? on I-864...

[laura428 0]

Ok, so I've been looking through the I-864 and I-864A applications, and I think I've got this down but thought I'd ask all of you wonderfully informative folks if you think I'm on the right track.

If I'd applied for this three years ago, we'd be golden... I was making plenty of money to provide for my family. However, I've been a stay at home mom since November 2003, so no income. According to what I've seen on the application instructions, we can use my husband's (sponsored immigrant) income instead, which heartily surpasses the 125% poverty line guideline for our family of four. We've got a signed letter from his employer stating his current income in CAD, his income in USD, the length and capacity of his employment and confirmation that his position will continue seamlessly during and after our move to the States. (Additionally, although his employer is in Canada, he is an American himself and the company is actually based in the States - thinking we may add this to the letter to bolster it further.)

If they don't accept his income (which I'm not quite sure why they wouldn't), our assets should qualify. Although we have very little liquid, we have quite a nice chunk invested in our house. If I'm correct, we would have to show assets five times the difference between the 125% poverty guideline and my income, so...

125% Poverty Guideline: $25,000

My income: 0

Difference: 25,000

Multiply by 5: x5

Minimum Required

Cash Value of Assets $125,000

(thank you, Aussiewench, for your post detailing the info above!)

Thankfully, we have been incredibly lucky in our real estate investments, and actually have more than this amount invested in our house (which we'll be selling). To show this, we have our mortgage agreement from our bank (just renewed in January, so the amount remaining is actually close to what we owe now, although we may get a new statement to be completely accurate and to show an even greater profit), and an appraisal letter by our real estate agent, stating what we'd list the house at and what our likely selling price would be. Would these two documents be sufficient, or do we need something more (and what)?

If the above isn't sufficient to satisfy the I-864 and I-864A, my cousins have agreed to act as joint sponsors for us. Questions there, though, too...

1) There are three present in their household - would they then have to meet poverty guidelines for a household of seven (their three plus our four)?

2) Should I submit their I-864A along with ours as backup? Or should we reserve it for later if we're denied?

As always, any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading...

[Mr&Mrs2859 0]

I'm confused . You state that your trying to bring your husband to the states but in your statement you put that although his company is based in Canada "he is American"??? Am I missing something here? Seems to me that if your both American you should'nt even need to do the immigration thing.

Curious

[laura428 0]

I'm confused . You state that your trying to bring your husband to the states but in your statement you put that although his company is based in Canada "he is American"??? Am I missing something here? Seems to me that if your both American you should'nt even need to do the immigration thing.

Curious

Oh... sorry if I made that confusing! My husband's employer is American. My husband is Canadian.

[Mr&Mrs2859 0]

I'm confused . You state that your trying to bring your husband to the states but in your statement you put that although his company is based in Canada "he is American"??? Am I missing something here? Seems to me that if your both American you should'nt even need to do the immigration thing.

Curious

Oh... sorry if I made that confusing! My husband's employer is American. My husband is Canadian.

Ahhhhhh ok much better thanks I'm pretty sure that in your situation as your a permanent resident in Canada and residing with your husband that his income will suffice just fine. Although I am not 100% sure Anyone else?????????

[meauxna 15]

Would these two documents be sufficient, or do we need something more (and what)?

If the above isn't sufficient to satisfy the I-864 and I-864A, my cousins have agreed to act as joint sponsors for us. Questions there, though, too...

1) There are three present in their household - would they then have to meet poverty guidelines for a household of seven (their three plus our four)?

2) Should I submit their I-864A along with ours as backup? Or should we reserve it for later if we're denied?

As always, any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading...

laura, looks like you have a good understanding of the situation.

For the real estate, that is very similar to what I did, and have read that others have done. You have to document the market value (appraisal/tax bill etc) and how much you still owe (mtg docs). The balance is your asset number (equity).

When your cousin completes their I-864 as Joint Sponsor, they count everyone in their household, plus the immigrant (husband). Presuming you will NOT be living with the cousins?

(I'm going to stay on the presumption that the kids are USCs. Even if they were not, I *think* you do not need an I-864 for them).

Cousin is doing an I-864A? Or I-864?

Either way, keep their docs aside, hand yours in and the officer will discuss it with you. If they are not happy with your/your husband's I-864, they will say so. At that point you can say, well, my cousin.. blah blah blah and pull out the envelope with the additional fianancials. It's not "being denied". If you go with all your documents, you will get this done in one day unless there is some scary skeleton that you have not yet mentioned.

[laura428 0]

When your cousin completes their I-864 as Joint Sponsor, they count everyone in their household, plus the immigrant (husband). Presuming you will NOT be living with the cousins?

(I'm going to stay on the presumption that the kids are USCs. Even if they were not, I *think* you do not need an I-864 for them).

Cousin is doing an I-864A? Or I-864?

Either way, keep their docs aside, hand yours in and the officer will discuss it with you. If they are not happy with your/your husband's I-864, they will say so. At that point you can say, well, my cousin.. blah blah blah and pull out the envelope with the additional fianancials. It's not "being denied". If you go with all your documents, you will get this done in one day unless there is some scary skeleton that you have not yet mentioned.

Thanks Meauxna... if you tell me I'm on track, then I'm pretty confident.

Yes, you're correct in assuming that we will not be living with my cousins. Their I-864A would only be as joint sponsor. In fact, we may be living with my parents for a short period of time only because we may not get a chance to go househunting again before moving to the States and don't want to buy anything site unseen. So there will most likely be a month or two lag between moving out of our home here and moving into our new one there.

Domicile is, however, the scariest part of all of this for me. I'm in the process of setting up a checking account and credit card using my parents' address as my own to help establish this. I just pulled my credit report, and all three credit agencies list my parents' address as my own (two of the three listing it as my most recent), so I'm hoping that this along with my new accounts, plus my plan to sell my home here in Canada serve as proof of my ties to the States. We were actually thinking it would be a good idea for me to go to Montreal with my husband (instead of him going alone) just in case this comes up and they need to talk to me. It'll be a long day for the little ones, but well worth the trip if it happens.

The only other thing I'm worried about is my husband's medical history. He's healthy now, but was quite sick as a teenager. Won't go into great details here, but it required major surgery and causes minor flare-ups now and then still today. If a doctor examined him today, they'd say he was missing an organ but that everything else was great. Just wonder if they're going to count his history (going back 16 years now) against him.

[meauxna 15]

laura, I appreciate the confidence you have in my reply, but it was intended to be encouraging... I urge you to confirm all of this for yourself: it is YOUR bacon on the line.

I will clarify for you that Joint Sponsors do not use the -A; they complete their own I-864 and tick the "Joint Sponsor' box.

If you were using the funds of someone in your household (who qualified), they would use the -A.

My husband was concerned about the medical as well; he'd had a recent heart problem and was sure he would have a problem because of it.

The medical is pretty specific, and they aren't looking for missing organs. The CO did caution us about insurance though, as my spouse would not be eligible for any emergency medical benefits.

[laura428 0]

laura, I appreciate the confidence you have in my reply, but it was intended to be encouraging... I urge you to confirm all of this for yourself: it is YOUR bacon on the line.

I will clarify for you that Joint Sponsors do not use the -A; they complete their own I-864 and tick the "Joint Sponsor' box.

If you were using the funds of someone in your household (who qualified), they would use the -A.

My husband was concerned about the medical as well; he'd had a recent heart problem and was sure he would have a problem because of it.

The medical is pretty specific, and they aren't looking for missing organs. The CO did caution us about insurance though, as my spouse would not be eligible for any emergency medical benefits.

No worries, Meauxna... I only meant that I respect your experience with this, and hearing your feedback bolstered my confidence that we'll be ok with all of it.

And thanks for clarification on the I-864.

The insurance issue does worry me, too. I've looked into quotes from Blue Cross (my husband's employer offers no health insurance as of yet, since he has only five employees!), and found affordable plans but have wondered if we might run into issues there. That's one thing we'll miss about Canada - guaranteed coverage.

Edited March 11, 2006 by laura428

[vvill 0]

Not sure how similar this is, but neither my wife nor I (the immigrant) had an income at the time of filing our I-130. I did have a fair bit above the 125% poverty in savings and a four year work history (I contract so I go without work sometimes). But we weren't sure so we had her parents joint sponsor us as well. We didn't end up needing them, they accepted us based purely on the immigrant's assets.