RFE bank statements not joint account

[Cybery 1]

Hi, 

 

RFE is asking for joint bank account statements past 3 years.Me and my husband do not have joint bank account. Do I need to send my own bank account statements and his for past 3 years? For every single month past 3 years?

 

I have been printing past 7 months omg so much paperwork,1 month bank statement is 4 pages long. 

 

Dealing with insurance,utility companies,and banks is insane everyone takes 10 or more days to deliver the letter. 

 

I am so stressed out I literally had to take off work because I could not concentrate on anything. Already have huge stack of papers,ran out of ink,and blank papers. 

Edited April 10, 2017 by Cybery

[njblue 51]

1 hour ago, Cybery said:

Hi, 

 

RFE is asking for joint bank account statements past 3 years.Me and my husband do not have joint bank account. Do I need to send my own bank account statements and his for past 3 years? For every single month past 3 years?

 

I have been printing past 7 months omg so much paperwork,1 month bank statement is 4 pages long. 

 

Dealing with insurance,utility companies,and banks is insane everyone takes 10 or more days to deliver the letter. 

 

I am so stressed out I literally had to take off work because I could not concentrate on anything. Already have huge stack of papers,ran out of ink,and blank papers. 

What did you sent initially? If you guys don't have joint acc send all from both  statements for the last 3 years , yeah sounds crazy but they like that lol. Good luck !!

[Mollie09 1,543]

If you don't have joint accounts, did you send an explanation of why not? It's not a good sign, and sending your separate statements makes no sense.

[QueenComley 295]

When you did AOS you must have known that one of the requirements for this whole process and ROC is co-mingling finances.... why did you both decide to go ahead and set up separate bank accounts? Put pen to paper and write a letter in response to the RFE explaining why this was the case... that's all you can do. Sending a billion pages of separate bank account statements are fruitless... They have specified JOINT bank account statements.

[mindthegap 2,521]

You can't send what you don't have.

And yes, the multiple ink cartridges and paper is so very wasteful. Perhaps I should invoice USCIS for them at a later date.

 

1 hour ago, QueenComley said:

When you did AOS you must have known that one of the requirements for this whole process and ROC is co-mingling finances.... why did you both decide to go ahead and set up separate bank accounts? 

Not everyone does AOS.

Many people don't make life choices for the sake of USCIS - and rightly so.

It is proof of a bonafide relationship - which comes in many, many forms - that is required, not proof of sculpting your relationship to suit a checklist that USCIS have decided to create. 

If it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist, simple as that.

 

Personally our joint account was used for little other than transferring money between our solo accounts for bills. As it happens, one of the joint accounts we opened was closed (without notification - cheers Bank of America!) due to inactivity...

[Cybery 1]

1 hour ago, QueenComley said:

When you did AOS you must have known that one of the requirements for this whole process and ROC is co-mingling finances.... why did you both decide to go ahead and set up separate bank accounts? Put pen to paper and write a letter in response to the RFE explaining why this was the case... that's all you can do. Sending a billion pages of separate bank account statements are fruitless... They have specified JOINT bank account statements.

Yes I did know but that doesnt mean we have to have joint account.There is no law that states when you get married you have to have joint account lol. We did have one in 2013-2014 but that didnt work for us so we just continued to use our personal accounts which we had before we even met. 

 

 

 

 

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

Yeah, I just printed out 20 months of statements at 4-5 pages each. Whew! I initially thought of just sending the first "cover" page of each statement but the USCIS instructions are pretty clear... they want to see the full statement with the complete list of transactions.

[Cybery 1]

Thank you all for your replies. We met with immigration lawyer today and everything is good. Despite not having joint account we have plenty of other evidence.

 

 

 

 

[njblue 51]

17 minutes ago, Cybery said:

Yes I did know but that doesnt mean we have to have joint account.There is no law that states when you get married you have to have joint account lol. We did have one in 2013-2014 but that didnt work for us so we just continued to use our personal accounts which we had before we even met. 

 

 

 

 

I read other posts some people got approved with separate accounts just send both individual accounts at the end it will show you both pay bills etc. So don't stress out about it  

Edited April 11, 2017 by njblue

[QueenOfBlades 224]

It depends on other evidence. I sent joint accounts but didn't have a lease, and included a letter of explanation in my initial submission, and I've been called in for interview.

[QueenComley 295]

4 hours ago, Cybery said:

Yes I did know but that doesnt mean we have to have joint account.There is no law that states when you get married you have to have joint account lol. We did have one in 2013-2014 but that didnt work for us so we just continued to use our personal accounts which we had before we even met. 

 

 

 

 

As there is no law this should pose no problem for USCIS if you chose to have separate accounts then

[Armenia 18]

When you submit bank statements, you don't have to print every page of each statement. I only printed the first page of each statement. The first page usually has a summary of the transactions. Other pages just contain details of the summary. 

 

I also didn't print all statements. For every year, I just printed 4 statements. So, for a 3-year period, you only have to print 12 pages.

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

19 hours ago, Armenia said:

When you submit bank statements, you don't have to print every page of each statement. I only printed the first page of each statement. The first page usually has a summary of the transactions. Other pages just contain details of the summary. 

 

I also didn't print all statements. For every year, I just printed 4 statements. So, for a 3-year period, you only have to print 12 pages.

 

From the official i-751 instructions from the USCIS site:

Financial records showing joint ownership of assets and joint responsibility for liabilities, such as joint savings and
checking accounts with transaction history, complete joint Federal and State tax returns, insurance policies that show
the other spouse as the beneficiary, joint utility bills, or joint installment or other loans. If applicable, submit copies
of military Leave and Earnings Statements showing receipt of Basic Allowance for Quarters (BAQ) with family
members and/or Form DD-1172 for military family member identification cards

 

It doesn't say transaction summaries are sufficient. It doesn't say "only the first page".

[QueenComley 295]

4 hours ago, Russ&Caro said:

 

From the official i-751 instructions from the USCIS site:

Financial records showing joint ownership of assets and joint responsibility for liabilities, such as joint savings and
checking accounts with transaction history, complete joint Federal and State tax returns, insurance policies that show
the other spouse as the beneficiary, joint utility bills, or joint installment or other loans. If applicable, submit copies
of military Leave and Earnings Statements showing receipt of Basic Allowance for Quarters (BAQ) with family
members and/or Form DD-1172 for military family member identification cards

 

It doesn't say transaction summaries are sufficient. It doesn't say "only the first page".

Agreed - I was under the impression you are required to print every page of your bank statements from the date you were married to date of filing. Its a lot of paperwork, but Its worth printing every page to avoid a possible RFE.

Edited April 17, 2017 by QueenComley

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

1 hour ago, QueenComley said:

Agreed - I was under the impression you are required to print every page of your bank statements from the date you were married to date of filing. Its a lot of paperwork, but Its worth printing every page to avoid a possible RFE.

Exactly! Once I decided to print all pages of 20 months of bank statements, my package doubled in size from 100 to 200 pages. But if it prevents an RFE it's very much worth it.