I-864 Part 3 Item 8; Part 6 Item 25Joint sponsors

[GeneticBlueprint 0]

My wife (who arrived on a K1) and I are filling out form I-864. My father is going to be my co-sponsor because I don't meet the income requirements (I'm a starving student and all that). On Part 3, question 8, It says:

"[ ] I am sponsoring the principal immigrant named in Part 2 above.

[ ] Yes [ ] No (Applicable only in cases with two joint sponsors)"

I am one of the sponsors, so I assume I check the first box. But I am confused about the next line. When I read it, to me it sounds like I am the only sponsor if I check "Yes." (Even if I was the only sponsor, why would they make me check "Yes" after checking the first box anyways? It seems redundant) And to me it sounds like if I check "No" then I'm not helping out with the sponsoring at all.

My next question is about Part 6, question 25, which says:

"[ ] I have filed a Federal tax return for each of the three most recent tax years. I have attached the required photocopy or transcript of my Federal tax return for only the most recent tax year."

I was doing volunteer work in South America for the 2007 and 2008 tax year. Thus, I didn't have any income and didn't file a tax return. I am including a note to explain that, but should I check the box anyways? Because I am turning in my 2009 (most recent, as asked for in the question) tax return.

Please help. And thank you in advance.

[alex and astrid 38]

My wife (who arrived on a K1) and I are filling out form I-864. My father is going to be my co-sponsor because I don't meet the income requirements (I'm a starving student and all that). On Part 3, question 8, It says:

"[ ] I am sponsoring the principal immigrant named in Part 2 above.

[ ] Yes [ ] No (Applicable only in cases with two joint sponsors)"

I am one of the sponsors, so I assume I check the first box. But I am confused about the next line. When I read it, to me it sounds like I am the only sponsor if I check "Yes." (Even if I was the only sponsor, why would they make me check "Yes" after checking the first box anyways? It seems redundant) And to me it sounds like if I check "No" then I'm not helping out with the sponsoring at all.

My next question is about Part 6, question 25, which says:

"[ ] I have filed a Federal tax return for each of the three most recent tax years. I have attached the required photocopy or transcript of my Federal tax return for only the most recent tax year."

I was doing volunteer work in South America for the 2007 and 2008 tax year. Thus, I didn't have any income and didn't file a tax return. I am including a note to explain that, but should I check the box anyways? Because I am turning in my 2009 (most recent, as asked for in the question) tax return.

Please help. And thank you in advance.

I don't know how to answer your question about the joint sponsor...but I will say that form is confusing and a little redundant, even for my AOS, which was straightforward!

As for your second question, yes, check the box. I understand you HAVE to submit the most recent tax return, and you are doing the right think by explaining why you didn't file for 2007/2008. And since your father is co-sponsoring, I am assuming he will show the last three years worth anyway.

Good luck! I also suggest reading the instructions pretty thoroughly, as they answered a lot of my husband's questions, and also download the example form from the guides, it was a big help too.

[HeatDeath 430]

Part 3, Question 8 is worded that way because an I-864 is a very flexible form. It can be filled out by either a primary sponsor or a joint sponsor, and can relate to the sponsoring of a principal immigrant AND several (or no) secondary immigrants - typically children of the primary immigrant who are immigrating on a derivative status from their parent. If there is more than one joint sponsor, each joint sponsor can choose, by how they answer this question, to sponsor only a subset of the immigrants listed on the form. That is what this question is asking.

Since your wife is the principal (and from the sounds of it, the only) immigrant, both you and your joint sponsor should indicate that you ARE sponsoring the principal immigrant. A joint sponsor would only answer "No" if they were sponsoring one or more of the secondary immigrants but not the principal immigrant. The primary sponsor would always answer "Yes", because they will always be sponsoring at least the principal immigrant.

As to the second question, my USC spouse was unemployed in 2007 and 2009 (the year I immigrated, which is why we needed a joint sponsor). On her I-864 we checked the box indicating that we were including three years of tax returns, and included the 2008 tax return and a note explaining why she had not filed in 2007 and 2009. What you suggest sounds correct. Since you are including the most recent tax return, but not ones from the two previous years, I would just check the box indicating that you are only including the most recent tax return, and include a note explaining why you did not file in the previous two years.

FYI: We included all three years of tax returns for my joint sponsor. As long as you make it very clear (with full documentation, and multiple years of tax returns) that your joint sponsor is well above the poverty minimums, they shouldn't care too much about your primary sponsor's information, and you should get approved without any problems. We were approved in two months with no RFE's or interview.

Edited March 15, 2010 by HeatDeath

[GeneticBlueprint 0]

Thanks for all the help guys.