Affidavit of support I 864 HELP

[djbarfight]

Hello Guys,

I am new here, been reading this forum since a long time and I can't stop myself asking for an opinion on my personal case.

I am India citizen and I got married last year, my wife she is an American citizen by birth. But she never lived (lived in India after birth) in the USA except for a year and a half for doing her High School.

I and my wife both are working here in India, now we are looking to file a petition for my green card in New Delhi India USCIS office. I understand all the procedure and I have completed Form I 130, I 130A and have all supporting documents to support that.

My question is if the petition got approved and my case will be forwarded to NVC and to my knowledge NVC will ask me for affidavit of support which supposes to be filled by my wife (petitioner).
can my uncle (my family) in USA file/sponsor the affidavit of support for me? because I believe my wife cannot provide the affidavit of support since she never filed her tax returns and have no bank account in USA except social security no.

Even if my uncle provides us an affidavit of support, does my wife still needs to file the form I 864 along with it?

or if the answer to above question is no, does my wife needs to file a tax return for last 3 years to get eligible to file an affidavit of support?


I appreciate your opinion/guidance.

thanks,
Newbie

[rayb]

As your petitioner, your wife still has to submit an I-864, even if she no income tax return. Since your wife is a U.S. citizen, she was legally required to submit U.S. income tax returns to report her worldwide income. That is an IRS rule, however, and USCIS will not be particularly interested in her not in compliance with IRS rules. Still, she will have to include a letter and IRS citation explaining why she did not file U.S. tax returns. As an alternative, she could prepare and submit a tax return for 2016, and will probably be exempt from any U.S. taxes because of being outside the U.S. for the full tgax year.

--Ray B

Hello Guys,

I am new here, been reading this forum for a long time and I can't stop myself asking for an opinion on my personal case.

I am India citizen and I got married last year, my wife she is an American citizen by birth. But she never lived (lived in India after birth) in the USA except for a year and a half for doing her High School.

I and my wife both are working here in India, now we are looking to file a petition for my green card in New Delhi India USCIS office. I understand all the procedure and I have completed Form I 130, I 130A and have all supoporting documents to support that.

My question is if the petition got approved and my case will be forwarded to NVC and to my knowledge NVC will ask me for affidavit of support which supposes to be filled by my wife (petitioner).
can my uncle (my family) in USA file/sponsor the affidavit of support for me? because I believe my wife cannot provide the affidavit of support since she never filed her tax returns and have no bank account in USA except social security no.

Even if my uncle provide us an affidavit of support, does my wife still needs to file the form I 864 along with it?

or if the answer to above question is no, does my wife needs to file a tax return for last 3 years to get eligible to file an affidavit of support?


I appreciate your opinion/guidance.

thanks,
Newbie

[newacct]

Hello Guys,

I am new here, been reading this forum since a long time and I can't stop myself asking for an opinion on my personal case.

I am India citizen and I got married last year, my wife she is an American citizen by birth. But she never lived (lived in India after birth) in the USA except for a year and a half for doing her High School.

I and my wife both are working here in India, now we are looking to file a petition for my green card in New Delhi India USCIS office. I understand all the procedure and I have completed Form I 130, I 130A and have all supporting documents to support that.

My question is if the petition got approved and my case will be forwarded to NVC and to my knowledge NVC will ask me for affidavit of support which supposes to be filled by my wife (petitioner).
can my uncle (my family) in USA file/sponsor the affidavit of support for me? because I believe my wife cannot provide the affidavit of support since she never filed her tax returns and have no bank account in USA except social security no.

Even if my uncle provides us an affidavit of support, does my wife still needs to file the form I 864 along with it?

or if the answer to above question is no, does my wife needs to file a tax return for last 3 years to get eligible to file an affidavit of support?


I appreciate your opinion/guidance.

thanks,
Newbie

As the petitioner, she needs to complete an Affidavit of Support.

What matters is that she filed when she was required to file. US citizens are subject to US taxes on worldwide income regardless of where they live. The only condition under which she is legally not required to file for a given year would be if her income that year was lower than the minimum threshold to be required to file. This can be found in the relevant year's Form 1040 instructions, in a section near the beginning called "Do You Have to File?". If she was not legally required to file for the last 3 years because her income was below the threshold for each of those years, and she did not file, she is fine and can attach a statement stating so. If she was required to file for any of the last 3 years, but did not file, then there is no way she can complete an Affidavit of Support until she files for those years where she is required to file.

[rayb]

On the contrary, she can and must file an Affidavit of Support as the petitioner. Whether she complies with the U.S. requirement to report her worldwide income to IRS is an IRS issue, not an immigration issue. Without an included tax return, she must include an explanation, supported by the IRS citation justifying her not having filed a U.S. tax return.

NVC or Embassy reviewers do not routinely look for compliance with IRS requirements, but they do expect proof of income or written explanations for lack of tax return copies.

--Ray B

As the petitioner, she needs to complete an Affidavit of Support.

What matters is that she filed when she was required to file. US citizens are subject to US taxes on worldwide income regardless of where they live. The only condition under which she is legally not required to file for a given year would be if her income that year was lower than the minimum threshold to be required to file. This can be found in the relevant year's Form 1040 instructions, in a section near the beginning called "Do You Have to File?". If she was not legally required to file for the last 3 years because her income was below the threshold for each of those years, and she did not file, she is fine and can attach a statement stating so. If she was required to file for any of the last 3 years, but did not file, then there is no way she can complete an Affidavit of Support until she files for those years where she is required to file.

[newacct]

Whether she complies with the U.S. requirement to report her worldwide income to IRS is an IRS issue, not an immigration issue.

It is an immigration issue. From I-864 instructions page 8:

If you were required to file a Federal income tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file all late returns with the IRS and attach an IRS-generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting Form I-864. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law because your income was too low, attach a typed or printed explanation. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law for any other reason, attach a typed or printed explanation including evidence of the exemption and how you are subject to it.

If she was required to file and did not, she must file before she can do I-864. Only if she was not required to file, can she just attach an explanation.

[djbarfight]

Thank you both for your opinions, it really helps.

I am sure her income was below threshold. Please suggest what should I do next. Should I file her tax return for last 3 years with less than a threshold income or just a statement that she was below threshold and filing tax return is not applicable for her and include joint sponsor (my uncle ) affidavit to application.

even after all this, do you guys find any issues for green card further processing?

[rayb]

If you are certain that her income was below required-filing threshold, include a signed statement explaining this and add copy of the IRS citation listing income requirements for filing.

So long as the petitioner I-864 is coupled with a co-sponsor sponsorship package, there is no particular reason to expect any processing problems.

--Ray B

Thank you both for your opinions, it really helps.

I am sure her income was below threshold. Please suggest what should I do next. Should I file her tax return for last 3 years with less than a threshold income or just a statement that she was below threshold and filing tax return is not applicable for her and include joint sponsor (my uncle ) affidavit to application.

even after all this, do you guys find any issues for green card further processing?

[djbarfight]

thanks Ray for quick turn around and helping me to the most.

One question- what about domicile? what should I write on part 4, point 5 page 4 of I 864. She lived in India most of the times.

Also, I am not sure what's wrong with the form, I tried entering details in part 5 page 4 point 1, it's not accepting it. please check attached image herewith.

thanks again

If you are certain that her income was below required-filing threshold, include a signed statement explaining this and add copy of the IRS citation listing income requirements for filing.

So long as the petitioner I-864 is coupled with a co-sponsor sponsorship package, there is no particular reason to expect any processing problems.

--Ray B

[rayb]

I'll have to give you a response in the morning. I've been through this several times recently but need to be fresh when I tackle your questions tomorrow.

--Ray B

thanks Ray for quick turn around and helping me to the most.

One question- what about domicile? what should I write on part 4, point 5 page 4 of I 864. She lived in India most of the times.

Also, I am not sure what's wrong with the form, I tried entering details in part 5 page 4 point 1, it's not accepting it. please check attached image herewith.

thanks again

[djbarfight]

Please take your time, you have been a great help, Ray.

Thanks a million.

best,

-Newbee

I'll have to give you a response in the morning. I've been through this several times recently but need to be fresh when I tackle your questions tomorrow.

--Ray B

[newacct]

Also, I am not sure what's wrong with the form, I tried entering details in part 5 page 4 point 1, it's not accepting it. please check attached image herewith.

Part 5 item 1 is the same as Part 3 item 28. Therefore, once you fill out Part 3 item 28, it will automatically put the same thing in Part 5 item 1, and you do not need edit Part 5 item 1 directly.

[djbarfight]

I am afraid that's not the case, I have tried what you suggested but it's still not accepting it. Also, I have seen the same problem in form I 130A (beneficiary)
where I am not able to insert information for flr (floor no ) and end up mentioning the floor no in street number and name.

I have tried downloading form again and again and also tried with the different machine still no luck.

Refer attached pic for reference.

Part 5 item 1 is the same as Part 3 item 28. Therefore, once you fill out Part 3 item 28, it will automatically put the same thing in Part 5 item 1, and you do not need edit Part 5 item 1 directly.

[newacct]

I am afraid that's not the case, I have tried what you suggested but it's still not accepting it. Also, I have seen the same problem in form I 130A (beneficiary)
where I am not able to insert information for flr (floor no ) and end up mentioning the floor no in street number and name.

I have tried downloading form again and again and also tried with the different machine still no luck.

Refer attached pic for reference.

Are you using Adobe Acrobat Reader?

[djbarfight]

Yes.

Are you using Adobe Acrobat Reader?

[rayb]

Djbar,

A requirement for a sponsor is that the sponsor has a U.S. domicile. If you put India as the sponsor's domicile, she will be asked to provide proof that she will be returning to the U.S. before or at same time as beneficiary. If you put USA as domicile, you will need to provide a USA address of the sponsor.

The first box of the household number should be carried over from a previous page where the number of sponsored immigrants is listed (page 3, #28), if you are using Adobe Reader (or Professional version). If you are filling out the form manually, you will have to manually enter the number of immigrants, followed by other appropriate responses so that the final people total adds up.

--Ray B

thanks Ray for quick turn around and helping me to the most.

One question- what about domicile? what should I write on part 4, point 5 page 4 of I 864. She lived in India most of the times.

Also, I am not sure what's wrong with the form, I tried entering details in part 5 page 4 point 1, it's not accepting it. please check attached image herewith.

thanks again