Article updated on July 24, 2026; originally published March 16, 2023
Income requirements, joint sponsors, and how long the commitment of an I-864 financial sponsor lasts.
Signing Form I-864, the Affidavit of Support, is one of the most consequential things you’ll do in a family-based immigration case, and one of the least understood. Most people focus on whether their income clears the bar. Fewer realize what they’re actually agreeing to once they sign, and how long that commitment sticks around.
Here’s what being an I-864 financial sponsor really involves: what it costs to qualify, what happens if your income falls short, and what you’re on the hook for after the green card is approved.
As an I-864 sponsor, you’re taking on real financial responsibility for the person you’re sponsoring. The core obligation is making sure they don’t become a “public charge.” In practice, that means showing you can support them at or above 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for your household size (100% if you’re an active-duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces sponsoring a spouse or child).
That responsibility doesn’t disappear once the green card is approved. If the person you sponsored ends up receiving certain means-tested public benefits, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, or SSI, the agency that paid out those benefits can seek reimbursement from you. The sponsored immigrant themselves can also sue you directly if you don’t provide adequate support and they end up relying on public benefits as a result. This is what’s known as a “contractual support” obligation, and it’s enforceable in court.
One clarification I give clients often: you don’t have to hand the sponsored immigrant a check every month. The obligation is about meeting the threshold, not about the mechanics of how support gets provided.
The 125% threshold isn’t one fixed number. It scales with your household size, which includes you, your dependents, anyone else you claim on your taxes, and anyone still covered under a prior I-864 you’ve signed. For 2026, in the 48 contiguous states, that works out to roughly:
| Household Size | Minimum Annual Income (125%) |
| 2 | $27,050 |
| 3 | $34,150 |
| 4 | $41,250 |
That number isn’t something our office or even USCIS sets on its own. Congress wrote it into federal law: the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requires sponsors to show income at or above 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines that the Department of Health and Human Services publishes every year. The extra 25% above the baseline poverty line is intentional. It’s meant to show a real financial cushion, not just enough to scrape by, which is also part of why this obligation is legally enforceable rather than a formality. Active-duty military sponsors get a lower bar, 100% instead of 125%, as a specific exception written into that same law.
These figures update annually in March, and Alaska and Hawaii use different numbers, so always confirm the current guidelines on the official I-864P page before you file.
To back up your affidavit, USCIS wants to see:
You can submit an IRS tax transcript instead of your 1040. If you do, you don’t also need to include your W-2.
A common snag: your income for the most recent tax year looks lower than it actually is right now, because of something that no longer applies, such as a layoff or a slower year of self-employment. USCIS may still send a Request for Evidence even though your current income clears the bar. The fix is to get ahead of it: include recent pay stubs and a short explanation of what changed, rather than waiting for the RFE to ask, but an RFE could still be issued despite this, and it can be overcome by showing proof of your current income.
This is the part that surprises people most: you don’t have to qualify on your own.
A joint sponsor can share, or really take on, the financial responsibility alongside you. A few things worth knowing:
This is the piece people are least prepared for: signing the I-864 isn’t a one-time formality tied to the green card approval. The obligation generally continues until the sponsored immigrant:
Divorce does not end the obligation. That surprises a lot of sponsors, but it’s one of the reasons this form deserves real thought before you sign it, not just for the immigrant you’re supporting, but for you.
If you’re not sure whether your income clears the threshold, whether a family member or friend could realistically serve as a joint sponsor, or what this obligation means for your specific situation, that’s exactly the kind of question worth working through directly. For a broader look at when a case like this benefits from legal guidance versus handling it yourself, see Do You Need an Immigration Attorney for a Marriage-Based Green Card?.
If you have questions about how this policy may affect your specific situation, you can schedule a consultation with me online, or you can call my office at 801-883-8204 to schedule it.
This article is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not guarantee any particular outcome. Income figures and program rules change periodically, so always confirm current requirements on USCIS.gov before filing.
ES 
EN