Pay Stubs for Immigration Applications
USCIS lists pay stubs as optional support for the I-864, not a requirement. What the form instructions say, and what the I-134 asks for instead.
This article is general information about what the immigration forms say. It is not legal or immigration advice. Form editions change, filing requirements vary by case, and the only instructions that govern yours are the ones packaged with the current form. Download the form from uscis.gov and talk to a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative before you file.
Most pages on this topic get the short answer backwards.
For Form I-864, the Affidavit of Support, pay stubs are optional supporting evidence. The document you are actually required to file is your federal income tax return, or an IRS transcript, for the most recent tax year.
Stubs still matter, though. The I-864 asks you to state your current individual annual income, and a return filed last April cannot prove what you earn this month. Pay stubs are the ordinary way to close that gap.
Which form applies to your case
A lot of the confusion here comes from reading advice written about a different form. There are four in play, and they are not interchangeable.
Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA. Used for family-based immigrant visas and adjustment of status. It is a contract with the US government that imposes a legally enforceable obligation to support the sponsored immigrant. The obligation runs until the immigrant naturalizes or is credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work, and the instructions state plainly that divorce does not end it (I-864 Instructions, 10/17/24 edition, p. 16). If the sponsored immigrant receives certain means-tested public benefits, the agency that paid them can ask the sponsor for repayment and sue to recover it.
Form I-864EZ. A shorter version with narrow eligibility. Its instructions (10/17/24 edition) let you use it only if you are the person who filed the underlying petition (Form I-129F, I-130, I-600, or I-800), the relative you are sponsoring is the only person listed on that petition, and the income you are using to qualify comes entirely from your own salary or pension as shown on IRS Form W-2s.
Form I-864A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member. Required whenever a household member’s income is counted toward the household total. The household member signs it.
Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support. Used in nonimmigrant and temporary-stay contexts. It is a declaration, not the section 213A contract, and its beneficiaries are not obligated to repay their supporter. Its evidence list is different, and a later section covers it.
USCIS paused acceptance of Form I-134A on January 28, 2025, pending a review of the categorical parole processes. Check the alerts page on uscis.gov for its current status.
The two main forms do not substitute for each other. An I-134 will not satisfy a case that calls for an I-864, and vice versa.
What the I-864 instructions actually say about pay stubs
Most articles paraphrase this paragraph into something it does not say. From the I-864 Instructions, 10/17/24 edition, page 10:
“You may include evidence supporting your claim about your expected income for the current year if you believe that submitting this evidence will help you establish ability to maintain sufficient income. You are not required to submit this evidence, however, unless specifically instructed to do so by a U.S. Government official. For example, you may include a recent letter from your employer… You may also provide pay stubs showing your income for the previous six months.”
Two words carry the whole section: may and not required.
What is required is narrower and clearer. You must provide either an IRS transcript or a photocopy from your own records of your federal individual income tax return for the most recent tax year, counting from the date you sign the form. You can optionally include the three most recent years if that helps your case.
The choice between a transcript and a photocopy has a consequence. If you send photocopies of the return, you must include a copy of each and every Form W-2 and Form 1099 that relates to it. If you send a transcript, you generally do not need to attach those separately, because the transcript already reflects them. For consular cases, the National Visa Center recommends transcripts, on the grounds that they contain the information needed and process more efficiently.
Where the “six months” number comes from
Readers get three different answers to “how many stubs” from three different websites, and none of them says where its number came from. They split like this:
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| I-864 Instructions (10/17/24) | You may provide pay stubs showing your income for the previous six months. Not required absent an official’s instruction. |
| Common practice | Attorneys and consular posts frequently ask for the two or three most recent stubs, or the last 30 to 60 days. This is convention, not a rule in the instructions. |
| A specific request | If USCIS, the NVC, or a consular officer asks you for a particular set of documents, that request governs. |
Sending recent stubs you already have is cheap and often helpful. Chasing six months of stubs from a job you left is usually worth less than getting the tax transcript right.
Current income versus last year’s tax return
The income test is stated as a percentage, which is why it stays true year to year when the dollar figures do not. A sponsor’s income must exceed 125% of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for their household size. It drops to 100% only for a sponsor on active duty in the US Armed Forces or Coast Guard petitioning for a spouse or child. USCIS publishes the dollar tables on its I-864P page (the 2026 tables took effect March 1, 2026). Read them there, because figures copied into articles go stale quietly.
Household size is where most people go wrong, because it is a count of specific categories rather than a guess. It includes the sponsor, the sponsor’s spouse, dependent children, other dependents claimed on the most recent tax return, anyone previously sponsored on an I-864 who has immigrated and is still an obligation, any non-dependent relative in the residence whose income is counted (each signs an I-864A), and every intending immigrant on this affidavit.
For the income figure itself, the instructions say the “Total Income” line on Form 1040 is what will be considered. Means-tested public benefits cannot be counted toward the requirement.
Now the common scenario. Last year’s return shows income below the threshold and the current job pays above it. Recent stubs plus an employer letter stating the salary and whether the position is permanent are how that is shown. If you are annualizing from year-to-date figures on a stub, what YTD means on a pay stub covers how to read those numbers correctly.
The reverse happens too. Someone’s return looks strong and their current income has dropped since. Stubs cut both ways, and the answer is still to submit accurate ones. If current income falls short, the recognized paths are assets, a household member’s income through an I-864A, or a joint sponsor, who does not need to be related to the intending immigrant but must independently meet 125% for their own household size.
When there are no pay stubs to send
Plenty of sponsors have no stubs at all, and the instructions accommodate that.
Self-employed sponsors. The instructions direct you to the Schedule C, D, E, or F filed with your return, and require every Form 1040 schedule you filed to be included. In practice a year-to-date profit and loss statement and copies of 1099-NECs get added. There is no employer in the picture, so there is no stub to produce.
Independent contractors. A payer is not an employer and does not issue pay stubs. The 1099s and the tax return do the work here. Our post on 1099 contractor pay stubs explains why the substitute documentation looks different.
Retirement, Social Security, pension, alimony, dividends. The instructions allow evidence of income from any other source: award letters, Form 1099-R, Form SSA-1099, court orders, bank records.
Newly hired. An offer letter plus an employer letter stating the salary and whether the role is permanent, along with whatever stubs exist so far.
Paid in cash by a small employer. This one has an employer-side answer rather than an applicant-side one: the employer should be running real payroll and issuing itemized stubs going forward.
For a wider treatment of the substitutes, see proof of income without a pay stub.
The I-134 evidence list works differently
This is the part most articles flatten, and getting it wrong changes what you send.
The I-134 instructions list supporting evidence that includes a statement from a bank officer showing the date the account was opened, the total deposited over the past year, and the present balance; a statement from an employer on business stationery showing the date and nature of employment, salary paid, and whether the position is temporary or permanent; and a copy of the last federal income tax return filed or a tax transcript.
Then comes the conditional:
“If you did not file a Federal tax return, or if your Federal tax return does not properly reflect your current income, submit copies of consecutive pay statements (stubs) for a minimum of the past month, recent Form W-2, or Form SSA-1099.”
So on the I-134, stubs are an explicit fallback, triggered when the return is missing or unrepresentative, and the stated minimum is one month of consecutive statements rather than six. That is a different rule from the I-864. The instructions also warn that failure to provide evidence of sufficient income may result in denial of the beneficiary’s request. This form has been revised more than once, so check the current edition on its uscis.gov page before assembling anything.
What to bring to the interview, and a word on honesty
For consular immigrant visa cases, financial evidence goes to the National Visa Center through CEAC before the interview is scheduled. Bring copies of what was uploaded.
For an adjustment of status interview, sponsors commonly bring the most recent tax return or transcript, the associated W-2s or 1099s, recent pay stubs, and a current employer letter, particularly if anyone changed jobs since filing. That list reflects practice. The instructions on your interview notice govern.
Fabricated evidence is fraud
Submitting invented or altered pay stubs, employer letters, or tax documents to USCIS or a consular officer is fraud.
The I-864 instructions state that the US government may pursue verification of any information provided on or in support of the affidavit. Employers get called. Transcripts get pulled. What is at stake is bigger than a rejected document: a finding of willful misrepresentation under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i), which can permanently bar the beneficiary, plus criminal exposure under 18 U.S.C. sections 1001 and 1546 for whoever made the document.
A pay stub is a record of payroll that already ran. If the payroll did not run, the stub does not exist, and the honest path is one of the alternatives above.
If you are the employer being asked for stubs
There is a version of this question that lands on the other side of the desk. A nanny, a caregiver, or a shop employee asks for itemized pay stubs because they need income records of their own, sometimes for immigration paperwork, more often for an apartment or a loan. You have been paying them properly by check or transfer, but you never issued a stub.
That is a records problem with a clean fix. The stub has to reflect payroll you actually ran: real pay periods, real gross, real withholding, real net, accurate year-to-date totals. Payslip44 builds that document from the payroll records you already have, on-device, with decimal-precise math so the totals reconcile. The same records serve your worker in the more common case covered in pay stubs for a rental application.
The short version
For the I-864, the tax return or transcript is the requirement and pay stubs are optional support that evidences current income. For the I-134, stubs are a conditional fallback with a one-month minimum. Household size and the 125% rule decide whether income qualifies, and when it does not, assets, an I-864A household member, or a joint sponsor are the recognized answers.
Check every rule here against the current forms at uscis.gov and the immigrant visa guidance at travel.state.gov, and against an immigration attorney who knows your file. Nothing on this page substitutes for either.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are pay stubs required for the I-864 Affidavit of Support?
No. The instructions (10/17/24 edition) require the most recent federal tax return or an IRS transcript. Pay stubs are listed as evidence you may provide, and the instructions say you are not required to submit it unless specifically instructed to do so by a U.S. Government official. Sponsors still send stubs often, because stubs evidence current income in a way a year-old return cannot.
How many pay stubs should I send with the I-864?
The instructions mention pay stubs showing your income for the previous six months. Many practitioners send only the two or three most recent stubs. That shorter number comes from practice, not from the instructions, so follow any specific request you receive from USCIS, the National Visa Center, or the consulate.
What is the difference between the I-864 and the I-134?
The I-864 is used for family-based immigrant visas and adjustment of status, and it creates a legally enforceable support obligation between the sponsor and the US government. The I-134 is a declaration of financial support used in temporary-stay contexts. It does not create that same contract, and its supporting evidence list is different and shorter.
Do I need pay stubs for the I-134?
Only conditionally. The I-134 instructions ask for the last federal tax return or transcript. If you did not file a return, or the return does not properly reflect your current income, they ask for consecutive pay statements for a minimum of the past month, a recent Form W-2, or a Form SSA-1099.
What if I am self-employed and do not get pay stubs?
You are not expected to have them. The I-864 instructions point to the Schedule C, D, E, or F you filed and require every Form 1040 schedule that went with your return. A year-to-date profit and loss statement, 1099-NECs, and bank records are common additions. Do not create stubs for yourself to fill the gap.
My tax return shows less than I earn now. Does that disqualify me?
Not automatically. The form asks for current individual annual income, which can differ from last year's total income. Recent pay stubs and a current employer letter are the usual way to show a raise or a new job. If current income is still short, the options include assets, a household member's income via Form I-864A, or a joint sponsor.
How much income does an I-864 sponsor need?
Generally 125% of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for the sponsor's household size, or 100% if the sponsor is on active duty in the US Armed Forces or Coast Guard and is petitioning for a spouse or child. The dollar amounts change every year. Check the current I-864P table on uscis.gov rather than a figure copied from a blog.
Can I make my own pay stubs for an immigration application?
No. A pay stub is a record an employer issues from payroll that actually ran. Creating or altering financial documents for USCIS or a consulate is fraud, and it can lead to denial, a permanent misrepresentation finding, and criminal liability. If you are an employer who has been paying wages without issuing itemized stubs, the fix is to start issuing accurate stubs from your real payroll records.