When an immigrant’s sponsor’s income and assets are insufficient

What if the income and assets of the US citizen or permanent resident petitioner intending to sponsor a family immigration are insufficient to reach the acceptable levels under US Poverty Guidelines? Here are some ideas for making up for financial deficiencies.

What if the income and assets of the U.S. citizen or permanent resident petitioner intending to sponsor a family immigration are insufficient to satisfy the requisite minimum levels under US Poverty Guidelines? The following are some options for making up the financial gaps.

Recognize, however, that modifications to laws implemented under the Trump Administration have resulted in a scenario in which immigrants might be judged ineligible as possible “public charges” even if the sponsor has a sufficiently high income. Before reaching a judgment, the US government will consider the entirety of the facts, including whether the immigrant will have a source of health insurance, has a high level of education or skills, or has received previous benefits while living in the US.

Sponsor Lands a New Position

If you do not want to depend on friends and family, the U.S. citizen sponsor, or the immigrant if residing in the United States with a legal right to work, may need to locate another employment or one with higher income and benefits. Naturally, changing your financial status will be difficult. It might imply a lengthy job hunt, relocation to another city, temporary absence from school, or foregoing fun employment or time with the children.

But here’s why this suggestion isn’t completely insane: There is no need for you or your spouse to continue working at the new employment after you have received your green card. USCIS will not send inspectors to your or your spouse’s employment to conduct background checks. If you and your family can live on less than the US government believes is feasible, you are free to do so—as long as you do not take need-based government assistance (or go on “welfare”) for the first five years after receiving your green card.

According to the legislation, you would not face any consequences for post-approval income decreases in your family until and until the immigrant applied for need-based public assistance. He or she would very certainly be denied benefits—or made to repay them later.

If you do not learn until the visa or green card interview that your application cannot be accepted without further financial assistance, you may be given a time restriction to submit fresh proof. While the sponsor hunts for a better career, health insurance, or another source of family support, the time restriction may arrive all too rapidly.

If the deadline is approaching and you have nothing fresh to present, at the very least submit a note indicating that you are still interested in continuing the application. Request more time to submit the needed papers and documentation.

If you are in the United States, this letter is very essential because if USCIS declines the application, the matter will be transferred to the Immigration Court for removal proceedings (if the immigrant does not have a legal status that is still current, such as an unexpired I-94 based on a visa).

Typically, consulates and USCIS will allow you six months to a year following your interview before declaring your application dead.

Request Assistance from Family Members

Whether the sponsor cannot satisfy the financial requirement on his or her alone, the first step is to determine if another household member in the United States is prepared to add income and assets to the mix. A household member is defined as someone who:

was identified as a dependant or joint filer on the sponsor’s most recent tax return, or is linked to the sponsor and shares a dwelling (home).

By completing a supplementary Form I-864A, the household member promises to assist the immigrant. One advantage of utilizing a household member’s income is that it must only be sufficient to cover the gap in the primary sponsor’s income.

However, prospective household joint sponsors should be aware that if the primary sponsor does not support the immigrant for whatever reason, the joint sponsors might be forced to give the whole support cost. (According to the form, the signer is warned with the following legal jargon: “I, the Member of the Household,… Accept to be equally and severally accountable for any liabilities owing by the sponsor “)

Request Assistance from an Independent Joint Sponsor

If no one in the sponsor’s family can contribute to increasing the sponsor’s income and assets, you may seek a partner sponsor from outside the household. Each sponsor must fulfill the fundamental sponsorship conditions. An independent joint sponsor must also be financially secure.

Joint sponsors who reside outside the home, as opposed to household joint sponsors, must earn enough to satisfy the whole Poverty Guidelines minimum requirement for their own household as well as the incoming immigrant or immigrants (if children will also be coming). The partner sponsor cannot simply make up the difference left by the primary sponsor. They seem to be the lone sponsor.

They must, in fact, sign a separate Form I-864 Affidavit of Support. An independent sponsor, like a household joint sponsor, may be held entirely accountable for the immigrant’s assistance.

There may be up to two joint sponsors if there is more than one incoming immigrant. This is useful, for example, if the arriving immigrants comprise an adult and two children and none of the joint sponsors earns enough to fulfill the Poverty Guidelines for all three immigrants. The I-864 criteria are satisfied if one of these joint sponsors earns enough to satisfy the Poverty Guidelines minimum for one immigrant and the other joint sponsor earns enough to meet the Poverty Guidelines minimum for the other two immigrants.

Although independent joint sponsors must fulfill the whole Poverty Guidelines minimum on their own, they will not be liable for supporting persons other than the immigrant in the immigrant’s home (s). Don’t merely add up the number of individuals in the two houses to fulfill the Poverty Guidelines criteria as a joint sponsor. Rather, double the number of persons in the joint sponsor’s home by the number of incoming immigrants.

An Immigrant Gets a Job in the U.S.

Technically, a U.S. employment offer for the immigrant is not intended to count when U.S. immigration officials evaluate the U.S. sponsor’s capacity to support the immigrant (together with members of her own family) at a level that satisfies the 125% Poverty Guidelines minimum.

All of this being said, if the immigrant receives a job offer with a fixed wage in the United States, it is a good idea to give evidence of this during the application process. If your case is on the verge, the decision maker may be swayed into understanding that the immigrant is unlikely to become a public charge and accepting the immigrant visa or green card rather than requiring extra paperwork or a second sponsor.