Process Preparation - Joint Everything??

[TimAdri 8]

Hello All..

We are very early into our AOS process as the packet was just signed for at the beginning of this week (3/23) at the Chicago location....I wanted to ask a question of opinion.

Clearly we need to bolster this process by having my Wife's name added to particular financial and beneficiary elements of our life...So my question is simply this...How far should we go?

I have seen other forum threads where some have said...sometimes "too much evidence" can be hurtful vs. helpful. I have been advised to have her added to things such as bills (Water, electric, Cell Phone etc...). Granted, this is not a big deal, but it is also VERY common for only one person to have a utility in their name.. Just wanted some thoughts from others...

I am having her added to:

Medical benefits/beneficiary through work

Auto insurance

Establishing a joint bank account

Townhouse rental agreement

Do we really need to go so far as to add her to every single solitary utility?...I only have three (Electric, Cable/Internet/Phone, Mobile Phone)....My water and trash are included in the HOA dues (Built into my Rent)....As far as cellphone...We intend on getting an additional line added to my plan.

Thanks ahead of time for any thoughts people choose to share!!

[aussie_jason 195]

You do need to go further than what a lot of modern couples would, for example a lot of couples wouldn't even have a joint bank account these days and my wife is hesitant to be added to my account as she likes her independence but we are in the process of doing that just for when it comes to ROC (Removal Of Conditions) two years down the track. Having said that I think you have enough joint financials already, I really don't see the point of joint utilities and a lot of them won't even add another name to the account anyway. It looks like you didn't get married until this year but if you did get married last year then the only thing I would add would be to file your 2013 taxes as MFJ.

Just supplement that with photos together (they especially like wedding photos with family members in attendance), itineraries together, anything like engagement/wedding announcements, invites etc and any thing else that helps to prove the marriage is bona fide but don't go overboard with that either with things like Skype chat logs that add no value. You just need a good balance of proof and you should be good especially if you give off the couple vibe to the IO, they usually get suspicious due to things like the beneficiary being from a high risk country or when the marriage on the surface seems like an unlikely one (large age difference etc).

[TimAdri 8]

You do need to go further than what a lot of modern couples would, for example a lot of couples wouldn't even have a joint bank account these days and my wife is hesitant to be added to my account as she likes her independence but we are in the process of doing that just for when it comes to ROC (Removal Of Conditions) two years down the track. Having said that I think you have enough joint financials already, I really don't see the point of joint utilities and a lot of them won't even add another name to the account anyway. It looks like you didn't get married until this year but if you did get married last year then the only thing I would add would be to file your 2013 taxes as MFJ.

Just supplement that with photos together (they especially like wedding photos with family members in attendance), itineraries together, anything like engagement/wedding announcements, invites etc and any thing else that helps to prove the marriage is bona fide but don't go overboard with that either with things like Skype chat logs that add no value. You just need a good balance of proof and you should be good especially if you give off the couple vibe to the IO, they usually get suspicious due to things like the beneficiary being from a high risk country or when the marriage on the surface seems like an unlikely one (large age difference etc).

Thanks Jason!! We already started a bank account for the benefit of our future...we call it the TimAdri fund and began saving months ago. We can easily have this converted to a joint account so not really stressed there. It was our intention anyways, and she is moving her money from Spain to here. I certainly want her to have her own financial independence and not feel like we are tethered together like a cinderblock to a balloon..that's the beauty of personalities and being individuals. At this point, I think I'll leave the Utilities bond out of the equation, as I agree, it really doesn't prove much other than a person with no job, is now financially on the hook for bills I pay with my good one..hahahahaha

As for our wedding, it was a simple JoP type ceremony but we do have photos. My brother was the hired novice photographer, but I neglected to get any photos of him with us...We just didn't have time to prepare a more formal ceremony as my Parents were out of town, and I was leaving for New Zealand for business two days later. We're within the 60-90 rule and got married on 3/12/14, and her 90-days visit time was set to expire 3/29/14...We plan on doing something more formal in the future when we can properly plan. However, the fact that we got married this year, I cannot file as married for 2013.

We have enough photos together to make most people sick of seeing our faces, so I'm not really worried there...but we most certainly can build a great timeline for them including my first visit to Spain up to and including our trip to Las Vegas last month..(Didn't get married there)...Our message logs are over 10k, and would total about 1,150 pages if I were to print them, but like you said, don't really add any value. However, this is one of the criteria we were told to prepare and have ready for the IO. I don't suspect Spain is a high risk country other than their unemployment rate, but in all honestly, she'd be working in the US right now if she could...but without permission from the government...she's kinda stuck riding the couch...

[Ben10 2]

Another tip that came to my mind: if one of you has a credit card, just add the other spouse as an authorized user of the credit card, and request the bank to send the monthly statements on both spouses names. You can either include that statement in your package or bring it to the interview. Good Luck...

Edited March 28, 2014 by Ben10