Evidence of a bonafide marriage

[Wingnutfish 18]

Okay, I appreciate everyone's help with my questions about proving domicile farther down the road. Now I need to actually get to filing my I-130, and I'm actually even more concerned about the "evidence of a bonafide marriage" part.

My biggest concern is that we didn't have a normal wedding. No ceremony, no reception, no pictures, just registered our paperwork with the government here in Taiwan. We do plan to have a belated ceremony/reception, but not soon enough that we have any concrete plans (or evidence thereof). Based on others' experiences, is this likely to be a major problem?

We also have no children, no joint property, and no formally co-mingled financial resources (I'm guessing a shared pile of cash under the mattress doesn't count ). We've lived together for 3 1/2 years, but my name isn't on our current rental contract and we don't have copies of our previous ones anymore. What we do have is plenty of friends and relatives who can testify as to how serious we are.

Seems like kind of a bad situation. What do you guys think we should do?

Thanks so much.

[Cathi 5,618]

We didn't have have a reception or pictures of the marriage either. we were married in a court. There are plenty of things you can use as evidence. Boarding passes and passport stamps for visits to and from your spouse's country, pictures with family and friends, emails back and forth, conversations from skype or similar messaging services, phone records, receipts from hotels and places your traveled together including a honeymoon if you had one. After 3 and a half years you must have plenty of evidence that you actually lived in the same place, even if both of your names are not on all things together. My husband and I didn't live together in the same country until after he was here in the US and had no joint anything except a bank account or co-mingling of finances, I had 5 visits to see him after our marriage and had no problem putting together evidence or getting approved for a visa. Can you at least open a joint bank account before you fie the I-130? I am sure you can dig up lots of things if you put your mind to it. Good luck!!!!

Edited February 25, 2013 by mimolicious

[Wingnutfish 18]

Thanks. Yes, I'm looking into the possibility of adding her name to my bank account now. So are you saying that you mailed photos, printed e-mail conversations, plane tickets for the same flight, etc. in your I-130 package?

I'm concerned that we might not have kept enough of our hard-copy evidence (tickets, mail, etc.), but I'll see what I can find.

One more thing - will they care that we have different last names? Wives don't take their husbands' names in Taiwan (and I wouldn't have actually wanted her to anyway). I know they must be kind of used to that, but is it going to increase the amount of other evidence they want to see?

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

They won't care about different last names, especially if it is culturally not done in your country. You do seem a bit low on bonafide evidence, but as long as you can prove you have been living together abroad, that counts for a lot.

[Cathi 5,618]

Thanks. Yes, I'm looking into the possibility of adding her name to my bank account now. So are you saying that you mailed photos, printed e-mail conversations, plane tickets for the same flight, etc. in your I-130 package?

I'm concerned that we might not have kept enough of our hard-copy evidence (tickets, mail, etc.), but I'll see what I can find.

One more thing - will they care that we have different last names? Wives don't take their husbands' names in Taiwan (and I wouldn't have actually wanted her to anyway). I know they must be kind of used to that, but is it going to increase the amount of other evidence they want to see?

I only provided boarding passes for my visits to see him, he had never been to the US before he moved here to the US. We have different last names it was never an issue with immigration, they never brought it up.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Can you prove that both of you have the same mailing address?

Letters/cards addressed to you both?

Name on the door/mailbox?

Shared photos at a family function or out with friends?

Third parties talking about you two in status updates on facebook?

Shared tickets somewhere?

Phone records between your cell phones?

Edited February 25, 2013 by Nola123

[ainsn 8]

What does your packet have so far in terms of evidence? Just the marriage certificate? Make sure to include a write-up on how you met, your relationship thus far, and your future plans together. Include your spouse's name on your taxes, if you can. Think about all the ways you communicate/spend time with your spouse and if you can get documented proof of those interactions. Hope all this helps! Good luck.

[Roosha 51]

If you can't find boarding passes for trips (I couldn't either!!) then copies of visa or entry/exit stamps in your passports showing the dates is good too. We didn't have much evidence either but here's what I sent, and I'm living abroad with my spouse also.

a. Bank Statement detailing our joint savings account in Qatar International Bank

b. Letter from husband's employer stating that since he is married he is entitled to round trip airline tickets for me and our son as well as other benefits that a married man would get

c. Copy of our son’s Consular Report of Birth Abroad stating Me as his mother and my husband as his father.

d. 19 pictures from our wedding reception that took place one day after our marriage vows on August 3, 2005 and 26 pictures from various trips and outings during our marriage of seven years.

e. Copies of hotel receipts from our first two nights as a married couple in Doha and our honeymoon trip to Dubai.

f. Copies of visas from our passports showing the three trips taken together during our marriage.

[Wingnutfish 18]

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone! I'll see what I can put together. Did anyone here use affidavits from people who know you?

What does your packet have so far in terms of evidence? Just the marriage certificate? Make sure to include a write-up on how you met, your relationship thus far, and your future plans together. Include your spouse's name on your taxes, if you can. Think about all the ways you communicate/spend time with your spouse and if you can get documented proof of those interactions. Hope all this helps! Good luck.

That does help - thanks! Yes, all I have prepared at the moment is the marriage certificate. My parents also said they'd be happy to provide sworn affidavits (they know our relationship quite well and we visit them every year), but it seems that's not how other people here did it?

If you can't find boarding passes for trips (I couldn't either!!) then copies of visa or entry/exit stamps in your passports showing the dates is good too. We didn't have much evidence either but here's what I sent, and I'm living abroad with my spouse also.

a. Bank Statement detailing our joint savings account in Qatar International Bank

b. Letter from husband's employer stating that since he is married he is entitled to round trip airline tickets for me and our son as well as other benefits that a married man would get

c. Copy of our son’s Consular Report of Birth Abroad stating Me as his mother and my husband as his father.

d. 19 pictures from our wedding reception that took place one day after our marriage vows on August 3, 2005 and 26 pictures from various trips and outings during our marriage of seven years.

e. Copies of hotel receipts from our first two nights as a married couple in Doha and our honeymoon trip to Dubai.

f. Copies of visas from our passports showing the three trips taken together during our marriage.

Good to hear this from someone else in a similar situation. Just to be clear, you literally mailed a pile of all of this stuff (photocopies or printouts, I presume) as part of your I-130 package?

[Roosha 51]

Good to hear this from someone else in a similar situation. Just to be clear, you literally mailed a pile of all of this stuff (photocopies or printouts, I presume) as part of your I-130 package?

Yup! For the pictures I made a word document, put about 4 pics per page, wrote up captions next to each photo stating date, place and the names of people in the photos.

The receipts and copies of visa were organized according to trip, in chronological order, each one under it's own divider so I could label it clearly. Took me a month to get the whole package together and I already had the forms and pics mostly done from a year ago when we were going to apply but decided not to. It could have been done faster, but I'm lazy

Everything in the I-130 was a copy, except for the official forms (i-130 and g325).

[Wingnutfish 18]

Thanks! I love details like this that I can use as a template or benchmark for my own case. Unfortunately I'm a bit slow too, but I'm going to work hard to get this stuff done soon!

[Wingnutfish 18]

I'm still curious to know if anyone here used sworn affidavits from people they know - and if not, why. Maybe I should start a separate thread?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I'm still curious to know if anyone here used sworn affidavits from people they know - and if not, why. Maybe I should start a separate thread?

People only tend to do that when they don't have much else. The sworn affidavits don't carry much weight.

[Wingnutfish 18]

Ah, I see. That explains it. Thanks.