I-864: Confused how to fill when sponsor has no income


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Posted

My wife, who is a US Citizen is sponsoring me (Currently on H-1B and residing in US) for Greencard. We already have an approved I-130 from couple years ago when my wife was still a permanent resident.

We are now filing for AoS - however my wife is a homemaker who has no income, so we will be relying on my income.

I am attempting to fill out I-864 form, and am confused about how to fill it given this situation.

Part 6 - How does she fill this? My wife cannot check box 1, 2, or 3 since she is a homemaker, not self-employed nor retired! For box 4, she checked and put the last date she was employed several years ago. For box 5 she put $0 since she is unemployed. For 6a, 6b, 6c she put my information and annual salary; and 9c and 10 she put my annual salary.

Based on instructions from I-864A, it seems that I am not required to file I-864A. Here is the part of instruction that I am basing this on:

Q: If the Intending Immigrant Is a Household Member, Must He or She Complete This Form?

A: If you are the intending immigrant and the sponsor is including your income on Form I-864 to meet the eligibility requirements, you need to complete this form only if you have accompanying dependents. If you are the intending immigrant and the sponsor is including only your assets on Form I-864, you do not need to complete this form, even if you have accompanying dependents.

Since my wife has no income, we will be relying solely on my income for sponsorship.

So, now I am still confused what boxes should my wife check in I-864 to indicate that she is a homemaker? Or can we file I-864EZ?

I am confused between box 11 and 12 - do I need to fill I-864a? We have filed tax returns jointly since last 3 years, so question 13 should not be a problem. Part 7 will not be required since my income is well above the poverty line.

One other question was, for Question 5 on part 1 (A#), should I enter the A# that was printed on my EAD card that I received with OPT after completing my school?

So, in summary, I need help on:

1) Part 1 Question 5

2) Part 6 - what boxes to check/uncheck/fill?

3) Part 6 - Below Question 12 there is a box to fill with Name(s)... what names should I fill in here - the intending immigrant's name?

4) Can my wife file I-864EZ since we have been filing taxes jointly since last 3+ years?

I read through the I-864 instructions but am not very sure about these questions.

Posted

So far, here is how I have filled:

Part 1 Question 5: Entered the A# Listed in Student OPT EAD card

Part 6:

=============

Q1: Unchecked

Q2: Unchecked

Q3: Unchecked

Q4: Checked, and entered date when she resigned from her last job in 2011

Q5: $0

Q6: Put wife's name, relation as "self", and her income of $0

Q7: Put my name, relation as "spouse", and my annual income which is well above 125% of poverty line

Q8 & 9 left blank

Q10: My annual income

Q11: Unchecked

Q12: Checked, put my name (intending immigrant) in Name(s) field. Not sure what they want here...

Q13: Checked, and entered wife's income of $0 for 2012, and her correct income from W2+1099 in 2011 and 2010 (she does not have any 1099 from 2012).

Q14: Checked, and requested IRS to send certified transcripts from 2012,2011,2010.

Part 7 left blank

Part 9 left blank

My biggest unanswered question is just the Name(s) field below Q12 in part 6 - what do they want there? Also, should I put the A# from Student OPT/EAD card in Part 1 Q5?

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