Co-mingling of finances RFE

[sunbaenim 0]

Hi everyone,

We just got a RFE about co-mingling of finances. It says, "The joint bank statements submitted are incomplete and do not demonstrate a comingling of finances for the full duration of the marriage."

1. Initially, we sent in 6 bank statements with our ROC package. Do you think they want ALL bank statements from the past almost 3 years?

2. Our main concern is that we have very few transactions in our joint checking account because we spend cash most of the time, and this account is more like saving. We're both graduate students and his parents really want us to finish our degrees, so they support us by giving us money, and sometimes, meals. (Besides my husband, his parents were my sponsors for AOS). We use this money to pay rent. Other little expenses like gas and eating-outs, we either pay our own or take turns. What we're thinking of sending to USCIS is:

- His parents' affidavit saying that they give us money.

- The lessor's affidavit saying that she receives our rent by cash.

Please give us some advice and/or anything else we should turn in. We appreciate it.

Thank you.

[Sukie 1,464]

You need to address the RFE and provide more bank statements. You do not need to send in ALL bank statements for the three years. But...you need to send in the FIRST bank statement from your joint account, and then one every quarter after that (so...you should have nearly 12 statements for the nearly 3 years). This shows continuity, which is what they want to see. Because you use the account like a savings account and pay most things in cash, you should explain this in a cover letter when you return the statements.

It would be good to have an affidavit from your lessor stating that you pay them by cash, and that your parents are helping to support you by giving you cash to pay your rent.

Best of luck!

Sukie in NY

[Cheezees 1,514]

I would suggest sending them ALL in. Since you got and RFE for the bank statements, show them all of them. Six statements over 3 years (2 a year?) was definitely fewer than they would like to have seen. Having few transactions is no reason to send what, I am assuming, were "random good" statements. Good luck!

[davendale 10]

My wife and I were married end of January 2013. We didnt add her to the joint bank account until May. I have every statement since May 2013. I think she didnt even have her social security number until about May. Will it be ok that the first few months after her arrival she was not on the account? How quickly do they expect this stuff to happen? It takes a little time to get things set up. Im wondering if the uscis sees this as reasonable?

[Pitaya 2,577]

I would suggest sending them ALL in. Since you got and RFE for the bank statements, show them all of them. Six statements over 3 years (2 a year?) was definitely fewer than they would like to have seen. Having few transactions is no reason to send what, I am assuming, were "random good" statements. Good luck!

Agree. I would also suggest sending in ALL pages of ALL financial documents. For our initial ROC submission I included one complete statement for each quarter, the RFE clearly stated that they wanted ALL of the statements since inception of the marriage. Our successful RFE submission contained everything 'cept the kitchen sink.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Pitaya