Gathering documents -- help please!

[meganscott 0]

Hello everyone!

My boyfriend and I just got engaged, which means we're officially starting down the long, long road to citizenship. This forum has been exceptionally useful so far, and I'm hoping someone can help me with some specific questions I have about submitting the evidence that we've met over the past two years.

Some background: my fiancé is from Venezuela, but we're currently living together in Argentina. I came here in March 2014 on a Fulbright grant, and he joined me in June after things started to get really bad in Venezuela (we've been dating since 2011 and prior to Argentina had been back and forth many times between the US and Venezuela). Although I had to go back home after my grant ended in December, he ended up getting a job and has been here ever since. He is now a legal resident with a bank account, DNI (Argentine ID), etc.

My next job doesn't start until July, so I was able to come back to Argentina for a few months and want to gather as much evidence as possible before I leave so I can start the petition in July/August. We actually have 4 trips we can work with during the 2 year period: I lived in Venezuela with him from August to December 2013, we both came back to the United States in December and he spent Christmas 2013 with my family, then June to December 2014 in Argentina, and finally April to June 2015, also in Argentina.

I'll definitely be providing copies of both our passports, and I have copies of all of our flight itineraries, although not the actual boarding passes. I'm a little worried because we never actually traveled together, not even when he came to the US in December 2013 (the only flight he could get left a day earlier than mine), and our particular timeline is very confusing. I can keep the boarding pass for my flight back to the US, but I'm flying out of Chile, not Argentina, which makes things even more convoluted.

I also don't have any credit card records for either of my trips, since both Argentina and Venezuela have a currency control that makes it way more cost effective to pay in cash. He might be able to get access to his bank statements from when he was in the US, but I'm not sure.

We do live together here in Argentina, and I was thinking I might be able to provide a copy of our apartment contract, though it's signed only in my name. I also have copies of cell phone and internet bills that are addressed to each of us individually, but show the same address. His DNI (the Argentine ID) also has our address listed on it, as does a Certificate of Residency he had to get (this is the best because it actually states that he lives with his "pareja" and gives my name and passport number). Will this be enough (in addition to plenty of pictures)? I'd prefer to translate as little as possible -- the contract, for example, is very long and would probably be a big pain.

Does anyone have other suggestions for primary documentation? It's very possible that my fiancé and I won't see each other again until he has a visa in hand (he has to go back to Venezuela to finish his degree, and it's getting very difficult and expensive to leave the country) so I want to make sure we have as much done as possible before I leave in June.

Thank you, and please excuse the long post!

[Lilay 87]

Hello everyone!

My boyfriend and I just got engaged, which means we're officially starting down the long, long road to citizenship. This forum has been exceptionally useful so far, and I'm hoping someone can help me with some specific questions I have about submitting the evidence that we've met over the past two years.

Some background: my fiancé is from Venezuela, but we're currently living together in Argentina. I came here in March 2014 on a Fulbright grant, and he joined me in June after things started to get really bad in Venezuela (we've been dating since 2011 and prior to Argentina had been back and forth many times between the US and Venezuela). Although I had to go back home after my grant ended in December, he ended up getting a job and has been here ever since. He is now a legal resident with a bank account, DNI (Argentine ID), etc.

My next job doesn't start until July, so I was able to come back to Argentina for a few months and want to gather as much evidence as possible before I leave so I can start the petition in July/August. We actually have 4 trips we can work with during the 2 year period: I lived in Venezuela with him from August to December 2013, we both came back to the United States in December and he spent Christmas 2013 with my family, then June to December 2014 in Argentina, and finally April to June 2015, also in Argentina.

I'll definitely be providing copies of both our passports, and I have copies of all of our flight itineraries, although not the actual boarding passes. I'm a little worried because we never actually traveled together, not even when he came to the US in December 2013 (the only flight he could get left a day earlier than mine), and our particular timeline is very confusing. I can keep the boarding pass for my flight back to the US, but I'm flying out of Chile, not Argentina, which makes things even more convoluted.

I also don't have any credit card records for either of my trips, since both Argentina and Venezuela have a currency control that makes it way more cost effective to pay in cash. He might be able to get access to his bank statements from when he was in the US, but I'm not sure.

We do live together here in Argentina, and I was thinking I might be able to provide a copy of our apartment contract, though it's signed only in my name. I also have copies of cell phone and internet bills that are addressed to each of us individually, but show the same address. His DNI (the Argentine ID) also has our address listed on it, as does a Certificate of Residency he had to get (this is the best because it actually states that he lives with his "pareja" and gives my name and passport number). Will this be enough (in addition to plenty of pictures)? I'd prefer to translate as little as possible -- the contract, for example, is very long and would probably be a big pain.

Does anyone have other suggestions for primary documentation? It's very possible that my fiancé and I won't see each other again until he has a visa in hand (he has to go back to Venezuela to finish his degree, and it's getting very difficult and expensive to leave the country) so I want to make sure we have as much done as possible before I leave in June.

Thank you, and please excuse the long post!

Hey! First of all, congrats on getting engaged and welcome aboard

About providing evidence, don't worry so much. It seems to me like you have enough evidence to show them. Photos are usually the most important thing. Try to provide photos in different places, with different people, different surroundings. For us, we only put not more than 8 photos, in addition to the receipts from the gifts we bought for each other (usually Amazon receipts), flights that show that we were in the same place the same time. They won't look at the times of the flights and think you're plotting something. The tickets and the passport stamps should be enough to show you were travelling together.

Try not to stress too much! They are really capable of understanding if the relationship is fake or not

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

Photos are not the most important thing for proving you have met in person. That is what you need to prove for the I-129F petition, not if your relationship is real or not. Photos are secondary evidence.

Use the passport stamps, proof that both of you were working and living in the same city. Show the bills, ID and documentation that have the same address on them, and your lease agreement. If you can possibly get any bank or credit card statements, receipts of purchases or ATM withdrawals showing you both in the same place, then use those too. Either one of you have work visas or contracts of some sort? Show those. Provide the flight itineraries and photos to back up all your primary evidence.