I-134 Questions

[Housni&Marie 7]

I just recently filed my I-129F petition, and I am looking ahead to what is required for the Affidavit of Support for K-1 Visa, and after reading through post after post, I still have some things that I am unsure about. It would be great to get some answers to some of my questions now, so I'd have one less thing to stress about for the next 5 months or so.

Current Annual Income - I am paid hourly, and although I was hired at a .6 FTE, in the year I have had this job I have almost always worked between 32-40 hours a week. Based on the hours I have been working and my YTD income, I will just make the 125% requirement for a household of 5. Can I base my annual income for question 7 on form I-134 on the number of hours I have actually been working all year even though my FTE is only .6? If I supply a letter from my employer, how do they usually calculate annual income in a situation like this? Would they base it on the hours I have actually been working or om my FTE? Might it be best to not supply this letter from my employer if what they show for my annual income is less than the 125% requirement (since from what I understand it is not required, unless specifically asked for), and just submit 6 months or so of my pay stubs?

Child Support - can I include this in my income, and if so, where would I report this on form I-134? Will the fact that I will only be receiving this child support for another or so make a difference in being considered as qualifying income?

Household size - I had been figuring this to be 5. I have 17, 19 and 21 year old children who live with me. According to the directions for form I-864 for determining household size I know I have to count my 17 year old, because he is a minor, even though I do not claim him as my dependent, and I have to count my 21 year old because I did claim him as a dependent in 2010. It says you can exclude unmarried children under the age of 21 who have reached the age of majority (18) who you do not claim as a dependent. So if I am understanding correctly, that means I do not have to count my 19 year old in my household size. My concern is, even though I do not claim him as a dependent, I did use him as a "qualifying child" for the earned income credit in 2010. (A qualifying child does not have to be your dependent.) Will this be an issue if I don't count him in my household size? If I don't have to count him it decreases my 125% requirement by nearly $5,000.

If I do have to include my 19 year old in my household size, I understand I can include his income with mine at AOS with the I-864a, but there is no way to include his income now for the I-134? Is this correct?

I am really hoping I can work all this out so that I don't need a co-sponsor!

Thank you! I appreciate any answers/advice that can help to put my mind at ease about this.

[Fela's Girl 1]

Hi. If your 19yr olds income help then add him, but if not don't. It's fine about your hours cutting if your able to back your income up on your taxes. You can send them 2-3 yrs worth to knock so much focus off a check stub. I didn't send any check stubs for myself. I just sent 4yrs of income tax. Hope this helps.

[Housni&Marie 7]

Hi. If your 19yr olds income help then add him, but if not don't. It's fine about your hours cutting if your able to back your income up on your taxes. You can send them 2-3 yrs worth to knock so much focus off a check stub. I didn't send any check stubs for myself. I just sent 4yrs of income tax. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, it would help to add my son IF I can combine his income with mine for the I-134, but from what I have read there is no way to do combine incomes with I-134, only with the I-864a at time of AOS. So unless someone can tell me otherwise, I see no benefit of adding him to my household size if I don't need to.

Secondly, my issue is not that my hours have been cut, but that I am working MORE hours (usually 40) than what I was hired to work (24), so I want to know if it is ok to base my current annual income on the number of hours I have been working (which will put me just above the 125% requirement, and can back up with my pay stubs for the last year) or do I need to base it on the number of hours I was hired to work (which will put me below the requirement). Previous tax returns will do nothing to help me since I have only been employed for about a year, and the two years before this was I unemployed and a full time student.

[Housni&Marie 7]

Child Support - can I include this in my income, and if so, where would I report this on form I-134? Will the fact that I will only be receiving this child support for another or so make a difference in being considered as qualifying income?

This should read "I will only be receiving this child support for another year or so".