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Hi,
I am struggling to fill out the I-864 Affidavit of Support application and could really use some clarification/guidance! The last thing we want is for the application to be rejected because it was not filled out correctly.
Background: My wife and I are both U.S. citizens and live in the U.S. My wife is the petitioner/sponsor for her parents' green cards, and I am acting as the agent to fill out all the paperwork. We have filed separate I-130 applications for each of her parents, both of which have been approved. My wife is a homemaker and has $0 annual income. I also quit my job 2 years ago to focus on investment income, and I also have $0 annual income from any employers. We have significant personal assets between checking/savings accounts, net cash value of real-estate holdings, and net cash value of all stocks, bonds, certificates of deposits that is well above the 5X the minimum poverty guidelines threshold. All of our assets are jointly-owned (my name appears first on each account followed by my wife's). We also file a joint tax return annually since we married in 2008. I am just not clear how to report our incomes/assets correctly as required on the form as far as what counts as my wife's assets vs mine vs jointly-owned.
Here's how I filled it out so far, which seems straightforward thru Part 5:
Part 1.
1. My wife's name
1a. Checked as my wife as petitioner.
Part 2.
-Entered my father-in-law's name, address in India, country of citizenship, and date of birth.
Part 3.
1. Checked "Yes" to " I am sponsoring the principal immigrant named in Part 2.
2-6. Left blank as my father-in-law is the only one immigrating on this I-130 application.
7. Entered "1" for "number of immigrants you are sponsoring on this form".
Part 4.
1-10. Entered wife's name, mailing address, place of residence, telephone, country of domicile, birth date, city of birth, state of bith, country of birth, and S.S. #
11. Checked "Yes" for "I am a U.S. citizen"
12. Checked "No" for "active duty in U.S. armed services"
Part 5.
-Entered total household size of 4 (my wife, myself, our daughter, and for my father-in-law who this application is for)
This is where it starts to get more hairy:
Part 6.
1-3. Left blank as my wife does not work.
4. Checked "Yes" since "9/2008"
5. Entered "$0" as she does not work.
QUESTION: WE ACTUALLY REPORTED A LOW SIX FIGURE INCOME FOR 2013 TAX RETURN DUE TO CONVERSION OF MY RETIREMENT ACCOUNT FROM AN IRA TO A ROTH IRA. BUT THIS WAS A ONE-TIME EVENT. SHOULD I LEAVE MY WIFE'S INCOME AS $0 OR USE THE 2013 TAX RETURN LOW SIX FIGURE NUMBER (WHICH IS A JOINT FILING BETWEEN MYSELF AND MY WIFE?
6a-b. QUESTION: DO I NEED TO LIST MYSELF HERE AS I DON'T HAVE ANY ANNUAL INCOME BUT DO JOINTLY OWN ALL THE OTHER SUPPLEMENTAL ASSETS WITH MY WIFE?
6c. If the answer to the question above is "yes", do I list my income as $0 or the low six figure number from our 2013 tax return?
10. QUESTION: SHOULD THIS BE A TOTAL OF $0 OR THE LOW SIX FIGURE TOTAL FROM OUR 2013 TAX RETURN?
11. THE ANSWER TO QUESTION 6a-b WILL DETERMINE WHETHER I NEED TO FILE A I-864A FOR MYSELF.
12. Left blank
13. Checked "Yes"
13a-c. For 2013 we had low six figure total income, for 2012 we had low five figure income as I had quit my job and my wife is a homemaker, and for 2011 we had low six figure total income from my previous job.
QUESTION: WE FILED JOINT TAX RETURNS, HOWEVER, ALL THIS INCOME CAME FROM ME, NOT MY WIFE. AM I SUPPOSED TO ENTER THE TOTAL INCOME HERE FOR JUST MY WIFE (WHICH WOULD BE $0 EACH YEAR) OR THE ACTUAL TOTAL INCOME COMBINED FOR MYSELF AND MY WIFE THAT WE FILED ON EACH YEARLY RETURN?
Part 7.
1-4. Our combined assets would be in the low/mid seven figures, which far exceeds the poverty guidelines.
QUESTION: CAN MY WIFE CLAIM ALL THE ASSETS AS HER OWN IN THIS SECTION IF THEY ARE JOINTLY OWNED BY MY WIFE AND I? IF YES, DO I STILL NEED TO FILL OUT FORM I-864A FOR MYSELF?
5a. QUESTION: DO I NEED TO BE FILING A I-864A FOR MYSELF?
The rest become becomes pretty self-explanatory once I can get some clarity on Parts 6 and 7.
Many thanks in advance for any help!!!
I am struggling to fill out the I-864 Affidavit of Support application and could really use some clarification/guidance! The last thing we want is for the application to be rejected because it was not filled out correctly.
Background: My wife and I are both U.S. citizens and live in the U.S. My wife is the petitioner/sponsor for her parents' green cards, and I am acting as the agent to fill out all the paperwork. We have filed separate I-130 applications for each of her parents, both of which have been approved. My wife is a homemaker and has $0 annual income. I also quit my job 2 years ago to focus on investment income, and I also have $0 annual income from any employers. We have significant personal assets between checking/savings accounts, net cash value of real-estate holdings, and net cash value of all stocks, bonds, certificates of deposits that is well above the 5X the minimum poverty guidelines threshold. All of our assets are jointly-owned (my name appears first on each account followed by my wife's). We also file a joint tax return annually since we married in 2008. I am just not clear how to report our incomes/assets correctly as required on the form as far as what counts as my wife's assets vs mine vs jointly-owned.
Here's how I filled it out so far, which seems straightforward thru Part 5:
Part 1.
1. My wife's name
1a. Checked as my wife as petitioner.
Part 2.
-Entered my father-in-law's name, address in India, country of citizenship, and date of birth.
Part 3.
1. Checked "Yes" to " I am sponsoring the principal immigrant named in Part 2.
2-6. Left blank as my father-in-law is the only one immigrating on this I-130 application.
7. Entered "1" for "number of immigrants you are sponsoring on this form".
Part 4.
1-10. Entered wife's name, mailing address, place of residence, telephone, country of domicile, birth date, city of birth, state of bith, country of birth, and S.S. #
11. Checked "Yes" for "I am a U.S. citizen"
12. Checked "No" for "active duty in U.S. armed services"
Part 5.
-Entered total household size of 4 (my wife, myself, our daughter, and for my father-in-law who this application is for)
This is where it starts to get more hairy:
Part 6.
1-3. Left blank as my wife does not work.
4. Checked "Yes" since "9/2008"
5. Entered "$0" as she does not work.
QUESTION: WE ACTUALLY REPORTED A LOW SIX FIGURE INCOME FOR 2013 TAX RETURN DUE TO CONVERSION OF MY RETIREMENT ACCOUNT FROM AN IRA TO A ROTH IRA. BUT THIS WAS A ONE-TIME EVENT. SHOULD I LEAVE MY WIFE'S INCOME AS $0 OR USE THE 2013 TAX RETURN LOW SIX FIGURE NUMBER (WHICH IS A JOINT FILING BETWEEN MYSELF AND MY WIFE?
6a-b. QUESTION: DO I NEED TO LIST MYSELF HERE AS I DON'T HAVE ANY ANNUAL INCOME BUT DO JOINTLY OWN ALL THE OTHER SUPPLEMENTAL ASSETS WITH MY WIFE?
6c. If the answer to the question above is "yes", do I list my income as $0 or the low six figure number from our 2013 tax return?
10. QUESTION: SHOULD THIS BE A TOTAL OF $0 OR THE LOW SIX FIGURE TOTAL FROM OUR 2013 TAX RETURN?
11. THE ANSWER TO QUESTION 6a-b WILL DETERMINE WHETHER I NEED TO FILE A I-864A FOR MYSELF.
12. Left blank
13. Checked "Yes"
13a-c. For 2013 we had low six figure total income, for 2012 we had low five figure income as I had quit my job and my wife is a homemaker, and for 2011 we had low six figure total income from my previous job.
QUESTION: WE FILED JOINT TAX RETURNS, HOWEVER, ALL THIS INCOME CAME FROM ME, NOT MY WIFE. AM I SUPPOSED TO ENTER THE TOTAL INCOME HERE FOR JUST MY WIFE (WHICH WOULD BE $0 EACH YEAR) OR THE ACTUAL TOTAL INCOME COMBINED FOR MYSELF AND MY WIFE THAT WE FILED ON EACH YEARLY RETURN?
Part 7.
1-4. Our combined assets would be in the low/mid seven figures, which far exceeds the poverty guidelines.
QUESTION: CAN MY WIFE CLAIM ALL THE ASSETS AS HER OWN IN THIS SECTION IF THEY ARE JOINTLY OWNED BY MY WIFE AND I? IF YES, DO I STILL NEED TO FILL OUT FORM I-864A FOR MYSELF?
5a. QUESTION: DO I NEED TO BE FILING A I-864A FOR MYSELF?
The rest become becomes pretty self-explanatory once I can get some clarity on Parts 6 and 7.
Many thanks in advance for any help!!!
