Newlyweds--How much frontloading? (Canadian)

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

We're just putting our petition together and it occurred to me to be worried about this.

We've only just been married. I still live in Canada. I've heard that they don't really care about affidavits of bona fide marriage.

We have the receipts from our elopement. We have our marriage certificate. We have a few pictures of us together. We have chat records going back years.

We don't have a lot of proof of ongoing marriage because, well, we were married two weeks ago and while I've applied to change my name to hers on all of my government stuff, I don't even have the OHIP and SIN cards back yet.

Does anyone have suggestions for what we should add/how much to add or if we should just continue to collect evidence after our petition goes in and take it to the interview later?

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

It is unnecessary for you to "frontload" a Canadian application unless you have some very specific red flags that you are worried about.

The evidence you have should be fine, bonus would be any receipts or proof of trips you took to see each other.

[Harpa Timsah 13,260]

Yeah, Canada is low fraud, no need to front load. Affidavits can be good in they are detailed and honest; I would throw them in. They start to lose their worth in a high fraud situation, but for you, I say go for it

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Thanks, guys. That makes me feel a lot better. This whole process is so anxiety ridden and all I want is to go home. I miss my wife and want to avoid any rfe that might delay me being able to go live with her. Visits never feel like enough. They're like a tease.

[Harpa Timsah 13,260]

RFE for lack of a bona fide marriage is exceedingly rare and only done in cases where fraud is suspected.

With this process, it is a weird feeling to have someone "judge" you, but just keep in mind how many people do it and are successful.

Affidavits can be great pieces of evidence, it depends how they are done, and if they are credible. You can see in a high-fraud situation how they start to be worth less, but a good, detailed, personal affidavit from a credible person is good evidence.

You'll be fine

[gwenstar 66]

I got married a month before we sent in the I-130 application. I sent in marriage license, 2 color photocopies of pictures (had 4 on each page), 3 affidavits, and I changed him to the beneficiary for my life insurance policy/401K at work. Also maybe 5 or 6 emails from different months to show ongoing communication.

I stressed about this too! But it was totally fine. Canada is low fraud and also if for some reason they wanted more evidence, you will be able to provide more as time goes on. They will not just straight up deny an application for lack of bona fide evidence.

[NikLR 13,234]

We had:

2 affidavits (1 from his best friend, a SSgt in the USAF, one from my mother, who was the minister at our wedding), - I know they are low on the evidence scale

about 6 pictures (2 together, 4 of the wedding),

he added me to his bank account and car insurance, - best evidence IMHO

plus some boarding passes showing visits and a receipt for movie tickets while I visited.

We didn't have any issues.

We also had chats, emails, and skype logs but didn't submit them. I kept them for an RFE if one was sent because Canada is low fraud and frankly I didn't want to have our personal conversations out there if I didn't have to.

Check with your wife's US bank to see if you can be added and she can certainly add you on her car insurance as it will likely get her a better rate as well. But otherwise, what you have is fine and you don't have to do these two things before you send the petition out. We just had a lot of time between marriage and sending the petition to get those things done.

Best of luck to you!!

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

We had:

2 affidavits (1 from his best friend, a SSgt in the USAF, one from my mother, who was the minister at our wedding), - I know they are low on the evidence scale

about 6 pictures (2 together, 4 of the wedding),

he added me to his bank account and car insurance, - best evidence IMHO

plus some boarding passes showing visits and a receipt for movie tickets while I visited.

We didn't have any issues.

We also had chats, emails, and skype logs but didn't submit them. I kept them for an RFE if one was sent because Canada is low fraud and frankly I didn't want to have our personal conversations out there if I didn't have to.

Check with your wife's US bank to see if you can be added and she can certainly add you on her car insurance as it will likely get her a better rate as well. But otherwise, what you have is fine and you don't have to do these two things before you send the petition out. We just had a lot of time between marriage and sending the petition to get those things done.

Best of luck to you!!

I can't be added for her bank account because she banks through a military bank of some kind and I don't think I'm eligible because I don't have connections to the US military. And I can't be added on her car insurance because I don't currently have a driver's license. We also don't have life insurance. I think we can get affidavits from the friend who introduced us online and from the friend who did the whole marrying us thing.

This process is just so stressful and scary!

[NikLR 13,234]

If it is USAA you can be added. I was added to my husband's USAA account beforehand with a W8ben form. We did everything via the internet, scanning and faxing.

Emails are better evidence than affidavits honestly, but it's a personal choice. Relax as this takes longer than you think it will (I tried to just assume the petition would take a year and the NVC until interview another 6 months so that I was pleasantly surprised when it was shorter.) That doesn't mean you won't stress out, but from experience, I recommend keeping busy as this is not a transparent process, you won't know what's going on, you have no control, and it's just easier to realize that early on.

The benefit if she is active military, she only needs to make 100% of the poverty guidelines vs 125%.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

If it is USAA you can be added. I was added to my husband's USAA account beforehand with a W8ben form. We did everything via the internet, scanning and faxing.

Emails are better evidence than affidavits honestly, but it's a personal choice. Relax as this takes longer than you think it will (I tried to just assume the petition would take a year and the NVC until interview another 6 months so that I was pleasantly surprised when it was shorter.) That doesn't mean you won't stress out, but from experience, I recommend keeping busy as this is not a transparent process, you won't know what's going on, you have no control, and it's just easier to realize that early on.

The benefit if she is active military, she only needs to make 100% of the poverty guidelines vs 125%.

Sadly, she's not active military. Her income is well over the guidelines, though. She works for a university while completing her PhD.

And I know well that it's out of my control. I actually was engaged in 2008 or 2009 and my ex had applied for a K-1 for me, but my ex was a dirty cheater and I found out and the relationship dissolved just when we got our NOA2. I'm also going to include an affidavit about the situation with that petition, as I don't know if he ever did anything to cancel it or anything. Once we broke up, I didn't have any right to anything about it and I had absolutely no desire to move to the US if it wasn't to be with someone I thought of as family. I wasn't expecting to fall for another American, though I don't know why I'm surprised. I keep dating Texans. I even dated a girl from San Antonio who was a permanent resident of Canada at one point. I don't set out to do it. I fall for someone, then find out they're related back to Texas. It's so weird.

Why can't they just be Canadian?

[NikLR 13,234]

LOL! Because this is love and love works in mysterious ways. I never thought I'd ever move to the USA. If you'd asked me 3, 5, 10, etc years ago, I'd say never in a million years except if I could retire in Hawaii. Now I'm here in Colorado. I would not include anything about the K1 in your petition to be honest. They have nothing to do with each other as you didn't actually get the K1 visa.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

LOL! Because this is love and love works in mysterious ways. I never thought I'd ever move to the USA. If you'd asked me 3, 5, 10, etc years ago, I'd say never in a million years except if I could retire in Hawaii. Now I'm here in Colorado. I would not include anything about the K1 in your petition to be honest. They have nothing to do with each other as you didn't actually get the K1 visa.

No? I'm just worried that they may look that up and go "#######???" and RFE me. I didn't get the visa, I didn't interview for it. The relationship ended and I didn't so much as go near the US border until I went to meet my now-wife in person for the first time. I'm just so terrified of getting bitten in the behind because my ex was a jerk and I'm afraid that applying to live in the US after abandoning a K-1 is going to look so suspicious. I don't WANT to live in the US. It's just where my wife is. We're hoping that her post-doc work we'll be able to leave the US or at the VERY LEAST get out of Texas. You know? Go live somewhere a little more liberal.

[NikLR 13,234]

Nope. Doesn't matter. It was a petition, that's it.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

I'll talk it over with my wife. I just don't want to screw this up. I want to go home and get my life stable--I've just found out I have two months to find a short term rental in Toronto because I have to be out of my current home the first of June, but the place I was moving to isn't available until the first of August, which is when I THOUGHT I was moving. I am so sick of moving already!

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

I think being that the K1 wasn't completed, I wouldn't worry about like NLR said.

Some people just have a type, yah know? I got out of a 10 year relationship with a Swede, just to marry a Dane! Apparently, I like Scandinavians. I was about to move to Sweden when I started talking to my husband online and fell in love for the first time ever. Sometimes you just can't control these things.

I think it would be ok to explain it if they ask at an interview about it. Coming from Canada it isn't like you have anything to gain by moving to America, so that will be looking at it differently.

Edited April 1, 2014 by N-o-l-a