Pressured to fill out 864A

[umulumendo 0]

Hello, I am the petitioner and sponsor for my father who is an Indian citizen. I submitted a I 864 couple of years ago. Process was delayed for about a year while I obtained police records for him. My father finally completed the interview in June 2012 and one of the follow up requirements was that my wife fill out I-864A.

My own income is well above the poverty guideline requirements. My wife is self employed with a total income of $700.00 in 2011. Therefore for all intents, I am the sole sponsor for my father. I am trying to understand why the interviewer required I 864A even though I am the sole sponsor and my income exceeds the poverty guidelines. The immigration process in India is handled by a US consulate appointed third party agency based in India (VFS) who are bent on me filling out and sending the I 864A that the interviewer indicated is required to move on with my father's immigration process.

I will appreciate any help with the following questions:

1) I file my taxes jointly with my wife. When I filled out the I-864, I provided my joint tax returns and listed Adjusted Gross Income for last three years based on how I filed the taxes. Again, my wife's income is very minimal and I only include it my household income because I-864 requires this information.Is it possible they are asking for my wife to fill out the I864A simply because I filed joint tax returns the last 3 years?

2)To get past this, my wife can go ahead and fill out 1864A any way. However, I file my taxes jointly with my wife. The wording in I-864A is such that it seems to require individual tax returns and individual income listing for the last 3 years. Since my wife and I file taxes jointly, should she now enter in her own income into the required fields even though that is not how we filed our returns for the last 3 years?

[Que Saudade 284]

Is it possible they are asking for my wife to fill out the I864A simply because I filed joint tax returns the last 3 years?

Edited August 13, 2012 by Que Saudade

[ceadsearc 516]

Did you list your combined income on the I-864? If you didn't want to include hers you would list your income on the I-864, which should have been listed on the tax return as well. If she wants to be included then on the I-864A she would list her income ($700 or whatever). You still include the most recent joint tax return.

[Anh map 2,098]

This has been done at other embassies in the past couple of years. It's making sure that a spouse is aware of the sponsorship obligation being undertaken.

Given the severe change in the economy USCIS did issue a memo to the consular stations about this. I don't know if I could still find the link to that doc.

[umulumendo 0]

Did you list your combined income on the I-864? If you didn't want to include hers you would list your income on the I-864, which should have been listed on the tax return as well. If she wants to be included then on the I-864A she would list her income ($700 or whatever). You still include the most recent joint tax return.

Thank you for your reply. I understand your point. Yes, I did include our combined income on the I-864. I did this because the I 864 requires that the AGI be listed for the last three years and I took these off the tax returns which we file jointly. I did not really intend to include her income but at the same time did not want them to call out a discrepancy between the AGI listed on the tax returns vs what I put down on I-864. I guess at this point, I should probably just fill out 1-864A. Thank you again.

[umulumendo 0]

This has been done at other embassies in the past couple of years. It's making sure that a spouse is aware of the sponsorship obligation being undertaken.

Given the severe change in the economy USCIS did issue a memo to the consular stations about this. I don't know if I could still find the link to that doc.

Thank you too for your reply. I expect you are right..perhaps they are doing this to make sure spouse is aware of the sponsorship obligation. I really did not want my wife to be held in obligation for my father's sponsorship but at this point, based on your reply, sounds like I may not have much of a choice here. Thank you.