I meet the income requirement to sponsor my husband but I had zero income the past 3 yrs and no co-sponsor

[nothingbychance 0]

I am just beginning to put my IR-1 packet together to petition to sponsor my husband. My question:

I do NOT have a joint sponsor

I DO meet the income requirements to sponsor my husband and will be able to provide pay stubs and/or employment verification (although I just got my job)

I have not had any income for the past 3 tax years

If I write a letter explaining that I was not required to file taxes as i did not earn any income,

I am unclear if I meet the requirements to get approved ?

Thank you in advance for your help

[TwoChickies 105]

Based on what other people have said around here, if you meet the requirement, even if it's only for income this year, you are still meeting the requirement and it should be fine.

Edited January 29, 2015 by TwoChickies

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

You should be fine; you will only need to provide the I-864 at NVC stage, which is 6+ months away, and by that time you will have several paystubs and a solid "employment history".

[teddy k 35]

Hi, just to be safe i would have a co-sponsor lined up you never know

[nothingbychance 0]

Thank you for your speedy responses!

However I am still concerned/confused. It doesn't seem that this would be a subjective issue. ??

I am wondering if there is an "official" government source (telephone, website, email) that I could confirm if income is required in the 3 years prior to the petition

and even if there is a requirement for the current earnings (meaning 1 year, 6 months, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day ? - how much is enough?)

Being separated from my husband and facing potentially a year of not being able to be together is incredibly stressful as you all know; For my own sanity, i really need to be sure before filing so that I don't have to spend 5-6 months wondering and stressing about something that may not even be a problem.

Is there anyone out there who filed without prior income and was successful?

Is there an "official" government source (telephone, website, email) that I could confirm if income is required in the 3 years prior to the petition?

I am very grateful for any and all help

Edited January 29, 2015 by nothingbychance

[j&ana 363]

You will be ok as stated in other post. It will be about 6 months or more before you have to file I-864 for affidavit of support. You can write a written explanation for not filing taxes in the years you did not stating why. It is in the instructions. Part 7 Item 14 Federal income Tax information.

Here is a link to the instructions, you can look over, if you have not already.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-864instr.pdf

Edited January 29, 2015 by j&ana

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Is there anyone out there who filed without prior income and was successful?

Is there an "official" government source (telephone, website, email) that I could confirm if income is required in the 3 years prior to the petition?

I've seen lots of cases on here. Use the search function.

No, there is no official line because any decision by the CO is subjective.

[dwheels76 5,468]

Thank you for your speedy responses!

However I am still concerned/confused. It doesn't seem that this would be a subjective issue. ??

I am wondering if there is an "official" government source (telephone, website, email) that I could confirm if income is required in the 3 years prior to the petition

and even if there is a requirement for the current earnings (meaning 1 year, 6 months, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day ? - how much is enough?)

Being separated from my husband and facing potentially a year of not being able to be together is incredibly stressful as you all know; For my own sanity, i really need to be sure before filing so that I don't have to spend 5-6 months wondering and stressing about something that may not even be a problem.

Is there anyone out there who filed without prior income and was successful?

Is there an "official" government source (telephone, website, email) that I could confirm if income is required in the 3 years prior to the petition?

I am very grateful for any and all help

You need to check your countries forum and see how the CO's are there. There is no absolute in this. I know for Nigeria your last year and this year must meet guidelines. I have a friend her husband can't sponsor her because he has only two years of taxes. NVC has told them they need a Joint sponsor. So it didn't even get to embassy.

Some embassies current salary is all you need that's not everyone. Know your embassy and please check it out.