Advice needed--I-130 evidence of relationship

[ca_poppy 1]

I googled but wasn't able to find a topic that addressed this specific concern. If it's already been covered, please point me in that direction!

I am a US citizen submitting form I-130 for my husband. We currently live together outside the US and have a joint lease and joint bank account. However, for the majority of our time together, we lived apart in different countries and usually drove to visit one another (so we don't have plane tickets to use as evidence). I've read some conflicting advice about what should be included in the application package to support our relationship--some say less is more, some say throw everything in so you don't get an RFE. Since Form I-130 doesn't specifically ask how we met and how our relationship progressed, would it be worthwhile to include something that addresses our relationship history? We also have lots of pictures with each other's families and friends and with our cat. If we do end up sending photos, how do we label them?

I can also print out e-mails and Skype call logs if necessary, but documenting a three-year relationship that way seems like it would waste a lot of paper!

Thanks in advance!

[ThomasJones 11]

I googled but wasn't able to find a topic that addressed this specific concern. If it's already been covered, please point me in that direction!

I am a US citizen submitting form I-130 for my husband. We currently live together outside the US and have a joint lease and joint bank account. However, for the majority of our time together, we lived apart in different countries and usually drove to visit one another (so we don't have plane tickets to use as evidence). I've read some conflicting advice about what should be included in the application package to support our relationship--some say less is more, some say throw everything in so you don't get an RFE. Since Form I-130 doesn't specifically ask how we met and how our relationship progressed, would it be worthwhile to include something that addresses our relationship history? We also have lots of pictures with each other's families and friends and with our cat. If we do end up sending photos, how do we label them?

I can also print out e-mails and Skype call logs if necessary, but documenting a three-year relationship that way seems like it would waste a lot of paper!

Thanks in advance!

Well, when it came to submitting my relationship, I only included the marriage license, a certified letter from 3 people stating that we had an ongoing relationship. A few pictures of us, together in her country. And the evidence of support, which for us was just Moneygram receipts. That was all that we included, and we were approved in a short time.

We did all that, and never received anything from the USCIS about anymore proof required. So pop in the basic info, and shared bank accounts, and the lease. You shouldn't hear anything from them. I never had to include any of the chat logs or anything else to prove that we had a ongoing relationship.

Good Luck!

[Bule&Cantik 8]

Well, when it came to submitting my relationship, I only included the marriage license, a certified letter from 3 people stating that we had an ongoing relationship. A few pictures of us, together in her country. And the evidence of support, which for us was just Moneygram receipts. That was all that we included, and we were approved in a short time.

We did all that, and never received anything from the USCIS about anymore proof required. So pop in the basic info, and shared bank accounts, and the lease. You shouldn't hear anything from them. I never had to include any of the chat logs or anything else to prove that we had a ongoing relationship.

Good Luck!

It depends which desk it lands on.

I included insurance, lease, accounts, etc.

Got an RFE requesting how we met, photos of wedding, photos of relationship, how I paid for travel, letter from employer stating I was allowed off work for travel, etc,

Better to throw on a few extra items to prevent an RFE.

The RFE added an extra 2 months to our processing time.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Bule&Cantik

[alizon 77]

You won't be overdoing it if you include a paragraph or two statement explaining why you were living apart for that period of time, but your joint lease and joint bank account will likely make up for that separation anyway. You've mingled your financial resources, which is a good sign of a legitimate relationship. Canadian cases seem to/probably get easier treatment when it comes to relationship evidence.

As for the emails and skype logs, you don't need to send every piece of contact you've had with each other. Usually people just send a sample of emails/skype logs that show sustained communication over a period of time (especially over the period you were apart). We labeled our photos with the date, place, and who was in it.

Edited May 16, 2012 by alizon

[AandJ 3]

We submitted a boatload of stuff just to avoid the RFE. I keep a personal blog for my family and friends to read and catch up with what I am doing abroad and that came in handy- there were photos, events, time spent together,etc.

We also sent our apartment lease, a copy of our joint bank account, a transfer history of the lease payments from our joint account, census data that says we reside together, 2 affidavits of people who have known is throughout our whole relationship, copy of wedding announcement in US newspaper and an evolution of relationship that you write that details how you meet, your relationship, etc.

Our case was approved in 10 days, Ai I think overloading the with info Ai there is not a single doubt in their mind about the validity of your relationship is the way to go.

Good luck!

Amanda

[sdw 10]

We submitted a joint bank statement, 2 or 3 letters from friends and a few pictures and had no issues.

[ca_poppy 1]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. Rather than printing pages and pages of separate e-mail messages, would it be worthwhile to print a listing of all the emails (dates included) under his filter in my gmail inbox, then print a some sample e-mails?

[OIF0607 0]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. Rather than printing pages and pages of separate e-mail messages, would it be worthwhile to print a listing of all the emails (dates included) under his filter in my gmail inbox, then print a some sample e-mails?

Does your passport have to get stamped when you drive across the boarder into Canada? If so then just make copies of those stamps on your passport to show the number of times that you have been there to visit him along with all the other supporting evidence you have. I even took a picture of my wife and I holding a newspaper with the date clearly visible and submitted that along with my joint bank info, lease, cell phone bills, utilities, etc.

[ca_poppy 1]

Does your passport have to get stamped when you drive across the boarder into Canada? If so then just make copies of those stamps on your passport to show the number of times that you have been there to visit him along with all the other supporting evidence you have. I even took a picture of my wife and I holding a newspaper with the date clearly visible and submitted that along with my joint bank info, lease, cell phone bills, utilities, etc.

No passport stamps. From what I've heard, US border control scans passports when they come through, so there should be records of my many, many trips back into the US somewhere in some system. I think Canada does the same thing, but the two countries don't share the info. So there is no real way to account for how long we spent in each other's countries--well, aside from the dated work visa I got last year and the evidence that he and I have been living together ever since.

[alizon 77]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. Rather than printing pages and pages of separate e-mail messages, would it be worthwhile to print a listing of all the emails (dates included) under his filter in my gmail inbox, then print a some sample e-mails?

Yeah, that kind of summary will work. We did that with our text messages. We used google voice to text each other, so I had records of all the thousands of texts we had sent each other, but I basically just did screen shots that showed the date and the number of texts on that date. They don't need to read all of your personal conversations.