Questions about i-864 - evidence, joint sponsor, use of assets

[854Turbo 20]

Hi all,

I am currently in F1 OPT status, married to a USC. We are getting ready to start the process of applying for AOS (i-130 and i-485). One of the hurdles that we have to overcome are the requirements for i-864 affidavit of financial support. I have some general, and some specific questions about this form:

1)We are planning to file around January 15, so that would mean we can use tax/income information from 2018 (W2s), but would that be okay if we haven't filed our taxes for 2018 yet (deadline is April, after all)?
2) Here is the tricky bit - my wife works for hourly wage, not annual salary, so her employer letter won't list a total sum for 2019. Are we supposed to just guesstimate (multiple hourly wage by hours and by weeks) - will that be enough?
3) It gets worse - she makes just under the 125% threshold of $20,750. Let's say she makes $19,500. We can't use my income because I am on OPT and my job contract is for one year only. We have a joint checking account that has about $12k in it, but we only started this account after we got married in August 2018 (no 12 month record). We do have some extra money in separate checking accounts and in total we can show a consistent balance of ~$15k between the two of us over the last year. So that should be enough to cover 3x the gap between the threshold and her income...but I'm worried they might focus on the fact that our joint account doesn't show that over a period of 12 months. Am I overthinking this, or should we play it safe and also use a joint sponsor? See 4.
4) If we go with the joint sponsor route, her parents have already agreed to help, but the process seems a little confusing. Again, playing it safe, they would both fill out a 864 and a 864A (even though just one of their incomes would be enough, but they file their taxes jointly). To prove their income, we would need copies of their passports, and tax transcripts from last year (bringing me back to point 1 - if they haven't filed their 2018 taxes because it's January, would that be a problem?). One of them is self-employed and does not receive a W2, so how would that person indicate and prove their projected income for 2019?

I would appreciate any input on these questions. It all looked so simple at first, but then the details made it way more complicated.
I guess the main question is - should we not bother with the joint sponsor thing, and simply file the 864 with proof of her $19,5k in W2s from last year, a letter from her employer stating that she works full-time and gets paid $13 per hour, and bank statements from the past 3 months showing joint account balance of $12k + $5k in individual accounts. Would that be a safe strategy?

Thank you in advance for the ideas and advice!

[debbiedoo 2,339]

1. lots of jobs pay hourly. my job pays hourly. calculate it to how much you make a year. ($ x hours worked per week x 52 (weeks in year). Her employer will verify her wage and weekly hours.

 

2. see #1

 

3. You can be a contract employee and still use your income. why wouldnt you be able to?  use both your income and your assets. Make sureboth your names are on all accounts

 

4, your joint sponsor would fill out i 864. their spouse the 864a. You need proof of their citizenship, tax transcipts from most previous tax year and current pay stubs/letter from employer.

 

5. Taxes are not required to be filed until April 15, so no, not having 2018 taxes in january is not an issue.

 

if i were you id use a joint sponsor to save the stress and worry. but its not as complicated as you are making it out to be.

[854Turbo 20]

Thank you for the clarification! 

 

I have another, unrelated question, but I didn't want to start too many individual threads. I stumbled upon a question in the i-485 application, the wording of which creates incredible confusion. 

 

Form I-485. Page 9, Part 8., Item Number 1. "Have you EVER been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group in the United States or in any other location in the world including any military service?" 

 

I may be overthinking this, but the grammar confuses me. Do they mean - include all clubs and organizations I have been a member of (whether or not they included military service), so just list any clubs such as school organizations, and other academic clubs. 

Or, do they mean: include only clubs and organizations that specifically included a military service component? (in my case, none)

 

There is a similar question on N-400 but it is worded differently. The lack of a coma before "including any military service" leads me to interpret this as limited to organizations that included military service. But I don't want to put my future in the hands of an argument about the poor grammar of their question.

[debbiedoo 2,339]

7 minutes ago, 854Turbo said:

Thank you for the clarification! 

 

I have another, unrelated question, but I didn't want to start too many individual threads. I stumbled upon a question in the i-485 application, the wording of which creates incredible confusion. 

 

Form I-485. Page 9, Part 8., Item Number 1. "Have you EVER been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group in the United States or in any other location in the world including any military service?" 

 

I may be overthinking this, but the grammar confuses me. Do they mean - include all clubs and organizations I have been a member of (whether or not they included military service), so just list any clubs such as school organizations, and other academic clubs. 

Or, do they mean: include only clubs and organizations that specifically included a military service component? (in my case, none)

 

There is a similar question on N-400 but it is worded differently. The lack of a coma before "including any military service" leads me to interpret this as limited to organizations that included military service. But I don't want to put my future in the hands of an argument about the poor grammar of their question.

i dont think they care about academic clubs

 

what their INTENT with this question is any clubs or groups or organizations which may be tied to organized crime (ie hells angels, mafia, etc). To be safe i would also include (though its certainly not crime related lmao) any professional organizations/ unions/ rotary, knights of columbus/ etc type clubs.

 

but as I interpret it is they are mostly concerned with groups with less than stellar backgrounds or reputations  

[854Turbo 20]

Thank you.

 

So you interpret it that it's not just limited to organizations with military service, they want applicants to list ALL professional organizations, especially ones that are national/international?

[aznhouston 132]

You can combine your income with hers. As you are on F1, be sure to include a copy of your EAD card with the application to let them know you've been working lawfully. I received an RFIE asking for this.

[854Turbo 20]

23 minutes ago, hoangthaihuy said:

You can combine your income with hers. As you are on F1, be sure to include a copy of your EAD card with the application to let them know you've been working lawfully. I received an RFIE asking for this.

I thought that we can only use my income IF the source of my income won't change after the approval. In my case, my contract is for 1 year only and will probably end up working somewhere else after that, so I don't think that would work in our case.

 

From the instructions:

Quote

If you included the income of the intending immigrant who is your spouse (he or she would be counted in Part 5., Item Number 1.), you must provide evidence that his/her income will continue from the current source after obtaining lawful permanent resident status.

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by 854Turbo

[aznhouston 132]

7 minutes ago, 854Turbo said:

I thought that we can only use my income IF the source of my income won't change after the approval. In my case, my contract is for 1 year only and will probably end up working somewhere else after that, so I don't think that would work in our case.

 

From the instructions:

 

The thing about "source of income won't change" is quite vague, there's no firm definition for that but imo, it is to establish the ground for you not becoming a public charge. Since your job is currently in the US, not outside of the US, and you are not likely to become a public charge, it should be ok.

In general, I would do everything on my own before asking for help. Although I do have a friend willing to be a joint sponsor, I only use him as the last resort.

You can just go ahead and submit the application, W2 and pay-stubs don't show this 1-year contract. Worst case scenario, the USCIS will ask you to provide a joint sponsor.

On the side note, employment in the US is "at-will" meaning you can be terminated at anytime for whatever reason or for no reason at all. So the 1-year thing is just nice to have but not necessary.

[854Turbo 20]

Thank you all! Following up a little bit, right before we file the AOS packet.

 

On Form i-864, we are listing my wife's income and then we are supplementing with assets from our joint checking accounts (more than enough to cover the difference). My confusion is in regards to where to list the assets. Should we list the X amount under "Your Assets" (my wife, USC)...or under "Assets of the principal sponsored immigrant"? All our accounts are joint, so the money technically belongs to both of us...or either of us, there is no way to determine who has what part of the whole amount. Of course, I'm attaching bank statements and bank letters, but as a simple matter of filing out the correct fields - do we just fill the numbers for "Your Assets" (my wife, USC, petitioner) and leave the rest blank?

[eckoin 211]

On 11/29/2018 at 4:54 PM, 854Turbo said:

I thought that we can only use my income IF the source of my income won't change after the approval. In my case, my contract is for 1 year only and will probably end up working somewhere else after that, so I don't think that would work in our case.

 

From the instructions:

 

No you're right, you can't count income that's tied to a status or that has a fixed term. Other posters here are just setting you up for an RFIE.

 

The very explicit criteria instructions state that your income must continue from the same source after your permanent status is granted, if it is granted. If your current job is limited in term, you can't use that income. Anything saying otherwise is bad advice and would set you up for unnecessary heartache. 

 

If your employment contract allows for extension, then it's a different story, and you and HR can word it appropriately.