How much Evidence should we send?

[kab 0]

I'm currently an F-1 student, who got married to my long-term partner over the summer.

We're in the process of applying for the I-130, and I was wondering how much evidence they needed me to send. We've been living together for over three years, and we have a lease that reflects that. We have a joint bank account that we use for household finances, though we also have separate bank accounts where we keep the majority of our money. (It's what my parents have always done, and prevents a lot of arguments, especially since he makes more than I do.) Would that be enough? Or is it worth getting family and friends to write affidavits, and put together some material like photos, engagement announcements, etc? It's not a problem, since we've been together so long now, and I scrapbook.

Since I worry about everything, I'm also worried that they'll query the legitimacy of my F-1 status, and think I was using school as a pretext to be with my partner, since we knew each other online before I came and had feelings for each other. Now, I think I can provide a good response to those queries. I'm in one of the top five Ph.D programs in the country for my field, I've presented and published since coming here, and I have a 4.0 GPA. I'm very serious about my studies, and can provide documents to prove it. I also got my MA a year ago, and have continued with my Ph.D since then, which I think shows my commitment. It was one of those serendipitous coincidences where my partner happened to be living in the same city as the school I wanted to attend, and that everyone recommended to me. I honestly had no expectations that I would marry him, though I did want to see where a relationship with him would go, and was excited about being in the same place as him.

Edited December 13, 2011 by kab

[together4evr 360]

It always is better to send more in the begining if you are from a MENA country. and you are (I think?) Middle East and North Africa. So maybe South Africa is not a high fraud country? So send alot and front load your application to minimize questions later.

Good Luck

Each person will have a differnet answer. You have to do what you feel is right. My I-130 had about 170 pages of evidence.

Edited December 13, 2011 by togetherforever13

[kab 0]

That's good advice. I'll use my lease and financial documents as my primary evidence, and then put together a packet with wedding invitations and photos, and various photos from family holidays and get-togethers. I'll see if I can also get a transcript of our texts too. We lived together for almost three years before we got married, so I don't think I'll need to provide huge amounts of evidence. It's not like we've been in different countries and have only communicated over Skype, or that we rushed into our marriage.

How valuable are affidavits? I can get family and mutual friends to write those too, but I'm not sure if they'll care about them. They seem to be the sort of evidence you provide when you have nothing better, at least to me.