Joint sponsor on 864: He makes enough but his wife doesn't want to fill out paperwork

[Antonio D 0]

Hey guys,

My friend is willing to be a joint sponsor and makes enough by himself. He files jointly with his wife but she doesn't want to provide any of her information. We plan to just use his income on the 864 in order to avoid using her. We were wondering has anyone had issues doing this? 

I've read countless threads on here and tried to find similar situations. It looks like there are two answers:
1. You don't need to put the other spouses income if one spouse makes enough.
or
2. You need to have his wife do a 864a because they file jointly.

We made sure that when he filled out his 864, we only put his income on part 6: (Sponsor' Employment and Income).  I've read that if you wanted to just use one person's income instead of both of them, you had to make sure to ONLY put his income into #15 (My current Annual Household Income). 

We also had a question of all the tax forms and information that they needed. We have 3 past years of his w2 forms. Do we also need to include a recent copy of their joint return?  We can get a couple of his more recent pay stubs if needed too.

Any help would definitely be appreciated. Our interview is coming up at the end of next month and we're really starting to get worried. My wife is having a very hard time staying sane because she's afraid that she'll get to the interview and they'll deny her because we don't have a 864a for his wife.

Thank you all in advance!

[pushbrk 13,836]

You need, first an I-864 from the petitioner.

 

From your joint sponsor, you'll need at least the 2016 complete tax return.  You would have checked a box indicating whether you were including 1 or all three tax returns.  A W2 is PART of a complete tax return.  Pay stubs are not, but they are needed as evidence of "current income".

 

Unfortunately, you don't get to just choose what to provide and what not to provide.  Although you need not include the joint sponsor's spouse's income in the affidavit, you do need to provide the most recent complete tax return including both their W2 forms, if they both have W2 income.  If you don't provide at least one full tax return or tax return transcript for 2016, then you simply do NOT HAVE a qualified joint sponsor at all.

 

Whether an I-864a is going to be REQUIRED of the spouse is up to the Consular Officer.  As such, it is always best practice to provide one.  If you don't, and one is requested, your visa will be delayed a few weeks past when you provide it anyway.

 

Sound like you need a more cooperative and willing joint sponsor or to convince this one and his spouse to fully cooperate.

[Antonio D 0]

On 1/27/2018 at 9:03 PM, pushbrk said:

You need, first an I-864 from the petitioner.

 

From your joint sponsor, you'll need at least the 2016 complete tax return.  You would have checked a box indicating whether you were including 1 or all three tax returns.  A W2 is PART of a complete tax return.  Pay stubs are not, but they are needed as evidence of "current income".

 

Unfortunately, you don't get to just choose what to provide and what not to provide.  Although you need not include the joint sponsor's spouse's income in the affidavit, you do need to provide the most recent complete tax return including both their W2 forms, if they both have W2 income.  If you don't provide at least one full tax return or tax return transcript for 2016, then you simply do NOT HAVE a qualified joint sponsor at all.

 

Whether an I-864a is going to be REQUIRED of the spouse is up to the Consular Officer.  As such, it is always best practice to provide one.  If you don't, and one is requested, your visa will be delayed a few weeks past when you provide it anyway.

 

Sound like you need a more cooperative and willing joint sponsor or to convince this one and his spouse to fully cooperate.

Thank you for your response pushbrk, I would've replied sooner but I didn't get a notification showing that someone responded to my post.

We have the full I-864 filled out by the husband. We will make sure to get his most recent 2016 tax return that is jointly filed with his wife. I will also do my best to convince his wife to fill out the i-864a just to be safe.

Another couple quick questions if possible:

 

I've already uploaded my documents to USCIS with my friends i-864 which only has his income listed as the household income. Do you think I'd have to change that amount to his joint income with his wife? He exceeds the poverty amount by himself so I was just hoping not to change that. Not sure if they look through the documents online or what not prior to us going to the interview but in the very worst case, I can maybe resubmit it online if needed.

Also for i-864a, everything is necessary for them just the same as I-864 correct?

-Birth Certificate
-Proof of employment

-Recent tax records

Thank you in advance!

[pushbrk 13,836]

The income amount on the tax portion of the I-864 must be the number on line 22.  If it isn't, NVC will ask you to correct it anyway.