Question about photos

[Jughead 3]

I have kind of a unique question regarding photographs to submit along with the evidence for ROC.

My wife and I got married legally in Japan in Jan 2013. We did not have a big ceremony, just went to the local city hall and then had a very small reception with her immediate family in Japan a couple days later. This was all documented when I petitioned for her CR-1 visa.

After my wife moved to the US, in May 2014 we had a more traditional wedding and reception with our families and friends. This included the church, wedding dress, wedding reception hall, etc.

My question is if we include pictures from the May 2014 wedding, could that raise any questions with USCIS as to when we were really married? Maybe it's a dumb question, but something I've been thinking about.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Jughead

[Cheezees 1,514]

I would not bother to include wedding photos. It has already been established that you are both wed and photos are some of the weakest evidence (as well as affidavits and junk mail).

Edited June 30, 2015 by Cheezees

[tuckin14 58]

I'm not sure I agree about the photos.

The more I consider the process, the more I realize that the marginal cases are subjective. If your evidence is strong, you will get approved. If it's marginal or weak, you will get approved if the IO senses you are a legitimate couple. If couples A and B both have the same weak evidence file, but the IO senses couple A are for real and B aren't, he can approve A and no one will object and there will be no written precedent.

I had no wedding pictures. None. My wife wouldn't allow any to be taken.

As an IO, I would not conclude that because a couple just went to the courthouse with no fanfare that they can't be bona fide. But if I saw they had a big wedding with family and friends, it would make it much harder to reconcile it with the idea that it was all a sham. Most people don't drop $10-50K on a party just to make it "look good." In the case of a marginal evidence file, I think it would have some weight, with me anyway. More than affidavits (which can be coached and given with little belief behind them) or junk mail.

[khwaidee1 196]

I just had an interview last week. After going quickly through all the financial stuff, the IO did look at all the pictures and commented on them. We brought some additional pictures of some trips since filing. He looked through all of them as well. We had a tourist 8 X 10 taken in Vientanne, Laos in April. We didn't make a copy of it so he made a copy of it for our file. Maybe anecdotal but, our IO did look at all of them.

[Jughead 3]

Thanks for your responses. I guess it comes down to what the IO is like.

Part of me is saying I should not include the US wedding photos, but part of me is saying it may be worth sending in one or two.

I guess I could highlight in the cover letter that we got married legally in Japan and then had a cerimonial wedding after my wife moved back to the US so the IO doesn't get confused.