What is the BEST evidence for marriage when you have a limited financial situation?

[mnb2015 0]

Hello Everyone,

 

My husband and I fell in love pretty young in our early 20's, and had no intentions of stopping our professional plans that include a lot more schooling ahead of us. As a result, we have a very limited financial set-up regarding commingled finances now that we are married. Here's a full list of evidence we are using for the 751:

 

2 joint Joint bank accounts with months of statements to back it up

A joint investment in stock

joint life insurance

power of attorney

living will

affidavits from family

honey moon in europe receipts, pictures, etc

my husband has a state ID (rather than a drivers license just yet)

mail to same address

landlord agreement (FROM MY PARENTS….we live at home while trying to finish schooling! To say the least they are very wonderful people )

amazon prime membership 

photos with family and friends

proof of schooling (online college)

proof of our online business (we became entrepreneurs…making a little bit of money finally) 

 

HOWEVER….we do not have the taxes, lease, mortgage, or huge bills that USCIS considers pretty important. The reason is mainly because we study overtime each day completing our schooling as quickly as possible so we can move on with our lives as well as working on our entrepreneurial pursuits. My parents are very kind and generous people, believing with the help we receive now that we will be fully independent without a lot of debt after our schooling is over, which I greatly appreciate. My family is very close knit and we have always stuck together.  We are not currently working because the online business is making some money now (not a huge amount though) but I think I should add a part time job pretty soon here to smooth things out. 

 

Should I make an explanation to USCIS regarding this set up? Am I missing any other pieces of evidence anyone suggests?

 

Thank you all so much.

 

 

 

[Sukie 1,440]

Your explanation letter will be key with your situation.  But I do not understand your statement not about not having tax returns.  If you did not make enough money to have to file taxes, you will definitely need to explain this.

 

Be sure to admit up front that you may not look like most couples,  but there is a good reason.  

 

Best of luck.

 

Sukie in NY

Edited October 13, 2017 by Sukie
typo

[afrocraft 313]

Sukie is right: definitely send a careful explanatory letter. More generally, it helps, I think, to use a framework to  organize (and find) evidence of a bona fide marriage. Here's one that I've adopted below. I use a star rating to represent the (subjective) strength of some examples of the evidence (*** for strong/verifiable/difficult to fake; ** moderate; * weak). Using multiple corroborating evidence for each section below, you want to show, from the date of marriage to the present, that you both:

 

Cohabit (CRITICAL):

• Government IDs with same addresses***
• Signed lease agreements with both names**
• Bills in both names for utilities that are home-specific (electric, gas, cable, land lines but not cell phones)**
• Renters insurance policy in both names**
• Correspondence in both names*
• Your letter to USCIS/affidavits explaining your living circumstances*

Co-mingle finances (CRITICAL):

Assets jointly owned

• Titles for significant assets (real estate, cars,  collectibles, etc.) in both names***
• Joint financial account (bank, investment) statements with transaction history**
• Your letter to USCIS/affidavits explaining your financial practices*

Liabilities jointly responsible for

• Tax returns/transcripts showing Married Filed Joint status***
• Joint credit card statements**
• Joint mortgage/car loan/personal loan docs**
• Signed lease agreements with both names**
• Utility bills in both names**
• Your letter to USCIS/affidavits explaining your financial practices*

Share life experiences:

• Birth certificates of children you've had together**
• Travel documentation in both names (boarding passes/hotel receipts > bookings) **
• Well chosen pictures of you together (e.g., to support travel above, or child birth above, or other major family events)*
• Shared memberships*
• Your letter to USCIS/affidavits explaining your shared experiences*

Plan for the future together:

• Beneficiary nominations on retirement accounts**
• Child savings accounts**
• Wills***
• Estate trust documents***
• Power of attorney***
• Joint life insurance policies***
• Your letter to USCIS/affidavits explaining your future plans*

I would aim to provide at least 2-3 of the evidence in each section (the weaker the evidence you have, the more the corroboration you might need). Where you're lacking, explain why in your letter, or be creative in looking for alternative evidence. Hope this helps.

Edited October 4, 2017 by afrocraft

[lecilia 15]

im somewhat worried not i have like maybe 1 or 2 max in each category honestly haven't had the money to do most of those things im filing late already with 3 weeks left due to finances but i have all my statements from everything for the last 3 years 

[Lemonslice 4,612]

15 hours ago, mnb2015 said:

Hello Everyone,

 

My husband and I fell in love pretty young in our early 20's, and had no intentions of stopping our professional plans that include a lot more schooling ahead of us. As a result, we have a very limited financial set-up regarding commingled finances now that we are married. Here's a full list of evidence we are using for the 751:

 

2 joint Joint bank accounts with months of statements to back it up

A joint investment in stock

joint life insurance

power of attorney

living will

affidavits from family

honey moon in europe receipts, pictures, etc

my husband has a state ID (rather than a drivers license just yet)

mail to same address

landlord agreement (FROM MY PARENTS….we live at home while trying to finish schooling! To say the least they are very wonderful people )

amazon prime membership 

photos with family and friends

proof of schooling (online college)

proof of our online business (we became entrepreneurs…making a little bit of money finally) 

 

HOWEVER….we do not have the taxes, lease, mortgage, or huge bills that USCIS considers pretty important. The reason is mainly because we study overtime each day completing our schooling as quickly as possible so we can move on with our lives as well as working on our entrepreneurial pursuits. My parents are very kind and generous people, believing with the help we receive now that we will be fully independent without a lot of debt after our schooling is over, which I greatly appreciate. My family is very close knit and we have always stuck together.  We are not currently working because the online business is making some money now (not a huge amount though) but I think I should add a part time job pretty soon here to smooth things out. 

 

Should I make an explanation to USCIS regarding this set up? Am I missing any other pieces of evidence anyone suggests?

 

Thank you all so much.

 

 

 

Health insurance? How have you been filling taxes? what's the source of your income for the last two years if the online business is just starting to be profitable?

[Private One 44]

Hi @Sukie, longtime no see.

 

@mnb2015: I think you'll be OK with what you have.

 

2 joint Joint bank accounts with months of statements to back it up 
A joint investment in stock
joint life insurance
power of attorney
living will
affidavits from family

 

These are more than enough given your situation. I should point out that monthly statements with very little or no account activity will not be much help. Like @afrocraftsaid, co-mingling of finances is very critical.  Taxes can help a great deal but it's not critical. I made it through AOS, ROC and Naturalization without showing a single tax return. My wife and I have always filed separately because that gets her lower monthly payments on student loans. I took 3 years of tax transcripts for both of us to my naturalization interview just incase but was never asked so I did not present it.

 

Good Luck!