We will be applying for Removal of Conditions on my husband's green card in about a month. We are kind of weak on evidence and are thinking that sending cell phone records showing frequent calls between us might be helpful. (Actually, a friend of a friend casually knows somebody at USCIS and asked him for general suggestions on what to submit as proof of marriage, and cell phone bills was one of the things he mentioned.)

My reason for concern is that my husband and I don't have a joint cellphone plan. I've been on a family plan with some of my relatives since 3-4 years ago and the bills are in my mom's name. Hubby got his own cellphone plan because his previous employer reimbursed him for the bill (his current employer doesn't, but he's stuck in a two-year contract).

I wonder if not having a joint plan would be seen as a "red flag" of some sort? Or would it be okay to just include a note that we kept separate plans since hubby was reimbursed for his own cellphone bills at work?

I am probably overanalyzing this and am inclined to think we should just include the cell phone records, since more evidence is generally better than less. This whole process is stressing me out to no end-- we were lucky to get through AOS without an interview, and this is the first time we've had to gather evidence of our marriage.

Any opinions and/or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

You can only provide the information that you have. Just supply as much evidence as you possibly can. Even bills, etc. that are mailed to each of you at the same address, even if they're only under one of your names, at least shows that you live at the same address.

If you have mortgage or lease documents, that is one of the best pieces of evidence you can provide. You could also include: medical insurance cards with both your names on them, life insurance policies showing one of you as beneficiary on the other's policy, etc.

Good luck for a successful process.

Focus on what you have and not what you don't have.

You have made it this far. You will be just fine.

Good luck!

I don't think you can use the cellphone bills because the one you're on shows your Mom's name on it. You can send in other bills, even if they are addressed individually to you or your husband, as long as they are all sent to the same address...your home address.

If you feel that your financial proof are not very strong, perhaps you can ask your friends to prepare affidavits.

Thanks for the reassuring comments-- it really does make me feel better. My husband calls me a worrywart -- meanwhile, he couldn't even tell you when his own greencard expires!

I think the main reason for my anxiety is that our apartment is owned by relatives and there is no lease/mortgage/deed in our names, so we have to resort to secondary evidence to show that we are actually living together. Our previous apartment was also rented from family. (We have been very lucky to have family that was able to help us out with living arrangements!) We don't have a car or any other joint property, don't have kids.

Here is a list of the evidence we should be able to provide, in addition to cell phone records:
- Notarized letter from my parents about our housing situation
- Copy of our state IDs showing same address
- Copies of Change of Address confirmations from the Post Office for both of us from when we moved last year
- Copy of bills in each of our names with same address (our electric bill is in both names, the other bills are in one name)
- Apartment insurance in both our names
- Tax returns/transcripts showing joint filing in 2006 and 2007
- Copies of joint bank account statements from throughout our marriage (maybe 5 statements per year?)
- Copies of credit cards showing the same account number as well as receipts showing purchases made by each of us on the same card
- Copies of enrollment forms for joint health insurance, first with my employer (when we first got married) then with hubby's employer (as of a few months ago)
- Confirmation that we are beneficiaries on each other's IRA retirement plans
- Designation of Beneficiary Forms that my husband filled out when he started his current job
- Photos of us with family and on vacations (combined with boarding passes from a couple of plane trips)

Well, hopefully that's a reasonable amount of evidence, if anyone has other suggestions, please post them

I think we will also ask a couple of friends for affidavits, although I really hate bothering them about it, but it probably would be a good idea since our application is weak in other areas.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about my mom's cell phone bill, since it doesn't have my name (although from my mom's last name matching my maiden name, they could tell that we are related). I do have my own account on the cellphone company's website that gives me access to records for just my cellphone number, even though it 's part of a family plan. When I log in it shows my name and phone number in the corner. (The name is the one I entered into my online profile.) But the actual bill my mom gets in the mail doesn't have my name.

Anyway, we do have electricity bills in both names, cable bills in my name and phone/internet bills in hubby's name. All showing the same address. I agree those are better evidence and we'll definitely be including samples from throughout our marriage.

Thanks for the feedback!

It looks like you have a good list of evidence. I only sent two statements per year for our joint account. The notarized letter from your parents regarding your living arrangements is a good substitute for a lease agreement. I think you're good to go!

Good luck!

A good substitute is affidavits from friends and family

I would also recommend having a couple of friends/neighbors write affidavits. I didn't, because I thought our evidence was strong enough (joint bank statements, lease, bills sent to same address, card/letters to both of us, about 15 pictures, ticket stubs from vacations, joint tax transcripts, receipts from wedding, IDs with same address, joint transit card account printout) and didn't want to bother them. Unfortunately, we got the dreaded RFE, which requested affidavits from people we know, a letter describing our marriage, g325as for both of us, and W2s (which I had already sent). I got all this together along with what I had sent before and a bit more of everything and sent it off. We we approved about a month later! So the moral of the story is affidavits are probably a good idea. You may also want to include a letter about the highlights of your marriage.

Thank you ALL for the feedback and suggestions!

rachel,
I can't believe you got an RFE after sending all that evidence! I definitely want to avoid an RFE. I will try to get at least 2 affidavits, although our closest friends here are not U.S. citizens (which I think is what USCIS prefers for affidavits), but in the end I can only provide what we have.

I hadn't thought to write a letter describing our marriage -- I can certainly put that together and put it toward the front of our application.

hi LJ! i was wondering if you can share with me how did you prepare the notarized letter from your parents about your housing situation. im thinking of doing the same thing ..my problem is, we are living w/ our parents in law & house is under their names. so probable i could ask them to sign an affidavit.. pls help!!!

mylntn,

We actually haven't gotten the notarized letter yet, but I was thinking of something along these lines:

Dear USCIS Examiner:

We are the parents of [USC] and own Apt. [#] at [Address]. Through this letter, we attest that [USC] and [Immigrant Spouse] have resided in this apartment together since [Date]. Since moving into the apartment, they have been paying all of the bills related to the residence, including the mortgage and monthly maintenance.

If you should have any questions for us, please do not hesitate to contact us at ___________ to verify any of the information stated in this letter.

Sincerely,

_____________
Mother's Name, Address, Date of Birth, Birthplace

______________
Father's Name, Address, Date of Birth, Birthplace

[NOTARY SEAL]

The final version will probably have more detail, and if anybody reading this has put together a similar letter, we would certainly welcome any suggestions for improving it!

Why not add a section in your parent's letter to also make it an Affidavit about your relationship? As far as I can tell affidavits can be from friends or family members...