Questions about form I-864

[James1223 1]

Hello all,

 

My I-130 recently got approved, and now I am working on filling out the I-864 forms and ran into some questions that I wanted clarification for. For the record, I applied for the CR1 visa for my spouse who is the beneficiary, and it is just us two - no other family members/children/dependents.

 

1. For my I-864 form, my household size would only include my partner and I correct? I noticed that both the fields in "persons you are sponsoring in this affidavit" and "yourself" populated to 1. The next part is "if you are currently married, enter "1" for your spouse. Even though I am currently married, since I am sponsoring him, I would not put "1" here correct? Even though I am technically married. I read the instructions and it mentioned to not double-count anyone, but I am fairly confident but just wanted to double check.

 

2. For my employment and income, I am currently a medical school student. Just to make some money, I do work as a teaching assistant, but the role is temporary (semester-based) and starting in about a little more than half a year, I will no longer be a teaching assistant and will just be a student as I will be starting my rotations in the hospital (ie, I will no longer have an income). How should I currently report my employment? Would it be better to report my employment as a teaching assistant or as a student? Could I report "Teaching Assistant" as employment 1 and "Student" as employment 2? As a side note, my father will be a joint sponsor in this if that was a concern.

 

3. There are a few optional sections on the form. Notably, I saw that the form only requires the tax return for the most recent tax here, but it does give the option to provide the forms for the second and third most recent years. Is there any pros or cons to just providing the one versus providing all 3?

 

4. Another optional section was the assests of the principal sponsored immigrant (my husband). Again, are there any pros or cons to providing versus not providing the information since it is optional?

 

Thank you for the help!

[Mike E 11,739]

1. Correct

 

2. Teaching assistant

 

3. In your case, I see no benefit

 

4. Since yours is a marginal case, every bit helps.

 

Does your father have W-2 income?

Edited June 26, 2023 by Mike E

[Verrou 1,962]

1. correct. total 2 as long as u dont have any dependent

2. for employement = teaching assistant. u are not employed as student

3.provide recent year, but u need the AGI number from the last 2 years to fill up i-864

Edited June 26, 2023 by HaroKitty

[James1223 1]

1 hour ago, Mike E said:

1. Correct

 

2. Teaching assistant

 

3. In your case, I see no benefit

 

4. Since yours is a marginal case, every bit helps.

 

Does your father have W-2 income?

 

My father is self employed, so he does not have a W2 form, but I believe he has a similar equivalent. Do you think it would be problematic?

 

1 hour ago, HaroKitty said:

1. correct. total 2 as long as u dont have any dependent

2. for employement = teaching assistant. u are not employed as student

3.provide recent year, but u need the AGI number from the last 2 years to fill up i-864

Thank you for both your help!

 

2. Just to clarify - even though I only work as a teaching assistant for like 6 hours a week, I would still classify myself (for paperwork purposes) as a teaching assistant? The reason I ask is because on the DS-260 form, my partner is able to put "Student" as an occupation. I just want to most accurately reflect my status but I'm indecisive because I think teaching assistant best reflects my financial gain from it versus student reflects what I spent most of my time doing.

 

3. Ohh, I misunderstood the instructions. I thought I only had to report my most recent year. I will report all 3 years and only provide photocopy for the most recent one then. Since this is the first year I independently filed, my previous years will show up as a dependent. This is fine, correct?

 

Also as a follow up, sorry, since my father is the joint sponsor, he will be filling out the I-864 form as well. Currently, I believe his household size would be 3 (him, my mom, my brother). He currently makes over the 125% cutoff for a household of 3. Looking at the form, it seems that if this is the case, he would not need to fill out "part 7. Use of Assets to Supplement Income." I just want to ensure that this means that my mom would not need to fill out an I-864A even though she is part of the household and has an income.

 

Thank you so much!!!

[Verrou 1,962]

2. what do u do right now ? just put whatever you do right now

work is work no matter how temporary it is. if you are working as teaching assistant + studying, then ur employment = teaching assistant. if u are not working then u are student. 

3. yes

 

total 4  ( him, ur mom, ur bro, ur spouse) for ur father i-864

 

 

[James1223 1]

16 minutes ago, HaroKitty said:

2. what do u do right now ? just put whatever you do right now

work is work no matter how temporary it is. if you are working as teaching assistant + studying, then ur employment = teaching assistant. if u are not working then u are student. 

3. yes

 

total 4  ( him, ur mom, ur bro, ur spouse) for ur father i-864

 

 

I guess because I am paid as a teacher assistant, I will put that down. I was just worried because time wise, I am definitely more student than teaching assistant (per week I do 40 hours school, 6 hours teaching assistant), but I understand the sentiment that because I get paid as a teaching assistant, I should put that down.

I just didnt want them to think that it was like a full time job or something.

 

Oh right, I forgot to count my spouse. Thank you! With that being said, as long as my father annual income is >125% income line for a household of 4, he would not be required to fill out part 7 and my mom would not need to fill out the I-864A correct?

 

Thank you and I apologize for all my questions.

Edited June 26, 2023 by James1223

[Crazy Cat 41,809]

2 hours ago, James1223 said:

Would it be better to report my employment as a teaching assistant or as a student?

"Student" status is not employment. 

[pushbrk 12,868]

2 hours ago, James1223 said:

I guess because I am paid as a teacher assistant, I will put that down. I was just worried because time wise, I am definitely more student than teaching assistant (per week I do 40 hours school, 6 hours teaching assistant), but I understand the sentiment that because I get paid as a teaching assistant, I should put that down.

I just didnt want them to think that it was like a full time job or something.

 

Oh right, I forgot to count my spouse. Thank you! With that being said, as long as my father annual income is >125% income line for a household of 4, he would not be required to fill out part 7 and my mom would not need to fill out the I-864A correct?

 

Thank you and I apologize for all my questions.

It is best practice for the joint sponsor's spouse to complete an I-864a even if they have no income or their income is not needed.  Technically required, no.  But, if a Consular Officer asks for it (commonly they do) then it becomes required and the visa is delayed as you get it, submit it and wait for it to be reviewed.

You just tell the truth, and don't worry about what somebody might think about the truth.  That applies to the current subject and any subject EVER in life.

[James1223 1]

40 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

It is best practice for the joint sponsor's spouse to complete an I-864a even if they have no income or their income is not needed.  Technically required, no.  But, if a Consular Officer asks for it (commonly they do) then it becomes required and the visa is delayed as you get it, submit it and wait for it to be reviewed.

You just tell the truth, and don't worry about what somebody might think about the truth.  That applies to the current subject and any subject EVER in life.

Thank you for the help. On the same vein, should I also help my brother fill out an I-864A then? He works part time at a grocery store but will probably stop soon once he starts school in the fall. He is 18.

[Mike E 11,739]

5 hours ago, James1223 said:

My father is self employed, so he does not have a W2 form, but I believe he has a similar equivalent. Do you think it would be problematic?

Yes. There are difficulties getting these accepted by NVC and COs

 

 

[James1223 1]

17 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Yes. There are difficulties getting these accepted by NVC and COs

 

 

Could you elaborate? What makes it difficult? Is it the joint sponsorship? Is it my student status?

[pushbrk 12,868]

2 hours ago, James1223 said:

Thank you for the help. On the same vein, should I also help my brother fill out an I-864A then? He works part time at a grocery store but will probably stop soon once he starts school in the fall. He is 18.

Not sure what your brother has to do with this.  Unless I'm missing something, he is just a dependent to be counted in the Joint Sponsor's household.

 

I'll comment on the self employment issue.  Being self employed is definitely acceptable and, of course, there is no W2.  A little more complicated when joint sponsor is self employed and their spouse is employed, but the self employed are accepted when done correctly.

[Mike E 11,739]

4 minutes ago, James1223 said:

Could you elaborate? What makes it difficult? Is it the joint sponsorship? Is it my student status?

https://www.fickeymartinezlaw.com/immigration/i-864-self-employment-and-business-ownership/ covers several of the problems I have seen visa journey members have.

 

 

Another general problem is that successful self employed people  deduct as many expenses as legally possible. So sometimes we see high cash flow businesses report income below the I-864p requirement.

 

An immigration officer is generally not familiar with how for profit businesses operate nor do they understand the tax code. 

[James1223 1]

5 minutes ago, Mike E said:

https://www.fickeymartinezlaw.com/immigration/i-864-self-employment-and-business-ownership/ covers several of the problems I have seen visa journey members have.

 

 

Another general problem is that successful self employed people  deduct as many expenses as legally possible. So sometimes we see high cash flow businesses report income below the I-864p requirement.

 

An immigration officer is generally not familiar with how for profit businesses operate nor do they understand the tax code. 

Thank you for both your responses. I will have to double check my father's forms, but I believe his business income is higher than the 37500 that is the I-864p requirement. Hopefully it is fine.

[pushbrk 12,868]

2 hours ago, James1223 said:

Thank you for both your responses. I will have to double check my father's forms, but I believe his business income is higher than the 37500 that is the I-864p requirement. Hopefully it is fine.

What you "check" is the "total income" line on his persona/joint tax return.  That is his current income and will be the income entered in the income tax section of the affidavit.

 

Note that if a self employed person shows comfortably more income than required on their total income line, they are fine.  In this context "income" is the taxable income after legitimate business expenses are deducted, NOT total business revenue.