My spouse and I have different addresses on our W2s (not where we currently live). AOS interview red flag?

[Allie D 39]

My husband and I got married in July and have lived together since August 2016. We have a rental lease, utility bills, internet bills, joint bank account, pay stubs, health insurance documents, an affidavit from a friend, and tax transcripts attesting to this. However, we just realized that:

 

• He forgot to change his car registration address. Car registration details are publicly available and USCIS can look them up.
• Our W2s have our old addresses: his in TX, mine on the east coast. However, pay stubs reflect our current address. We forgot to tell our employers to change the address for our W2s. Once we realized, we initially didn't think too much of it as our mail had gotten forwarded to our current address.

 

How this happened: We moved to our current apartment last August after getting married in July. He already lived in TX and I lived on the east coast*. When I moved to TX, we were unsure whether to live at his old apartment or find a new one. We decided to find a new one. Breaking his lease would have been expensive so we sublet that apartment. He still has access to mail sent to his old apartment as a result, i.e. when USPS doesn't forward it correctly (which happens more often than you'd think).

 

Are our W2s and car registration information a big red flag? Did any of you experience similar problems? We prepared our AOS packet by ourselves. Now that we're preparing for our interview in early June, we are starting to realize snags and sloppiness. It's too late to do anything at this point and we will explain our situation to USCIS. However, we'd like to be prepared and know in advance, know how much trouble we are in, and would appreciate advice on how to prepare for the interview. E.g. if there's additional proof we can bring to ameliorate the situation.

 

* Right after college, we couldn't find work in the same state. He got recruited to a great job in TX while we were students whereas I didn't yet have a job. Our correspondence shows how hard we tried to coordinate. It's very difficult to find work in a state where you don't already live. We also have various proofs of a continued relationship when we lived apart during 2015-16. My husband and I decided to close the distance in 2016 and got married, after which I moved to TX and applied for AOS.

 

P.S. I just realized that I might have posted in the wrong forum, since this one is primarily for K-1 and IR-1/CR-1 visas. I thought "family based" meant adjustment based on family relationships. If someone thinks the question should be moved, that's fine. The K-1 and IR-1/CR-1 folks might actually be in a position to offer better advice since they have been in long-distance relationships.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Allie D
clarity

[Redheadguy03 505]

You seem to have tons of other evidence. You should be ok. Heck, my car registration is permanent tags, so when I moved I didn't change it because I didn't have to. For me it's a cost issue.

 

Prepare in case it comes up, but I think you should be fine. You've got a legitimate reason. 

[DrEllaNJ 288]

do your drivers' licenses have the same address? If not (yet), it may make sense to update those, so you can verify your identity with prove of same address from the get-go. 

We had just moved prior to our interview, and my husband still had a DL with our old address (NJ doesn't give you a new one when you update your address online) - but he had a printout reflecting his change of address. The IO did ask us why we moved and how much rent we paid, but it didn't seem to be a red flag. You seem to have a ton of other evidence, too, and having the lease with both your names will be good supportive evidence.

[sparkles_ 456]

In our interview this happened to us. I never changed my DL from my mothers address, in order to keep getting a lower car tax rate. The IO was fixated on this til I finally just told her why. Seems like if you can reasonably explain things you will be fine. I told her I had zero plans to change my DL address til my car was paid off. 

[Allie D 39]

7 minutes ago, DrEllaNJ said:

do your drivers' licenses have the same address? If not (yet), it may make sense to update those, so you can verify your identity with prove of same address from the get-go. 

We had just moved prior to our interview, and my husband still had a DL with our old address (NJ doesn't give you a new one when you update your address online) - but he had a printout reflecting his change of address. The IO did ask us why we moved and how much rent we paid, but it didn't seem to be a red flag. You seem to have a ton of other evidence, too, and having the lease with both your names will be good supportive evidence.

My husband's DL doesn't reflect his new address. He has a traffic accident misdemeanor on his criminal record so his original license was confiscated. He currently has a limited license with his old address because we were in the process of moving when the accident happened. He will be getting a new license soon but that might not happen before the interview. I don't know the specifics of the process -- I need to ask him. We'll make sure that his new license has his current address.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Allie D
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