I-864 Affidavit of Support Income Calculator: Does Your Sponsor Earn Enough? (2026 Poverty Guidelines)

For 2026, a sponsor living in Florida or anywhere in the 48 contiguous states needs a household income of at least $27,050 to sponsor one person on Form I-864 (a household of two), plus $7,100 for each additional person. That is 125% of the poverty guidelines on USCIS Form I-864P. Active-duty service members sponsoring a spouse or minor child need 100%.

Figures read: October 26, 2026, from USCIS Form I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support (guidelines effective March 1, 2026) and the Form I-864 instructions (edition 08/24/26). Every dollar figure on this page comes from the I-864P table. When USCIS posts new figures, this page is re-read and the date changes.

What this does and what it does not. The calculator looks up the income line a sponsor has to meet for a given household size and location, and, if you enter your income, tells you how far short you are and how much in assets would close the gap. It cannot judge whether a consular officer or USCIS will accept your evidence. It runs in your browser, needs no signup, and nothing you type leaves your device. The affidavit itself has no USCIS filing fee; the fees for the rest of a family case are in our USCIS fee calculator. Esta calculadora también está en español: calculadora de ingresos del Formulario I-864.

Check the sponsor's minimum income

The 2026 I-864P income table

These are the figures USCIS publishes on Form I-864P, effective March 1, 2026. The 125% columns apply to almost every sponsor. The 100% columns apply only to a petitioner on active duty in the U.S. armed forces who is sponsoring a spouse or minor child. Above 8 people, add the amount in the last row for each extra person.

Who counts in household size?

More people than most sponsors expect. The I-864 instructions say your household includes "yourself and the following individuals, no matter where they live," and Part 5 of the form counts them line by line. The calculator's helper follows the same order.

• You. Always 1.
• The immigrants on this affidavit. The principal immigrant plus any spouse or children coming with them whom you sponsor on the same I-864.
• Your spouse. Count your spouse here only if they are not one of the immigrants above. The instructions warn: "Make sure you do not count any individual more than once."
• Your children under 21. Unmarried children under 21 count "even if you do not have legal custody of these children."
• Other tax dependents. Anyone you claimed as a dependent on your most recent federal return counts, "even if that person is not related to you."
• Earlier sponsorships. Permanent residents you sponsored before still count until the obligation ends. Per the instructions it ends when that person becomes a citizen, dies, abandons permanent residence or is credited with 40 quarters of work. Divorce does not end it.
• Relatives you add on purpose. A parent, sibling or adult child who lives with you can be added, but only if you need their income. Each one must sign Form I-864A.

A U.S. citizen sponsoring a spouse, with no children and no earlier sponsorships, is a household of 2. Add a stepchild coming on the same petition and it is 3. If the same sponsor also brought a parent over two years ago, that parent is still on the books, and the household is 4. The marriage visa page covers how the spousal case fits together, and the family-based visa page covers parents, children and siblings.

What if income is not enough: assets, a joint sponsor, Form I-864A

Falling short of the line does not end the case. The I-864 instructions list four ways to make up the difference, and they can be combined.

Household members with Form I-864A. Your spouse, or a parent, sibling or adult child living with you, can add their income if they sign Form I-864A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member. They must be at least 18, and by signing they become jointly responsible for supporting the immigrant. An unrelated dependent listed on your federal tax return can contribute "regardless of where they reside."

The immigrant's own income. If you are sponsoring your spouse, their income counts wherever they live now, as long as it "will continue from the same source" after they get the green card. For any other relative, the income must also continue from the same source, and the relative must currently live with you.

Assets. Assets count only if they "can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to the owner." The instructions set the amount as a multiple of the shortfall between your household income and the I-864P figure for your household size:

• 5 times the shortfall in most cases.
• 3 times the shortfall "if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or child 18 years of age or older."
• 1 times the shortfall if the immigrant is "a foreign national orphan who will be adopted in the United States" after becoming a permanent resident and, as a result, will acquire citizenship under INA section 320.

Take a U.S. citizen in Orlando sponsoring a spouse, in a household of 2, with $24,000 of income. The line is $27,050, so the shortfall is $3,050. At 3 times, assets of $9,150 would close it. If the same sponsor were bringing a parent, the multiple would be 5 and the assets would need to reach $15,250. Your home counts at its net value: the appraised value minus every loan secured by it, backed by a recent appraisal from a licensed appraiser. A car does not count unless you own more than one and leave at least one out. The calculator above does this arithmetic for you when you enter your income.

A joint sponsor. A U.S. citizen, permanent resident or U.S. national who is at least 18, is domiciled in the United States and meets the 125% line on their own can file a separate I-864. The joint sponsor does not have to be related to you or to the immigrant. There can be no more than two joint sponsors, and each "must be able to meet the income requirements for all the persons he or she is sponsoring without combining resources with the petitioning sponsor." A joint sponsor counts their own household the same way, including the immigrants they sponsor, so run the calculator again with their numbers. The petitioning sponsor still signs an I-864 and "remains legally accountable" along with the joint sponsor.

The obligation is real money. The USCIS I-864 page warns that if the sponsored immigrant receives means-tested public benefits, the agency that paid them can ask the sponsor to repay the cost and can sue to collect it. Anyone signing as a joint sponsor or on an I-864A takes on that risk too.

Common mistakes

Reading the wrong line of the tax return. The instructions say: "For purposes of this affidavit, the line for Total Income on IRS Forms 1040 and 1040A will be considered when determining income." On the 2025 Form 1040, total income is line 9. It is not adjusted gross income (line 11a) and not taxable income (line 15), both of which are smaller after deductions.

Using last year's return when this year's pay is higher. The form asks for your "current, individual, earned or retirement, annual income." The tax return for the most recent year is required evidence, but if you got a raise or a new job, the instructions let you show the current figure with "a recent letter from your employer" stating your annual salary, or "pay stubs showing your income for the previous six months." The reverse also holds: the form asks for current income, so if your pay dropped since the return, the lower current figure is the one to report.

Leaving someone out of the household. A child from a prior relationship who lives with the other parent, a nephew you claim on your taxes, a parent you sponsored in 2022. Each one raises the line.

Counting benefits as income. The instructions say "you may not include any means-tested public benefits as income." On the I-864P page, the federal ones are food stamps, Medicaid, SSI, TANF and SCHIP.

Using an old table or an old form. The poverty guidelines change every year, and USCIS updates I-864P when they do. On the form side, USCIS has accepted only the 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 since October 1, 2026, according to the alert on its I-864 page. That edition includes a privacy release that lets USCIS request your consumer credit report, and the page warns that a credit or security freeze can hold up the review. If you have one, be ready to lift it when asked.

Assuming the military rule covers a joint sponsor. The 100% line is only for the petitioning sponsor on active duty who is sponsoring a spouse or minor child. The instructions say it "does not apply to joint or substitute sponsors."

The I-864 comes at the green card stage: with the I-485 for a relative adjusting status here, or through the State Department for a relative abroad. For many relatives that is after a long wait for a visa number. Our guide to family-based immigration in Florida, I-130 petitions and the 2026 Visa Bulletin explains where it falls in the timeline.

Methodology and reuse

On October 26, 2026 we read USCIS Form I-864P (page last updated February 27, 2026, guidelines effective March 1, 2026), the Form I-864 instructions (edition 08/24/26), the USCIS Form I-864 page (last updated September 4, 2026) and the 2025 IRS Form 1040. The calculator holds the I-864P figures in one data object: the 100% and 125% amounts for households of 2 through 8 in each of the three regions, plus the per-person increments. For a household above 8 it adds the increment USCIS prints, rather than recomputing from the HHS base, so its answer always matches the USCIS table. The asset multiples (5, 3 and 1) and the 100% military rule come from the instructions. The I-864P page also carries an unlabeled table above the three labeled ones with lower figures ($24,650 at 125% for a household of 2); we used the labeled tables and ignored that one. Nothing is estimated. When HHS publishes new guidelines and USCIS updates I-864P, the data object and the dates on this page are updated together.

Every section heading carries a stable anchor id, and so does each row of the table (for example #hh-4) and the calculator's result figure (#i864-minimum).

Sources

• USCIS, I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support, effective March 1, 2026. Read October 26, 2026.
• USCIS, Instructions for Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA, edition 08/24/26: Part 5 (household size), Part 6 (income and tax returns), Part 7 (assets), and "What is a Joint Sponsor?"
• USCIS, I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA, edition alert and sponsor obligations.
• USCIS, I-864A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member.
• Internal Revenue Service, Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, 2025, line 9 (total income).

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This page is general information about published USCIS figures and instructions, not legal advice about your case. Whether a sponsor qualifies depends on the evidence in the specific case.