I-864

[Rebecca Perry 0]

I have dual US/AU citizenship and currently reside in Australia.  I and am petitioning for my AU husband to receive a green card.  The I-130 has been approved and the case is with NVC.  We both receive US Social Security benefits from my having over 40 quarters of credit when working in the US, most of the credits accrued prior to our marriage.  Are we exempt from completing the I-864?

 

Also, does the I-864 have to be completed prior to paying the fee for and beginning the DS-260?

 

Thank you.

[OldUser 6,983]

1 hour ago, Rebecca Perry said:

Are we exempt from completing the I-864?

 

Absolutely not. You will need to complete I-864.

You probably need a joint sponsor and need to re-establish US domicile.

Edited December 11 by OldUser

[Lil bear 4,260]

2 hours ago, Rebecca Perry said:

I have dual US/AU citizenship and currently reside in Australia.  I and am petitioning for my AU husband to receive a green card.  The I-130 has been approved and the case is with NVC.  We both receive US Social Security benefits from my having over 40 quarters of credit when working in the US, most of the credits accrued prior to our marriage.  Are we exempt from completing the I-864?

 

Also, does the I-864 have to be completed prior to paying the fee for and beginning the DS-260?

 

Thank you.

Is he receiving spouse SS income now? 

[Rebecca Perry 0]

43 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Absolutely not. You will need to complete I-864.

You probably need a joint sponsor and need to re-establish US domicile.

Thank you for such a prompt response.  This is the information in the I-864 instructions about exceptions to completing the I-864 that made me think that I might be able to complete the I-864E instead. Our combined SSA income exceeds 125% poverty level requirement.

 

1. Any intending immigrant who has earned or can receive credit for 40 qualifying quarters (credits) of work in the
United States. In addition to their own work, intending immigrants may be able to secure credit for work performed
by a spouse during marriage and by their parents while the immigrants were under 18 years of age. The Social
Security Administration (SSA) can provide information on how to count quarters of work earned or credited and how
to provide evidence of such. See the SSA website at https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/ for more information;
 

Thank you, as well, for stressing the importance of being able to re-establish US domicile.

[Rebecca Perry 0]

1 minute ago, Lil bear said:

Is he receiving spouse SS income now? 

Yes.  I just downloaded our updated benefit statements for 2025.

[Lil bear 4,260]

3 minutes ago, Rebecca Perry said:

Yes.  I just downloaded our updated benefit statements for 2025.

My quick read of the I864 exemption is that for immigration,  he can count only the quarters that you accrued while married to each other. For  actually claiming SS spouse income, he has only had to be married to you for 12 months. 
So i think you can’t use the  exemption , though your SS income should be considered as ongoing when you return to the US and, if sufficient.  will avoid the need for a joint sponsor. 

[Rebecca Perry 0]

47 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

My quick read of the I864 exemption is that for immigration,  he can count only the quarters that you accrued while married to each other. For  actually claiming SS spouse income, he has only had to be married to you for 12 months. 
So i think you can’t use the  exemption , though your SS income should be considered as ongoing when you return to the US and, if sufficient.  will avoid the need for a joint sponsor. 

Thank you for your opinion.  That's how I read the instructions, too, but it doesn't really make sense to me since the income is the same either way.

[Lil bear 4,260]

8 hours ago, Rebecca Perry said:

Thank you for your opinion.  That's how I read the instructions, too, but it doesn't really make sense to me since the income is the same either way.

Uscis is using  SS quarters for a very different reason to SSI Income eligibility   Makes sense to each individual agency   We came on IR 5 .. we each had 36 and 21 quarters earned from previous time in the US .. thought we could add them together to meet the exception of over 40 but sadly it wasn’t saying what we thought it said 

[powerpuff 6,744]

*** Thread moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures ***

[pushbrk 12,998]

You do not need to file an I-864 for your spouse.  You file the I-864W instead but I would also provide both your SS award letters as supporting documentation.

[Rebecca Perry 0]

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

You do not need to file an I-864 for your spouse.  You file the I-864W instead but I would also provide both your SS award letters as supporting documentation.

Thank you so much for the information.  

[Rebecca Perry 0]

10 hours ago, Lil bear said:

Uscis is using  SS quarters for a very different reason to SSI Income eligibility   Makes sense to each individual agency   We came on IR 5 .. we each had 36 and 21 quarters earned from previous time in the US .. thought we could add them together to meet the exception of over 40 but sadly it wasn’t saying what we thought it said 

Thank you.