Joint sponsor worry free contract

[larnar1309 101]

Hey All - hope your visa processes are all running smoothly.

 

Me and my husband (petitioner) have asked my aunt (who is a US citizen) to become my joint sponsor. 

 

After reading through all the i864 documents she is a little worried about the financial liabilities i.e. if I was to receive some form of public assistance in the future she could be sued for the amount of assistance that I was to receive during the 10 years she agrees to support me.

 

I have sent her a message to say that I would plan on getting my US Citizenship after 5 years so she would probably only be my joint sponsor until then but to make things easier for her I would like to make a contract between us where I can declare / promise not to use any public funding assistance during this 5 years and therefore she would not be in any danger of the government coming after her.

 

Has anyone created this type of legal contract between a joint sponsor before?

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I would need to include in the written contract for her to be safe?

 

I'm not too knowledgeable on the legal side of these things but if it would make her feel safer then this is something I would like to put forward. 

 

Thank you for any help / information

 

Best wishes!

 

[Lemonslice 4,885]

That contract would be useless. If you need public assistance, should you become disabled for example, you wouldn't have the means to repay her, nor could she force you to become a citizen...  The Affidavit of support is between her and the government.

 

ETA: she's sponsoring you for a period that can be longer than 10 years. 40 quarters of work, citizenship, departure from the USA or death.  Nothing states 10 years.

 

Edited September 8, 2017 by Lemonslice

[larnar1309 101]

2 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

That contract would be useless. If you need public assistance, should you become disabled for example, you wouldn't have the means to repay her, nor could she force you to become a citizen...  The Affidavit of support is between her and the government.

 

 

Hey thanks for the reply.

 

I understand the affidavit of support is between her and the government. But I am suggesting that we would make a separate contract between me and her where I would not use public assistance. 

[broppy 204]

11 minutes ago, larnar1309 said:

After reading through all the i864 documents she is a little worried about the financial liabilities i.e. if I was to receive some form of public assistance in the future she could be sued for the amount of assistance that I was to receive during the 10 years she agrees to support me.

That's pretty much the whole point of I-864. You need someone to sponsor you - and that person needs to be responsible if you need public assistance. You can "promise" to pay your sponsor (or sign a contract, or whatever), but if you renege on that promise, the government will always be able to rely on I-864 and recover funds directly from your sponsor - not from you.

[larnar1309 101]

Just now, broppy said:

That's pretty much the whole point of I-864. You need someone to sponsor you - and that person needs to be responsible if you need public assistance. You can "promise" to pay your sponsor (or sign a contract, or whatever), but if you renege on that promise, the government will always be able to rely on I-864 and recover funds directly from your sponsor - not from you.

 

Thank you for replying. I understand that if I broke the contract the government could come for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is - if I made a contract with them - couldn't they then sue me for breaking my promise? eg. I could write the contract to say they could sue me for the amount that they were asked to pay if I used public assistance or something like that? Therefore they would still have the money legally taken from me? 

 

Basically - I'm not planning on using any public assistance but I can understand their fear and I want to make sure they have nothing to worry about in addition to my word that they don't need to worry.

 

Me and my husband have our own savings so I wouldn't need assistance and IF for some reason I was to have some terrible illness / disease or something I would be covered either by insurance or I would return to the UK and use the NHS which I would be entitled to without effecting the i864 or putting them in jeopardy. 

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Progress Reports to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

 

[broppy 204]

13 minutes ago, larnar1309 said:

 

Thank you for replying. I understand that if I broke the contract the government could come for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is - if I made a contract with them - couldn't they then sue me for breaking my promise? eg. I could write the contract to say they could sue me for the amount that they were asked to pay if I used public assistance or something like that? Therefore they would still have the money legally taken from me?

Sure, you could write something that says that. But if you're destitute and relying on public assistance, what hope does your aunt have of actually reclaiming any money from you?

 

ETA: I don't mean to sound mean - it's just a piece of paper - if you (and spouse) can reasonably support yourselves, auntie has nothing to worry about.

Edited September 8, 2017 by broppy

[f f 725]

besides you could later always claim you were forced to sign the contract under threat she would not sponsor you and you would be gorced to leave the us so you could have it thrown out for signing under duress or at least make it a messy court battle.

 

it is a piece of paper to make them feel good but it is not worth anything more than the recycle value of the paper.

[geowrian 22,337]

Yes, others have done very similar types of arrangement. However, their legality has never been proven, and it has generally been doubted to hold up in court. I agree that it's a "feel good" effort, but I highly doubt it would be enforceable.

[geowrian 22,337]

38 minutes ago, larnar1309 said:

Thank you for replying. I understand that if I broke the contract the government could come for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is - if I made a contract with them - couldn't they then sue me for breaking my promise? eg. I could write the contract to say they could sue me for the amount that they were asked to pay if I used public assistance or something like that? Therefore they would still have the money legally taken from me? 

Sue you for what exactly? If you needed government assistance, you don't have the funds to pay them. You can't squeeze blood from a rock.

 

38 minutes ago, larnar1309 said:

Basically - I'm not planning on using any public assistance but I can understand their fear and I want to make sure they have nothing to worry about in addition to my word that they don't need to worry.

Right on both counts. It is a liability to be taken seriously. But that's the nature of the beast here.

 

38 minutes ago, larnar1309 said:

Me and my husband have our own savings so I wouldn't need assistance and IF for some reason I was to have some terrible illness / disease or something I would be covered either by insurance or I would return to the UK and use the NHS which I would be entitled to without effecting the i864 or putting them in jeopardy. 

What if the serious medical condition prevents safe travel?

 

Second, would NHS cover you even though you are no longer a resident there? I'm not familiar with the UK system, but typically residency or physical presence is required for medical aid (beyond emergency treatment, but any emergency care would have been obtained in the US before you could fly).

[larnar1309 101]

3 hours ago, broppy said:

Sure, you could write something that says that. But if you're destitute and relying on public assistance, what hope does your aunt have of actually reclaiming any money from you?

 

ETA: I don't mean to sound mean - it's just a piece of paper - if you (and spouse) can reasonably support yourselves, auntie has nothing to worry about.

 

I appreciate the reply. I'm not sure - I've never made this type of contract before so I was curious myself if it could be done basically. She doesn't have anything to worry about but - as most human beings - she will always be concerned about a risk. 

3 hours ago, f f said:

besides you could later always claim you were forced to sign the contract under threat she would not sponsor you and you would be gorced to leave the us so you could have it thrown out for signing under duress or at least make it a messy court battle.

 

it is a piece of paper to make them feel good but it is not worth anything more than the recycle value of the paper.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm not really interested in thinking about future court issues because I'm not planning on taking her to court or making her pay out for anything. 

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Yes, others have done very similar types of arrangement. However, their legality has never been proven, and it has generally been doubted to hold up in court. I agree that it's a "feel good" effort, but I highly doubt it would be enforceable.

 

Thanks for the reply. As above - I'm not planning on us going to court etc. I just want to make a formal agreement between us both. 

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Sue you for what exactly? If you needed government assistance, you don't have the funds to pay them. You can't squeeze blood from a rock.

 

Right on both counts. It is a liability to be taken seriously. But that's the nature of the beast here.

 

What if the serious medical condition prevents safe travel?

 

Second, would NHS cover you even though you are no longer a resident there? I'm not familiar with the UK system, but typically residency or physical presence is required for medical aid (beyond emergency treatment, but any emergency care would have been obtained in the US before you could fly).

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm not entirely sure if NHS can cover me over seas but I know I would be covered if I could return to U.K. For any treatment. I've also read that I can be covered under my husband's insurance as his wife. 

[mindthegap 2,590]

5 hours ago, larnar1309 said:

I have sent her a message to say that I would plan on getting my US Citizenship after 5 years so she would probably only be my joint sponsor until then 

You would be eligible for citizenship after 3 years if still legally married to the same USC and still 'living in marital union'.

[larnar1309 101]

15 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

You would be eligible for citizenship after 3 years if still legally married to the same USC and still 'living in marital union'.

 

Amazing Do you have a link to where you read that? 

[geowrian 22,337]

1 minute ago, larnar1309 said:

Amazing Do you have a link to where you read that? 

https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization

You May Qualify for Naturalization if:

"You have been a permanent resident for 3 years or more and meet all eligibility requirements to file as a spouse of a U.S. citizen, please visit our Naturalization for Spouses of U.S. Citizens page for more information. "

[AdnanS 82]

8 hours ago, larnar1309 said:

 

Thank you for replying. I understand that if I broke the contract the government could come for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is - if I made a contract with them - couldn't they then sue me for breaking my promise? eg. I could write the contract to say they could sue me for the amount that they were asked to pay if I used public assistance or something like that? Therefore they would still have the money legally taken from me? 

 

Basically - I'm not planning on using any public assistance but I can understand their fear and I want to make sure they have nothing to worry about in addition to my word that they don't need to worry.

 

Me and my husband have our own savings so I wouldn't need assistance and IF for some reason I was to have some terrible illness / disease or something I would be covered either by insurance or I would return to the UK and use the NHS which I would be entitled to without effecting the i864 or putting them in jeopardy. 

 Not going to work, your contract will mean nothing in face of the Joint Sponsorship paper that your aunt will file.