I was asked to be a co-sponsor...

[bkmom3]

I have a question. I was asked by my brother to be a co-sponsor for his wife for a visa. They both live in the US. She currently has a visa but is trying to renew it. According to my brother, he needs to make a certain income to sponsor her and her two children. He falls short by a couple of hundred dollars and needs another sponsor who makes over $35,000 per year to assist. I want to know if this is correct (is my brother telling me the truth, basically?) and is there any financial risk to me? I do not want to pay more taxes or fees as a result of this. I don't mind helping but want to make sure I am not putting my family in financial risk.

Thank you!

[wavedom]

If your brother can’t meet the income requirements and doesn’t have a co-sponsor, his wife’s green card application will probably be denied. The income requirement increases with the household size and can be found in the I-864P (link below). If his household only consists of himself, his wife and her children (four people in total), then he needs an annual income of $28,812 (unless he lives in Alaska or Hawaii). If he needs a co-sponsor, then the co-sponsor needs to make enough money to cover the entire household plus him-/herself, which I guess would count as a household of five people ($33,762). If you have an annual income which exceeds that amount, then you can act as a co-sponsor, providing that you reside in the US.

The “risk” with being a co-sponsor is that you will be financially responsible for your brother’s wife and her children. Read the last three pages of I-864 (link below) and think about what you will have to sign if you decide to be a co-sponsor.

If your brother’s income only is a few hundred dollars below the requirement, he can use financial assets (bank accounts etc.) to compensate for the lack of income. The assets need to correspond to at least three (or maybe five) times the missing sum.


Edit: It's always nice when the administrators erase links and add comments in my post to make it look like something else... Find I-864P and I-864 on the USCIS website and read the forms.

[trishaR78]

Co sponsering

when you cosponser someone it is only for that person not for the Whole family and being a cosponser is basically saying that if something should happen to that person that they will no ask for any kind of goverment assitants such as medical or food stamps or finanical support for themselves.