Question Related to I-864 Part 6 (Income), Newly Working Freelancer

[jimdobrowolski 0]

Good evening!

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everybody involved with this forum. Though this is my first time posting, your community has been an invaluable resource ever since my wife and I began our immigration journey in July of 2015.

First, a bit of background:

I graduated from college during the summer of 2014, and was legally married to my wife in Mexico during December of the same year. During much of 2014, I held a (meagerly) paid internship at a local newspaper. Then, after graduating, I didn't work for several months. The taxes that I filed in April of 2015 show me with some $5,000 worth of income, obviously far below the minimum to support my spouse and I set forth in Form I-864P.

I spent much of the 2015 calendar year traveling between the United States, where I maintain a domicile with my parents, and Mexico, where I stayed with my wife and her family. When I was in Mexico, I was there on a tourist visa. During this time period I worked as a freelance writer. I'm still working on my taxes to be turned in this April of 2016, but I suspect that I will be reporting my income as around $13,000 after deductions. Once again, this is below the minimum set forth in Form I-864P.

In October of 2015, however, I was finally hired for a full-time yet location-independent job. After training during the final months of the 2015 calendar year, I've started this new job in earnest. With this job, I'm expecting to make about $36,000 during this 2016 calendar year. As far as I understand, this is the amount that I should be including in my Form I-864, Part 6, Section 2.

Here are the major questions I have:

1. Is my understanding that I should include my projected 2016 income of $36,000 in Form I-864, Part 6, Section 2 correct?

2. Even though my projected 2016 income is above 125% of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for myself and my wife, I'm worried that the quick and sudden jump from my past tax returns to this new number is suspicious. I currently live with my parents, and my dad is more than happy to fill out a Form I-864A to allow my wife and I to use his income as a supplement. Is having a family member with whom I live fill out a Form I-864A to add supplementary income advisable--or even allowed--in my situation? Or is this option only allowed for those who claim to be making below the Form I-864P income threshold for their current individual annual income?

3. Finally, does it make any sense to just have my father sign on as a co-sponsor with an additional Form I-864 instead?

I genuinely appreciate any help/guidance that you good people can offer to me on the subject. If you need any more information from me regarding my case, I'll try to respond as quickly as possible.

Thank you all so much!

[mallafri76 1,012]

1. You need to back this projected income up with e.g. a letter from your employer stating the terms of your employment and your salary.

2. Since your past income is considerably below the poverty guidelines, then yes, US immigrations may require you to have a joint sponsor. It depends on the CO handling your case at the embassy. That person will have the final say.

3. If you want to use your dad to meet the financial requirements, then have him as a joint sponsor and fill out another i-864.

[jimdobrowolski 0]

So you think I should have my father fill out a separate Form I-864, even though we're members of the same household? Are you sure he needs to be a joint sponsor, or would an accompanying Form I-864A be enough?

[Ryan H 3,834]

If you have income to combine with your dad, then you can do that by having him complete an I-864A. He would not be a joint sponsor in that situation, but a household member combining income.

[jimdobrowolski 0]

Thanks for the response, Ryan. Do you (or does anyone else) have any input regarding whether including my father as a joint sponsor rather than as a household member would make any practical difference? Is one option clearly better than another or are they simply two ways of achieving the same result?

[Ryan H 3,834]

Thanks for the response, Ryan. Do you (or does anyone else) have any input regarding whether including my father as a joint sponsor rather than as a household member would make any practical difference? Is one option clearly better than another or are they simply two ways of achieving the same result?

Simply two different ways of achieving the same result.