70-page application?

[lilQueenP 15]

So. My first posting. I sent in everything a couple of weeks ago. With this was the entire packet of materials. Now, I'm seeing that I didn't need to send everything at once? Will this hurt? This is what I sent:

1. Request to expedite based on very strict school attendance (if I miss in the semester, I'll be forced to repeat the semester & that's about $11K in tuition...expensive school, I know). Who knows if they'll aprove. If not, it's going to cause some real issues, but we'll cross that road when we get there. MY mistake, I missread the processing times as the time for the whole thing. With this, I included a very detailed letter, including photocopy and URL of the attendance policy, printouts of my enrollment & costs, etc, plus a letter from my school.

2. G-1145 Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance We've already gotten notification of this.

3. My check for the fee.

4. 1-129F Including cover letter as this site spelled out, and the application form itself.

5. My G-325 & Biographical info. This included passport photo, letter of intent to marry, my G-325, and divorce records (I sent the originals & will get another copy for myself). I also sent a copy of my birth certificate & photo copy of the ID page of my passport showing U.S. citizenship.

6. His G-325 & Biographical info. Including same as mine, except birth cert. & passport.

7. Proof of relationship/having seen each other in the past 2 years.

- His profile from the language exchange site we met on, showing his photo & vitals, & showing my photo as his friend there (not necessary, I know, but I felt it helped to complete the story).

- Emails & Yahoo IM messages back & forth including dates & such. I included things that talked about real concerns with family & dreams & even how hard the long-distance is, because I felt it was a pretty good indication of what a GENUINE relationship deals with. Total, sent 3 pages of emails & 2 of messages.

- Facebook profile pages for both, showing pictures & exchanges between us as well as relatives on both sides, establishing the extended relationship (my mom & nieces on his page & his cousins on mine). Also figured this helps them find us on Facebook to confirm if they want.

- Phone records. I buy minutes online through salutHaiti.com, which allows me to print out phone activity for 30 days.

- Photo copy of passport pages with stamps for my first trip to Haiti.

- Photo copies of my boarding passes

- Photos of us together, including an index of photos. 7 in all. I wrote the dates & locations & gave a descriptive. I KNOW this isn't "proof", since this can be made-up (dates & locations), but felt it would help maybe. Photos are mostly close-ups of us, which I heard is not great (we didn't always have someone to take the photo), but showed many settings including with friends & family (his sister), and in different outfits (since they were taken over a 3-week period). One shows my engagement ring on my hand (which is around his waist), and another shows a kiss. I took presentation sleves (clear) and cut them so that they were single pages, double-sided taped the photos to them (one-sided, since numbers & descriptions were also on the photos themselves) & put that inside an in-tact sleve. I didn't have photo pages, so that was my choice.

- Email confirmation showing the purchase of ANOTHER ticket to go back to Haiti (I hadn't left at the time I filed)

In addition to all of this, I clipped the whole thing together in a manila folder (clipped only to the back page, so it opens neatly as a book) AFTER adding post-it-notes to indicate what they are looking at, and highlighting things such as names & dates on documents. I also put our surnames on the bottom of every page in case anything would get separated. I scanned the whole packet in, and emailed it to myself and to my fiance, and made 2 printed copies for our records.

My hope is that this is not over-kill, and will not hurt us in any way. Right now we're working on acquiring more stuff for the interview, including new emails & messages & an update of the phone calls (I'll print it out just before), boarding passes & whatnot. I'm a little concerned that I should be there for the interview, but might not be able to manage it with school & such. How much will this affect me?

Looking for affirmation at this point, since I can't un-do anything I already sent. And hoping maybe this will help someone else who is just starting the process.

[X Factor 1,112]

Definitely overkill - but it is better to have more than less

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

No such thing as overkill. According to the linked thread in my signature, CO are quite capable of ignoring the fluff. And what one CO considers fluff may be valuable to another CO if he's looking for an answer.

The important thing to note is that fluff does does replace required documents.

Good luck.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Why does the date of your fiance's entering the US influence whether or not you miss school?

[Darnell 8,478]

re: school attendance - if you just filed the I-129F, then

it's a good bet for him to arrive during the summertime of 2013.

If you'll be off from school even for a week, that's a plus, during the summer time.

[QueenE 174]

Why would you have to miss any school? He is the one the has to go to the interviews and travel here. Your schedule shouldnt have to be disrupted, when he comes you can marry on a weekend. Unless your school is out of the US. Unfortunately they will probably deny your expediation request

[lilQueenP 15]

Why does the date of your fiance's entering the US influence whether or not you miss school?

Unfortunately it's not that simple. We have to travel together (I'm not getting into the details here, but it's technical things & some family things), and the wedding itself is going to be nearly impossible to have during school. I attend school year-round, as a music performance master student. I don't know if you're familiar with that sort of schedule, but "break" is never really break, and there's simply not enough time to get things done unless they are done during the month-long winter break. I'm also a self-employed teacher, and it is very difficult to get away from my studio unless it is during the regular winter break (when my studio takes the holiday break anyhow). If they deny, they deny. We'll have to pray that something works out. Having a courthouse wedding is not an option.

[Henry&Rebecca 39]

Unfortunately it's not that simple. We have to travel together (I'm not getting into the details here, but it's technical things & some family things), and the wedding itself is going to be nearly impossible to have during school. I attend school year-round, as a music performance master student. I don't know if you're familiar with that sort of schedule, but "break" is never really break, and there's simply not enough time to get things done unless they are done during the month-long winter break. I'm also a self-employed teacher, and it is very difficult to get away from my studio unless it is during the regular winter break (when my studio takes the holiday break anyhow). If they deny, they deny. We'll have to pray that something works out. Having a courthouse wedding is not an option.

I'd start planning my future around the assumption that your expedite request will be denied, if I were you. If you get accepted for an expedite, that's great and all, but I'm thinking USCIS doesn't really care that you consider a courthouse wedding as "not an option", and that you believe your "tight schedule" entitles you to an expedite. Sure, one of their expedite criteria is "financial hardship", but I'm thinking you'll have a hard time proving financial hardship by a "if you don't expedite me, I'll be forced to attend a really expensive school" claim.

Don't really mean any offense, please don't take it that way. Just a very straightforward reality check.

[lilQueenP 15]

I'd start planning my future around the assumption that your expedite request will be denied, if I were you. If you get accepted for an expedite, that's great and all, but I'm thinking USCIS doesn't really care that you consider a courthouse wedding as "not an option", and that you believe your "tight schedule" entitles you to an expedite. Sure, one of their expedite criteria is "financial hardship", but I'm thinking you'll have a hard time proving financial hardship by a "if you don't expedite me, I'll be forced to attend a really expensive school" claim.

Don't really mean any offense, please don't take it that way. Just a very straightforward reality check.

None taken. I did not talk about the courthouse wedding not being an option, in the request; although I could, since it is religious reasons, which are totally legit. And it's not a tight schedule, it's the fact that we planned the time frame with the 3-4 months listed on the USCIS website as the processing time. It was not stated that it was only the processing time for step one. That, we did not find out about until later. And it's not a question of me "attending a really expensive school". I am currently in school. If I miss more than 2 days of school, I will be forced to repeat the semester, which is around $11k. It also delays my professional carreer, which will cost thousands more. Maybe you don't understand how it is to be completely independent, establishing a business and putting yourself through school at the same time. I am confident in my abilities to present my case with compelling evidence of loss of thousands of dollars. Again, if they choose to turn me down, we will look at that. But again, there are too many variables in this situation. I will continue to hope for the best & allow for the worst.

Edited September 4, 2012 by ptilda

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Unfortunately it's not that simple. We have to travel together (I'm not getting into the details here, but it's technical things & some family things), and the wedding itself is going to be nearly impossible to have during school. I attend school year-round, as a music performance master student. I don't know if you're familiar with that sort of schedule, but "break" is never really break, and there's simply not enough time to get things done unless they are done during the month-long winter break. I'm also a self-employed teacher, and it is very difficult to get away from my studio unless it is during the regular winter break (when my studio takes the holiday break anyhow). If they deny, they deny. We'll have to pray that something works out. Having a courthouse wedding is not an option.

Actually I have a BM and a MM from an elite conservatory, and I disagree with your assessment. Plenty of people are busy, and they make it work. You can get married at City Hall on a weekend.

[elyhim 41]

Mine was pretty big too, better to front load with lots than leave something out.

[madtownguy 164]

I don't think losing thousands of dollars is reason for an expedite. That's not even that much money. I'm sure there's been people who quit or stop working to live with their fiance and lost a lot more. I think a dying grandparent that you want at your wedding or something would be a lot better. Having a tough schedule is more a reason to wait than it is to speed things up. I second that I would assume your expedite will be denied. You must have a different US government where you live than where I live. I also think Haiti might be a high fraud area so you have that to deal with also. I wish you good luck, but I think you miss used your 1 expedite chance. I'm still waiting for the CIA to need me in some way so I can use mine.... ha ha

[lilQueenP 15]

Actually I have a BM and a MM from an elite conservatory, and I disagree with your assessment. Plenty of people are busy, and they make it work. You can get married at City Hall on a weekend.

Excellent. Congratulations.

[lilQueenP 15]

I don't think losing thousands of dollars is reason for an expedite. That's not even that much money. I'm sure there's been people who quit or stop working to live with their fiance and lost a lot more. I think a dying grandparent that you want at your wedding or something would be a lot better. Having a tough schedule is more a reason to wait than it is to speed things up. I second that I would assume your expedite will be denied. You must have a different US government where you live than where I live. I also think Haiti might be a high fraud area so you have that to deal with also. I wish you good luck, but I think you miss used your 1 expedite chance. I'm still waiting for the CIA to need me in some way so I can use mine.... ha ha

Ha. Well, financial hardship is a legit reason. A few thousands of dollars might mean nothing to you, but to me... And tell me to wait, fine. I'm sending a request because they said I could. So I did. And my family does not recognize a marriage not in a church. It is also against my morality to live together beforehand, so things must be planned. Haiti is not a high-fraud area. I do not having a dying grandparent or parent, although my mother IS ill, which is another expense we're looking at, having her brought to the state in which I live, and have care for her while she is here. I think it's incredibly tasteless of you to joke about something so real.

Here's the thing about my "1 expedite chance": I didn't make up an excuse to have this expedited. I only learned about expediting after being faced with the reality of how it was going to affect things. We had been very careful to plan things with the information given, so that there would not be a problem with the time (and consequently with the school and other finances). When we found that would be a problem, we asked around & got information on the request. We submitted, and are awaiting a response, which is all any of us can do. I apologize if this vexes you. It really is no concern of yours. I am on here so that I can be most prepared, and so that I can share my experiences with others to help them. I'm not on here to be insulted.

[lilQueenP 15]

Mine was pretty big too, better to front load with lots than leave something out.

Thanks. That's what I thought, but after some people suggested that it might upset them. I tried to organize it well enough that they can skip past the "fluff". We'll see. Thanks for your input.