Rental contract dilemma

[Abby&Mario 100]

We have been talking to the woman who rents us our apartment trying to get a contract that shows that we've both been living here. Here's the deal: My husband and our roommate have been living in our apartment since April 2013. I moved in August 28, 2013. Their contract is from April 2013-April 2014. She knows I've been living here and is fine with it; however, there is no official documentation that proves I've been living here. My name is not on the bills or anything like that.

If we get a copy of the April 2013-April 2014 contract from the company, she said they have no way to add my name. She said she can either 1) write up a different contract going from August 2013-August 2014 that includes my name, or 2) we can wait until we get the April 2014-April 2015 contract and she can put my name on that. #1 seems risky, and it could be easily found that my husband has been living here for longer. It's not a lie since the information would be true, but it makes me uncomfortable and I don't like the idea. #2 means we'd have to wait until April, plus we wouldn't have anything to show that we've been living together since August.

My husband said maybe we can get a sworn affidavit from our building manager and our roommate, but from what I understand, sworn affidavits are secondary evidence at best. We have the form from when I got put on his health insurance that shows my address. There is also paperwork I filled out to take a course that started in November, and I had to put my address on the form. Would any of this be seen as valid proof to USCIS in lieu of a contract? What about a sworn affidavit from the landlord rather than an actual contract?

What would you do? This is the first time I have cried in frustration during this process. We were so close to being able to send the I-130 next week, and now this.

[NikLR 13,234]

Proof of communal residence is not necessary for the I-130. Have you had no mail addressed to you while you've lived there?

[Abby&Mario 100]

Proof of communal residence is not necessary for the I-130. Have you had no mail addressed to you while you've lived there?

I know it's not a requirement, and I know people get approved without ever having lived together. But we just got married two months ago, we don't have a joint bank account (not possible here), no property, no car, no kids, and no, no mail (thanks for that good idea, though). My best friend sent out the save the date cards for her wedding about a month ago, but thanks to the Colombian postal system, we haven't gotten it yet.

We are doing everything we can to avoid RFEs because of the aforementioned crappy postal system (it would take ages to get the hard copy in the mail). That's why we want to include evidence that isn't necessarily a requirement, but counts as proof of a bonafide marriage, which is indeed a requirement. Why did they have to take away direct consular filing??

I guess we'll just include what we can in lieu of a contract and keep our fingers crossed. If anyone out there has been in our position, I'd love to hear what you did, or if you got approved without concrete proof of communal residence.