I-129F Proof: Is there such a thing as too much?

[Ownerjfa 4]

Whew! Thank you guys SO much! This is such a relief! You have no idea how much I've been obsessing over this.

Then again, maybe you do.

After all, we're all kind of in the same boat, here.

Alright, so I finally have an idea of how to shorten it and make it more quality, way less quantity.

One more question, though, if it's okay. Does anyone know if blacking out parts of conversations for privacy reasons is okay?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi.

My gf and I were in the same boat as you on this, but we had eight years of Skype logs to go through.

What we decided on, (and seemed to work) was give them one conversation from every month going back two years. We did black out the more personal parts of the conversation, (and in some cases edited it out altogether) and it didn't seem to affect us negatively at all.

Keep this in mind while choosing a conversation: look for something that you two chatted about that illustrates a connection between you both, e.g. we had a few chats when we talked about how similar our parents are; what we got for Christmas and birthdays; minor events at work; memories of visits together; dreams and plans for our future together; etc.

That's all you really need. :-) Good luck.

[Jessicacallum 14]

Hey you guys,

It's me again. As stated in my previous message, we are currently in our initial application process for the K-1.

To document our entire 7 year relationship, we have accumulated a lot of photos, emails, postcards, facebook messages, skype records, copies of flight records, receipts, movie tickets, train tickets, etc.

It's all so much, in fact, that we've just had to upgrade our application to a 5" binder in order to fit everything.

A few months ago, we were able to briefly talk to an immigration attorney for free (we can't really afford one, though) and she kept mentioning to put in "everything but the kitchen sink". On the other hand, it's the records of our Skype conversations, which have taken up the bulk of the binder. We could fill several books with them if we wanted to, since, for the most part of our relationship, we used to talk on Skype every day for several hours.

We have included about one Skype call/chat a day, but it's still so much.

My question is: How does USCIS look at these kinds of things? Is there such a thing as too much evidence?

Is there a way to lessen the load without the person reviewing this to think "Why did they only Skype once a month?"

Thank you for your help!

We just want to make it easier on everybody.

When we first filed we sent 5 photos of us together and with her family, plain tickets etc, train tickets two letters we sent to one another that's it! Got interview on the 29th of January so I think you'll be ok and tbh the uscis don't care by to sound rude but they don't unless youre like a high tosh threat or your showing red gflags which I doubt.

[Chicagoguy 2 27]

We had a USCIS employee on a dating site I go to. He had been looking for a wife and ended up with a job in New Hampshire with them. He said these big files just annoy them. I saw when I left out my check for them and they immediately returned all my papers minus my beautiful binder. They use an Acco two hole at the top for themselves. They put smaller things in some type of baggies. He also said "just send them what they ask for and read the directions".

Lucky for me I lost less than 1 week.

We should pin this info somewhere !!

[mirrortraveler 1]

Now, should friend and family testimonial letters go with the initial I-129F application, or are they for the interview as well?

[HK12 273]

You don't need testimonials, neither for the initial package nor for the interview in Frankfurt. As said before, Germany is a low-fraud country and you have plenty of other evidence, and therefore, you can save your family and friends the time and hassle. I think you are way overthinking this whole process. We did not send any testimonials and got approved on the spot.

[christeen 966]

I second the testimonials non needed... Don't over do it... You guys have a 7 year bonified relationship gong through a low fraud VWP country... I would not stress yourself over it nor waste countless trees and uscis time to read, copy and mail tons of unnecessary info...

[icebryker 21]

Hmm...putting together a couple of pages for each month is a good idea. I like that!

Way less hassle. This is just for the initial application. I understand that they might need to see more during the actual interview.

I've also blacked out a couple of lines here and there when the conversation got too private. Is that okay, or should I leave out those pages altogether?

When you did a description of the highlights of each month, how did you do that? Did you attach a separate sheet?

I have to admit, when it comes to Skype, a lot of it is just "call started" and "call ended". The conversations seem disjointed since we would only type if we couldn't talk for some reason.

Did you include the emails with the Skype calls and facebook messages for one particular month, or did you separate them?

Thanks a lot!

I printed screenshots of our Skype conversations and call logs, 1-2 pages per month, most of it were just call from-duration, call to-duration. Screenshots of our video calls. I also printed screenshots of Facebook messages and Facebook timeline. Then screenshots of Viber messages and call logs. Only a few emails as we really don't use email since we talk for more than 5 hours everyday and sometimes we keep our computers on and cameras facing our beds when we sleep. I didn't take screenshots of "private" conversations. Then we sent photocopies of hotel receipts, plane tickets, boarding passes, engagement ring receipt, money remittance receipts (from boyfriend to me, as proof that I am not paying him to bring me to the US-because we heard some people pay Americans to act as their fiances and petition them and then they'll just divorce after). Pictures of us in the hotel, airplane, restaurant, my room, our house, with my mom and brother, with my uncle and cousins. Picture of him buying the ring, the ring, and ring on my finger.

The whole file (I129F petition + requirements + evidence) was a little bulky. My fiance had to buy big paper clips to hold them together so when they take it our of the envelope it won't scatter. We also put 1 whole page labels for each category like 1 page saying "Proof of Meeting" (not sure if that is what he typed) then after it were the photocopies of receipts, then pictures of us, etc. "Proof of ongoing relationship" behind that are the Skype, Facebook & Viber screenshots, Emails, etc.

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When you did a description of the highlights of each month, how did you do that? Did you attach a separate sheet?

I copied the screenshots to Paint and put red boxes on one of the dates.

Did you include the emails with the Skype calls and facebook messages for one particular month, or did you separate them?

Separated them and included title pages.

[KayDeeCee 4,903]

I second the testimonials non needed... Don't over do it... You guys have a 7 year bonified relationship gong through a low fraud VWP country... I would not stress yourself over it nor waste countless trees and uscis time to read, copy and mail tons of unnecessary info...

I agree. Testimonials do not hold much weight as far as evidence goes. Most people do not even bother to supply them later for ROC.

OP > You are needlessly over-stressing about the I-129F petition. All you need to do is provide all the required documentation listed in the I-129F instructions, prove you are both legally free to marry and that you met in person face-to-face within the 2 years prior to filing and you will be approved. Take some relationship evidence with you to your K-1 interview, where it may or may not even be asked for.

[dbuizert 14]

For timeline I used bullet points. Starting from when we met, when started dating and visits. Then I wrote down see attachment x for visit 1, 2, 3 etc.

As long as you are from a country who are part of the US Waiver program you have nothing to really worry about. And the petitioner or beneficiary has no priors you should be fine.

Some countries like Nigeria and India may find it more difficult as those are some countries with a "bad" reputation towards the USA.

Bad reputation in this case may be, low incomes countries, countries known for dubious acts, poor human right systems etc.