My turn to freak out...

[Rings 10]

I am sure people just love the support that you offer here. I mean you are a complete asset to this site because you bring such a wonderful feeling of sacasim and arrogance that it's overwhelming. I am sure you should avoid thinking that you're special since it's pretty obvious and since you offer such great advice, then perhaps you should follow it. I am honestly sorry that you must have a pretty horrible life if you want to make comments to people that are completely rude for no real apparent reason other than to be rude. I am sure it feels good to you to be that way to others...shame really. Glad I don't have to ever know you.

[TracyTN 237]

I think you took RJ's post WAY too personally. I didn't read it as an attack in any way. It is a fact that most ROC cases are not interviewed. I certainly won't feel 'special' if hubby isn't interviewed - that was the only way in which I took her post.

[Rings 10]

Yeah I took it personally. It's not like it could have been worded better or something?

[TracyTN 237]

Maybe it could have been worded better, but I still think it's the intent rather than the words. I'm sure her intent wasn't to insult you. Of course I can't speak for her, but that's my read anyway.

[Rings 10]

Perhaps that wasn't her "intent" and that's fair enough.

However, if you are already stressed out about filing and perhaps I am more freaked out than I need to be, but this is the love of my life I am talking about here not my pet or something... This is my heart and soul and yeah I am pretty much freaking out because making any kind of mistake is not an option and someone straight up tells you that "if you skip an interview, then don't feel like your something special" that's like making an already stressed out person feel like dog dung for no reason.

I will feel special if we get this over with. I will feel special if we skip that appointment. I will feel special when his greencard arrives and I don't have to think about the USCIS until we Naturalize and I will feel special and I do not need anyone turning my already emotional state into something that they feel is petty and small simply because they may not feel as passionate about this process as I do.

She may have good intent and that's great, but there is no need to be sarcastic toward someone that's already emotionally jacked up and scared over everything being just right. she could have worded it differently and her intent could have been better expressed and I do have a right to have hurt feelings and there is nothing wrong with that.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Rings, your list looks fine. If you wanted to, you could include tax transcripts of more years, envelopes addressed to the two of you at your home, etc. I sent in a lot of documentation as well - shortly before I filed there were a lot of people receiving requests for more evidence who had sent in rather minimal amounts. I figure I would rather them have too much than too little. Your evidence shows a nice range of integration of your lives together - financial, social and personal. I think you will be just fine!

[Rings 10]

Thank you so much for being so polite *hugs* thank you for that. I appreciate it so much (F)

[rebeccajo 14]

Perhaps that wasn't her "intent" and that's fair enough.

However, if you are already stressed out about filing and perhaps I am more freaked out than I need to be, but this is the love of my life I am talking about here not my pet or something... This is my heart and soul and yeah I am pretty much freaking out because making any kind of mistake is not an option and someone straight up tells you that "if you skip an interview, then don't feel like your something special" that's like making an already stressed out person feel like dog dung for no reason.

I will feel special if we get this over with. I will feel special if we skip that appointment. I will feel special when his greencard arrives and I don't have to think about the USCIS until we Naturalize and I will feel special and I do not need anyone turning my already emotional state into something that they feel is petty and small simply because they may not feel as passionate about this process as I do.

She may have good intent and that's great, but there is no need to be sarcastic toward someone that's already emotionally jacked up and scared over everything being just right. she could have worded it differently and her intent could have been better expressed and I do have a right to have hurt feelings and there is nothing wrong with that.

Rings -

You stated earlier in this thread that your immigration process had likely gone smoothly because you have always sent in way more information than needed and because you are organized. Being organized is a very good thing in this process. Sending in more information than needed - that's a judgment call as to 'what is too much'.

Anyway - I'm sure your organization and documentation has helped you get approved at each stage of the process. A K1 or K3 petition approval isn't a hard thing to get though. Going through the Australian consulate isn't very tough either. A bonafide couple will have little trouble with adjusting status. A bonafide couple will have even less trouble with removal of conditions.

I'm not trying to make you feel like dog dung. I do think though you need to realize how easy someone like you (and someone like me) who had loved ones from 'easy' consulates - well just how 'easy' of a process we have had compared to people from other countries. When you think about it, it puts things in perspective. Then you won't be so 'jacked up' about every phase of the process. And you will realize that for many couples, preparation and documentation was just a small portion of what it took for them to be together.

In other words - be humble, chill out and relax. It ain't really all that tough for people like us.

Although, since you are nearly done now - my lecture is a little late. Best wishes to you though, nonetheless.

Edited November 7, 2009 by rebeccajo

[Lars-N-Yenia 8]

I wonder if the person who worked on my case got upset with me since I sent in at least 3lbs of documents? I know that it's way, way, way too much but from the looks of it, it didn't hurt my application at all.

True, but it didn't help either.

People need to understand that the ROC is not equal to an application to become a permanent resident. They have been approved 2 years earlier and are LPRs already; the ROC is just a check to filter out the fraudsters, many of which would not have been able keeping up the charade of a fake marriage for 2 years.

A married couple that is still living together, filing jointly, is automatically approved. All they like to see is SOME documentation showing intermingling of life and finances.

The size of the package means nothing, it just slows things down and makes the IO want to close the file and pick a smaller one so that she can go home.

I disagree... especially when I know that most of the things that I sent were strong proofs that we are intermingling. I am a believer of "the more, the better" and so far it has been working for me from the time we did K1 till ROC.

Every step of this entire thing I have freaked out and went overboard and sent in too much stuff and never had an RFE or any delays. Our whole process has been smooth and quick and I think it's because I am so organized.

stop worrying...this whole process can be a total circle jerk if you let it get to you...relax...you're fine...

[Rings 10]

Thanks

[David-and-Mae 15]

Rings, your list looks fine. If you wanted to, you could include tax transcripts of more years, envelopes addressed to the two of you at your home, etc. I sent in a lot of documentation as well - shortly before I filed there were a lot of people receiving requests for more evidence who had sent in rather minimal amounts. I figure I would rather them have too much than too little. Your evidence shows a nice range of integration of your lives together - financial, social and personal. I think you will be just fine!

My packet was all ready to go when I saw Sheriff Uling's post about receiving an RFE for W2s... I didn't think it was needed at this stage anymore since we had submitted that during K1 and AOS. But to make it safe, I included them again (we didn't have W2s, just 1099s -- husband's retired). I also remembered, during our AOS, I received an RFE on W2s again or anything that will show how much my husband's making. Now on our ROC, I made sure there will be sufficient (or more than) documents to prove that we are still in this marriage.

[venusfire503 54]

Just thinking 'out loud' here... maybe how organized you are counts for more than how much you send...? But I think how much you should send depends on where your SO is from, and whether or not you have 'red flags' in your case. If your SO is from an 'easy' consulate, you're approximately the same age, have the same primary language, religion, etc, then sending hundreds of pages might be unnecessary. But, if you're in a situation like we are - 'difficult' consulate (where most people get 221g, extended AP, whatever), and have different languages, religion, larger than 'normal' age difference, USC with a recent divorce, etc, NOT sending in plenty of evidence almost guarantees denial or delays.

Either way, no matter how many pages you send - whether a dozen or several hundred - I think having things organized nicely is essential. We sent (if I remember correctly) 260 pages for ROC. It didn't take a long time to get approved (under 5 months through VSC), and I think it's because we had everything in well labeled sections, arranged by importance (taxes near the front, extras at the back) and/or date (the bills, mainly). We started with the check, cover letter, and application, then had tabbed sections on other required documents as listed in the guides. That way, if someone wanted to get home early, they could just glance at the tabs and briefly glance at each section to make sure we had the required evidence. If they had any reason to wonder about us, they could easily look more thorougly through any or all sections. If they were really bored, they could look through the sections at the back at photos, photocopies of envelopes from holiday cards, letters/invitations from family/friends, pictures the kids drew...

The "is more or less better" debate will probably never be resolved. I don't think the answer is the same all of the time anyway. There's no real way to know 100% what the person who will be looking at your file is going to want, how much proof will be needed, etc - everyone's different, and each case has different circumstances/requirements. But think about it - would you rather look through papers in random order, or ones neatly organized and labelled? I'd rather do the organized ones, even if it was a larger pile. Besides, if something is needed, I want the person looking at my paperwork to be able to find it easily instead of maybe deciding instead of searching, an RFE is faster and easier (I remember one time going out to buy a new extension cord because I had just moved and couldn't bear the thought of looking through boxes to find one).

Just my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Best of luck to all.

venusfire

[ucla_cutie26 0]

Rings, your list looks fine. If you wanted to, you could include tax transcripts of more years, envelopes addressed to the two of you at your home, etc. I sent in a lot of documentation as well - shortly before I filed there were a lot of people receiving requests for more evidence who had sent in rather minimal amounts. I figure I would rather them have too much than too little. Your evidence shows a nice range of integration of your lives together - financial, social and personal. I think you will be just fine!

My packet was all ready to go when I saw Sheriff Uling's post about receiving an RFE for W2s... I didn't think it was needed at this stage anymore since we had submitted that during K1 and AOS. But to make it safe, I included them again (we didn't have W2s, just 1099s -- husband's retired). I also remembered, during our AOS, I received an RFE on W2s again or anything that will show how much my husband's making. Now on our ROC, I made sure there will be sufficient (or more than) documents to prove that we are still in this marriage.

Do you think I should send in W2's? I am sending tax transcripts, should I add the W2's also?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

If you are sending in the tax transcripts you don't need the W2s.

I agree that organization helps a lot. You may have a lot of good material but if it is difficult to find or mixed all together it would be easy for the Immigration Officer to miss something. I organized my information into sections as well (like material with like material), and then included a list of contents for each section as well as a complete 'table of contents' at the beginning. A combination of 'good evidence' and 'good organization' is will make it much easier for the immigration officer to say 'yes, approved'.

[Rings 10]

Mine was all tabbed and labeled to. I mailed it Friday and it should arrive today in California. I have all of it in a 3 rinig binder with sleves and tabs and it's very organized and nice. I hope I got it all right *crosses fingers*