affidavit of support Affidavit of Support Income Sufficiency for Sponsor with New Job and Salary

[BDFORD 0]

The Form I-864 and accompanying instructions as well as the underlying regulations are at least a little vague on how the "current individual annual income" is determined if the sponsor has taken a permanent new job at a higher salary during the year of filing.  The general interpretation given consistently in the immigration law blogosphere is that the 125% test must be met based on the reasonably expected annual income for the year of filing, which would mean that the sponsor would be burdened by a lower income in the calculation for the period before the new job.  Does anyone have experience with more lenient and logical interpretation, which is that current individual annual income is based on the annualized salary amount of their current job?  I note that Section 20.5 of the now retired Adjudicators Field Manual seems to support at least the flexibility to take the new salary into account as if it applied for the whole year:  "For example, if the sponsor recently started a new job (that USCIS is satisfied will likely continue) and the income from the job now meets or exceeds the legal requirement, USCIS may find the Affidavit of Support to be sufficient, notwithstanding information included in the transcript or copy of the tax return(s)"  [From Clarification of Policy Regarding USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support HQRPM 70/21/1 (2006)]  It seems like this would be a common fact pattern and I am puzzled not to see any discussion of it in the various immigration law fora.  

[Crazy Cat 39,192]

My 2 cents (I do not claim to be an expert):

Current weekly pay X 52 = current yearly income

Current monthly pay x 12 = current yearly income

Current pay period amount x number of pay periods per year = current yearly income

If you know there will be changes in the next year, you can adjust.....

 

Ability to support a new immigrant should be based on what the income will be in the future....and other considerations.

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[pushbrk 12,094]

2 hours ago, Lucky Cat said:

My 2 cents (I do not claim to be an expert):

Current weekly pay X 52 = current yearly income

Current monthly pay x 12 = current yearly income

Current pay period amount x number of pay periods per year = current yearly income

If you know there will be changes in the next year, you can adjust.....

 

Ability to support a new immigrant should be based on what the income will be in the future....and other considerations.

 

 

 

The above is correct, except that, you can only reflect changes in future pay, if they can be documented.  For example, a person might have scheduled raises as a part of their employment agreement.  If they do, they would document current income, not just with a pay stub.  They would add the employment agreement, highlighted with a note where to look.  Even then, if employment income is sufficient anyway, I would avoid the confusion and extra documentation and just annualize the current income shown on the pay stub.

 

Not sure where the OP gets their "general interpretation given consistently in the immigration law blogosphere" but in the 15 years I've been around the process, annualizing current gross income has worked every time it has been used.

Edited July 7, 2020 by pushbrk

[BDFORD 0]

Thanks, pushbrk, that's very helpful.  Regarding the "general interpretation given consistently in the blogosphere, " I am referring to posts that simply recite a summary of the regulation, which is that income is based on the "reasonably expected" or 'projected" or "anticipated" income for the year of the filing.  All of the quoted adjectives appear in the regulation., and if applied literally certainly imply that the sponsor should try to estimate what their total income would be at the end of the year, taking into account that they earned at a lower rate early in the year and are expecting to make money at a higher rate later in the year.  This question is addressed in a more thoughtful way in an article by Charles Wheeler:

"If the sponsor were unemployed during part of the year, but is now employed, should he or she put on line 23 the new annual salary or what he or she expects to earn this calendar year? The same question could be asked for sponsors who recently changed jobs or received a salary increase. An alternative interpretation to putting down how much they plan to earn this year is to list their current annual salary, which would presumably be a higher figure. For example, if the sponsor was unemployed for the first half of the year, but is now working and earning an annual salary of $30,000, a possible interpretation of the phrase "current individual annual income" would be to list $30,000 rather than $15,000. Until we receive further clarification, that appears to be at least an arguable reading."  From "Ten Pitfalls to Avoid Making in the Affidavit of Support" by Charles Wheeler, published by Immigration Daily.

 

The Immigration Daily article was written in 2006 and I could not find any further discussion of the "alternative interpretation", so it was helpful to get the benefit of your experience that the "arguable reading" is generally accepted.