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Old Nov 16th 2010, 3:55 am
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Default i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Hi everyone

Just to start off, I would like to say how much this forum is a huge lifesaver! The advice and guidance has been invaluable to me and my husband in our journey to move back to the States. We have just had our I-130 approved via DCF in London.

Next major task is completing our i-864 and I have a couple of key questions we could use your advice on. Firstly, it is just the two of us - me (USC) and him (UKC). Neither of us have jobs lined up the US but are employed in the UK. We just sold our flat and have about £50k worth of savings, so we are planning on applying based on assets.

Question 1- assets: Can we just show the ConOff our UK savings account statements that show our cash assets? Or do these need to be sitting in a US bank account? I am unsure because I know assets need to be reasonably easily accessed, but no specification of what country or currency these need to be sitting in.

Household size: to risk sounding completely daft, is this just 1? So just my husband, who is the only person I am sponsoring? The table of horrors in section 21 is far from clear to me.

Thanks so much in advance
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Old Nov 16th 2010, 4:04 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by USAalltheway
Question 1- assets: Can we just show the ConOff our UK savings account statements that show our cash assets? Or do these need to be sitting in a US bank account? I am unsure because I know assets need to be reasonably easily accessed, but no specification of what country or currency these need to be sitting in.
I believe it's OK to have the savings in the UK account, as long as it's easily accessable and transferable to the USA. Make sure you also show a conversion of the amount to USD. The amount must be 3x what is needed in income according to the I-864P form.

Household size: to risk sounding completely daft, is this just 1? So just my husband, who is the only person I am sponsoring? The table of horrors in section 21 is far from clear to me.
Household size would be 2 for you guys. Yourself, plus the immigrant.

According to the I-864P, a family of 2 needs to show income of $18,212 per year. Since you want to use assets, multiply that by 3. You will need to show at least $54,636 in savings.

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Old Nov 16th 2010, 6:41 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

When we had our DCF interview and gave over our financial stuff, some was in dollars and some in pounds. I included a cover letter explaining the total in dollars and what rate I used to determine it, but they still converted it themselves anyway. I asked what rate they were using and it was about the midmarket rate at the time.

Bring a printout of the part of the instructions that says it's 3x income you need to show for assets. People applying by marriage show 3x but people applying through other means have to show 5x. Our interviewer was a little confused on this point for a minute and at first thought we had to show 5x the income level.
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Old Nov 16th 2010, 6:15 pm
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by avanutria
When we had our DCF interview and gave over our financial stuff, some was in dollars and some in pounds. I included a cover letter explaining the total in dollars and what rate I used to determine it, but they still converted it themselves anyway. I asked what rate they were using and it was about the midmarket rate at the time.

Bring a printout of the part of the instructions that says it's 3x income you need to show for assets. People applying by marriage show 3x but people applying through other means have to show 5x. Our interviewer was a little confused on this point for a minute and at first thought we had to show 5x the income level.
Thanks for this tip - it's nice to know they are up to speed on some pretty basic yet essential requirements for the visa then!
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 2:59 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by avanutria
When we had our DCF interview and gave over our financial stuff, some was in dollars and some in pounds. I included a cover letter explaining the total in dollars and what rate I used to determine it, but they still converted it themselves anyway. I asked what rate they were using and it was about the midmarket rate at the time.

Bring a printout of the part of the instructions that says it's 3x income you need to show for assets. People applying by marriage show 3x but people applying through other means have to show 5x. Our interviewer was a little confused on this point for a minute and at first thought we had to show 5x the income level.
Thanks everyone - all really good to know. I just thought that transfering the amount of money over to America would be do-able, but better if we could avoid it!

Thanks for the household confirmation too. Now just onto the fun task of finishing the form!
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 3:29 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by krosfyah
Thanks for this tip - it's nice to know they are up to speed on some pretty basic yet essential requirements for the visa then!
I'm hoping she was just having an off day. It was the biggest wrinkle of the day but got resolved immediately.
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 4:44 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by avanutria
When we had our DCF interview and gave over our financial stuff, some was in dollars and some in pounds. I included a cover letter explaining the total in dollars and what rate I used to determine it, but they still converted it themselves anyway. I asked what rate they were using and it was about the midmarket rate at the time.
May I ask what proof you brought with you for your financial assets? If your assets (or some of it) were bank savings, is it correct that they require bank statements for the past 12 months??
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 5:32 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by C_C
May I ask what proof you brought with you for your financial assets? If your assets (or some of it) were bank savings, is it correct that they require bank statements for the past 12 months??
I brought a statement from my US bank (I think it may have been a printout, I can't remember now) and we each brought dated letters from our UK banks which listed our accounts and balances and verified that the funds were available. The letters had been produced the weekend before the appointment. We definitely didn't have 12 months worth of statements. Here's a link to our interview day story.
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 9:06 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Thanks, that's really helpful!
And a really good point to have the I-864 guidelines with us
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 11:47 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by C_C
Thanks, that's really helpful!
And a really good point to have the I-864 guidelines with us
That specifc guideline (about the 6 months living with..) is published separately under the Final Rule.. there should be a link inside the DCF wiki.
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 9:25 pm
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by avanutria
Bring a printout of the part of the instructions that says it's 3x income you need to show for assets. People applying by marriage show 3x but people applying through other means have to show 5x. Our interviewer was a little confused on this point for a minute and at first thought we had to show 5x the income level.
Firstly thank you to all above for this thread as we have been furiously saving to try to achieve the 5x level. I am very pleased that we shouldn't need to sell things if we really only need 3x.

The reason I thought we needed 5x is because on the London US Embassy website it simply says "the cash value of your assets must be at least five times the difference between your income and the 125% of the poverty line for your household size". There is no mention of 3x for a spouse as far as I can see.

I now see that the US Department of State website says "Sponsors of spouses and children of U.S. citizens must only prove assets valued at three times the difference between the poverty guideline and actual household income."

Considering that our application will be processed by the London US Embassy, and knowing that they apply their own rules (qv supporting document requirements for I-130), what proof do you recommend printing for the benefit of the interviewer and how sure can we be that 3x will definitely be acceptable instead of 5x?
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 9:44 pm
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by potfish
Firstly thank you to all above for this thread as we have been furiously saving to try to achieve the 5x level. I am very pleased that we shouldn't need to sell things if we really only need 3x.

The reason I thought we needed 5x is because on the London US Embassy website it simply says "the cash value of your assets must be at least five times the difference between your income and the 125% of the poverty line for your household size". There is no mention of 3x for a spouse as far as I can see.

I now see that the US Department of State website says "Sponsors of spouses and children of U.S. citizens must only prove assets valued at three times the difference between the poverty guideline and actual household income."

Considering that our application will be processed by the London US Embassy, and knowing that they apply their own rules (qv supporting document requirements for I-130), what proof do you recommend printing for the benefit of the interviewer and how sure can we be that 3x will definitely be acceptable instead of 5x?
Oh, I hadn't noticed THAT!!
Although we will have a joint sponsor lined up and all the paperwork from them to present if needed, we were actually hoping we could qualify with our own assets (bank savings) which are comfortably above the 3x rule, but not nearly as much as 5x. No way we can reach that at this point!!
Is London even allowed to impose its own rules on things that are clearly specified by the Department of State???

Has anyone else been approved in London with the 3xt hreshold?
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 11:02 pm
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by potfish
Considering that our application will be processed by the London US Embassy, and knowing that they apply their own rules (qv supporting document requirements for I-130), what proof do you recommend printing for the benefit of the interviewer and how sure can we be that 3x will definitely be acceptable instead of 5x?
Instead of searching online... have you actually read the I-864 form? It's clearly written in the instructions: (Section 29) "However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or minor child, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference."

Ian
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 11:14 pm
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Aha! There in black and white, just what I was after. I think we're looking at different revisions of the form as mine says:

The total value of all assests, line 29, must equal 5 times (3 times for spouses and children of USCs, or 1 time for orphans to be formally adopted in the U.S.) the difference between the poverty guidelines and the sponsor's household income, line 24c.
Thank you! (what are assests? )
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Old Nov 18th 2010, 6:54 am
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Default Re: i-864 assets - do they need to be in US $

Originally Posted by C_C
Oh, I hadn't noticed THAT!!
Although we will have a joint sponsor lined up and all the paperwork from them to present if needed, we were actually hoping we could qualify with our own assets (bank savings) which are comfortably above the 3x rule, but not nearly as much as 5x. No way we can reach that at this point!!
Is London even allowed to impose its own rules on things that are clearly specified by the Department of State???

Has anyone else been approved in London with the 3xt hreshold?
What do you mean, is London allowed to impose its own rules?? Clearly specified by State???


Originally Posted by potfish
Aha! There in black and white, just what I was after. I think we're looking at different revisions of the form as mine says:
Why are you using an outdated form version? The newest can always be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864.pdf

I have to admit, this thread has me totally baffled. I recommend that everyone go back and read the form instructions with a clear mind and lose your preconceptions. I also added where you can find the policy of the details (the Final Rule) and I have added all of these links to the wiki entry specifically on I-864 from abroad.
I'm sorry if that seems cross, I'm not, but I am very surprised at what I'm reading.
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