My fiance and I are currently filling out the I-864 and are unsure as to whether we are filling out the household size question correctly. My fiance still lives with his parents and brother in the US but is completely independent of them and they of him. After our wedding in Oz we intend on living with his parents for a brief period (weeks/months) until we find and buy a house for ourselves. So in part 4 of the form it says "no. of persons (related by birth, etc) living in your residence including yourself"- should he be putting down his parents and brother even though they are not dependent on him and we won't be living with them for very long?
My concern is that there is nowhere on the form to explain who he lives with and that they are not dependent on him. His income for 2005 meets the 125% guideline for 5 household members (me, him + his family) but he doesn't meet the guideline for 5 members in 2004 as he spent 7 months in Aust with me so he didn't earn enough. I am confused as to whether he needs to meet this requirement for just the last financial year or the past 3 financial years since they ask you to supply the past 3 years tax returns?
It seems strange to put down his family members and then have to meet the 125% for all of them when he does not support them. But I didn't want to just risk putting the two of us down since technically we will be living with them for a brief time. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

it's my understanding that he only has to put who he will be supporting. I doubt he is supporting his family so as long as you hvae no kids, it'd just be you and him.

Thankyou! I thought that would be the case, as it doesn't really make sense to put down his family members when he doesn't support them. We don't have any kids so it would just be the two of us. So if we fill out the form as just "1" for no. of persons (related by birth, etc) living in your residence including yourself and then 1 for no. of immigrants being sponsored, we should be right? If we are wrong, will we have an opportunity to change it at the interview as we are sending in the I-864 with the DS-230 as I live in QLD and the form said to send it prior to the interview. I'm just nervous about making mistakes and then them denying me or something for filling it out wrong! Thanks for your fast reply, it is much appreciated!

well i'm no expert - that's just what I did on my form but...we haven't been approved...YET. That makes the most sense to me, though. I know what you mean about being nervous. I'm pulling my hair out over here. THe closer we get, the more nervous I get...

I know I shouldn't be, but telling me NOT to worry is pointless because I'm going to !! HAHAAH

Thanks! It's funny cause I feel like once I work something out for this, something else comes up to confuse me!
As for being an expert, well I think we are all just going on our own experiences, but any advice is better than no advice at all!
It's also funny how this process makes us all so nervous and going out of our minds! I think that when it comes to love that we all go a little crazy!
I'm sure you will be approved (I have my fingers crossed for you!) and I hope your interview runs smoothly.
Good luck!

For the purpose of the affidavit of support, household size includes
yourself, all persons related to you by birth, marriage, or
adoption living in your residence, your dependents, any
immigrants you have previously sponsored using INS Form
I-864 if that obligation has not terminated, and the intending
immigrant(s) in Part 3 of this affidavit of support.

The instructions for the I-864 is very clear. The household size includes all persons living in your residence related to you by birth, marriage, or adoption. It doesn't say to only include your dependents.

hmm. i guess. doesn't make sense though?
I'd think since i'm living with mom and dad and have ZERO expenses...that why would I need to include them on my thing? That would mean i'd have to make enough money to "support" 4 people but i'm not supporting them at all?

I mean it doesn't matter anyway since i don't live there anymore but just weird.

Each federal agency defines "household" differently for its own purpose. If USCIS wanted to only include dependents in the household size, it would have made it very clear on the form.
I'm in the same situation where my income is enough for 2 but not enough for 8 people in my "household".

Ok, so now I'm confused! I do understand that they ask on the form to list all people living in your residence, so we are happy to put down all 5 members, but when filling out the question relating to income he then has to meet the 125% for 5 members even though none of them are dependent on him at all (except me). That just doesn't make sense. We will only be staying with them until we buy a house and then it will just be the 2 of us, so I would have thought that he will only have to prove his ability to support me- not his entire family?
Is anyone able to clarify for me whether he has to meet this 125% guideline for the past 3 finanacial years or just the last financial year? As he met it for all 5 members last year and 2003, but not for 2004 as he was living in Oz for most of it.
Thanks

yeah cause I am now confused as well

The USCIS didn't invent the definition, Congress did when it wrote and approved the bill, and the President agreed when he signed the bill into law.

Apparently it made some sort of sense to them. And as scy writes, they've made it quite clear.

Yodrak

sheesh - no need to get snippy.

There are two requirements:

1--Meet/exceed the 125% PG for the household size.

2--Provide your last 3 years' tax returns.

Nowhere does it say they are related; the past 3 years' income does not need to meet/exceed the 125% PG.

An explanation of the dip in a given year's income can be included if the USC feels it would be helpful.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I sent an email to the consulate just to be sure about this question and they got back to me less than a day later which is excellent! My fiance does have to meet the 125% for all 5 members but only for the last financial year (which he does thankgoodness!) and they said that they now only require his most recent tax year, not the past 3 (their response confused me a bit because they didn't say whether that is what used to be the case (prove the threshold for 3 years) or whether they now only require his latest tax return. But the form still asks you to provide all 3 tax returns so we will take them anyway, even if they no longer need them.

only you are depending on him, persons relative by birth refers to his kids

Thats what I have been waiting to see, that embassy's ARE indeed only requiring one years tax return now, which is in line with the new law regarding I-864 for adjustment of status in the US from other visas There had always been a requirement to submit 3 years with the I-864 for DCF/CR-1......so this is great news.

Eeeeek... thanks for posting this. Since we haven't gotten our packet from Montreal yet, I haven't been pouring over the specifics of the I-864 and hadn't realized that we'll have to count my parents (with whom we'll be staying very temporarily until we can move into our new house). With me not working, I truly hope that my husband's (the sponsored immigrant) income makes up for the fact that we won't quite make the asset requirement for six household members (instead of four).

Big eeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

Lorelle,

What new law? The law hasn't changed.

USCIS policy and procedure may have changed, but policy and procedure isn't law.

Yodrak

I know that but for the life of me when I posted that, I couldnt think of the word. Anyways.......its a good thing that it is going across the board to include applications for IV's.