How Much Financial Support Immigrants Need for a Family-Based Green Card

If you are immigrating to the United States through a family member, or through a job where your own relatives submitted the visa petition or own at least 5% of the petitioning company, then your U.S. petitioner will have to show a willingness and ability to act as your financial sponsor. The purpose is to help prove that you are not inadmissible as a potential public charge (you won't require financial assistance from a government agency within the United States). (See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(4).)

These requirements are strict. Whichever family member signed your petition (to start your immigration process) will also probably need to submit a lengthy document called an Affidavit of Support on USCIS Form I-864, which lays out how much income and assets they have. If the amount isn't enough under the U.S. Poverty Guidelines, or if the U.S. government demands more assurances, the immigrant might need to show proof of personal assets or to have additional U.S. citizens or green card holders agree to serve as joint sponsors.

How the U.S. Poverty Guidelines Control Financial Support Requirements

The Affidavit of Support on Form I-864 basically promises that the U.S. family petitioner will pay the immigrant's living expenses so that the immigrant does not have to rely on assistance from a government agency within the United States (whether state, federal, or other).

The petitioning U.S. family member must show that they earn (or have saleable assets worth) at least 125% of the income needed to support their own family as well as the immigrant, plus the immigrant's spouse and children if they're immigrating with the immigrant. That amount reduces to 100% for military families.

Exactly how much income is needed to support a certain size family is computed every year by the federal government and published in a document called the Poverty Guidelines. This can be found on USCIS Form I-864P.

If, for example, you are an immigrant marrying a U.S. citizen, and there will be two of you living in your house (no children at all), then your household size is "2." Look on the appropriate row of Form I-864P to find out the minimum amount that the U.S. citizen will need to show in earnings to overcome the public charge ground of inadmissibility in your case. In 2024 for example, U.S. petitioners would need $25,550 to support a household of two people. If there are two children in the family, the petitioner would need to reach a support level of $39,000 for a household of four.

You will need to meet the guidelines for the year in which your Affidavit of Support is filed, even if the required income levels get raised or changed later (which usually happens around the month of April). Such subsequent raises will not affect your application after you've submitted it.

A Few Petitioners of Immigrants Can Avoid Filling Out USCIS Form I-864

Even among petitioners who would ordinarily have to fill out a Form I-864, various exceptions apply.

First, if the immigrating person has already worked legally in the United States for a total of 40 "quarters" (as defined by the Social Security Administration; it's about 10 years), no Form I-864 affidavit needs to be submitted. In fact, in an interesting twist, immigrants living in the United States can be credited with work done by their U.S. citizen spouse while they were married.

So if you are an immigrant adjusting status in the United States based on marriage, and your U.S. citizen spouse worked 40 quarters in the U.S. during your marriage, the support obligation is taken care of. Your spouse need not fill out Form I-864, but should instead fill out Form I-864W, explaining that they fall within an exception. Of course, it's rare for a married couple to have gone so many years (approximately 10) living in the United States legally without applying for a green card for the immigrant. Nevertheless, for those to whom this exception applies, it's highly useful.

The second major exception is that if the immigrant beneficiary is a child who will become a U.S. citizen immediately upon approval or entry to the United States for a green card, no I-864 needs to be submitted for the child. (This happens in cases where the child "derives" citizenship through a U.S. parent the minute they receive their green card.) Once again, however, the petitioner should submit a Form I-864W to explain the situation.

Other family-based green card applicants who don't need to fill out USCIS Form I-864, and should instead fill out an I-864W, include self-petitioning widows or widowers of U.S. citizens and self-petitioning battered spouses or children.

Using Assets to Supplement the U.S. Sponsor's Income

If the U.S. family sponsor's income isn't high enough by itself to meet the U.S. Poverty Guidelines requirements, personal assets of the sponsor or the immigrant (or even the sponsor's household members) may also be used to supplement the sponsor's income.

For example, you could list such assets as real property (land or a house), bank account deposits or investment and retirement accounts, and valuable personal property, such as automobiles, art, or jewelry. The assets must be readily convertible to cash (for example, by selling them) within one year's time.

You don't get to count the assets at their full cash value for immigration purposes, however. In most cases, you must divide the value of the assets by five. Divide by three if the applicant is an immediate relative, for example the husband, wife, or parent of a U.S. citizen.

Getting Legal Help

Income issues are the cause of many denials of green card applications. It's worth getting a lawyer's help to deal with this thorny issue. The lawyer can help advise, for example, on whether you fall into an exception, what assets might be counted toward the income requirements, and what documentation to come up with in order to support the immigration application.