Thought I would share this information with you all.......
My mother was not going to be our co-sponser because she thought 10 years was a really long time to be held responsible for someone. I decided that I would go to an immigration lawyer to help with our case because it is taking a really long time and I won't be making good money until August.
My attorney told me that the I-864 says that if the beneficiary becomes a US citizen then the co-sponser is no longer bound to the agreement. According to my attorney to become a US citizen it takes about 3 years and you must take English classes (something that my husband will do anyway) ..... now, I am not totally sure about the particulars of becoming a citizen, but in my case my mother was much more confident about signing the I-864 with a 3 - 5 year commitment as opposed to a 10 year or longer commitment. She has now decide that she will sign as long as he takes the steps to become a citizen.

I don't know if anyone else if having a hard time convincing a sponser but this may help.

One more thing - I live in El Paso (on border of Mexico) and my lawyer told me that the US consulate in Mexico is particularly picky about certain things and that the new thing about only sending in 1 year of tax returns does not fly there. He told me that they still consider it necessary to be 3 years.

that's all fine and dandy but if the immigrant decides not to become a citizen there is squat all the sponsor/co-sponsor can do about it and they WILL be held responsible should the need arise.

i'm sure this won't be the case in your situation and am glad that your mother has reconsidered ... but this certainly is a fool proof answer!!

ty for posting!

Thanks for sharing.. Very good info indeed ! Thanks again !

jessibicho,

There are 4 events that can terminate the I-864 obligation, and they are clearly spelled out.

The passage of 10 years in not one of them, and yet so many people think that it's the only way the I-864 terminates. Amazing.

Yodrak

Well, not really if "someone" is intending for their SO to work full time and they're going to stay at home and eat bon bons

Voice of experience?

When did it ever change from last 3 years tax returns to just the 1 last year? I always read and submitted and was asked for the last 3 years. And I didn't go through Mexico either--in fact the tax returns was the first thing the consular look at during the interview--she just counted them looking for the previous three years and gross income. But you know there are always exceptions, I was supposed to provide a certified copy of my divorce but I only had a xerox copy at first the consular hessitated and then she let it slide--its always case by case.

This was posted in May.

jess,
I thought I had mentioned this possibility to you? In any case, we struck a similar deal with our potential Joint Sponsors. gimyg makes a good point, but all we can do is each judge our own situation.

Naturalization was a part of our plan from the beginning, for a number of reasons, but killing the I-864 was certainly one of them.


Everyone can see exactly what the natz requirements are (study of English is not one of them, but minimum proficiency is) by checking out the pinned thread at the top of the Citizenship forum here at VJ.

No, I guess we just didn't read the fine print on the I-864. The problem is that you read it and it mentions 40 quarters of work, etc etc etc and it just makes it seem so daunting (at least this was the case with my mother). It mentions citizenship but I just had no idea that was citizenship was a possibility that was actually atainable.
Anyways thanks as always!

Naturalization beats the other alternatives to ending the I-864, death being chief among them.

Besos all around tomorrow!