Form I-864 Instructions: Income, Household Size, and Evidence

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Start with the current form and the correct sponsorship role

The I-864 package connects the sponsor’s household count, income, tax evidence, and any permitted assets to a financial-sufficiency decision.

Completing those fields accurately is a different task from understanding the long-term I-864 support obligations that follow a qualifying grant of permanent residence.

This guide addresses federal form preparation and supporting evidence, rather than a separate state-law family-support dispute.

USCIS published the new 08/24/26 edition on August 31, 2026, and allows the 10/17/24 edition during its announced transition period before the October 1 cutoff.

The edition date is printed at the bottom of the form; every page should come from the same edition, with the page numbers and edition date visible.

The new form also includes permission for USCIS and the Department of State to obtain consumer-reporting information, including credit reports and scores, to assess the affidavit’s sufficiency.

USCIS advises sponsors with a credit or security freeze to respond promptly to a request to release it, rather than treating the freeze as an automatic denial.

When I-864 is required, and who signs

Most immediate-relative and family-preference cases require the petitioning sponsor’s affidavit, including covered adjustment cases based on admission as a fiancé or fiancée.

Certain employment-based cases also require it when a qualifying relative filed the employment petition or has an ownership interest of at least 5% in the petitioning business.

The immigration category still matters because defined exemptions include qualifying-quarter cases, certain children who automatically acquire citizenship, and specified self-petitioning cases.

The sponsor generally must be at least 18, have the required citizenship, nationality, or permanent-resident status for the sponsorship role, and be domiciled in the United States or its territories or possessions.

Domicile means the principal residence the sponsor intends to maintain for the foreseeable future, so a mailing address alone does not establish it.

A sponsor temporarily abroad may establish continuing domicile, while a sponsor who will reestablish it must prove that domicile will exist by the principal immigrant’s admission or adjustment.

A joint sponsor does not cure the petitioner’s missing domicile or eliminate the petitioning sponsor’s own required I-864.

A substitute sponsor after a petitioner’s death is a separate statutory route involving a qualifying relationship and the applicable surviving-relative or humanitarian-reinstatement conditions.

Count household size before comparing income

Part 5 combines the sponsor, sponsored immigrants, the sponsor’s spouse, required children and tax dependents, and immigrants from earlier affidavits whose support obligations remain in effect.

The count can include people who live elsewhere, and sharing an address does not by itself make every roommate a household member for sponsorship purposes.

The children rules have exceptions, including certain children who have reached the age of majority where they live and were not claimed as tax dependents.

A qualifying nondependent relative living with the sponsor is added when the sponsor chooses to rely on that relative’s income under the household-member rules.

Simplified example: If a sponsor is sponsoring only a spouse and has no children, other dependents, earlier active sponsorships, or contributing household members, the household size is two, not three.

The spouse in that example is already counted as the sponsored immigrant and is not added again in the spouse field.

Use the applicable 2026 income line

For ordinary sponsorship, compare reasonably expected household income with 125% of the guideline for the correct household size and geographic table.

The 100% exception applies to a qualifying petitioner on active duty other than training who is sponsoring a spouse or child; military service alone does not qualify every sponsor.

The 2026 I-864P guidelines became applicable on March 1, 2026.

For the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, the 125% annual amounts are $27,050 for a household of two, $34,150 for three, and $41,250 for four.

Alaska and Hawaii have separate, higher guideline tables, and I-864P also identifies the table used for the listed territories.

An older tax year on the return does not mean the affidavit uses that year’s poverty table: the regulation generally looks to the guideline in effect when the immigrant files the visa or adjustment application.

If a case remains pending long enough and the officer requests updated evidence under the regulation, the relevant income year and guideline can shift to the year of that request.

Separate tax evidence from current annual income

The required tax evidence generally covers the most recent tax year measured from the date the sponsor signs the affidavit, using an IRS transcript or a copy of the federal return.

The sponsor may provide the three most recent years when the additional returns help show the ability to maintain sufficient income.

A copied return requires the related W-2s and 1099s, and the rules also require the schedules filed with the return.

An IRS transcript generally avoids the separate W-2 and 1099 attachments, but the instructions require them when a joint return was filed and only the sponsor’s income is being used.

The amount on a joint tax return is not automatically all the sponsor’s individual income.

Part 6 separately asks about current annual income, which can be supported by an employer letter, recent pay statements, or other evidence of income expected to continue.

A job change can therefore require an explanation of why current earnings differ from the last return, rather than treating the old return as the only relevant evidence.

A sponsor who had no legal duty to file must explain that reason, and a claimed exemption for reasons other than low income requires the supporting income and legal-authority evidence described in the regulation.

If a return was legally required but not filed, the affidavit remains insufficient until the filing obligation is satisfied and the required return evidence is supplied.

Household income and a joint sponsor are different routes

A qualifying household member whose income is used generally signs a separate I-864A with the sponsor and provides the required financial evidence.

The household member must be at least 18; qualifying categories include the sponsor’s spouse, certain relatives sharing the principal residence, and a person lawfully claimed as a tax dependent even if living elsewhere.

The separate Form I-864A guide explains the household-member contract.

An intending spouse’s income may count if it will continue from a lawful source after permanent residence, without requiring the spouse already to share the sponsor’s residence.

For another intending immigrant, the income route also requires the same principal residence, and a possible future job that has not begun is insufficient.

The intending immigrant generally does not sign I-864A for their own continuing income unless the sponsor is relying on it to support that immigrant’s accompanying spouse or children.

A joint sponsor instead signs a separate I-864 and must qualify for the immigrants covered by that affidavit without simply adding the petitioner’s income to the joint sponsor’s own package.

One immigrant cannot have two joint sponsors pooling insufficient resources, although the accompanying family group may be divided between no more than two independently qualifying joint sponsors.

Assets cover a shortfall only under the asset rules

Part 7 is used when qualifying assets are needed to supplement income, and it considers net cash value after debts or other liabilities.

The instructions limit usable assets to those convertible to cash within one year without considerable hardship or financial loss to the owner.

Asset evidence needs to establish ownership and value, with liabilities deducted; home equity requires documentation of the property’s value and secured debts.

Under the regulation, the ordinary asset test requires combined net value exceeding five times the income shortfall.

The regulation uses a three-times test for a citizen sponsoring a spouse or a qualifying child who has reached 18, and a one-times test for the specified orphan-adoption route leading to automatic citizenship.

The multiplier applies to the shortfall between qualifying income and the required income level, not to the entire poverty-guideline amount.

An intending immigrant’s own assets may be documented on I-864 without an I-864A solely for those assets, while a contributing household member generally needs the separate contract.

Complete the signatures, translations, and case-specific submission

The sponsor signs the sponsor’s certification, while an interpreter or preparer completes the separate section applicable to that person’s participation.

For a paper affidavit, USCIS does not accept a typed or stamped name in place of the required signature, but its instructions accept a photocopy or scan of the original handwritten signature.

A document in another language requires a full English translation and the translator’s certification that it is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate it.

The submission route follows the underlying immigrant-visa or adjustment case and the current agency instructions, rather than a single universal mailing address for every I-864.

For an eligible online I-485 filing, USCIS currently allows the immigrant to upload I-864 and its supporting documents with the adjustment application.

The National Visa Center’s instructions govern its requested submission, and an accompanying relative’s package should not be confused with a later following-to-join case that requires a new affidavit.

Separate principal beneficiaries require separate affidavits, so sponsoring both parents does not mean placing them together on one principal-beneficiary affidavit.

Understand the commitment before signing

The support obligation begins when the immigrant obtains admission or adjustment to permanent residence based on the affidavit, and divorce does not terminate it.

The sponsored immigrant can seek enforcement of the promised support, and a qualifying benefit provider can pursue reimbursement for covered means-tested benefits under the governing rules.

While the obligation remains in effect, the sponsor’s I-865 address notice is due within 30 days of a change; a noncitizen sponsor also has a separate immigration address-reporting duty.

A coherent package therefore ties each person, income source, asset, and signature to the correct sponsorship role, while keeping the continuing contract separate from the initial financial calculation.

Sources

• 8 CFR Part 213a: Sponsorship, household income, assets, and obligations
• 8 U.S.C. § 1183a: Sponsor’s affidavit of support
• USCIS: Form I-864 instructions, edition 08/24/26
• USCIS: Form I-864, edition 08/24/26
• USCIS: Form I-864 edition transition and filing information
• USCIS: 2026 I-864P poverty guidelines
• 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(4): Family and employment-based affidavit requirements
• USCIS: Form I-864A household-member instructions
• HHS: 2026 poverty guidelines, Federal Register notice
• 8 CFR Part 103: Form submission, signatures, evidence and translations