Financial affidavit of support

[Reuniting 0]

Hello, I have a specific immigration question regarding financial affidavit of support:  

    Brief Details: 

 Husband and wife have over $59,000 in shared bank account. 

 Husband is primary beneficiary of wife’s additional $28k via her 401K.  

 Husband is U.S. citizen.  Wife currently lives in Guyana and is not a U.S. citizen.

    Question:  

 Is documentation proving this information sufficient for husband to meet the minimum requirement of $20+K for the past three years, and submit the financial affadavit of support to sponsor wife?  Yes or no?  

[nightingalejules 678]

No. If you're trying to use savings to financially qualify as a sponsor, it has to be 5 times the required amount/ yr. So if the amount is 20K annual income, and the sponsor has no US income, only savings, the amount would have to be around 100K.

[geowrian 22,337]

2 minutes ago, nightingalejules said:

No. If you're trying to use savings to financially qualify as a sponsor, it has to be 5 times the required amount/ yr. So if the amount is 20K annual income, and the sponsor has no US income, only savings, the amount would have to be around 100K.

It's 3x for a spouse or under-21 child.

 

Edit: I would also note that they would go by the cash value of the assets. So if the 401(k) is pre-tax income and/or there would be a penalty incurred for accessing it early, the amount the CO actually considers from that source may be less.

Edited March 15, 2018 by geowrian

[nightingalejules 678]

Cool! Well, then, the 59K might be sufficient, if they're also allowed to use the wife's 401k. Does 401k savings count, or do the assets need to be more liquid than a protected retirement savings fund?

Edited March 15, 2018 by nightingalejules

[geowrian 22,337]

1 minute ago, nightingalejules said:

Cool! Well, then, the 59K might be sufficient, if they're also allowed to use the wife's 401k. Does 401k savings count?

It can (see my edit above ).

A very quick run of the numbers looks like it might be borderline, assuming the household size is only 2 and the retirement is pre-tax and not eligible for early withdrawal w/o penalty.

Edited March 15, 2018 by geowrian