I-864 evidence at interview

[ZeeZeeZee 11]

Got my green card interview date! (after only 8 months! I'd be over the moon, if it hadn't also taken them 8 months to approve the EAD)

 

In the list of what to bring, it says:

 

"A completed Affidavit(s) of Support (Form I-864) with all required evidence, including the following, for each of your sponsors (unless already submitted):

- Federal Income Tax returns and W-2's, or certified IRS printouts, for the most recent tax year;

- Letters from each current employer, verifying current rate of pay and average weekly hours, and pay stubs for the past 2 months;

- Evidence of your sponsor's and/or co-sponsor's United States Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Resident status."

 

"all required evidence, including the following" makes no sense to me, because you don't have to submit letters from employers or pay stubs with the I-864 unless you need supplemental evidence to back up your W-2. We submitted the I-864 and my partner's W-2 and tax return as part of the initial filing; they earn well above the required minimum and have done for years, so we didn't need a co-sponsor or any supplemental evidence.

 

So does the "unless already submitted" apply to the I-864 packet, in which case we're good because we already did that and so we can ignore the rest of the bullet point, or does it apply to all items on that list, meaning we now have to go sort out a letter from their employer and pay stubs even though we don't need them?

 

 

I guess what I'm asking is, are there genuinely stricter evidence requirements at the interview or have they just worded their list poorly? Has anyone had to produce pay stubs for the interview despite having already filed their I-864?

 

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

Paystubs are an ideal way to show actual income being produced.  My philosophy is always:   "better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it." 

Congrats BTW!! 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

I consider those letters as trying to cover every kind of adjustment of status and every possible scenario in as few words as possible so as to be cryptic. I'd go with "already submitted".

[Sarah G 166]

I wondered the same thing. I decided to play it safe and just bring everything, just in case. My interview is on Tuesday! 

[JoannaV 173]

I'm going with poor wording. However, good idea to bring up-to-date evidence just in case. Did you already submit a 2018 tax return or was it a 2017?

[ZeeZeeZee 11]

Oh, good call on the updated tax return; we only submitted the 2017 returns with the original packet. I'll add 2018 tax return to my list. (I have a colour-coded list of everything to bring, because of course I do.)

 

Good luck Sarah G! Let us know how it goes? 

 

Thanks all! I know I'm overthinking this a bit, but this entire process has been miserable and now I just want to get to the finish line without screwing up.

[ZeeZeeZee 11]

Update on this, in case it pops up in someone's search in future: we brought copies of my partner's W2 and tax return for 2017 (which were included with the initial I-864) and for 2018 (which were new), and it was 100% fine.

 

So if you've already filed the I-864: just bring originals and copies of anything filed with that, and copies of anything new or relevant, and you should be good.

[Ashley Marin 14]

On 11/27/2019 at 12:55 AM, ZeeZeeZee said:

Update on this, in case it pops up in someone's search in future: we brought copies of my partner's W2 and tax return for 2017 (which were included with the initial I-864) and for 2018 (which were new), and it was 100% fine.

 

So if you've already filed the I-864: just bring originals and copies of anything filed with that, and copies of anything new or relevant, and you should be good.

Thanks for the update!