jen1976

I have a AOS interview coming up and have just a few questions...

Evidence required with Affidavit of support
- is it possible to use proof of property to show that we meet the poverty guidelines? We have no tax returns or pay stubs (we have been in and out of the country). I can also produce bank account info (to show we have some consistent money).


They also ask to bring and court documents relating to arrests etc...does that apply to the beneficiary or the petitioner?

Thanks very much.

Noorah101

Has something changed since the I-864 was filed with the AOS petition? If nothing has changed since then, then no need to bring an updated I-864 with updated proof of income or assets. You should bring your most current tax return, if you have done one since filing AOS.

It sounds like you might have used a joint sponsor on the I-864, since you had no pay stubs? Is that the case? If you used a joint sponsor for the I-864 you sent with the AOS package, and NOW you want to use your OWN income and/or assets, then you will need to bring a new I-864 and all the backup documents proving your income and/or assets, yes. It will be up to the officer to approve this or leave the joint sponsor as is.

The beneficiary (the intending immigrant).

Rene

Noorah101

Why wouldn't you have tax returns from 2008? You've been in the USA at least since October 2008....and in previous posts you mentioned your husband is working. Did neither of you earn enough income in 2008 to warrant filing a tax return?

Rene

jeffreyhy

j,

You're not providing very much useful information here.

It might help you, and a lot of others who ask the same question about using relatively illiquid assets such as real estate to meet I-864 guidelines, to take a step back and think about the whole purpose of the affidavit of support. It's to verify that someone has sufficient funds to pay for an immigrant's living expenses - food, clothing, housing - over what could be an extended period of time. Paying such expenses takes cash, so to be useful assets have to be convetable into cash and the sponsor has to be prepared to convert the assets into cash - sell or mortgage them - when and as necessary.

Going back to your property - are you planning to sell or mortgage it to get the money you need to support the immigrant? If not then you have the answer to your question. You can't tear off a piece of the deed and hand it to the cashier at the grocery store to pay for food.

If the answer is yes, how long is it going to take you to sell the property or get a mortgage on it? And how soon are you going to run out of the cash that you have on hand? If you're going to starve to death before you can close on that property, again you have the answer to your question.

They're interested in the immigrant's history of run-ins with the law. It's the immigrant whose suitability for PR status that is being considered. The country is stuck with the petitioner no matter how big a bad-ass they are. Duh.

Regards, JEff

jen1976

thanks for the information. We will not starve to death and we only worked part of the year so the tax return isn't enough, although I will take it anyway to prove we did actually do some work. So having read everything it seems that we can use solely our assets to prove we are over the poverty line only if these assets are easily converted into cash. Nothing has changed so i should be ok.

Noorah101

If nothing has changed since the original I-864 that you filed, then all you need to do is bring the 2008 tax return.

Rene

jmood

In our case my husband changed work this August. And he is on a "commission only" job. His job before that, which he also had started recently, around April 09, was also commission based but there was a letter from the employer saying minimum expected earnings. His 08, 07 and 06 tax returns are well above the required $ amount.

The primary question I wanted to ask here was: If at the interview the officer doesn't bring up the subject of the I-864 and doesn't ask any questions about my husband's earnings, should we just leave the whole thing well alone?

I am planning to take with me a new I-864 but it will rely on my assets (which was discussed in another thread). Only part of those assests are what you could call without hesitation "liquid", and given all the thoughts about "property" as assett, I don't want to hedge all of my bets on using my assets. The problem is that since my husband only just started his new job, and the interview is a week away, we won't have any actual paychecks to show "current income". We could get an employer letter, but again, that would be saying "expected commissions" as opposed to guaranteed income. Hence it might not suffice.

Noorah101

In my layman's opinion, no. You can't leave it alone. I believe when you get the AOS interview appointment letter, it might even request you to bring a new I-864 if anything has changed (can't remember exactly). But the important thing is...at your AOS interview...all your documents should reflect your current situation. Since his work has now changed, you'll need a new I-864, because the information on the old one will be out of date.

But that's just my own opinion...let's see if anyone else feels differently.

Rene

ian-mstm

I agree. If the sponsor is in a better financial situation, I'd say leave it alone. If the sponsor is in a worse financial situation, it behooves you to bring it to the attention of the officer and have a joint-sponsor's I-864 ready to hand to him... or, in her case, her assets on an I-864.

What a person earned in 08/07/06 is largely irrelevant for the purposes of the I-864.

Ian

jmood

OK. So then, new questions:

1) If his (my husand's) current earnings are commission only, will USCIS consider his "regular" income to be zero, if the current work has not yet documented any steady, consistent stream of income that is documentable by, let's say bank deposits, or cheques from the employer?

2)His employer can write a letter saying (either or and) his guaranteed minumum income is x and his expected yearly (monthly etc.) earnings are y. Will this carry any weight in the absence of bank deposits or cheques from the employer? Remember that he started this employement only a week ago, so he legitimately does not have any such earnings yet.

I'm asking the above also in the context of how much income "gap" my assets need to cover.

Thanks.

ian-mstm

His "current" income includes what's he's earned so far this year, so I'd also include what he's earned to this point. That said, I think a letter from the employer stating a "guaranteed minimum income" could only benefit him and not hurt at all.


Since you will not know up until the moment, whether or not any of your husband's income will be accepted, best to assume that your assets will be required for the whole thing. If you don't need it... great. If you do need it... you'll be prepared for it and have it ready.

Ian

jeffreyhy

I,

I disagree with you on this. Being with a new employer, what he's earned year to date from the previous employer is not 'current income' as that source is gone. Current income is what's expected to be earned, expressed on an annual basis, in the service of the present employer.


I agree with you on these points.

Regards, JEff