Evidence of bona fide marriage - what is accepted?

[Hay_Jane 1]

Hi,

So on the USCIS website it says the following are acceptable as proof of a bona fide marriage:

1. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or

2. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or

3. Documentation showing co-mingling of financialresources; or

4. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, thepetitioner, and your spouse together; or

5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties havingpersonal knowledge of the bona fides of the maritalrelationship (Each affidavit must contain the full nameand address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner ofbeneficiary, if any, and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or herknowledge of your marriage); or

6. Any other relevant documentation to establish that thereis an ongoing marital union.

To get to them point, I'm not on any of my husbands utility bills, we have no children, the mortgage is solely in his name... The only evidence I have are hundreds of pictures from the last 4 years, a dozen flight tickets to and from America, countless personal emails and if it comes to it there are definitely friends and family who will validate our marriage and relationship.

Can someone please suggest what I should include? From reading other posts I know this is a tricky topic because you want to include enough that it is clearly a genuine relationship but you also don't want to give away more than necessary because if anything is needed we can bring it to our interview.

Thanks,

Hayley

[Odair 1]

Hi! My husband is currently immigrating from Ireland, and we ran into the same thing you did as far as evidence ... most things are in my name alone, and I couldn't get him on my life insurance, etc. just yet because for my particular insurance I had to provide a social security number for him (which he obviously doesn't have yet).

We relied heavily on photos, stamped envelopes from letters to each other / to/from each other's family, and got my father to write a notarized affidavit saying we are legitimate. From that stuff alone, we haven't received a request for more evidence, and our final interview is tomorrow.

If you have several friends and family that can affirm that your relationship is genuine, I'd assume getting a couple notarized letters would be a good route to go by. Like I said, we haven't had any trouble, but it's very possible we just got lucky - or, that tomorrow, they'll tell us otherwise!

Good luck!

ETA: We also had a joint bank account at that point, though, and sent a voided cheque with both of our names on it. Our bank was able to use our marriage certificate and his passport as enough ID to add him to the account (which was under my name originally).

Edited March 6, 2014 by Odair

[nobbie 105]

What are you actually applying for, a spouse visa, removal of conditions? You have no timeline so it's difficult to figure out what you are trying to do.

[Terry J 50]

Include what you have for the moment along with a couple of sworn affidavits from family/friends. I had submitted sworn statements and also included a copy of their state/provincial ID's.

I believe you have enough for the moment to submit (pics/proof of visits/e-mails/marriage certificate). In the meantime if you are in the US find a bank that will accept you as a foreigner to open a joint account with your spouse - yes there are several. I was able to do this with TD Bank and only needed to show my passport and another piece of government issued foreign ID.

Also your husband can try to add your name to some utilities via their online portal as a contact name and you can print that as evidence. USCIS knows that often utility companies only add one name as payment responsible for the account and that people receive their utility bills electronically. Your husband can also immediately add you as an authorized user on his credit card and that's also evidence you can submit at the interview.

Once you get your EAD and apply for your SSN:

you may want to apply for your drivers license.

you can also be added to your husband's health insurance.

consider purchasing life insurance policies if you can afford it.

Good luck edited to say that my EAD/SSN comments apply only if you are doing an Adjustment of Status from within the US.

What are you actually applying for, a spouse visa, removal of conditions? You have no timeline so it's difficult to figure out what you are trying to do.

Very good point!

Edited March 6, 2014 by Terry J

[Teddy B 17,252]

They are looking for anything that proves your relationship is real, anything that you think will show that is acceptable.

Some of the better things to have are: Joint bank account, joint lease, joint utility bills, joint health insurance and life insurance. Wedding pics and cards. E-mails, phone logs and any other pics of the two of you together, airline tickets of trips, etc.

There is a vague list of things in the I-130 guide here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

[Hay_Jane 1]

Thank you so much for the advice, and Odair best of luck with your interview tomorrow!!

I am adjusting my status from the visa waiver programme, I am filing I-130, and I-485 together.

I will definitely contact his bank to find out if they will accept our marriage certificate and my passport as ID to put my name on his account. So far, it's proving very difficult to be added onto anything without a SSN.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Thank you so much for the advice, and Odair best of luck with your interview tomorrow!!

I am adjusting my status from the visa waiver programme, I am filing I-130, and I-485 together.

I will definitely contact his bank to find out if they will accept our marriage certificate and my passport as ID to put my name on his account. So far, it's proving very difficult to be added onto anything without a SSN.

Most bank employees aren't aware that they can give you an account without an SSN, it pays to ask for a manager in these cases. Some banks simply won't allow it, but most do.

[Odair 1]

Thank you so much for the advice, and Odair best of luck with your interview tomorrow!!

I am adjusting my status from the visa waiver programme, I am filing I-130, and I-485 together.

I will definitely contact his bank to find out if they will accept our marriage certificate and my passport as ID to put my name on his account. So far, it's proving very difficult to be added onto anything without a SSN.

You may want to go ahead and do the application for employment authorization at the same time. It's free, and will allow you to work while your petition is processing. (Of course, my husband's is arriving to our house on the day of our interview, rendering it void anyhow ... hopefully (providing we get our GC!)).

It'd be better to go in to the bank if you can, preferably with him.

Thank you for the luck!

[Odair 1]

Thank you so much for the advice, and Odair best of luck with your interview tomorrow!!

I am adjusting my status from the visa waiver programme, I am filing I-130, and I-485 together.

I will definitely contact his bank to find out if they will accept our marriage certificate and my passport as ID to put my name on his account. So far, it's proving very difficult to be added onto anything without a SSN.

... Not to rain on the parade, though, but are you sure you want to adjust from the visa waiver program? That seems genuinely strict to me. It's generally accepted that if you're coming over here on a VWP, you're not intending to get married, just to visit - so you might have a time proving to USCIS that you didn't come over here with the intention of marrying/staying. Did you?

ETA: It seems like other VJ users haven't had many problems adjusting status from the VWP, now that I look at some more topics. But even so ...

Edited March 6, 2014 by Odair

[Hay_Jane 1]

I appreciate the concern. I have spoken to many lawyers, people in the same situation etc and yes it is frowned upon and definitely not the best route to go down but it is absolutely achievable and works for people on VWP all the time. I don't want to jinx it but I've been told by many people I have a great case. It wasn't planned that we'd take this route but things came up and it just happened!

Slightly off topic... As my husband is my affidavit I am including copies of his 1040 from last three years and letter of employment. Is that all I need? He was a self employed realtor for three years so no w2.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Years ago it was different, adjusting from VWP was not allowed, that has since changed. Adjusting from VWP does not carry any tougher burden than adjusting from a B2 tourist visa. Once you've been cleared for entry by border patrol, you've pretty much cleared any hurdles of intent.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Teddy B

[Odair 1]

I appreciate the concern. I have spoken to many lawyers, people in the same situation etc and yes it is frowned upon and definitely not the best route to go down but it is absolutely achievable and works for people on VWP all the time. I don't want to jinx it but I've been told by many people I have a great case. It wasn't planned that we'd take this route but things came up and it just happened!

Slightly off topic... As my husband is my affidavit I am including copies of his 1040 from last three years and letter of employment. Is that all I need? He was a self employed realtor for three years so no w2.

It's not actually the 1040s you need. You need the tax return transcripts from the IRS, which are different. Your husband can request them here: www.irs.gov/Individuals/Order-a-Transcript

I got mine within a few days.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Copies of 1040's are accepted as well. Bring the originals to the interview in case they want to see them.

[Odair 1]

Copies of 1040's are accepted as well. Bring the originals to the interview in case they want to see them.

Are they!? I had no idea. I assumed tax transcripts were the only things accepted, so that's what I sent. Ignore me, then! You're fine.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Yes. Part 6 of form I-864 line #14 states "I have attached photocopies or transcripts of my Federal tax returns".

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-864.pdf

Edited March 6, 2014 by Teddy B