A new initiative by Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) could mean that government agencies will be suing I-864 sponsors. The program is referred to as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) initiative.

By signing the I-864 - a contract with the U.S. government - a sponsor makes two promises. First, he promises to ensure that the immigrant will have income at or above 125% of the Federal Poverty Guideline. (Our law firm helps immigrant sue sponsors when they fail to provide that support). The second promise is to repay the government for certain types of public benefits if given to the immigrant.

When it comes to the sponsor’s responsibility to financially support the immigrant, that is enforced only by the immigrant herself. The government plays no role in enforcing that support obligation, and in fact has no legal basis for making the sponsor pay the required support.

But the government - and only the government - can recover the cost of federally-funded benefits paid to the immigrant. Historically, no government agency that we are aware of has routinely done that. In fact, some states - such as Washington - do not even have a procedure at all for suing sponsors. Last year, however, the federal government considering making it mandatory for agencies to sue sponsors when sponsored immigrants received benefits. The new SAVE initiative is a significant step in that direction.

As a practical matter, it is unclear how often sponsors could potentially face liability under the SAVE initiative. Most federal programs are unavailable to new immigrants for the first five years of their residency, although some limited exceptions apply.

Nonetheless, this is a significant development, and certainly something an individual should be aware of before signing the I-864.