As a U.S. citizen of a lawful permanent resident, you can sponsor certain relatives to obtain lawful permanent residency. If you are a citizen of the United States, immediate relatives would be your spouse, minor children, and your parents. Preference relatives are married children, children older than 21, and siblings. For permanent residents, preference relatives are spouses and children. The difference between an immediate and a preference relative is a matter of time; generally speaking immediate relatives do not have to wait for their green cards.
A sponsor needs to reside in the United States or a U.S. territory. If you yourself are outside the country and want to sponsor someone, then you will have to prove that you plan to return to the United States for good. This proof could look something like showing that you paid taxes, that you have bank accounts in the country, that you have a house here, or that you voted, etc.
Apart from certain age requirements (a sponsor will need to be at least 18 or 21, depending on who is being sponsored) there is also the Affidavit of Support, Form I-864, which needs to be filled out. Hopefully, you will get the Form I-864EZ which is a much easier form to read and fill out. You can get this form if you are only sponsoring one person and your income is by itself enough to fulfill sponsorship requirements.
The Affidavit of Support means legal responsibility to support the relative who is trying to get a green card. If a sponsor fails to meet this responsibility, then the government can sue to recover the amount of public benefits that were given to your relative. Your relative could also sue. As a sponsor, you would have the duty to provide for your relative until he or she becomes a U.S. citizen, has worked for around 10 years, leaves the U.S. for good, or dies. It is important to note that divorce does not end this duty; you would still be responsible for your ex-spouse. A sponsor cannot get out of their duty to support their relative by moving away; sponsors have to report a change of address to the USCIS, through Form I-865. They have 30 days to do this after the relocation. If a sponsor fails to do this, then they could be fined $250 or as much as $5,000.
What if you cannot afford to be a sponsor on your own? You have a couple of options to still make sponsorship work. For example, you could take another job, or get a new one. Of course, this is not exactly straightforward or simple, but if you can pull it off, it could be worth it in the long run. Even if this means taking on a second job, you do not have to keep it, not once your relative has a green card. As long as you know you can live on just your one job without welfare, then you essentially only the need the second job long enough to be approved.
If your income is not going to be enough to be a sponsor, however, you can turn other members of your household to ask for their income to be counted in the application. This means that anyone who signs Form I-864A is responsible to pay for support if the main sponsor is not doing so. Finally, if you need to find further financial help elsewhere, you can try to find a joint sponsor. This sponsor would have to meet all the qualifications of a sponsor, and would have to have a qualifying income on his or her own. What this means though, is if you are sponsoring an adult and two kids, for example, perhaps you can fully support one person, and the joint sponsor could support the other two. In that way, with your pooled resources you can meet the support requirements.
As with any matter in immigration, helping a relative obtain a green card can be a highly complex matter. If you have any questions about eligibility, or about what to do, please do not hesitate to get expert help from an immigration lawyer today.