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Requirements for Form I-864 Processing |
| The State Department issued a cable recently providing revised requirements for Form I-864 processing. According to the cable, "effective immediately, sponsors filing an I-864 are required to submit only their Federal tax return for their most recent tax year, current as of the date of execution of the I-864. The I-864 will remain valid indefinitely absent other evidence of failure to meet the public charge provisions of the law and should be evaluated based on the poverty guidelines in effect on the date of filing with NVC or with post...Updated tax returns should not be requested absent positive evidence of public charge issues. The sponsor signature on Form I-864 does not need to be notarized since the sponsor is signing under penalty of perjury. Photocopies of Form I-864 that are submitted for derivative applicants do not require an original signature or notarization. |
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Final Rule |
| USCIS published a final rule regarding Affidavits of Support (Form I-864). The final rule responds to public comments to an interim rule published by the former INS on October 20, 1997 and clarifies several issues raised under the interim rule. Most significantly, with certain limited exceptions, the new rule looks to the sponsor's income in the year in which the application for immigrant visa or adjustment of status is filed, rather than the year in which the application is decided. In addition, each sponsor is now required to submit as initial evidence only his/her most recent tax return (rather than tax returns from the three most recent federal tax returns), pay stub(s) covering the most recent six months and an employer letter. The rule also introduces a new EZ Affidavit of Support (Form-864EZ ) for petitioning sponsors relying solely upon their own employment to meet the affidavit of support requirements. In addition, the new rule provides a standardized form for establishing that an intending immigration is exempt from the I-864 requirement (Form I-864W). Other changes include: eliminating the I-864 requirement in certain cases (such as sponsored immigrants with 40 quarters of covered employment); allowing two joint sponsors per family unit based upon the same petition; expanding the definition of "household size"; and reducing the amount of assets that certain sponsors must show to cover household income shortfalls. |
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