YankeeBaker

As far as i can make out a joint sponsor can be anyone who lives in the USA and meets the requirements and they have to fill in a i-864 as well as the main sponsor. However if you will be living with an immediate relative who shares the same address you can use the household income sponsor form i-864 A.

My Wife is the U.S citizen and we are going to live with her parents to start with so we are using her Dads income to help so we are using the i-864a as oppose to the joint sponsor form.

I think that's right anyway, It's all a bit confusing !

LOL well like I said, I'm no expert. That's how it was explained to me. Initially when I began this process I was going to use an immigration lawyer to assist, because I was so overwhelmed. The info I wrote, came from him. He turned out to be too expensive (and as it appears to be...WRONG!) So I just did the forms myself instead. Sorry if I've made a mistake!

Yeah, I'd say some of these are definitely good proof, but I just think she was one of these IOs who found something she didn't like in the beginning and then she kept this attitude till the end for no reason - just to give you headaches even though you had compelling evidence to the opposite

Yeah I am guessing it was the screaming child who was shouting and kicking the wall under her window.

I will try to help you out...

1. Regarding the i-864 / co-sponsor. First, the i-864 does NOT get notarized.

Second, although you use the information for the past 3 tax years, you need only present the most recent. Providing all 3 is used for self-employed, or other situations where more proof is needed. The form is very straightforward. Current income is used to further establish the ability to support, but it's mostly based on the most recent years tax return. For example if you have a low income on your taxes, but now have a great job, bring proof. Of if you are demonstrating that last year's return was low, but previously you earned more, bring 3 years worth and explain why.

Lastly...be careful using a joint sponsor to ensure it's applicable to your situation. I thought I could use my father...but it turned out I couldn't. I don't live in his household. You can only use your family if they live in your home. I live in England, my Dad lives in America. I'm not moving in with him when we go back to the US. I.E. if your mom will act as joint sponsor you must live in the same household. And then, your household size increases by 1 (for your Mom) or more, if more people like Dad or siblings live there too. Be sure that after counting everyone, you still meet the income requirements for your new, larger family. ( Instead of family, you can use someone else, like a family friend. That person does not have to live in your home. )

2. After your interview at the Embassy, when it's all done, your husband will have 6 months to enter the US. Although he can request an extension, they aren't easy to get without a valid reason.

3. i read on another post that it's estimated at about GBP 950. I think that's about right once you consider the medical fees, police cert, copies, courier, travel to London 2x (unless you're local) etc. But you don't pay it all at once, if that helps.

4. I didn't have to prove anything regarding length of time in the UK. I was here for 3 years before filing.

5. You need the i-130 only. The i-129f is for a fiance(e). Which you 2 are not.

We were only approved at our interview yesterday. So I am no expert. I will give you a word of advice. The best way to answer a lot of your questions, is to begin filling out the forms. You can download them all and save them to your computer. Then work on them as you have time. Although they are overwhelming, they are actually quite clear. If you start filling them out, then you can post questions as you run into problems. Most of your questions can be answered by reading the instructions of the forms, or by searching this site. I found it very helpful! Good Luck!!

But be VERY over-the-top with your domicile documents. I feel like we made it by the skin of our teeth.

I also meant to say that in addition to the above mentioned paperwork for domicile, I did have the following:

quote from an international shipping company to move our belongings

printout from 'My eBay' showing all the household goods we have for sale/have sold in last 10 days

proof I sold my vehicle a few days ago

wire transfer to our US account for a sizeable amount of money

letter to my daughter's current school in the UK, explaining the move

quotes for medical and dental insurance in the US

Of those items she looked at the shipping quote but didn't take it, said no to the eBay statement and vehicle sale, didnt want the wire transfer or insurance quotes and said 'Good' when I told her I had the letter to the headmaster...but she never looked at it.

I still can't believe we were approved, given how negative she was! ROLL ON SEPTEMBER

I'm not sure where to post this. I thought maybe the info might be relevant as a stand-alone post, but then I thought maybe it was most helpful for those using DCF in London.

In 2006 I married my husband, then moved to the UK with my daughter from a previous marriage (which involved a lot of legal battle!)

I originally began the process for my husband, a UK Citizen in June 2009. I don't know how long it took to get the initial response - maybe a week or 2. We had planned on moving back to the US after we found out he was being made redundant at work. We quickly scheduled his medical and ordered his police cert. Everything was ready by the end of Sept 2009. But then, DH's employer decided to keep him on. So I never sent in the DS 2001 and DS 230 part 1.

Then, just a few weeks ago (June 2010) he was offered a job he couldn't refuse. So I sent in the DS2001 and DS 230 part 1. Then proceeded to check the mail every day! We then ran into a snag: the new employer wouldn't finalize the job offer until they had proof he could live in the US. We couldn't provide that till we had the interview. They weren't willing to wait. So 3 weeks after sending the forms to the embassy I called the extortion line to see if we had a date yet. They said no, nothing's been received but gave me the code for the week to email.

I sent an email, explaining the catch 22 dilemma. Within hours, I had been given a date for interview of 2 August.

I was so excited! I organized all the paperwork for the interview. We already had everything we needed, because it was essentially the same docs we used when I moved to the UK. Based on info I'd read on this forum, I took copies of everything including a duplicate DS230 part 1 and DS 2001.

But here's where it gets more complicated: I don't have a job waiting in the US, we don't have considerable savings. I had always assumed my dad could sign an I-864 for him, I never realized that person had to live in your household. My income while in the UK was only from a part time job. We were planning on using the income from DH's new job. The catch is that the new job is in Abu Dhabi. It's a commuting position 6 wks on / 6 wks off. I was worried they would say that he wouldn't be spending enough time in the US to qualify. Then I stressed out even more when I read that the intending immigrant's income can only be used if it will continue FROM THE SAME SOURCE as when they are granted lawful permanent resident status. Well, the new job begins 24 Sept. We have tickets booked for 14 Sept. So if the interview is on the 2 Aug...he'd be getting the status before the job starts.

All of this was immensely complicated by the fact that you're not allowed to change your 'point of hire' from the new employer. Meaning that if the interview didnt go to plan, London would be our point of hire, and the new job would only ever pay to commute DH from that city.

I was also very stressed over the domicile issue, as everyone seems to be. And rightly so!

So here's how it went yesterday:

Appt at 9 am. Woke up at 3.30 am, on the road at 4am. We had to take our girls with us, ages 9 and 2. We thought they'd sleep on the way down. We were wrong. Got to embassy around 7, walked down to pharmacy to drop off phone, etc. The line was long but not too bad because it moved quick. By the time we sat in the room with our number, it was 7.57. When we were called to window 1, the woman was very nice, but extremely soft spoken. I could barely hear her. She had a Jackie Chan accent, lol. She questioned why we had the kids with us. She was like, "you no have somebody watch them?" And I was thinking, SERIOUSLY? I don't have family here and what childminder is open at 3am? But I just smiled and said "no we couldn't find anyone to take them today"

I had to give birth cert, marriage cert, and divorce decree plus copies. Our DS230 part 1 had been lost, so I had to give a copy of that. Good thing I brought one! She directed most questions to me, and they were all double-barrelled. i.e "You work, how much you make?" I explained we were using DH's new job as income. I gave her a copy of his offer letter and the emails that accompanied it explaining the residency issue. She didn't want the emails. I also gave her a copy of my 2009 1040 with the i-864. I thought there would be a big deal about his job and all the details surrounding it, but she didn't ask questions at all.

Then she asked how I was going to prove my domicile. I had written a letter, and made an outline of steps we'd taken to re establish ourselves. I panicked though, because she became very stern. I gave her US bank accounts, US credit card statements, evidence of money wires to said accounts, voters reg. card, etc. She wouldn't take any of it. She said I need to see what you've done to move back. I gave her DH's resignation letter, the letter his employer wrote confirming his last day, and our e-ticket confirmation from British Airways showing a one way ticket for the whole family to Miami on 14 September, car rental, hotel etc. She didn't want any of that either. She said the job info was for DH and therefore not applicable. She said the airline tickets, etc were "no good no good."

She seemed a bit annoyed at this point and said "where you live now, you sell it?" So I said we were renting in the UK but had given notice to the letting agency. I gave her a copy of the letter from the agency that thanked us for handing in our notice. I also gave her emails between us and various real estate agents in FL. Of course, all the emails were really only exchanges about various properties we viewed online, no money had changed hands, and no leases were signed. We had worried about that because all the agents were telling us that FL rentals turn over so quickly, we were looking too soon. We had wanted to give a copy of a lease at the interview.

I hadn't registered my daughter in school because I didn't know where we'd be living. But I did have an email I'd sent to the court in the US telling them that we were moving back.

In the end, she took only the letter for the cancelation of our lease here. I felt very sick, and was certain that we'd be denied based on the domicile issue.

We paid at the cashier, then sat down and waited. We were called to window 15 and the woman there asked DH how long we'd been married, how old our toddler was, about the new job, when it started, and when we planned on moving. She mentioned that his medical would expire on 24 September. We showed her the e-tickets we had booked for British Airways. She then said, OK I am prepared to offer you your visa today. I was so relieved I instantly got light-headed and felt faint. I was certain we were going to be denied. I had to grip the edge of the counter lol.

So in the end, it all went well. We paid the courier on the way out and at that point it was 10.30. During the entire time our toddler alternated between tantrums, running, screaming, and being an angel. Of course, the angel was only while we were sitting down. She wouldn't stay in the the stroller and fall asleep, and whenever we were at a window she had a meltdown so fierce that our 9 yo couldn't handle it. Obviously we didn't want to take the girls, but we felt it was important to go together and that was the only way to do so.

That's our story! We are moving to FL in September. The courier said we should have DH's passport on Thursday. My adivce is the same as everyone else's who has done this: take lots of copies, even of the DS230 part 1. Don't sweat it if you are using your immigrant spouse's income on the 1-864. But be VERY over-the-top with your domicile documents. I feel like we made it by the skin of our teeth.

Good Luck! Hope this helps someone!