I-864 vs. I-864a, Self-employed Writers

[deebs123 0]

I'm sponsoring my husband but my income is insufficient. The difference between my income and the poverty line is about $10,000 and my husband has about $35,000 in assets.

My brother is going to be the joint sponsor but he's recently become unemployed. He isn't the ideal candidate but he has about $25,000 in savings and his annual income was $45,000. Although my husband and I are currently living abroad, we plan on living with my brother when we go to the US. Can my brother fill out the I-864a instead of the I-864? If he does do the I-864a, can we add his assets towards the minimum assets we need?

And do we need to prove that we're siblings if we do the I-864a?

Also, I've declared myself self-employed as a writer. From what I've read, I don't need to provide proof of income, but it's always better to be safe than sorry right? Are there any other self-employed writers out there with this experience? Did NVC request proof of income or was your income questioned during the interview?

Any insight about this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[Boiler 48,027]

Your brother is not ideal as he is unemployed and has insufficient savings.

[Penguin_ie 6,002]

You would be using the I-864 as you are not financially tied to your brother (not listed as dependent on the tax return etc).

However, as Boiler said, your brother in his current unemployed state cannot actually sponsor (his past income doesn't count, and savings would need to be 5 times the 125% poverty level), so unless he finds another job, you need to find another co-sponsor.

[JenniferNangel 137]

I have been self employed for the past 7 years and have filed my taxes every year since then with the same income. I only needed a joint sponsor because I'm still in my husband country and haven't been working since I got here. My mother did the aos but she's still employed and makes well over the poverty limit so they didn't have a problem with her being cosponsor.

[Boiler 48,027]

Excellent

So what has your Brother got to do with this?