I was employed when my wife got her visa, but my company went out of business before she got here. Fine. Now I have to fill out the I-864 for her AOS.

1) Can I use Unemployment insurance to qualify as income?
2) I have rental income on a property I own. Can I simply include this in my total wihtout proof?
3) Should I attach an explanation of what's going on?
4) Do I need to go the asset route?

Thank You.

Did you read the instructions for and look at the I-134? You don't include anything without evidence to back it up. If you don't qualify, you'll need a sponsor who does.

Yes, I did. But my unemployment insurnace income is greater than 125% of the poverty rate, so I wonder if that should be enough. Just because I'm temporarily out of work doens' t mean I won't have an income this year - I have assets, but want to put the minimum, so I've checked unemployed and my income, which (as said) is greater than $125%.

Any ideas? Anyone?

The purpose of the affidavit is to convince the Consular Officer the intending immigrant will not become a public charge. The best practice for employed people is to provide a letter from the employer stating the employee is considered permanent (whatever that means in an at will employment environment but it doesn't mean specifically "temporary") and full time etc. and stating the wages or salary.

UI, by definition is temporary. It might run out before you have a job. So put yourself in the adjudicator's shoes and see what they would see from the picture you paint. If you have sufficient liquid assets at 3 to 1 to cover the income requirement you may be ok but you'll need to document enough assets to cover it, a little over 50 grand for a household of two. Frankly, I think an affidavit showing current unemployement without a co-sponsor or significant assets documented would get a bit of a chuckle before the blue slip asking for a co-sponsor. An exception might be a highly employable sponsor showing three previous tax returns with a significant income. It's all a judgment call but you need the bases covered.