Joint sponsor I-864 vs. I-864a

[Katie & Christian 4]

Hi everyone,

 

I am confused about the I-864 affidavit of support. I have enough income to meet the poverty guideline threshold, but it is not a significant amount more. I wanted to voluntarily use my dad as a joint sponsor as a safety net for our application. 

 

I am currently living with my dad so at first I thought he should use form I-864A. Is it true that the I-864A cannot be used if the main sponsor makes enough income? Would he be able to just be a general joint sponsor (rather than a household member) and use the I-864 even though we live together currently? 

 

Thanks!

[arken 4,197]

Using your father as the household member is the good choice. Whether a household member or a joint sponsor, one is technically not required if earning above the required income however can use in case of marginally higher income.

[Katie & Christian 4]

Thanks!

[PandaEat 12]

Can someone give me some suggestion on this: I have zero income and didn't file tax return for the last 4 years due the fact I was living abroad.  I'm currently unemployed but will be using my assets (stocks, bank saving) exceeding $250K.  My question is will that be enough to qualify or do I need to get a joint sponsor? I don't want to get any delays for a RFE.  

 

If I decide to go with this joint sponsor (my sister), do I use the I-864 or I-864a.  We are living in the same address, she is married.  Please advise would really appreciated!

[Troy B 221]

4 hours ago, PandaEat said:

Can someone give me some suggestion on this: I have zero income and didn't file tax return for the last 4 years due the fact I was living abroad.  I'm currently unemployed but will be using my assets (stocks, bank saving) exceeding $250K.  My question is will that be enough to qualify or do I need to get a joint sponsor? I don't want to get any delays for a RFE.  

 

If I decide to go with this joint sponsor (my sister), do I use the I-864 or I-864a.  We are living in the same address, she is married.  Please advise would really appreciated!

 

Were you unemployed the entire time in the past 4 years?  If not you should have filed a tax returns (even if you ended up not owing any taxes). 

I believe $250k is more then enough assets to show without needing a joint sponsor.

 

Your sister would file an i-864,  her husband should file an i-864a.

[PandaEat 12]

20 hours ago, Troy B said:

 

Were you unemployed the entire time in the past 4 years?  If not you should have filed a tax returns (even if you ended up not owing any taxes). 

I believe $250k is more then enough assets to show without needing a joint sponsor.

 

Your sister would file an i-864,  her husband should file an i-864a.

yes unemployed the entire time.  

 

For my sister husband to fill out form i-864a.

Part 2 item 1.c. I am not the intending immigrant.  I'm the sponsor's household member.  I am related to the sponsor as his/her:  Are they asking for relation with sponsor (my sister) or sponsor (me)?

[Troy B 221]

1 hour ago, PandaEat said:

yes unemployed the entire time.  

 

For my sister husband to fill out form i-864a.

Part 2 item 1.c. I am not the intending immigrant.  I'm the sponsor's household member.  I am related to the sponsor as his/her:  Are they asking for relation with sponsor (my sister) or sponsor (me)?

 

I believe that is the relation with your sister.  But i have no experience filling out  the i-864a.

[PandaEat 12]

On 5/18/2020 at 6:48 PM, Katie & Christian said:

Thanks!

What did you end up doing? Did you add your dad as a joint sponsor and which form did you use?

[PandaEat 12]

On 7/9/2020 at 6:11 PM, Troy B said:

 

I believe that is the relation with your sister.  But i have no experience filling out  the i-864a.

My sister income alone exceed the 125% poverty amount, why does her husband needs to fill out i-864a? Isn't i-864a to combine income if my sister is not enough?

[Katie & Christian 4]

On 7/10/2020 at 3:58 PM, PandaEat said:

What did you end up doing? Did you add your dad as a joint sponsor and which form did you use?

Yes. I added him as a joint sponsor, not a household member. We used Form I-864. 

 

We got DQ and everything was fine with what we submitted. 

[neca 166]

On 7/12/2020 at 12:34 AM, PandaEat said:

My sister income alone exceed the 125% poverty amount, why does her husband needs to fill out i-864a? Isn't i-864a to combine income if my sister is not enough?

I'm interested in the answer to this myself; I'm seeing conflicted responses on it, specifically in cases of joint sponsors filing jointly with their spouses. If a joint sponsor's individual income demonstrably exceeds poverty guidelines but they filed their taxes married/jointly, does their spouse still need to file an I-864a?

[Just Paul 4,591]

23 minutes ago, neca said:

. . .  filed their taxes married/jointly, does their spouse still need to file an I-864a?

Yes - because taxes were filed jointly.

 

If they filed separately then yes if the live in a community property state.

[neca 166]

1 hour ago, Paul & Mary said:

Yes - because taxes were filed jointly.

 

If they filed separately then yes if the live in a community property state.

Right, thank you.

 

I'm particularly hung up about this perceived ambiguity of this passage of the I-864a instructions, "Form I-864A may only be used when a sponsor’s income and assets do not meet the income requirements of Form I-864 and the qualifying household member chooses to combine his or her resources with the income and/or assets of a sponsor to meet the requirements."

 

I can see "sponsor's income" being interpreted as both individual income earned, like what is reported on one's W2, and as total combine income reported on jointly filed taxes. If their individual income is greater than poverty levels then I don't see why they'd have to get an I-864a filled for their spouse just because they filed jointly (but then again, there are a lot of things with this process that don't make complete sense). I guess that ambiguity is why there's so many other questions on this, huh. 😅

[amerikelinka 16]

23 hours ago, neca said:

If their individual income is greater than poverty levels then I don't see why they'd have to get an I-864a filled for their spouse just because they filed jointly 

Right...isn't this why they require that sponsors submit their W-2 and 1099 forms, so that they can determine which individual brought in which income?

 

Travel.state.gov says: "If you filed jointly: You must also submit your form(s) W-2 or schedule(s) from the most recent tax year." Nothing about I-864a.

 

I just submitted I-864 and supporting docs for my joint sponsor (my father), and following the official instructions from State, I did not submit a I-864a for my mother, although they filed jointly. I just submitted my dad's W-2 and 1099 forms along with his tax return.

[Villanelle 4,121]

Technically a joint sponsor (specifically one who is doing the 864) only needs to show their personal income. If their taxes are joint they need to show how much of the joint tax return is theirs. If their income alone is enough they can be approved. HOWEVER the 864 is discretionary- its up to the Officer reviewing it. Many Officers want an 864a if the joint tax return being presented by the joint sponsor contains income from both spouses. They like to be sure the spouse knows of the obligation being undertaken by the other spouse. A lot of it seems to be dependent on the actual numbers in relation to the poverty guidelines. For example if Dad wants to be the joint sponsor and has a joint tax return with mom and the tax return shows Dad earns 100k and mom only earned 15k they probably wont want an 864a from mom. But if the joint taxes show Dad earns 35 and mom earns 20 they may want one from mom. Or if mom earned 100k and dad only earned 30 (30 is enough to qualify) they may want one from mom as well. 

 

Theres no way to know if the Officer reviewing your case will want the 864a from the other spouse so its recommended to get one from them if possible to avoid delays. Its very common for them to want the 864a when a joint sponsor is doing the 864. 

 

When everyone lives together its different. The petitioner is the main sponsor- so they do the 864. They can add eligible household members to their 864 by adding their info in and having the person sign an 864a. So if petitioner, mom and dad all live together the petitioner can include Dad only as a household member and only use 864a from Dad.  They will see Dads joint income taxes so you need to establish how much of the joint income is Dads. They can require an 864a from mom if they want which would also change the household size although its not very common in these scenarios.