Hi all. I am getting in a bit of a muddle with the I-864.

My MIL is the joint sponsor. The last tax returns we have are from 2013, where my SO was claimed as a dependent. However, for 2014 she is not claiming him. Do we fill in her I-864 with the 2013 household size? She easily meets the financial requirement for this. And in that case - my SO's family size should be 2 and my MIL's 3? Is that right?

Thanks in advance!

Always use current information on the I-864. If MIL is no longer considering daughter as dependent, then don't count her in household size.

Rene

Thanks for the quick reply, Rene!

I've just found the following in the guidance notes: "include each and every person whom you have claimed as a dependent on your most recent Federal income tax return", which seems to imply the opposite?

Sounds that way. You can either wait until the joint sponsor has a 2014 tax return, or try having her write a letter of explanation. I'd do the latter if your interview is coming up soon.

Or, if the joint sponsor meets the income requirement for 4 people, go ahead and include the daughter.

Rene

A letter is what I was thinking - especially as the interview is next Friday! She meets the requirement for either situation easily, so I will include my SO. At least that way I have erred on the side of caution.

Thanks again for the help. So easy to over-analyse these forms and forget that the most common sense answer is usually the right one!

Not "I". "She" MIL fills out the joint sponsor I-864, not you.

Rene

I say "I" as she is blind and I am the one physically filling in the form for her.

As a practical matter, how will she be able to sign the form if she's blind? Also, how can she give informed consent to what she's signing if she can't read the form?

Ian

Someone can read the form to her, but I'm also curious how she will sign it...or any other legal document requiring a signature. Not trying to be nosey, just something that never occurred to me before and I'm curious.

Rene

I used to work with the elderly blind training them on adaptive aids. She can simply have the signature line folded so that it leaves a raised crease in the paper and the person uses muscle memory of signing their name or there are signature guides that are manufactured out of plastic or metal. HTH.

Cool, thanks. I also googled it and came up with several methods. Interesting.

Rene

Yep, as Married2abrit mentioned, it's not too complicated. The fact that her eyesight gradually deteriorated means the physical act of signature is just muscle memory.

Legally that's actually quite an interesting topic - probably something we need to look into (pardon the pun). As it stands, she has the computer set up to read everything out loud and she has enough residual vision to see things in stupidly large font on the screen, although it would take a while to "read" I'm sure!

Just wanted to say a big thanks for all the help I have received here - had my interview on Friday and the visa was approved!

Congratulations!

Rene