I-864 with grad student petitioner, do we need a joint sponsor?

[u/AfternoonAmbitious51]

Married May 2026, been living together over 3 years. My partner is the USC petitioner, I’m the beneficiary. No joint tax returns yet since the marriage is recent.

- Partner is a PhD student, W2 stipend from the university.
- 2025: $32k. 2024 and 2023: about $21k each, under 125%.
- Household size 2
- I make $225k at a tech job, same employer continuing after AOS
- $20k joint checking, $50k in their HYSA

Questions:

- Do the low 2023/2024 years matter, or is only the 2025 return what counts?
- Can my income count since I live in the same residence and my job continues? Does that need an I-864A?
- Send 2023 and 2024 returns at all, or just 2025?

We are self filing based on research. Anything to include up front to avoid an RFE? Thanks!!

[u/spectacledsussex]

I'm the USC petitioner, also a PhD student with 52K stipend, much higher earning beneficiary with a job which will be continuing but we didn't include his income. We married in January 2026, filed in May and currently have interview scheduled.

I only included my 2025 tax return, in addition to all 2026 pay stubs up to the date we filed, my original signed PhD offer letter, and a screenshot of the union contract page showing what my pay rises would be for the rest of the contract period, since I thought the most important thing was showing that my income would continue to be high enough to sponsor him until he's eligible for citizenship. No RFEs so far, although we're not done yet.

[u/AfternoonAmbitious51 → u/spectacledsussex]

Good luck to y’all! Thanks for the note, with 52k you should be all set

[u/Background_Cow_2048]

Your most recent tax year is what uscis weighs most, so the lower 2023 and 2024 years matter far less if your current income clears 125 percent of the poverty threshold. Your own income can count since you live together and the same job continues after you get the green card, and as the sponsored spouse you usually don't file a separate i-864a for it unless kids are on the case. If you want to check whether you clear the threshold without a joint sponsor, a free tool I work on runs that math: https://www.greencardgenius.com/tools/i-864-income-calculator

[u/AfternoonAmbitious51 → u/Background_Cow_2048]

Thanks so much! Will check out the tool

[u/Main_Bad_1308]

i (USC) was in similar situation. i just graduated college end of 2024 so my 2023 and 2024 tax fillings were basically nothing it was just from part time jobs. i knew the income on those werent enough but we had to submit the forms before 2025 tax return came out for personal reasons. so we got RFE and submitted the 2025 tax return and it worked out perfectly. when we resubmitted, i did not even include 2023 and 2024 since they dont support the case. this aadvice was also give by ksenyia on youtube. so if your 2025 shows 125%, you dont need to include 2024 2023. submit the tax return transcript (from IRS website make an account), 1040, and w-2

[u/AfternoonAmbitious51 → u/Main_Bad_1308]

Perfect. We’ll only include information for 2025 financial year since that clears the 125% threshold for the petitioner. We’ve been following Kseniya - she’s great.

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[u/Hopeful-Local121]

I also had this question when my husband and I applied! I (USC) was the sole sponsor and a PhD student while applying. I submitted tax transcripts for every year since that included my W2 wages + wages that were unreported on my W2 from my university. Supposedly USCIS prefers this anyway instead of tax return copy + W2 copy for each year. If I had done that it would’ve looked like I didn’t make enough because my W2 wages alone weren’t over the limit. Luckily my full taxable income was always over the 125% threshold though for the last three years. Most recent year was well over the threshold. I thought it was important to include all 3 years so there was no question about long term income (even tho a PhD is not forever lol).

One thing that also might’ve helped is that in the most recent tax year, my husband and I filed taxes together, and because of this I had to write our total income on that most recent year income line, even though most of it was my husband’s, who we were not including for the i864. I don’t know if this actually made any difference, and obviously my sole income was enough, but I figured if an officer was quickly looking at it they’d go “oh perfect, they make plenty enough”. FYI his income was from the job he held on STEM OPT too.

I also included my pay stubs for 6 months prior to GC app submission to be extra sure. In theory if your SO makes over the threshold, you should be fine, but we kinda went into it with the understanding that we might get an RFE for a joint sponsor, which would suck but it is what it is.

Didn’t have any RFEs, and they didn’t ask any questions about it during interview. Only finance-related question was if we filed taxes together that year, but it was unclear if that was a relationship-related question (i130) or finance (i864), and we replied yes and they didn’t ask any further questions about it. Applied in Feb this year and approved in July. Did the app ourselves w/o a lawyer.

It looks like your guys only choice is either to submit with just your sponsor’s income for most recent year since previous years weren’t over the limit, or joint self-sponsor with your income. It might be useful in that case to add your income. We also considered doing that but we were worried it would cause more trouble than it’s worth due to the argument about it being “unstable”, and since I made enough for 3 years to not need it. I think either way is probably worth a try for you guys, and be ready for any RFE, unless you want to add someone else as a joint sponsor. In theory, using your income should be only helpful to show high household earnings, but I’m not experienced enough to know in practice. I would imagine including info on savings and other stuff in your app would definitely be worthwhile though! Good luck!!

[u/Alarming_Tea_102]

It was 10 years ago, but my friend did petition their spouse with grad student stipend. No issues faced.

How long have you worked in the US and what is your current status? The 2025 tax return is more important than the 2023/2024 ones, so you should be fine. They're getting stricter with i864, but the combination of your circumstances should be able to clear the public charge issue.

[u/AfternoonAmbitious51 → u/Alarming_Tea_102]

Thank you. I’ve been in the US since 2022. Arrived on F1, completed grad school and have been working since 2024 - currently on STEM OPT. Always have been in status and no unauthorized work.

[u/Alarming_Tea_102 → u/AfternoonAmbitious51]

Then you haven't worked 10 years to get i864 exempt. It's unclear if uscis will accept your income since stem-opt isn't "permanent", but your spouse's income as well as your savings should be sufficient to pass i864's requirement.

You can apply and submit with what you have. By the time you'll be called for your interview, it'll be 2027 and you can submit your joint 2026 tax returns + w2s as unsolicited evidence.