Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from the Ranchod Law Group welcome to Ranchod Law TV. Today we are going to be talking about what is called USCIS SAVE program. The USCIS SAVE program is important for you so stay tuned to learn how this affects you, especially when you are sponsoring someone for their green card.
Let’s talk about how the USCIS SAVE program will affect you because if you are sponsoring someone for a green card there’s a form called the I-864 Affidavit Of Support. With the Affidavit Of Support, you are signing a contract with the government stating that if the applicant takes any kind of or certain types of means to take public benefits, you’re going to be responsible.
So with this USCIS SAVE program initiative it’s providing a system for the sponsoring agencies to get that information. And how this could come into play is for instance if that agency wants to enforce that affidavit of support then they can file a court order to collect the money.
Let’s look at a hypothetical situation here, where Maria is a citizen of the United States and Juan is the applicant. They are filing for a marriage-based green card. Some of the forms that Maria will file are the I-130 petition and they’re establishing the real relationship as part of that i-130 petition. The I-131 advanced parole document just in case Juan wants to travel and I-765 work authorization because Juan must be able to work.
Right now this process is taking approximately five to six months. And you know, these times could always change with government processing times. Part of that application is the I-864 affidavit of support, so that becomes very important. Then there’s also a new form as well, that has been added, and there’s been a lot of debate with the new public charge rules as well.
Therefore, I invite you to contact us at (916) 613-3553 if you have questions related to the new USCIS SAVE program, because the rules have been changing. Now let’s go back to that I-864 affidavit of support. That’s what I mentioned before, where Maria could be the sponsor if she makes enough money to show that Juan’s not going to be a public charge. But if she doesn’t, then she would need a joint sponsor and then, in this case, the joint sponsor would be responsible if Juan took the means-tested public benefits.
Now with the new public charge rule there are also additional requirements in addition to the affidavit of support form. However, the I-864 affidavit support form is the actual contract that the sponsor is making with the government, so it’s important.
If you have any questions about the procedure I have described, talk to an attorney since you are signing a contract with the government when you are the sponsor.
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Additional Information about the USCIS SAVE Program
- The objective of the USCIS SAVE Program is to provide fast, secure and reliable immigration status information to assist benefit-granting agencies in maintaining their program integrity.
- The USCIS SAVE program provides information about sponsors to agencies that administer federal means-tested public benefits. With this new SAVE initiative, USCIS is asking these agencies to now share how they use the SAVE sponsorship information in their sponsor assessment and agency reimbursement processes. The collected information will help participating agencies learn and improve how they use sponsor information to make eligibility determinations and hold sponsors accountable. This initiative will also allow USCIS to improve how it administers the SAVE program and help agencies that administer benefits programs better meet obligations under agency reimbursement laws and regulations.
- This new SAVE initiative stems from the May 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Enforcing the Legal Responsibilities of Sponsors of Aliens, to ensure more effective compliance in determining eligibility for federal means-tested benefits and reimbursement requirements.
- The Trump administration has made it clear with the USCIS SAVE program that existing immigration laws must be enforced, and sponsors of aliens should be held legally accountable for the financial responsibilities they willingly accept.