A supporting affidavit, or US immigration I-864, is an agreement between the petitioner and the government in which the petitioner accepts or promises the responsibility of paying particular public benefits for an immediate family member they are sponsoring for lawful permanent residency status if they cannot do it on their own. Completing the form is a tedious and confusing task.
Immigration attorneys consider I-864’s complexity as a combination of tax returns and immigration forms. If you, the petitioner, do not qualify as a sponsor after completing the forms, your family member will not obtain the green card. The stakes for preparing I-864 are high, with no room for mistakes. This leaves many applicants with questions about the form. Discussed below are the common questions on I-864.
Is a Supporting Affidavit or I-864 Necessary During My Permanent Residency Application?
When applying for permanent residency status, individuals who must submit an I-864 or supporting affidavit include:
- Family-based green card applicants
- Employment-based visa applicants where a relative petitions on their behalf
- Employment-based visa applicants where an immediate family member owns at least 5% interest in the company petitioning for the immigrant’s visa.
The petitioning relative becomes the I-864 sponsor, commonly called the petitioning or financial sponsor.
What Conditions Must I Meet to Become a Petitioning Sponsor?
Many questions regarding I-864 revolve around eligibility. As the sponsor, you will be the party completing the I-864 forms for the immigrant seeking immigration benefits. You can fill out the forms as a sponsor if:
- You are an American citizen, national or green card holder at least 18 years old
- Your income is 125% higher than the poverty guidelines provided by the federal government
- You have an American domicile
Every application for lawful permanent residency should be supported by a supporting affidavit filled out by the sponsor. As the sponsor, you petition for the green card for the party intending to immigrate. Usually, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denies petitions if the sponsor fails to satisfy the set financial criteria. Nevertheless, instead of waiting for USCIS to reject your application, you can include another sponsor who satisfies the requisite financial requirements.
What is the Meaning of Domicile?
Domicile refers to the country or location where you have your principal residence and where you will stay for a considerable duration. To be eligible as a sponsor, your principal residence must be in one of the states of the US, Columbia District, or any other US possession or territory.
If you are outside the US during petition filing, you can still prove you are domiciled in America by submitting proof of employment by a particular organization; your overseas stay is temporary, and you intend in good faith to establish your domicile in the US after admission.
USCIS can recognize employers who have offered temporary employment outside the country as the US government, an overseas American research institution recognized by Homeland Security, a foreign American company or subsidiary involved in foreign trade and commerce development with the US government, a religious denomination identified in the US, or an interdenominational missionary entity. If you work temporarily for these entities overseas, USCIS will consider you an American domicile.
Proof you should submit to prove US domicile while temporarily living abroad includes:
- A voting record in America
- Proof of filing and paying taxes in the US
- Property ownership in the US
- Having bank accounts in America
- A permanent mailing address in America
Proof you will establish a US domicile includes:
- Creating a bank account
- Funds transfer to America
- Securing work in America
- Actively searching for employment in America
- Enlisting your children with an American school
- Starting the application process for Social Security Number
What Should I Do If My Income Is Below the Required Amount to Be a Sponsor?
When your income is under the poverty guidelines level, and you cannot find any other sponsor, USCIS will reject your petition for the relative seeking lawful permanent residency (LPR).
However, there are fundamental ways to remedy the situation. First, when, as a sponsor, you have a wife, adult children, siblings, or parents sharing a principal residence, you can add together your total income to satisfy the financial requirements. Nevertheless, every person in the principal residence whose income you combine with yours must fill out and submit I-864A to accompany the supporting affidavit.
Similarly, you can appoint a joint financial sponsor. The law allows you to bring in at most two sponsors to help you satisfy the financial resource conditions under I-864. The joint sponsors must be American citizens, LPR status holders, or American nationals above 18 and domiciled in the US or US territories and ready to be financially liable together with the petitioning sponsor for the public benefits of the immigrant in case they cannot afford these benefits after USCIS grants them the LPR status. You or the immigrant you sponsor do not need a familial relationship with the joint sponsor. You must note that even with the joint sponsor, you, the petitioner, will be liable for the monetary support of the LPR status beneficiary you sponsored and the joint sponsors. You are the party to prepare I-864.
The other alternative for you to satisfy the financial conditions of the supporting affidavit for a sponsor is to use your assets. You can quickly liquidate the assets within a year without financial constraints or losses. Assets, in this case, include home, savings, and your checking bank account balances. There are guidelines on the assets you can use and their value. So, consult an immigration attorney if your income is insufficient and plan to use your assets to satisfy the eligibility criteria.
Will USCIS Determine My Income Using Current Earnings or Taxes for the Previous Year?
Typically, USCIS determines your financial eligibility to be a sponsor using your latest income, which is 125% over the poverty guideline levels. Additionally, the agency checks your tax returns for the previous three years to ensure they are above the minimum.
When your tax return history shows that you have no income or it is below the minimum level, the chances of your petition being approved are minimal. The adjudicator evaluating your petition will not have confidence in an individual struggling to secure or maintain employment. So, your chances of qualification will be minimal. However, ensure you properly document your employment information to paint a precise picture of your income.
How Do I Make USCIS Know of My New High Income?
An application for LPR status where the petitioning sponsor is slightly above the requisite poverty levels could be declined by USCIS and ordered to provide more details. However, what happens when you secure a new job or a promotion that takes your income 125% above the federal government poverty guidelines? Can USCIS reconsider your petition now that you are eligible?
The answer is yes. The screening officers at the agency emphasize your tax returns for the previous three years and sometimes can overlook your income. When they analyze your supporting affidavit this way, they could send back the forms to you requesting additional evidence as you have insufficient income from the evaluation of the tax returns.
You can avert these challenges by furnishing the agency with extra information. As I-864 stipulates, you can include a recent appointment letter in an application. The letter contains details, including your new salary. The information can help the screening officials classify your income as sufficient to sponsor an immigrant for LPR status.
Additional information that can prevent complications during screening includes your contact details and yearly income, pay stubs for the previous half a year, and proof of spousal support, child support, interest income, and other income sources.
A cover letter to the agency detailing your financial situation, current revenue, and the reasons you believe they are sufficient to satisfy the economic criteria for a financial sponsor. If you are unsure of the documents to file, speak to a proficient immigration attorney for help and guidance.
Can I Count the Real Property or Personal Property of the Immigrant I Am Sponsoring as My Assets?
What happens if I am an American citizen sponsoring my spouse and child, who are outside the US and will be leaving behind a home with a repaid mortgage that they plan to lease out? If the house will be generating rental income, can I count the income towards I-864 to satisfy the minimum financial threshold?
Yes. Immigration statutes allow petitioners to use foreign assets or income from the immigrant they are sponsoring to satisfy the financial requirements of the supporting affidavit. Nevertheless, to include the income or assets in I-864, you should satisfy particular conditions.
First, the spouse you are sponsoring must provide proof of property ownership, the time they acquired the property and its location. You can submit copies of the property title deed and other ownership paperwork to satisfy the ownership condition. Also, when you claim the mortgage for the property is fully paid, you should furnish the agency with documents demonstrating full loan payment, like a letter from the bank or lender acknowledging full payment of the loan.
Secondly, you should prove that the home, as an asset, can be quickly liquidated within a year and that the sale will not be loss-making. A report from a local realtor or property appraiser assuring the agency that it is easy to convert the house into cash within a year without incurring losses is sufficient proof to satisfy this requirement. You will require a similar statement to show the house can generate income if leased out and the amount to expect.
Another condition that I-864 will require you to meet is car transfer. The proceeds of the property sale must be transferable to the US. Many countries have banned the transfers, while others restrict the cash amounts you can transfer. USCIS will require proof that the proceeds of the sale will be transferable. If the house will generate rental income, you should show that the income will be transferred to America.
Again, you should show the asset’s value is five or more times the difference between your earnings and the I-864 requirement of 125% income above the Poverty Guidelines level.
Consulates in some foreign countries do not allow applicants to include overseas real property in the list of petitioner’s assets. Therefore, before counting the property towards I-864, you should consult with your lawyer or call the consulate for more details on the same.
Can I Include Unemployment Benefits as Proof of Income in a Supporting Affidavit?
I am the petitioning sponsor for my wife’s LPR status, and I-864 requires that I provide information on my current income. I have an unsteady and moderate income from freelancing. Apart from freelancing, I am a homeowner and, therefore, can fill out the assets section of the form. However, as a freelancer, I receive employment benefits. So, can I include these checks as income?
Unemployment-related income like food stamps, Medicaid, and Social Security Income cannot be included in the supporting affidavit as income and, therefore, should not count towards I-864. Nevertheless, employment benefits are insurance benefits that seek to make you whole when you are unemployed. Your employer pays them during employment to cushion you during a job loss. They keep you afloat while you search for a new job. Therefore, you can mention these benefits as income in the I-864 form to show you can sustain a given income for a particular duration. Unemployment benefits expire after some time, so consider the eligibility duration when filling out the details.
Additionally, retirement, workers’ compensation, and other taxable public benefits should count as income toward satisfying the minimum threshold for qualifying as a financial sponsor.
Talk to your immigration lawyer about non-taxable income sources you can add to your income to make it sufficient to sponsor an immigrant. Non-taxable benefits include SSDI, life insurance benefits, and child support. Income from legal settlements can also count as non-taxable income as they do not stem from financial need.
Will My Real Estate Make Up For the Income Shortfall?
If your income is below what is deemed sufficient to sponsor an immigrant per the Poverty Guidelines, you can use your assets to compensate for the shortfall or difference. The assets will make up for the difference if you can prove ownership. That way, you will avoid looking for extra or joint sponsors.
You should know that when sponsoring a parent or an immediate family that is not your spouse or child, you must make up for income shortfalls using a fifth of the value of your assets, which means less debt. Simply put, the value of your assets to bridge the shortfall must be five times the shortfall between your earnings and the minimum required income to become a sponsor.
For instance, you own a house that you purchased at $400,000, but you have a mortgage balance of $200,000 on the home. Assuming your house’s value has not depreciated, your asset in the property is the total property value, less debt, which, in this case, is $200,000. To calculate the value of the asset that will count as income to bridge the gap, you will divide $200,000 by five, which is $40,000. The asset's value will count as income and help you have sufficient income to become a financial sponsor.
If the property depreciates or appreciates, you must part with money to pay an appraiser or realtor to prepare a detailed report on the property’s value. USCIS will admit other property appraisals as evidence, including evaluations by your tax authority. However, you should ensure that your report does not undervalue your property. Speak to your attorney about these options.
Ownership evidence is also necessary. USCIS wants to confirm that you own the home and that it is possible to liquidate it in twelve months.
You can also include your parents’ overseas assets when calculating income. If they have a savings account, it is better because you will quickly meet the minimum income requirement. Do not forget that the government will require additional proof or family property if your parents do not work on gaining the LPR status.
Is I-864 the Only Proof USCIS or the Consulate Will Consider?
USCIS or consular screening officers do not only consider the financial evidence provided in your supporting affidavit or I-864. They think of other aspects that affect your financial position and the intending immigrant. The applicant's and sponsor’s age, health, family status, skills, education levels, and financial capacity. The objective is to corroborate that the petitioner has sufficient financial resources to support the immigrant after obtaining the green card if the LPR status beneficiary cannot provide for their needs. If they cannot provide for themselves and you, the petitioning sponsor lacks the financial resources to support them; they turn to the government for financial support.
Find a Competent Immigration Attorney Near Me
I-864 is a critical document if you petition for an immigrant family member to obtain LPR status. You cannot afford to make errors in this supporting affidavit because mistakes will result in application denial. At the California Immigration Attorney, we will offer guidance on how to fill out USCIS forms, including I-864, to increase the chances of approval of your family-based visa application. Call us at 424-789-8809 for answers to your questions on the affidavit of support.