I-864/ I-864a Joint sponsor with joint tax return

[Mission3634 0]

Hi,

 

I hope you all are doing well.

 

My mother is petitioner for my brother, and she has zero income. I am sponsoring my brother as Joint sponsor.  I filed joint tax return with my wife for  2019. My wife has zero income. I have sufficient income

So, my mom will fill out I-864, I will fill out I-864 and my wife will fill out I-864A. I had few questions regarding these forms. I am hoping that your experience with these forms will help my situation.

 

 

My I-864

For part 1 question 1, should I select 1.d ( only joint sponsor) or 1.e? I believe I should select 1.d since I am the main joint sponsor (even though my wife is filling out I-864A) . 

 

For part 6, question 8,10, I believe should include my wife’s name and show zero income?

 

My Mom’s I-864

Since she had zero income, I guess I should just write an statement saying why was not required to file any tax returns?

 

My wife's I-864A

She came to USA in 2019. So we filed joint tax return for 2019 even though her income was zero. I believe  information that goes in for 2019 tax returns will be identical for me and her forms? For 2018 and 2017, I plan to write N/A in here forms as she wasn't here in USA in those years.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

If your income is sufficient, your wife doesn’t need to file i-864a. You use your income, not hers.

Edited August 24, 2020 by NancyNguyen

[Mission3634 0]

Hi ,

Thanks for your response. I was thinking about that. Since our 2019 tax transcript will show that we did joint tax return for 2019 and it doesn't breakdown by her and my income, so i though they would want to know that she was aware of it as her tax transcript is being used. Although I can get a letter from my employer showing my yearly salary, I just don't want to take the risk of getting an RFE. Multiple posts on this website suggests that my wife should fill out I-864A

[Villanelle 4,122]

So your mom is the petitioner. She is the main sponsor. She needs to fill out an 864. If she has no income and was not required to file she needs to fill out 0 on the forms/ check no where applicable and include a short statement that she was not required to file taxes. There are sample statements scattered in the forums or on google if you need help drafting it.

 

You would be the joint sponsor. You are the only joint sponsor. As a joint sponsor you can include on your 864 any income from your household members and attach 864a for them. You do not have any household members to add income from - so you technically dont need the 864a from your spouse. You can include it if you want- some Officers like to see the 864a from the spouse so they can be sure the spouse understands the obligation being undertaken. 

 

If you are going to do the 864a for your wife please make sure to fill everything out correctly. Her income is 0- not what is shown on your joint return. So if you have a joint return and the total income on it is 100k because you only had W2s in your name totaling 100k then you fill out your 864 as your income being 100k and total household income of 100k. If you are adding her her income would be 0. She can be listed as a household member with 0 income and sign an 864. But lets say she did work. Your taxes show 150k. 100 is your W2s, 50 is hers. Your total household income could be listed at 150 and then broken down to show 100 is yours and 50 is hers and she would sign the 864a allowing her 50 to be counted as well. If you didnt want to use her (since you have enough on your own) then you would list only your income of 100. They would see the joint return shows 150. (read the instructions carefully and make sure you are entering the correct information, some places require the numbers from the return where others require your income- they may be different numbers). In those cases- where the joint return shows income from both but you are only trying to use income from one person its common for the Officer to request an 864. Some of it can depend on where your numbers fall. If you make 100k and have a household size of 3 they may not want the 864a from your spouse so they can consider her 50 on top of your 100. But if your numbers are close to the poverty guidelines they may want the 864a from her.