When I have to file I864

[flyforever85]

Hi all,
here again, I got married on January 20 and while waiting for my Certificate of Marriage I keep collecting all the documents I need for my I485 application.

What makes me nervous is the I-864 Affidavit of Support document. My husband is American and I'm Italian and I arrived in USA with an H1B visa which is still valid until April 2019 with a possible (and last) extension to 2021. My husband before meeting me didn't make much money, he had several jobs and it would be complicated to collect all the W2 forms he had (but not impossible). I'm making asically twice what he makes, I have 2 cars and bought a house where we live together. Even with this situation, do I have to send an I-864 with my application?

If not, I'd be reaaaally happy!

[newacct]

Hi all,
here again, I got married on January 20 and while waiting for my Certificate of Marriage I keep collecting all the documents I need for my I485 application.

What makes me nervous is the I-864 Affidavit of Support document. My husband is American and I'm Italian and I arrived in USA with an H1B visa which is still valid until April 2019 with a possible (and last) extension to 2021. My husband before meeting me didn't make much money, he had several jobs and it would be complicated to collect all the W2 forms he had (but not impossible). I'm making asically twice what he makes, I have 2 cars and bought a house where we live together. Even with this situation, do I have to send an I-864 with my application?

If not, I'd be reaaaally happy!

Yes. He as the petitioner must submit an I-864 with your I-485, and he must attach a copy of his last year's tax return (the free tax return transcript that you can get from the IRS website is enough without any additional forms). Your current income can be added to his current income to form his current household income, and as long as that's enough, it's sufficient. Both him and you should attach copies of recent pay stubs to prove your current incomes.

[flyforever85]

Yes. He as the petitioner must submit an I-864 with your I-485, and he must attach a copy of his last year's tax return (the free tax return transcript that you can get from the IRS website is enough without any additional forms). Your current income can be added to his current income to form his current household income, and as long as that's enough, it's sufficient. Both him and you should attach copies of recent pay stubs to prove your current incomes.

Thanks, that's a great info. I guess I can add both our incomes every since we started living together (2016). Is that correct?

[newacct]

Thanks, that's a great info. I guess I can add both our incomes every since we started living together (2016). Is that correct?

You are adding your incomes to calculate his *current* household income. Current = right now. It has nothing to do with any past years. It's the current income that matters for whether the Affidavit of Support is sufficient or not.

There is a separate question that asks for the "total income" line from his tax returns for the last 3 years. For that, he just reports factually what the number from that line on his tax returns were. He cannot change that number or add anything to it. Whether it's low or high, it doesn't matter much; he needs to just report the number as is.