In certain non-immigration status situations the INS Form I-864 is not required to be completed and signed a family member sponsoring a green card applicant.

Below are some immigration situations where a Form I-864 is not required:

In certain non-immigration status situations the INS Form I-864 is not required to be completed and signed a family member sponsoring a green card applicant. Below are some immigration situations where a Form I-864 is not required:

  1. Those individuals that qualify to "self-petition" for a green card. This would include spouses experiencing spousal abuse and minor, children experiencing parental abuse. This category would also include widows and widowers of a U.S. citizen spouse that has died.
  2. Employment-based green card applications where the petitioning employer is not a relative
  3. Diversity visa lottery winners are not required to file a INS Form I-864
  4. Certain returning permanent residents, or green card holders, whose re-admission is challenged on public charge grounds or those failing to show an ability to financially support themselves
  5. Derivative applications where a relative is accompanying a principal green card applicant or joining him or her such as a spouse, child or parent of the principal applicant
  6. Form INS Form I-134 is another type of family member sponsor form that must be filled out when a consular office requests evidence of support often in connection with a B-2 visa issued to an individual entering the United States to obtain medical treatment. This person may be asked to show that he or she will not become a public charge.

Usually an alien national that has applied for a green card, or a permanent residency inside the United States, would need to prove that he or she would not become a "public charge" or a person that would need to rely on public funds for his or her support during the period of permanent residency. Any failure to meet this requirement would usually result in that applicant being deemed inadmissible for entry into the United States. Some of the exceptions to filing a INS Form 864 are humanitarian in purpose and intent. These exceptions include situations such as allowing a spouse or minor, marital child of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who is suffering from spousal or parental abuse to self-petition for a green card. Self petitioning can provide a measure of protection for an "at-risk" individual and may serve to prevent on-going instances of spousal or parental abuse. This particular category of green card applicant would be asked to provide proof of physical battery or extreme mental cruelty by the abuser spouse or parent. He or she would also need to prove evidence that the spouse or marital child subjected to the abuse resided inside the United States with the abusing spouse and that he or she entered into the marriage in good faith.

Vaughan de Kirby
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San Francisco California EB-5 Investment Immigration Attorney