is a list of types of income that will count  for your wife= (E-1,2,3, H-1B, H1B1, H-1C, H-2A, H-2B, H-3, I, J-1, L-1, O-1, O-1A, O-1B, O2, P-1A, P-1B, P-2, P-3, Q-1, Q-2, R-1, TC or TN.) If shes on a visa not listed there they may not count her income. For it to be counted you will want to provide a copy of the contract or an employment letter as well.  Also a self employed person you can add current profit/loss statements as well as a letter explaining what you do as self employed. The bare min for self employed is to show at least 1 year of returns but its always helpful to include more.