Is joint bank account really important?

[Katherine93 30]

Hi!

I'm adjusting my status from F1 visa through marriage with my husband and we are scheduled for interview on December 8th. I'm gathering evidence for the interview and I was wondering how important is joint bank account, joint life insurance, etc.? We are both pretty young (22/23). We have kept our bank accounts separate as we didn't see the need. I have my own insurance from my graduate school and he doesn't have health insurance. Neither of us has life insurance I think...I was insured back in China by my mom? We have been married for 1 year and 8 months, been together for 3 years, and have lived together for 2 and half.

I have plenty of evidence to show cohabitation and genuine relationship/marriage including:

- Joint apartment leases from the past 3 apartments that we have lived in

- Copy of current and old driver's licenses from both of us showing same address

- Utility bills showing same address from both of us

- Joint car insurance for our current and old cars

- Tax transcript filed jointly as a married couple

- Hotel and flight bookings for multiple trips we had taken together as a couple, to different states and cities

- Tickets of concerts we had gone together

- Phone records showing calls between us pretty much over the span of our relationship (not sure if I'm actually going to print all of those out and bring them though...)

- Photo and ownership proof of our cat which we adopted together

- Tons of photos of us over the span of our relationship/marriage, including us at different events, parties, family gatherings, holidays, with friends and family members from both sides etc.

I saw a lot of people talking about the importance of joint bank accounts/credit cards/life insurance. Would that really affect the approval of my green card?

Thank you very much for your inputs!

[JaMerican_2019 34]

You have a lot of evidence. I don't think it matters. I submitted mine without but they will ask u why u didn't show joint co mingling of funds so I will bring my joint account info to my interview.

[Katherine93 30]

You have a lot of evidence. I don't think it matters. I submitted mine without but they will ask u why u didn't show joint co mingling of funds so I will bring my joint account info to my interview.

Thanks for the reply! I was thinking maybe I can add him to my credit card or add myself to his, but the interview is in a month and I would be doing this solely for immigration purpose honestly so I wasn't sure..

[JaMerican_2019 34]

Thanks for the reply! I was thinking maybe I can add him to my credit card or add myself to his, but the interview is in a month and I would be doing this solely for immigration purpose honestly so I wasn't sure..

Well a lot of activity probably won't be generated in a month on your statements but let them know something valid about why u waited so long to get a joint account or something. But I think you'll be fine

[DrEllaNJ 288]

adding your husband you your bank account is easy enough, just both walk into the bank with his ID/soc sec. You'd get a confirmation that he's on your account immediately, and perhaps a statement by the end of the month/beginning of next. Just my two cents. You seem to have a lot already though.

My husband added me on his and I added him on mine, and we'll probably both continue to use our separate accounts for our respective paychecks, out of habit. But we can access each others' account in times of need.

[Katherine93 30]

adding your husband you your bank account is easy enough, just both walk into the bank with his ID/soc sec. You'd get a confirmation that he's on your account immediately, and perhaps a statement by the end of the month/beginning of next. Just my two cents. You seem to have a lot already though.

My husband added me on his and I added him on mine, and we'll probably both continue to use our separate accounts for our respective paychecks, out of habit. But we can access each others' account in times of need.

Yeah we kept our accounts separate for the reason of paychecks too. Just seems much easier that way lol But I see what you are saying. I will add ourselves to each other's account soon. I guess I could explain to the IO that we have always been mostly financially independent since we are both young but we also have access to each other's financial resources if anything happens.

[DrEllaNJ 288]

I brought a ton of bank account statements to the interview and the interviewer didn't even ask for them. She just asked for evidence of our relationship. The joint finances are probably more important when you file to remove conditions.

[Katherine93 30]

I brought a ton of bank account statements to the interview and the interviewer didn't even ask for them. She just asked for evidence of our relationship. The joint finances are probably more important when you file to remove conditions.

Awesome. That is reassuring

[dmck 80]

We dont have joint bank accounts and we are through her 10yr gc. We have lots of other co-mingled stuff; cars, insurance, bills, etc, we submitted no more than 20 pages on her roc and about the same on Aos.

[Katherine93 30]

We dont have joint bank accounts and we are through her 10yr gc. We have lots of other co-mingled stuff; cars, insurance, bills, etc, we submitted no more than 20 pages on her roc and about the same on Aos.

That's good to hear! Seems like not having joint bank accounts is not gonna be a deal breaker if we have a lot of other evidence

[jakartausa 28]

A joint Checking is one of the first things they check for to prove your relationship is real. I cant say how i know this because I will get in trouble with the mods here but believe me its numero uno on the list.

[Katherine93 30]

A joint Checking is one of the first things they check for to prove your relationship is real. I cant say how i know this because I will get in trouble with the mods here but believe me its numero uno on the list.

Well honestly, I find it kinda hard to believe that USCIS would deny a couple SOLELY for not having a joint bank account....I mean we have joint tax transcripts and many other joint stuff to prove a bona fide marriage. I definitely agree that having a joint account would help to prove, more or less. But we have been married for almost 2 years without a joint account and it would be kind of useless (or even suspicious) to open one right before the interview showing little history on the statement anyway. Thanks for your input, though

Edited November 4, 2016 by Katherine93

[kris&me 572]

off the subject of your AOS you should both have health insurance as it is a costly fine at IRS tax return time if you do not

i had added my husband to bank account before he entered the US as someone here advised adding him to my tax returns and getting the ITIN so i could add him

Looks like you have plenty of evidence but even at your young age, you could both write up a will naming each other as beneficiary

[Katherine93 30]

off the subject of your AOS you should both have health insurance as it is a costly fine at IRS tax return time if you do not

i had added my husband to bank account before he entered the US as someone here advised adding him to my tax returns and getting the ITIN so i could add him

Looks like you have plenty of evidence but even at your young age, you could both write up a will naming each other as beneficiary

Yeah, I do have insurance myself. My husband chose not to this year because he was financially struggling with his tuition and stuff. We actually compared the penalty and the premium and found out it would cost less to just not have insurance this year for him. I know it sounds kinda stupid...I'm going to convince him to get insured next year

And that is an excellent idea, I will look more into that