A person filing the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative must also file an Affidavit of Support for the person or persons sponsored. You are required to make $125% of the U.S. Poverty Guidelines to file the Affidavit of Support. The Poverty Guidelines are a sliding scale based on the number of persons in your household added to the number of persons being sponsored. For example, if you are married, have two children and are filing for your mother, that is a household of 5. Under the current guidelines, you would need to show that you have a family income of at least $43,625. If your family income is below that, you can show that you have assets such as savings, investments or property worth 5 times the difference. If you cannot show sufficient income or a combination of income and assets, you will need to have a joint Affidavit of Support completed by someone who does have sufficient income and/or assets. The current Affidavit of Support income guidelines can be found at: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-864p.pdf.