My RFE - requesting for feedback (warning: long post)

[amykathleen2005 441]

Usually they keep what you submitted for all of your applications, so they already have the AOS stuff. They want stuff on top of what you already sent in the past. Show ACTIVE accounts. Things signed in 2010 but that you just leave alone are good but they only really show you were together the day you signed it.

[victorian221b 12]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I wonder if we had the same person reviewing our application lol. Your initial submission looks pretty solid, it's what doesn't make sense when you get the RFE. I have pretty much the exact same RFE details as you (where the listed the exact same things as on the application form). It's all boiler-plate stuff so it really doesn't help me to determine what exactly I am missing.

I am planning on getting some affidavits - all from people who knew us for the majority of the time we've been together, which is going beyond the almost-3 years of marriage. My brother, a mutual friend who's known us for 7 years and my mother-in-law.

I am responding to the RFE as if I am submitting a whole new application. I don't know what else I can really add.

Hi Victorian221b,

Do you have mutual friends or family that can write affidavits to attest to the fact that you are in a bonafide marriage relationship? I imagine that you do since you have been together many years. I know that personal affidavits may seem very weak as proof, but they worked in my case.

I was in the same boat as you not too long ago. I sent in my ROC package in Oct 2012, did the biometrics in Nov, and heard nothing from USCIS until they sent the RFE request in May 2013 (took them almost 8 months to do so)

In the RFE letter, they also said that the evidence we had initially sent was not sufficient to establish a bonafide marriage relationship.

They listed what we had originally sent (last 2 year leases with both names, utility bills, car insurance, checking, credit, investment accounts statements for every quarter since getting my conditional GC, joint IRS tax return transcripts as married couple for 2010 and 2011, photos with family throughout the 2 years, etc). I also only included documents starting from my conditional GC date (bank documents were just continuation from our AOS package as we have had the same accounts since)

Here is the funny part: the RFE letter then went on to suggest what we could send in as our response, and they were exactly the same items as we had sent in originally, except that their suggestion included birth certificate of children which we don't have (not yet!) anyway.

So what we did was ask a mutual friend and my father in law to write affidavits confirming that to their knowledge our marriage was legitimate. By that time, our 2012 tax return transcript had also become available, so we included that, plus the latest statements for all financial accounts we had even though we had already sent in quarterly statements for ROC.

I was approved in August less than 2 weeks after sending in our RFE response with no interview. We waited until almost the end of the 89 day allowance to send it, because all that time we couldn't think of anything else in addition to the documents we had sent before. Then we decided to go with affidavits. They were the only thing that was not included in the original application package (not counting the latest tax transcripts and financial accounts etc).

I was pretty sure that our RFE response wasn't going to be good enough and that we were going to get an interview, but apparently the affidavits was good enough for USCIS and they promptly issued the approval.

I would not have minded if they wanted to take their time, because I would become eligible for naturalization application a week after that anyway.

I am sorry for writing such a long post. If you get through it, I hope my experience will help a little bit.

[victorian221b 12]

Thanks for the feedback. That's what I thought.

However, here's the thing, I had provided the updated documents related to information/accounts since my submission for the conditional GC up until April 2013 I but then the RFE states I didn't have sufficient evidence to support the duration of our marriage. Which is what confuses me.

I thought the point of the removal of conditions process is to prove out that they have a solid reason to grant someone a 10-yr GC by providing evidence that over the course of the conditions GC one has worked hard to maintain the marriage and continue to show signs of keeping the marriage going.

Usually they keep what you submitted for all of your applications, so they already have the AOS stuff. They want stuff on top of what you already sent in the past. Show ACTIVE accounts. Things signed in 2010 but that you just leave alone are good but they only really show you were together the day you signed it.

[Dolphinbear 0]

Hi victorian221b

Have you gotten any update regarding your GC?

[victorian221b 12]

Nope. I'm on my fourth week of waiting for a response since I submitted my RFE response...not sure what to expect really.

Hi victorian221b

Have you gotten any update regarding your GC?

[Jallow20 0]

Hello victorian221b

How did your journey with the ROC ended after submitting the RFE package? I hope you got approved?