Information Packages Materials

All immigrant visa applicants in the categories below must present a contractually binding Affidavit of Support (Form I-864), signed by the petitioner:

• All family-based immigrants (orphans, self-petitioning widow/widowers and battered spouses and children are exempt) and
  
• Those employment-based immigrants who are petitioned by a relative or by a business in which a relative has significant ownership interest.

Do not mail the Affidavit to the consular section, National Visa Center, or the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services unless so instructed. Present it at the visa interview.

The National Visa Center mails the I-864, along with details on the sponsor’s obligations and instructions for completing the form, with routine information packets. Additional information and copies of the I-864 are available through:

• the Bureau of Consular Affairs autofax service (tel. 202/647-3000)
  
• the Bureau’s website
  
• the USCIS website or
  
• the nearest USCIS Office.

The purpose of the Affidavit is to assist consular officers in determining whether a visa applicant will have adequate means of financial support in the U.S. and will not become a public charge. By executing this form, the petitioner agrees to reimburse any government agency or private entity that provides the sponsored alien with any means-tested public benefits.

Who completes an Affidavit of Support?

The person completing the affidavit is the sponsor.

• for family-based immigrants, the petitioner must be the sponsor.
  
• for employment-based immigrants, the petitioning relative or relative with significant ownership interest in the petitioning entity must be the sponsor.
  
• under certain circumstances, a joint sponsor(s) may also submit a Form I-864.
  
• an I-864 with all supporting documents, including one year’s tax returns, current as of the date of execution of I-864, must be submitted for each applicant, including eligible accompanying family members. The sponsor signature on Form I-864 does not need to be notorized since the sponsor is signing under penalty of perjury. Photocopies of Form I-864 that are submitted for derivative applicants do not require original signature and notarization.
  
  Validity of the I-864 and I-864A, which is a contract between sponsor and household member, is indefinite from the time the sponsors and contributing household members have signed them. Sponsors filing an I-864 are required to submit only a photocopy of their Federal tax return or IRS-generated transcript of the most recent income tax return that the sponsor had filed prior to the time of the AOS signing.
  

  5/30/2004