RFE For Removal of Conditions Received

[figuringthisout 0]

Hey all! We have received an RFE for our Removal of Conditions we sent in last September. Her two year anniversary date was around the 8^th of December, 2013. This means she arrived stateside in 2011 on this date. The RFE outlines the following two categories:

1. IDENTITY DOCUMENT

   1. Submit copies of the conditional permanent resident (CPR) and spouse's driver's licenses.

She does not have a driver's license yet, however she does have a learner's permit that was issued on 5-16-2012. It was not updated and says it expires on 5-16-2013. Will this still act as a valid form of ID. E.G. Has the “learner's permit” portion “expired” or is the whole thing no longer valid? To my understanding it should still act as an ID card after this date so it should be fine?

2. EVIDENCE OF GOOD FAITH MARRIAGE

   1. The CPR filed a form I-751 to our office. The CPR provided some evidence of marital bona fides. However, the documentation submitted is insufficient because joint residency documentation does not establish a joint residency from the date of adjustment to present and joint taxes and bank statements alone do not fulfill the burden of proof of joint finances.

First, lets discuss the joint residency. I did not realize I could add her to an already existing lease for our apartment, thus when the lease was up we THEN went ahead and renewed it with both of our names. This was of course not immediately after she entered the states. However – the photo IDs (her learner's permit and my driver's licenses) both do show our current address with the dates of 5-16-2012 and mine of 12-06-2011. This is the ONLY evidence we have of her being with me in the same household, however it doesn't reflect the first five months. =S

Secondly, regarding the joint finances, we really DON'T have much to show. The only thing I can think of is we opened a credit card account where she is an authorized user under my name. If we send in photocopies of our credit cards with the same account number and date of 10/2012 this is about all we have. I wonder if this would be sufficient?

Furthermore it describes further examples of evidence of a good faith marriage. However, none apply!

• We have not had any kids.

• We have not signed any mortgage agreements, deeds, or other instruments affecting the title to real estate ownership of assets or property.

• We have not purchased any vehicles and the vehicle we do have is in my name from before I met her.

• We do not have life insurance, medical insurance, nor is she on my vehicle insurance as she does not have a full driver's license – only a learners permit – and my insurance company said they would not put her on until she got one.

• We have not purchased anything with loans – no car loans, no home improvement loans, no business loans, etc.

• We sent our rental agreements already but apparently that wasn't good enough! Haha.

• We do not have joint utility bills as they were in my name already before she moved in. (If we were to move I could see adding her but the thought never even crossed our minds to add her otherwise.)

• No military Basic Allowance for Quarters as I am not in the military.

• Any other documentation which shows that the marriage was not entered to circumvent U.S. Immigration laws – we sent in two affidavits of support, phone records, joint bank records and joint tax returns.

So, TL;DR – They need our photo ids, hers is 'expired' as it was a learners permit good for one year. It shows a date of five months after she crossed the border with our current address on both ids. Our evidence of good faith marriage was not good enough, the ONLY thing we have to send in is a credit card statement opened in October of 2012 (nearly a year after she got her) where she is an authorized user so we were thinking of photocopying those and sending them in. (They have the same account number, and reflect our names.) We have no other 'supporting documentation' as shown above this.

What do you folks think?

[mouna44 1]

i have received similar rfe. they have asked our driver license and bank statements. for yours, just go to dmv and get her identity id. she doesnt need to have driver license and id will be enough. this people like joint finance i think that is #1 for them. they want to see joint. send them yur bank statement from the begining of your marriage. and anyting that has both you guys name on it. i responded since december 2 2013 i have not hear any ting almost 2 months now. but some people get their rfe review quick. i guess it depends of the adjudicator of your case. good luck. take your time and gather more evidence.

[Rachel Chen 1]

Yes, I'm agreed with mouna44. You should have state ID at DMV. And, send quarterly full statements for both credit cards and bank account from the beginning of your marriage until today. You donn't need to send copies of cards.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

No joint bank account? No joint taxes have been filed? Anyone listed as spouse and emergency contact on employment documents?

[lost_at_sea 995]

Insurance info? Like, do either of you have life insurance showing the other as the beneficiary? Same with 401k/retirement plans.

[Teddy B 17,251]

What do you folks think?

I think you should have been better prepared for this, you knew it was coming. It's nuts that you don't have any of that stuff.

[Darnell 8,478]

RoC is to get a greencard based on marriage to a USCitizen, to remove the conditions and

part of this 'remove the conditions' thingie

is

to show co-mingling of finances.

You did not do that. You not have things to show evidence 'of'.

Sorry. Good Luck to you - I sincerely hope you can explain to yer foreign spouse your reasoning for not keeping a monthly log of financial stuff, explaining it to her satisfaction.

[Darnell 8,478]

What do you folks think?

Give up Conditional Residency,

get back to Canada,

then file I-130, chasing an IR-1,

this time keeping monthly records of the co-mingling,

co-mingling that you are starting this week.

Why?

USCIS wants to see 2 years worth of stuff prior,

and

you not have it. You did not do co-mingling of finances, so there is to evidence to produce.

I say go back, start over, try it again,

and this time - read the instructions, map out the plan based on what you read.

IR-1 is superior, as

once granted, you have 10 years to be a slacker. Sure, it does mean you have to NOT be a slacker up until the new visa is granted, but - HEY ! live and learn, right?

Go Get Em, and Good Luck !

[Sean86 31]

Give up Conditional Residency,

get back to Canada,

then file I-130, chasing an IR-1,

this time keeping monthly records of the co-mingling,

co-mingling that you are starting this week.

Why?

USCIS wants to see 2 years worth of stuff prior,

and

you not have it. You did not do co-mingling of finances, so there is to evidence to produce.

I say go back, start over, try it again,

and this time - read the instructions, map out the plan based on what you read.

IR-1 is superior, as

once granted, you have 10 years to be a slacker. Sure, it does mean you have to NOT be a slacker up until the new visa is granted, but - HEY ! live and learn, right?

Go Get Em, and Good Luck !

They do not have to go back and you do not need to be so drastic. Just send in whatever you can and. In worst case event they will call you in for a interview. They might choose to do a stokes interview to see if your answer match.

I am sure if your genuine couple you will pass the interview easily. They deny the ROC in a really rare event. Don't panic just send in what you can and prepare for a stokes interview.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You are low on evidence. There is no one thing you must have, but you have not provided a complete picture of your married life. You need to think of any evidence you have, work documents, photos, proof of trips together, anything. If you have nothing, send back the RFE saying you have nothing more, and expect a grueling interview.

[ryna 132]

I got a lot of grief from the "all but the kitchen sink" types as well, but my wife's ROC was approved without an RFE or any other problem. We did have more than you seem to have (insurance, utilities, etc.) but we didn't send USCIS a play-by-play of our life. They can't dictate how you arrange your life, financially or otherwise. Send them what you have - anything you can think of that would show your life together - and wait to see if they accept it as enough. It is their business to make sure your marriage is legit and if it has to be through an interview, then so be it.

You'll be fine if you're a real couple.

Also, it looks like they are asking for a copy of the immigrant's GC (required) and a copy of the USC's Driver's License, not the immigrant's (but it won't hurt to send a copy of the expired Learner's). They want to see that the address on the USC's license matches the paperwork from the GC holder...

Edited January 24, 2014 by ryna

[R and L 5]

This is not financial evidence, but what about Affidavit of Support from people you both know? Land lord would probably be a good example for that.

I'm a authorized user on my hubby's credit card account and we sent 1) statements during the whole period, 2) letter from our bank stating that I've been an authorized user on my hubby's cc since -- present, and 3) copies of our credit cards (showing the same number on them.)

What about any purchases you made that would show your billing address and maybe even the end of your cc number? I don't know how much it has weight but we digged some old and new purchases we ordered to our home that show that (me ordering shoes, my husband ordering car parts, all including the info of our address, our names and end of cc.)

If you're short on things, just try to be creative and think anything that could show some (even small) evidence regards co-mingled finances or sharing your home together.

What about writing wills or beings each other's emergency contacts? Photos?

And like others said, worst case they'll just call you for an interview.

There are a lot of couples who don't have that much financial evidence and it's really a ok! There's different reasons and different life situations. You can be perfectly happy married couple and not have a joint bank account.

Just try to send anything you can think of on your reply.

Good luck and don't worry

[figuringthisout 0]

I will keep this reply short as it appears people do not want to take the time to read (or perhaps English isn't their primary language? I suppose that's a good excuse.)

For those of you who didn't understand my first post, I will answer your questions:

We already had sent in a copy of our lease, two affidavits, and joint bank account and joint tax return information. They said this was not enough.

I have since sent in documentation for our joint credit card and her employment information showing she listing her address as ours four months after crossing the border. This is all the extra documentation we have. No joint insurance (we don't have insurance atm) etc.

--

Also Ryna - they were NOT in fact asking for the immigrants GC (Obviously they're the ones who sent us the GC to begin with, why would they want a copy of something they produced?) They very clearly stated they wanted a license or state ID. I have since found out that an expired license is not valid as state ID, so we got her a state ID and sent a copy of that, along with my driver's license.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

Perhaps you should have made it more clear as to what exactly you sent in the first time. Your response is an odd one to make to people that were trying to help you.

You're welcome.

[figuringthisout 0]

I don't know how you missed some of the hostile replies JayKay... and I DID include in the first post those things.

Please look at the quote from the first post, I will put in bold the very question you asked that I already had addressed before you 'read' it:

3. 
   

   EVIDENCE OF GOOD FAITH MARRIAGE

   2. 
      

      The CPR filed a form I-751 to our office. The CPR provided some evidence of marital bona fides. However, the documentation submitted is insufficient because joint residency documentation does not establish a joint residency from the date of adjustment to present and joint taxes and bank statements alone do not fulfill the burden of proof of joint finances.

   3. 
      
4. 
   

Sadly it seems as if VisaJourney is littered with 'internet trolls' now. Glad it helped me this far but the undue stress involved with peoples lose tongues is too much. I hope moderators weed out these bad apples for future users.

Edited February 28, 2014 by figuringthisout