Thursday, February 16, 2012

Affidavit of Support. Crediting immigrant spouse with your own work credits

Naturally, you do not want an Affidavit of Support to haunt you later. Sponsor's Affidavit of Support obligations can terminate if the immigrant spouse claims 40 quarters of work credit, which is usually around 10 years of work. However, you can apply your own work credits to your noncitizen spouse’s tally, subject to the following requirements (INA Sec. 213 (A)(A)(3)(B)):




- Marriage must not have ended in divorce;


- Only credits acquired during marriage count;


- Quarters during which an immigrant spouse received public assistance do not count.


In order to start the process, contact the Social Security Administration to verify quarters to be credited, then call your lawyer; there are many other things you need to be concerned with.