CR-1 Visa Questions and Advice

[NekoMin 0]

Hello VJ! 

 

I’m new to visajourney! My husband and I recently got married and my vacation time in the US is coming to an end BUT we’re ready to embark on a new journey and start the CR-1 visa process. We’re slowly but surely getting our papers and proof together but I did have a couple of questions regarding the process. I’m also anxious by nature and we want to get this right the first time around so dear Visajourney,  I had a couple of questions for you regarding the process. 

 

Firstly, both of us communicate constantly through Facebook when we’re apart. We never really used text message unless we were travelling to each other. We also use discord to talk, because we usually play video games together as we’re talking. It’s just a lot easier for the both of us and we both avoid long distance charges. Would USCIS approve of screenshots taken of our conversations via Facebook or is there another way I could go about doing this? 

 

Secondly, my husband and I aren’t huge on picture taking but we do have selfies together from each visit. We don’t have very many pictures of us with each other’s families (we do have a couple). We have a lot of pictures from the wedding though that include both families. I was wondering if that would be a problem with USCIS or NVC? And how many pictures should I send? 

 

Seeing as it’s impossible for my husband and I to own joint property or a joint bank account (I live in Canada and he lives in the US) we decided to ask a couple of friends to write an affidavit, stating that we have had an ongoing relationship for the past three years and that we still have an ongoing relationship today. We will be getting it notarized as well. Has anyone else done this? 

 

As for more proof, he has letters that I’ve sent from the beginning of our relationship, we have our Amtrak tickets from previous trips, I will be getting phone records to prove that I’ve called him and his family, I have Christmas cards from previous holidays and we have invitations and programs from our wedding as well as our wedding vows to each other (we wrote letters to give to each other prior to the wedding ceremony).  Is there anything else that I should include? 

 

 

 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, NekoMin said:

Hello VJ! 

 

I’m new to visajourney! My husband and I recently got married and my vacation time in the US is coming to an end BUT we’re ready to embark on a new journey and start the CR-1 visa process. We’re slowly but surely getting our papers and proof together but I did have a couple of questions regarding the process. I’m also anxious by nature and we want to get this right the first time around so dear Visajourney,  I had a couple of questions for you regarding the process. 

 

Firstly, both of us communicate constantly through Facebook when we’re apart. We never really used text message unless we were travelling to each other. We also use discord to talk, because we usually play video games together as we’re talking. It’s just a lot easier for the both of us and we both avoid long distance charges. Would USCIS approve of screenshots taken of our conversations via Facebook or is there another way I could go about doing this? 

 

Secondly, my husband and I aren’t huge on picture taking but we do have selfies together from each visit. We don’t have very many pictures of us with each other’s families (we do have a couple). We have a lot of pictures from the wedding though that include both families. I was wondering if that would be a problem with USCIS or NVC? And how many pictures should I send? 

 

Seeing as it’s impossible for my husband and I to own joint property or a joint bank account (I live in Canada and he lives in the US) we decided to ask a couple of friends to write an affidavit, stating that we have had an ongoing relationship for the past three years and that we still have an ongoing relationship today. We will be getting it notarized as well. Has anyone else done this? 

 

As for more proof, he has letters that I’ve sent from the beginning of our relationship, we have our Amtrak tickets from previous trips, I will be getting phone records to prove that I’ve called him and his family, I have Christmas cards from previous holidays and we have invitations and programs from our wedding as well as our wedding vows to each other (we wrote letters to give to each other prior to the wedding ceremony).  Is there anything else that I should include? 

 

 

 

Fill out the I130 petition with exactly what they ask for and submit it.

 

From another thread this morning I posted in reflecting two (approved) I130's because we filed twice.

 

I130:

Petition

G325A (mine)

Passport copy and BC copy (mine)

G325A (hers)

Passport copy (hers)

Marriage book copy (which is the legal document we got when we got married)

Translation of the marriage book copy (from a random local translator we paid)

Photos - passport size

Check for payment

 

I think that today there are a couple of other things they ask for.  Something about social media accounts now?  That's a new one to me.

 

If you want to add something throw in a couple of wedding photos.  Proof of relationship is established when you exchange rings.  This isn't a K1 application and we seem to be lately tying all the evidence of all the steps of the whole immigration process together and confusing each other as to what gets submitted when.

 

The extra proof of relationship that the I130 is asking for relates to non-immigrant visa -----> AOS submittals where the immigrant has been living in the US.  It is not possible and they do not expect couples across borders where the beneficiary has never lived in the US to submit evidence of joint / co-mingling of assets. 

 

They want to know:

Are you a criminal?

Have you participated in prohibited activities?

Are you medically fit?

Were you legally eligible to get married?

Are you legally married?

Can the USC sponsor the beneficiary?

Is there potential to become a public charge?

 

IF they want to discuss your relationship they'll ask you about it at the interview - months down the road.  USCIS processors do not want to discuss your relationship.  They want to check you against their list of eligibility requirements and the I130 petition and instructions advise you what to send in so that they can do it.

[geowrian 22,337]

1. Screenshots from any service that shows communication is fine (including call logs).
2. Send what you have...it is what it is. But from Canada, I doubt you're going to have that hard of a time with the relationship aspect.
3. Affidavits carry very little to no weight here. You can include them if you already have them, but I personally wouldn't go out and get them if you have other evidence already (which it sounds like you do).

FYI - The G-325As are no longer needed. An I-130A is now needed for a spouse.

Guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Edited December 9, 2017 by geowrian

[NekoMin 0]

29 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Fill out the I130 petition with exactly what they ask for and submit it.

 

From another thread this morning I posted in reflecting two (approved) I130's because we filed twice.

 

I130:

Petition

G325A (mine)

Passport copy and BC copy (mine)

G325A (hers)

Passport copy (hers)

Marriage book copy (which is the legal document we got when we got married)

Translation of the marriage book copy (from a random local translator we paid)

Photos - passport size

Check for payment

 

I think that today there are a couple of other things they ask for.  Something about social media accounts now?  That's a new one to me.

 

If you want to add something throw in a couple of wedding photos.  Proof of relationship is established when you exchange rings.  This isn't a K1 application and we seem to be lately tying all the evidence of all the steps of the whole immigration process together and confusing each other as to what gets submitted when.

 

The extra proof of relationship that the I130 is asking for relates to non-immigrant visa -----> AOS submittals where the immigrant has been living in the US.  It is not possible and they do not expect couples across borders where the beneficiary has never lived in the US to submit evidence of joint / co-mingling of assets. 

 

They want to know:

Are you a criminal?

Have you participated in prohibited activities?

Are you medically fit?

Were you legally eligible to get married?

Are you legally married?

Can the USC sponsor the beneficiary?

Is there potential to become a public charge?

 

IF they want to discuss your relationship they'll ask you about it at the interview - months down the road.  USCIS processors do not want to discuss your relationship.  They want to check you against their list of eligibility requirements and the I130 petition and instructions advise you what to send in so that they can do it.

Thank you very much for your response! I feel like some of the information gets misconstrued. ImI’m

[NikLR 13,227]

For our I-130 we sent all the basics (which is different now from then.) 

 

Since the I-130 instructions do ask for evidence of a relationship, we sent 6 photos (2 per 8x11.5 paper), two affidavits, joint car insurance (hubs was happy to get a better rate as a married man) and joint bank account.  We bank with a few military banks that understand foreign spouses.  RBC also is good for Canadians because we can open CAN and US accounts.  They also will use your Canadian credit if you want to open an unsecured card after you move.  

Canada is low fraud generally so I-130 evidence is minimal.  

[JFH 12,190]

12 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

Fill out the I130 petition with exactly what they ask for and submit it.

 

From another thread this morning I posted in reflecting two (approved) I130's because we filed twice.

 

I130:

Petition

G325A (mine)

Passport copy and BC copy (mine)

G325A (hers)

Passport copy (hers)

Marriage book copy (which is the legal document we got when we got married)

Translation of the marriage book copy (from a random local translator we paid)

Photos - passport size

Check for payment

 

I think that today there are a couple of other things they ask for.  Something about social media accounts now?  That's a new one to me.

 

If you want to add something throw in a couple of wedding photos.  Proof of relationship is established when you exchange rings.  This isn't a K1 application and we seem to be lately tying all the evidence of all the steps of the whole immigration process together and confusing each other as to what gets submitted when.

 

The extra proof of relationship that the I130 is asking for relates to non-immigrant visa -----> AOS submittals where the immigrant has been living in the US.  It is not possible and they do not expect couples across borders where the beneficiary has never lived in the US to submit evidence of joint / co-mingling of assets. 

 

They want to know:

Are you a criminal?

Have you participated in prohibited activities?

Are you medically fit?

Were you legally eligible to get married?

Are you legally married?

Can the USC sponsor the beneficiary?

Is there potential to become a public charge?

 

IF they want to discuss your relationship they'll ask you about it at the interview - months down the road.  USCIS processors do not want to discuss your relationship.  They want to check you against their list of eligibility requirements and the I130 petition and instructions advise you what to send in so that they can do it.

There are many things wrong with this reply.

 

The G-325A is no longer required for spouses. The I-130A has replaced this.

 

"Proof of relationship is established when you exchanged rings". No, no, no. It proves nothing more than you bought two rings. It does not prove that the marriage is genuine. It does not prove that the marriage was not entered into purely for immigration benefit. Note that USCIS asks for "evidence" of a bona fide marriage, not proof. It's not possible to prove one's thoughts or plans but you can show evidence to support your claim that the marriage is genuine. 

 

"The extra proof of relationship that the I-130 asks is for non-immigrant petitions" - incorrect. The I-130 is used ONLY for immigrant petitions. 

 

OP, please remember when using public forums that the quickest answer you receive to your question isn't necessarily the best one or even a correct one. 

 

Your evidence looks good. The best evidence of all is that of time spent together. Focus on that and you'll be good. Canada is not a difficult country for this. 

Edited December 9, 2017 by JFH

[MrHanky 1,377]

And that's why its also important to also look at the official instructions from the official source, then just come here for clarification, if something is wrong they're not going to care about what someone told you on some forum

[Nitas_man 3,100]

11 hours ago, JFH said:

There are many things wrong with this reply.

 

The G-325A is no longer required for spouses. The I-130A has replaced this.

 

"Proof of relationship is established when you exchanged rings". No, no, no. It proves nothing more than you bought two rings. It does not prove that the marriage is genuine. It does not prove that the marriage was not entered into purely for immigration benefit. Note that USCIS asks for "evidence" of a bona fide marriage, not proof. It's not possible to prove one's thoughts or plans but you can show evidence to support your claim that the marriage is genuine. 

 

"The extra proof of relationship that the I-130 asks is for non-immigrant petitions" - incorrect. The I-130 is used ONLY for immigrant petitions. 

 

OP, please remember when using public forums that the quickest answer you receive to your question isn't necessarily the best one or even a correct one. 

 

Your evidence looks good. The best evidence of all is that of time spent together. Focus on that and you'll be good. Canada is not a difficult country for this. 

Seriously?

 

Non-immigrant status---->AOS petitions ARE immigrant petitions. In my experience there is a higher standard of evidence placed on these cases than on across-border applications.

 

I did not mean to imply that a G325A is sent today, I meant to example that we simply sent in the forms that they asked us to send in by exactly outlining the whole package we submitted.

 

With nothing else.  An I-129F and I-130 then a second I-130 put together exactly the same way and approved across the board.

 

So:  Right or wrong, our experience stands.  No delays, no evidence requests, no isues at all through K3/AOS/ROC/DCF-IR1 and now SB1, one of the most difficult dang visas on the planet.  

 

I don't think we've missed ANY spousal immigrant visa category LOL.  

 

[NikLR 13,227]

If there is a higher standard for the K3 AOS then how did only a marriage certificate get you the same result as DCF (which means you were living with the beneficiary abroad.) Not only that but you managed to send enough evidence for ROC as well. 

Since 2012 Ive seen maybe 5 cases like yours. Marriage cert only with the petition that have been approved at the petition stage.  Mostly from the UK or PI.  Everyone else reads instructions and sends at least some marriage evidence, or gets an RFE.  

But i can only recount what happens on this site. 

I do not, will not, recommend the OP send only their marriage certificate. The instructions for the I-130 requests more. However the evidence required for a Canadian/US relationship is low unless the Canadian is originally from a high fraud country.  

The OP is free to do whatever they choose. 

<eom>

[jle2234 68]

On 12/8/2017 at 9:37 PM, NekoMin said:

Seeing as it’s impossible for my husband and I to own joint property or a joint bank account (I live in Canada and he lives in the US) we decided to ask a couple of friends to write an affidavit, stating that we have had an ongoing relationship for the past three years and that we still have an ongoing relationship today. We will be getting it notarized as well. Has anyone else done this? 

Like you, I am a Canadian citizen and my husband is a USC. We initially lived together in Canada following our marriage but, due primarily to procrastination, we had not joined our bank accounts or property when it became necessary for us to relocate to the U.S. (for work and grad school). My father-in-law wrote us a letter of support and had it notarized. It was accepted. We never had any issues with the fact that we had not joined our finances, etc.; but note that we had been married for three years at the time of our application and four years at the time of the interview, so the duration of our marriage may have lent it additional credibility.

 

As some others have said, I think it is best to use official documents/instructions as your primary resource for immigration, and come here for clarification, advice, and support. Here is a good place to start: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/immigrant-visa-for-spouse.html

 

Good luck with the process -- you have lots of people here who are happy to help!