Almost every family-based immigrant needs to have a sponsor who will file an Affidavit of Support for them.  The purpose, as stated in my recent posts, is to assure the USCIS or the Department of State that the immigrant will not need to access welfare.

A family-based immigrant is coming to the United States because someone in the United States filed a petition for them.   That person, the “petitioner”, is the “sponsor” and must file an affidavit of support for all of the immigrants for whom he petitioned.   If he doesn’t satisfy the essential requirements, set out last week, he cannot file an Affidavit of Support, and the immigrant cannot come to the United States.

If however, the only problem is that the sponsor lacks the required income or assets, he has two options.   He can get a “joint sponsor” or he can have a “household member” lend him assistance.   I will discuss the household member first.

The household member has to be the sponsor’s close relative: parent, spouse, child or sibling or any other person who is listed on the sponsor’s most recent tax return as a dependent.  The parent, spouse, child or sibling needs to live at the same address.  A person who is listed as a dependent on the tax return does not need to live at that residence.   The intending immigrant can also be a household member if they have income or assets that can be counted in order to keep him off welfare.   Foreign income cannot be counted for this purpose. The household member also has to satisfy the normal requirements of all sponsors relating to domicile and filing tax returns, etc.

The advantage of having a household member join in the sponsorship is that the household member’s income and assets are added to the income and assets of the primary sponsor.    Then the total is used to prove that the immigrant will not be able to and will not need to access welfare.

A joint sponsor’s income and assets are counted differently.   A joint sponsor is treated just like a separate sponsor.  They have to satisfy all the requirements of being a sponsor — relating to filing taxes and domicile.  They do not need to be related to the main sponsor.  They do not add their income and assets together with the main sponsor — instead, they need to have enough income and assets on their own (or with the help of a household member of their own) to guarantee that the immigrant will not need to go on welfare.

There is one interesting quirk with a joint sponsor.   If, suppose, I bring over my brother and his wife — a total of two people.   As the sponsor, I need to file an affidavit of support to cover both of them.   However, if I can find two joint sponsors, one can sponsor my brother, and the other can sponsor his wife.   This reduces the amount of income that both joint sponsors need to show.   You can only do this with joint sponsors and you can only do this if there are at least two people to sponsor and you can only do it with a maximum of two joint sponsors.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong