I-864 Supporting documentation and tax papers

[Mikeobs97 0]

Hello all! 

 

I am starting to look into filling form I-864 with my AOS this month.

To give a little background, my wife submitted the I-130 petition a year ago when we lived in Europe. But between now and then, my work came and told me that they will sponsor my work visa (L1) to get to US quicker. Now that we are here in US already, I need to submit AOS.

Now the problem are the supporting documents for I-864. My wife used to work in Europe with me for the past 3 years, and even though she submitted the Tax returns for each year here in US, those were basically pro-forma with all 0's as she was not making the amount, IRS requires to tax from abroad. Since we moved in January this year, she has no W-2's, and has those 1099's from previous years but with all 0's. She now has a job in US, but started in 2025, so all we can collect as proof of income for both me and her are paychecks (2 or 3 months), employment verifications and offer letters. Together we make well over poverty line, but we are worried that there might be issues with those tax papers being as they are. 

Also we have marked the Point 15 - Have you filed federal taxes in last 3 years as YES, and in points 16, we have put 2024 - $0, 2023- $0 and 2022 - $0 ; as her income in US at those years was $0 and she only started to receive income in US in 2025, which is far away from filing tax return. Not sure how to fill out those two points around taxes there as our situation is little tricky. 

 

Thank you!

Edited May 14 by Mikeobs97

[OldUser 9,117]

I'd be ready for USCIS asking for joint sponsor. It would be nice to secure one in case if this comes up. Unless you have sufficient liquid assets (not primary residence), and even then YMMV on USCIS honoring them.

[Mikeobs97 0]

15 minutes ago, OldUser said:

I'd be ready for USCIS asking for joint sponsor. It would be nice to secure one in case if this comes up. Unless you have sufficient liquid assets (not primary residence), and even then YMMV on USCIS honoring them.

Thank you for input!

Do you think we should first try and submit this without the joint sponsor and possibly wait for either RFE or getting trough? I mean we are household of 2 with combine income more than 5 times bigger than poverty lines. So, to add more people on this would just be to show "stability" I guess. 

Edited May 14 by Mikeobs97

[OldUser 9,117]

8 minutes ago, Mikeobs97 said:

Thank you for input!

Do you think we should first try and submit this without the joint sponsor and possibly wait for either RFE or getting trough? I mean we are household of 2 with combine income more than 5 times bigger than poverty lines. So, to add more people on this would just be to show "stability" I guess. 

Is spouse's income from US employer on L1?

RFE can add delay.

[Mikeobs97 0]

6 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Is spouse's income from US employer on L1?

RFE can add delay.

My wife - petitioner/sponsor - is a US Citizen. Me - beneficiary/indented immigrant - I am on L1B but we both working for US employer, starting 2025. So we planned to add both incomes in. 
Good point with RFE adding time, I was just seeing my chances if it is possible to surpass adding joint sponsor.

[OldUser 9,117]

2 minutes ago, Mikeobs97 said:

My wife - petitioner/sponsor - is a US Citizen. Me - beneficiary/indented immigrant - I am on L1B but we both working for US employer, starting 2025. So we planned to add both incomes in. 
Good point with RFE adding time, I was just seeing my chances if it is possible to surpass adding joint sponsor.

You can certainly roll a dice.

 

Good luck!

[pushbrk 13,424]

2 hours ago, Mikeobs97 said:

Hello all! 

 

I am starting to look into filling form I-864 with my AOS this month.

To give a little background, my wife submitted the I-130 petition a year ago when we lived in Europe. But between now and then, my work came and told me that they will sponsor my work visa (L1) to get to US quicker. Now that we are here in US already, I need to submit AOS.

Now the problem are the supporting documents for I-864. My wife used to work in Europe with me for the past 3 years, and even though she submitted the Tax returns for each year here in US, those were basically pro-forma with all 0's as she was not making the amount, IRS requires to tax from abroad. Since we moved in January this year, she has no W-2's, and has those 1099's from previous years but with all 0's. She now has a job in US, but started in 2025, so all we can collect as proof of income for both me and her are paychecks (2 or 3 months), employment verifications and offer letters. Together we make well over poverty line, but we are worried that there might be issues with those tax papers being as they are. 

Also we have marked the Point 15 - Have you filed federal taxes in last 3 years as YES, and in points 16, we have put 2024 - $0, 2023- $0 and 2022 - $0 ; as her income in US at those years was $0 and she only started to receive income in US in 2025, which is far away from filing tax return. Not sure how to fill out those two points around taxes there as our situation is little tricky. 

 

Thank you!

It's not "tricky". It is what it is.  Current income is the king here.  State each income by taking the gross pay, for a full pay period times the number of pay periods in a whole year, so times 12, 26, 24, or 52.  The form will combine those incomes automatically once entered.  You do not have to qualify with any past year's income.  Document the current income with a copy of each latest pay stub.  You will get a case note that everybody whose last tax return doesn't show qualifying income.  Just ignore the notice, and expect success at interview.