I-864 Part 6: Household Income?

[Haruki-kun 0]

My wife's father agreed to be our joint sponsor and is having some trouble filling out part 6 of the I-864, specifically the part where the Household income comes in.

His individual income is sufficient to sponsor me, but his wife lives with him and has an income as well. Do we have to include her in the form and add everything up, or can we just ignore her income? Adding her into the form would require her to fill out an I-864A, even more work.

The instructions are confusing, too, because they say:

Take your individual annual income from Item Number 5 and enter it on Item Number 6c.

This doesn't make any sense, as Number 6c is reserved for the income of Person Number 1 who also lives in the household. Is he supposed to write himself in there?

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

Yeah, those instructions have a couple mistakes like that with the wrong line numbers listed.

The spouse is counted in the household size, whether or not their income is used. If they don't want to use their income, then they do not have to fill out an I-864A and agree to have it used. Don't list them as Person 1. Just count them in the household size in Part 5.

The sponsor filling out the I-864 will need to provide a copy of their W-2 to go along with their joint tax transcript, to show their individual income from the return. They should also provide proof of their current individual annual income with letter from employer and/or recent pay stubs.

[Haruki-kun 0]

Alright. Thank you very much for your help.

[FherJess 15]

I'm a bit confused as to why the spouse needs to be included in the household size....is that because the sponsor claims that person on their income tax as a dependant? I thought household size was the number of defendants and not the literal number of people living in the same address.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

How to count household size >

Your household size includes yourself and the following individuals, no matter where they live: any spouse, any dependent children under the age of 21, any other dependents listed on your most recent Federal income tax return, all persons being sponsored in this affidavit of support, and any immigrants previously sponsored with a Form I-864 or Form I-864 EZ