bank statement translation

[shikimo 8]

I can't find another topic on this: hopefully the brilliant response that I know is coming will be useful to others as well.

I'm putting together our I-130. I'm almost there: I'm at the part where I prove the bona fides of my eight-year-old marriage with two-year-old child. I've got the marriage cert., consular birth abroad certificate AND US passport plus French birth certificate of said child, an affidavit, a joint property title, mortgage approval with both of our names on it, and a joint checking account statement with the monthly mortgage payment highlighted. That's enough, right?

It's all translated...except the @#$%@$ing bank statement.

How much of it do I have to translate? There are like a million characters on a single page of a French bank statement, many of them laid out in a complicated spreadsheet-like table full of codes and abbreviations in various fonts and sizes. Is it good enough to just translate the parts that matter and make sure that it's clear which part is which, or do I need to reproduce the entire table in excruciating detail?

Marriage fraud risk in our case is practically zero--that would REALLY be the long con, wouldn't it?--but I don't want to take any chances. What have y'all done with bank statements? This is going to come up again at I-864 time, as many of our assets are in French banks..........

cheers!

[pushbrk 12,966]

I would just skip the bank statement. It's France, not Nigeria. Having a child together is all the relationship evidence you need to go with evidence of time spent together. All that stuff is optional and over and above what's required anyway.

[No name 88 48]

I would just skip the bank statement. It's France, not Nigeria. Having a child together is all the relationship evidence you need to go with evidence of time spent together. All that stuff is optional and over and above what's required anyway.

I agree. I don't believe in excessive evidence.

[shikimo 8]

Thanks for the answers.

All sources seem to indicate that "co-mingling of financial resources" is a central piece of the bona fide puzzle, so I guess it doesn't seem excessive to me.

In any case, I will definitely need to translate bank statements for the I-864 in xxx number of months, so the question is still worth pursuing.

[Ryan H 3,812]

All sources seem to indicate that "co-mingling of financial resources" is a central piece of the bona fide puzzle, so I guess it doesn't seem excessive to me

A couple living apart in separate countries is not and will not be expected to have co-mingled finances. That is more relevant during the Removing Conditions on Residency process.

[pushbrk 12,966]

Thanks for the answers.

All sources seem to indicate that "co-mingling of financial resources" is a central piece of the bona fide puzzle, so I guess it doesn't seem excessive to me.

In any case, I will definitely need to translate bank statements for the I-864 in xxx number of months, so the question is still worth pursuing.

Please read the I-130 instructions again and consider everything that comes after the words "in addition to the required...." to be OPTIONAL or NOT required. Then read my first answer and apply the concept.

Edited February 23, 2014 by pushbrk

[shikimo 8]

While I appreciate advice on what I should or should not include with our I-130, what I asked for was some advice on how to translate a bank statement, a relevant topic not to my knowledge treated anywhere else on this board, and something that many other members might profit from. I'm not saying you have to be the one to give that to me, pushbrk, but if you don't want to answer the topic at hand...

[pushbrk 12,966]

Translate the entire document. Anything not a number or in English gets translated.