I-864 for a housewife where husband always files married jointly

[bishoonline]

Hi,
I'm asking this on behalf of a friend.
The petitioner of the I-130 is a housewife, never worked & zero income for years.
The only joint sponsor is the husband with income and IRS transcripts who has always filed married jointly.

The questions are:

1) Do they both need to use I-864; or I-864 for the petitioner (wife) one I-864A for the husband considering they live in the same house?

2) Does the petitioner in this case have to check YES for 23a? if yes, what about 23b? does she have to include her husband's transcripts? what about the total income fields, should they be filled with the husband's figures or zeros?

3) If 23a should be checked NO, in this case 25 should be checked and an explanation letter should be attached as evidence stating that she has never had a taxable income, correct?

Thank you very much in advance

[newacct]

Hi,
I'm asking this on behalf of a friend.
The petitioner of the I-130 is a housewife, never worked & zero income for years.
The only joint sponsor is the husband with income and IRS transcripts who has always filed married jointly.

Who is the she petitioning?

It wouldn't make sense for her husband to be a "joint sponsor". Rather, her husband should be her "household member" so his income is counted in her household income.

The questions are:

1) Do they both need to use I-864; or I-864 for the petitioner (wife) one I-864A for the husband considering they live in the same house?

The petitioner files I-864. If she is petitioning her husband, her husband doesn't need to file I-864A to include his income in her household income. If she is petitioning someone else, her husband needs to file I-864A to include his income in her household income.

2) Does the petitioner in this case have to check YES for 23a? if yes, what about 23b? does she have to include her husband's transcripts? what about the total income fields, should they be filled with the husband's figures or zeros?

Yes for #23a. If she and her husband filed jointly, then those tax returns are her tax returns just as much as they are his tax returns. For #23b, it should be checked if 3 years are included (which is optional), or unchecked if only 1 year is included (only 1 year is required). For #24a-c, she must put the exact number from the "total income" line of her tax returns from those years. Do not put another number or 0 or make up anything else.

3) If 23a should be checked NO, in this case 25 should be checked and an explanation letter should be attached as evidence stating that she has never had a taxable income, correct?

No. As said above, she did file a tax return for those years.

[bishoonline]

Thank you newacct for your detailed and clear response. I apologize for my delayed reply and I apologize for not mentioning that the housewife is petitioning her parents.
So it's clear that based on their scenario, she will submit I-864 and her husband will submit I-864A. Both forms will have the same 3 years total income in 24a-c as he has always filed married jointly.