Question about proofs of a bonafide marriage?

[Steph1988 11]

My husband and i had a baby together. We werent married at the time, and he was not in the USA at the time to sign an aknowlegment of paternity to be added to the birth certficate. Well come to find out we have to go through courts to establish paternity to add his name to the birth certficate. Well thats going to take some time and we are filing friday! that was our main source of proof that we have a bonafide marriage! We have nothing else to go on other then sworn affidavits written by thrid parties. My question is, is this going to be good enough? do they have to be notarized by the third parties? I am so scared. I had my hopes up we'd have his name added to the birth certficate in the next week just to be let down today when i talked to the paternity clerk. I am really scared that third party affidavits arent enough!

[Inky 1,111]

Sadly a baby is not primary proof of bonafide marriage.

Anyone can have a baby with anyone at any time.

Proof of ongoing relationship is better, trips, contact, etc.

Affidavits aren't usually considered primary evidence.

[Steph1988 11]

Well it doesnt say to provide proof of on going relationship when you send petition for alien relative! I will obviously need those things later on! I am applying to bring my husband over not a fiance visa as you are. The instructions and what to provide for these certain petitons are diffrent. Sorry i am not applying for a k1 id like to hear from someone who has

[Inky 1,111]

Well it doesnt say to provide proof of on going relationship when you send petition for alien relative! I will obviously need those things later on! I am applying to bring my husband over not a fiance visa as you are. The instructions and what to provide for these certain petitons are diffrent. Sorry i am not applying for a k1 id like to hear from someone who has

It is the same for all visas. Does not matter if its a K-1 or a CR-1.

ANYONE can have a baby at ANY time with ANYone. There are quite a lot of people who go as far as to have a baby to try and fake a "real" marriage / relationship just to get Green Cards.

A baby is not main proof of a bonafide marriage or relationship.

If you look at the guide for a CR-1

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Note: Evidence of a Bonifide Marriage

The USCIS now requires that when filing an I-130 for a spouse that you include evidence of a bonifide marriage. They list examples of acceptable evidence as:

1. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or

2. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or

3. Documentation showing co-mingling of financialresources; or

4. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, thepetitioner, and your spouse together; or

5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties havingpersonal knowledge of the bona fides of the maritalrelationship (Each affidavit must contain the full nameand address, date and place of birth of the person makingthe affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner ofbeneficiary, if any, and complete information and detailsexplaining how the person acquired his or herknowledge of your marriage); or

6. Any other relevant documentation to establish that thereis an ongoing marital union.

So yes it is needed in the initial application.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Inky

[Steph1988 11]

Well id not put it past people to go that far to get a green card.. my question is what woman in their right mind would agree to that!!! Lol. Anyway where in the list of things that you just posted does it state send things like plane tickets, pictures etc etc. So what your saying is i need to send letters between us, chats between us, and things like that? The sucky part is i have a little of those things but he lived here the past 9 months with me so we dont really have alot of proof of communications when we saw each other daily!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Anyway where in the list of things that you just posted does it state send things like plane tickets, pictures etc etc.

#6

Inky is correct, statements are not primary evidence and are not required. However, I think in your instance you should include them with your file. If they are written by relatives who are statesdie, have them notarized.

[Done--Really 331]

Steph !!!

When you ask questions and you don't like the answers, it doesn't make the answers any less relevant--the I-130 instructions are pretty explicit--they are summarized in Inky's response to you. Don't waste a lot of time wondering why things are the way they are--they just are, and if you dive an and follow the guides here and the instructions on the various forms, it's really pretty easy--not painless, but easy !!

As far as where does it say such and so, there is a catch all in the instructions: Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.

Trust the people here--particularly those who have been here a year or more.

We'll all pitch in.

But you said something that makes me very nervous--if he has been in the US for nine months he has at best overstayed his visa, and that is potentially a real can of worms.

When he entered, did he have a valid visa at the time, was he inspected at a point of entry, has he left the country even for a moment since his initial entry, was it the VWP or was it a B1/B2, were you married before or after he entered,etc, etc. It's possible you can adjust status here, but until you tell us all the gory details, we may be leading you down the garden path. Once you tell us, we can tell you the best path--it could be very easy or really, really difficult depending on the exact details.

[trojam227 18]

Affidavits of people who knew your husband was living with you for 9 months would help. Any bills with both your names on them? I asked my bank about setting up a joint bank acct but hubby has to be here in person to sign...although if you can find a bank such as HSBC that has branches in the UK as well, you might be able to open an acct & have hubby go to a branch over there to sign papers & fax them to the states. If you can add him as beneficiary to anything, that can be used. I only sent phone bills, boarding passes, 2 letters from relatives and marriage cert. of course. It was before I joined here & boy do I wish I knew then what I know now! lol Don't stress too much because some people on here have sent very little and still got an approval. Gather what you can & gather more to bring to interview is the best advice anyone can give. Good luck!

[Steph1988 11]

Steph !!!

When you ask questions and you don't like the answers, it doesn't make the answers any less relevant--the I-130 instructions are pretty explicit--they are summarized in Inky's response to you. Don't waste a lot of time wondering why things are the way they are--they just are, and if you dive an and follow the guides here and the instructions on the various forms, it's really pretty easy--not painless, but easy !!

As far as where does it say such and so, there is a catch all in the instructions: Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.

Trust the people here--particularly those who have been here a year or more.

We'll all pitch in.

But you said something that makes me very nervous--if he has been in the US for nine months he has at best overstayed his visa, and that is potentially a real can of worms.

When he entered, did he have a valid visa at the time, was he inspected at a point of entry, has he left the country even for a moment since his initial entry, was it the VWP or was it a B1/B2, were you married before or after he entered,etc, etc. It's possible you can adjust status here, but until you tell us all the gory details, we may be leading you down the garden path. Once you tell us, we can tell you the best path--it could be very easy or really, really difficult depending on the exact details.

Nope he did not over stay his visa by 180 days. We got back together when he came to visit our son on a VWP. We then decided to get married, little did we know we had to file to adjust status with in the 90 days we thought even if he had over stayed we could hire a lawyer and adjust status. But after talking to a lawyer, and pointing out he hadnt over stayed by 180 days, our best chances were to have him go back to his home country and then file. He had had alot of cases like ours regarding visa waiver over stayers, and recommended we make the best move because he was a month from creeping up on over staying by the 180 days! Thank you for your concern but that is not a factor or worry we have because we did the smart legal thing! We were just cluless at first as of what to do and thank god we sought legal advice before it was too late! So no he is not in the United states and did not over stay by 180 days he is back in his home county and we are doing it smart this time! Thanks!!!

[Steph1988 11]

Affidavits of people who knew your husband was living with you for 9 months would help. Any bills with both your names on them? I asked my bank about setting up a joint bank acct but hubby has to be here in person to sign...although if you can find a bank such as HSBC that has branches in the UK as well, you might be able to open an acct & have hubby go to a branch over there to sign papers & fax them to the states. If you can add him as beneficiary to anything, that can be used. I only sent phone bills, boarding passes, 2 letters from relatives and marriage cert. of course. It was before I joined here & boy do I wish I knew then what I know now! lol Don't stress too much because some people on here have sent very little and still got an approval. Gather what you can & gather more to bring to interview is the best advice anyone can give. Good luck!

I have gotten Affidavits from my mother sister and my father. My husband and me spent a good part of our relationship in my dads household. My dad myself my husband and two kids decided to come back home to texas and me and my husband and our kiddos lived with my mom so everyone i had write the affidavits are people who really really know us and our history and our marriage and people i know i need more then just a birth certficate to prove a bonafide marriage i just felt way more comfortable having it! Oh well we will at least have it for the interview and thanks i will gather every single piece of evidence i can

[Steph1988 11]

And i wasnt trying to be rude to anyone but i am filing in a couple days and got let down i wont have our sons birth certifcate to put in the packet! I know i needed more to prove a bonafide marriage i just felt comfortble having it! But i will have it interview time at least. As you all know..this makes you a nervous wreck and its making my husband a nervous wreck too. and that makes it way worse for me haha. I cant imagine people having kids to get green cards....wow! Thats going to far!

[Casprd 167]

Well id not put it past people to go that far to get a green card.. my question is what woman in their right mind would agree to that!!! Lol. Anyway where in the list of things that you just posted does it state send things like plane tickets, pictures etc etc. So what your saying is i need to send letters between us, chats between us, and things like that? The sucky part is i have a little of those things but he lived here the past 9 months with me so we dont really have alot of proof of communications when we saw each other daily!

You would be surprised just how many on both sides of the petitioner/beneficiary equation do go through all of this for just a green card. That aside, Since you were living together, do you have any evidence of co-mingled finances? Joint bank accounts, pictures, bills in his name? Plane tickets/Boarding passes aren't good evidence eithere. Passport stamps are the only proof that he entered the country. Just have to think outside the box. The "normal" evidence of chats and emails isn't an option so what else is available. Receipts for travel that shows both your names? Receipts for gifts that you have bought each other. SMS text messages (my wife and I have about 40 pages just of these). Did he have a phone in his name while he lived there that you can show phone records of calls made to each other. Any pictures of you together, especially with family and friends will help also.

[Carol & Tim 4]

I am waiting for my interview. I am married to a US citizen and when my husband filed we had sent: pictures of us in different places and dates, letters from friends and his parents and our call history. We were approved without problems!

[Done--Really 331]

Whew !!! Really glad the overstay wasn't over the limit, or we would be having a whole different conversation. Best of luck.

[simel1110 4]

And be sure to save and keep collecting things for proof throughout your marriage. When it comes time to remove conditions, you'll need all these things again....I didn't know, didn't look into the I-751 filing process and was scrambling to find things to include this winter when we filed (luckily I'm a bit of a pack rat). Keep good organized records is my advice for the future.