Joint sponsor using some of the spouse's income (merged)

[aerodnight 76]

Hi,

 

The joint sponsor that's helping me, has a current individual income of about $40k, when the requirement is $34k, and that's all from combining actually three income sources - 2 employments and one self employment. Her spouse has a pension and a company that's making quite high profit, but we currently went the the way of not using his income, since it's more difficult to prove income from a company. To increase these $40k of the joint sponsor, can we use only her spouse's retirement income and not bother with proving the income that's coming from the business? What also bothers me is whether it won't be a problem that the joint's sponsor income is that much divided, it's not a single employment, like most cases, but three sources of income for total of $40k plus some cash jobs, that I guess, we are unable to use, since it's hard to prove it. 

 

There is also a bank account they have joint sponsorship in, and there are like few hundred thousand on it, so maybe it would be safer to use joint sponsor's provable income of $40k plus take the bank account and divide the amount by 2 and use it as the asset?

It's also possible, that she wasn't making it above the threshold for all the last three years, so this also could be a problem, I pressume?

[pushbrk 12,883]

3 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

Hi,

 

The joint sponsor that's helping me, has a current individual income of about $40k, when the requirement is $34k, and that's all from combining actually three income sources - 2 employments and one self employment. Her spouse has a pension and a company that's making quite high profit, but we currently went the the way of not using his income, since it's more difficult to prove income from a company. To increase these $40k of the joint sponsor, can we use only her spouse's retirement income and not bother with proving the income that's coming from the business? What also bothers me is whether it won't be a problem that the joint's sponsor income is that much divided, it's not a single employment, like most cases, but three sources of income for total of $40k plus some cash jobs, that I guess, we are unable to use, since it's hard to prove it. 

 

There is also a bank account they have joint sponsorship in, and there are like few hundred thousand on it, so maybe it would be safer to use joint sponsor's provable income of $40k plus take the bank account and divide the amount by 2 and use it as the asset?

It's also possible, that she wasn't making it above the threshold for all the last three years, so this also could be a problem, I pressume?

The joint sponsor's spouse will need to state and document their income anyway.  If he only wants to state and document his pension, that's ok, but they'll be supplying information from three tax returns as well.  The term "using" as applied to income is not really how it works, but I understand you mean declaring and documenting.  This would be complicated if he has business losses on any of the past three tax returns.

[aerodnight 76]

From your response, I get that in case of using the joint's sponsor spouse's income, we could document and list only the retirement income only if on his self employed income source(business) he didn't have any losses for the last three years?

Or is it that by including the spouse, he'll have to provide the tax return from the last year plus state incomes from the last three and those business losses could somehow harm his retirement income? I'm pretty sure, that he had pretty good results from his business, so surely the profit will exceed the loss in any year

[pushbrk 12,883]

12 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

From your response, I get that in case of using the joint's sponsor spouse's income, we could document and list only the retirement income only if on his self employed income source(business) he didn't have any losses for the last three years?

Or is it that by including the spouse, he'll have to provide the tax return from the last year plus state incomes from the last three and those business losses could somehow harm his retirement income? I'm pretty sure, that he had pretty good results from his business, so surely the profit will exceed the loss in any year

Two separate issues.  Tax and income in two separate sections of the form.  The profit or the loss is reflected in the numbers entered in tax section which is about the past.  If you want to just state and document his current income in the current income section of both forms, that's fine.  Retirement income is usually documented with a declaration letter from the source of the income.

[aerodnight 76]

Hi,

 

I want to know if I calculate the current individual annual income correctly. I have a sponsor that has two sources of income from regular employment, so she receives pay stubs and W-2 for that, and one source of income where she receives 1099-NEC. As for the self-employment, she claims that her title is Independent Business Owner(IBO) for ACN, I guess she is one of the few people that makes some profit out of it, since her last year's 1099-NEC states $4,280 income and line 31 from Schedule C shows $3,200. Her current year's employment income could be calculated as $24,000 + $9,600, as she made around $18,000 from her first job as of end of September and she makes stable $800 a month from her second job. I've also been wondering if I can calculate that $24,000 part based on what was made so far and what is left in the year to still make, because she doesn't receive the same amount each month as sometimes she works more, sometime less. 

 

In the end I calculated the current individual annual income as below:

Job 1 - $24,000

Job 2 - $9,600

Self-employment - $3,200

$24,000 + $9,600 + $3,200 = $36,800, so it's dangerously close to the minimum requirement of around $34,600 income for a household of 4

 

Am I correct in my calculations?

[Mike E 11,739]

Seems like a marginal joint sponsor. 
 

 

[aerodnight 76]

2 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Seems like a marginal joint sponsor

What do you mean exactly by that? Never heard that term before

[Mike E 11,739]

Just now, aerodnight said:

What do you mean exactly by that? Never heard that term before

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginal
 

“4a

 

: close to the lower limit of qualification, acceptability, or function

 : barely exceeding the minimum requirements

 

// semiliterate person of marginal ability”

I think the officer evaluating your joint sponsor will see it the same way.  I suggest finding another joint sponsor. 

[aerodnight 76]

Thanks for clarification. I thought that minimum is minimum, meaning that if a sponsor makes at least that, then he or she should be qualified to sponsor an intending immigrant. Do you think that to be able to be a sponsor you have to make significantly more than the requirement? Or is it more complicated when sponsor's income is so diversified as mine's is?

[Mike E 11,739]

5 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

Thanks for clarification. I thought that minimum is minimum, meaning that if a sponsor makes at least that, then he or she should be qualified to sponsor an intending immigrant.

There is necessary and there is sufficient.  The officer evaluating an I-864 will sometimes go Beto d necessary and consider sufficient. If the officer thinks the sponsor would have difficult time providing financial support, then the officer can ask for another sponsor. 

5 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

Do you think that to be able to be a sponsor you have to make significantly more than the requirement?

Generally yes I think that.  Importing a family member is expensive.  
 

5 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

Or is it more complicated when sponsor's income is so diversified as mine's is?

Self employment based sponsors also add to complexity of evaluation. 
 

My observations are that State and USCIS

 

* prefer  sponsors who earn significant W-2 income or have significant liquid assets in a U.S. bank. 

 

* employ officers who are not always competent in tax law

 

We see VJ members who experience difficulty with retirement income (since it often isn’t taxable), self enjoyment income (since the net income is often reduced by tax deductions and documenting current income is hard), and rental income (since depreciation, which is a phantom, often reduces significant cash flow to zero or less), etc. 

[aerodnight 76]

You are on point, but I don't have a line of eager people to help me sponsor, so I took what I could. For me it's most important to make it past NVC, because I'll probably be returning to the US and starting a job a few weeks before my wife's interview, so in case of problems I could give her my new I-864 with recent pay stubs, etc. 

Am I right calculating both employment and self-employment income like that? I know that self employment income should be taken from line 31 Schedule C from last year, but for the employment part, I don't have to use the last year's income but can use the current year's one?

[Mike E 11,739]

Sorry I don’t  know and with VJ now inaccessible to large chunks of the USA, the people with specific experience aren’t available to help you.  
 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Mike E

[aerodnight 76]

Why is that? I guess I missed something recently

[Mike E 11,739]

Just now, aerodnight said:

Why is that? I guess I missed something recently

 

[Ontarkie 14,223]

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