# Affidavit of Support



## itsalladream (Dec 18, 2008)

I have previously posted here about the form I-864, Affidavit of Support (in regards to my wife obtaining her US visa), and have another question about it.

In order to sponsor my wife, my total income on my 1040 must be 125% over the poverty line. However, in order to file for my Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, the F2555 instructs me to enter my income twice (once in parentheses) and to subtract it from my income, which leaves my Total Earned income at $0, which is obviously well below the poverty line.

Am I missing something here, or is there special consideration for income that is excluded from taxation? I plan on sending in my taxes soon, and am curious as to whether I should bite the bullet and pay taxes on it so as to be able to show some total income.

Thanks guys.


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Is this income going to be continued to earned when you live in the US?


----------



## itsalladream (Dec 18, 2008)

No. I am currently an English teacher (have been for 2 and a half years now). When I return to the states, I will find a new job. I also also was not aware that I needed to file my tax returns seeing as how my income was not taxed (or exepmt from it), so I have to late file the previous returns, but my concern here is whether $0 total income (due to exclusion), will be permissable.


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

itsalladream said:


> No. I am currently an English teacher (have been for 2 and a half years now). When I return to the states, I will find a new job. I also also was not aware that I needed to file my tax returns seeing as how my income was not taxed (or exepmt from it), so I have to late file the previous returns, but my concern here is whether $0 total income (due to exclusion), will be permissable.


There's no income there because it will vanish when you return to the US. Have you got liquid capital @ 3 x 125% x annual poverty guidelines for your household size instead?

Failing that, you'll need a co-sponsor or to travel to the US and secure a job with suitable income first.


----------



## itsalladream (Dec 18, 2008)

I guess this isn't the place to express my feelings about this policy...

Thanks for the info. I may have saved up about that much, and am pretty sure that between myself and my wife, I have that much. I also have a CD in my bank at home that would likely cover any difference that will be matured by the time I move.

Are the rules in regards to this absolutely objective, or is it partially up to the person making the call? If my CD isn't matured when I apply, but will be by the time I move back to the states, could the person who I am working with in the Visa office take that into account and make a judgement call, or do they have to take a strictly binary, 1 or 0, yes or no, approach as to whether I have the capital at that moment?

Thanks for your time fatbrit. I really appreciate it. This stuff is really making me anxious, especially as we are planning on leaving Japan in August.


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

itsalladream said:


> I guess this isn't the place to express my feelings about this policy...
> 
> Thanks for the info. I may have saved up about that much, and am pretty sure that between myself and my wife, I have that much. I also have a CD in my bank at home that would likely cover any difference that will be matured by the time I move.
> 
> ...



They seem to wax and wane a little. Previously they'd even take home equity as evidence of capital. They stopped doing that when the market tanked. Personally, I think a CD would swing it. However, if you're close to the line, it's best to have a co-sponsor ready to go if they don't.


----------



## itsalladream (Dec 18, 2008)

I gotcha. I'll check my bank statement against my wife's. I'll have to look into how to use the liquid capital that she has on hand, or otherwise just transfer it to my account.

When you have someone who moved to Japan after graduating from college, taught here for 3 years, and got married, it seems a little preposterous to have these income requirements. Hell, my aunt married an Iranian man, and she's automatically an Iranian citizen - and she's never been there and he hasn't lived there since middle school.


----------



## itsalladream (Dec 18, 2008)

Looking back over some stuff, it looks like, as she is my wife, we will need 3x the poverty line (as you said), which comes to $49,500.

Any asset that can easily be liquidated within a year can be used, so between both of our savings and my CD investments, we should have that covered. Looks like I just need to get my tax returns in order so I can write down that seemingly unimportant, big, fat $0 for the past 3 years.

Thanks again.


----------



## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

Well, it won't be $0 as there will be penalties for failing to file. But it won't be as bad as having to pay taxes...


----------



## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Not absolutely certain about this (as fatbrit says, these things change over time) but I don't believe you are expected to list your current income AFTER the earned income exclusion. 

Your income these last three years is whatever it is. Your US taxable income may be $0 thanks to the exclusion, but if they were to go by that figure, no one would ever be allowed to come home from overseas.

Even if the figure they are asking for is one of the lines on the tax form, I would write in your "before exclusion" income, with the notation that this is "before exclusion." What they are looking for here is (or should be) some indication of your earning power when you get back to the States.

Oh, and by the way, when filing those last three years of missing returns, there are not supposed to be any fines or penalties if you indeed did not owe any taxes for that time. It's part of their program for overseas taxpayers and documented on the IRS website.
Cheers,
Bev


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

itsalladream said:


> Looking back over some stuff, it looks like, as she is my wife, we will need 3x the poverty line (as you said), which comes to $49,500.
> 
> Any asset that can easily be liquidated within a year can be used, so between both of our savings and my CD investments, we should have that covered. Looks like I just need to get my tax returns in order so I can write down that seemingly unimportant, big, fat $0 for the past 3 years.
> 
> Thanks again.


You missed out the 125%!

If there are just the two of you and we're working on the 2008 guidelines, that's 14k*1.25*3 = 52.5k


----------

