What happens if a sponsor who has signed the new affidavit of support dies?
The obligation to support the alien terminates with the sponsor’s death, but the sponsor’s estate would still be obligated to repay any obligations accrued before the sponsor’s death. If there is a joint sponsor and only one of the sponsors died, the remaining sponsor would remain liable under the affidavit of support. For deportation purposes, if a sponsor has died and there is no joint sponsor, there is no legal obligation under the affidavit of support to repay any means-tested benefits. This means that the first prong of the test for deportation would not be met and the sponsored alien would not become deportable based on the affidavit of support.
