Frontloading the application- yay or nay?

[Prof_Q 9]

At what point is front loading the application an advantage and a disadvantage? My fiancé and I have known each other for a year and we've had a total of 6 visits so far (no age difference; he's 30 and I'm 31). The first 4 visits were for 4 days each, 5th visit for a week, and 6th visit for a month. Our application is going to be thick already with all the forms, printouts of proofs, and pictures we are attaching to it, but do we need to include pages of our chat logs as well? My fiancé is an Egyptian citizen and our interview will be at the embassy in Bolivia. Thanks!

 

Edited December 11, 2017 by Prof_Q

[Going through 5,668]

Front loading an application (in my opinion) is more useful when there are either already existing red flags in an application, or when the totality of your evidence collected is weak/minimal on its own standing compared to the general straightforward case.

 

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

Since he is form a muslim country it is more important that his family approves / so do any of your photos include family especially mother?

and you will need a police clearance from Egypt when he goes to the interview so you may want to get that one now (if he lived over a year in Egypt as an adult)

chat logs only need to show you kept in touch over an extended period of time (like i sent a few sentences not the whole conversation) 

the cover letter saying how u met is important / I did an outline showing a timeline / make it short not several pages

frontload with the proofs of visits like itinerary and copies of boarding passes / more important to show the face time than the chats

[pizzaday 66]

The thing is, with every piece of additional evidence you provide, you can decrease your chances by accidentally misrepresenting information: typos, wrong dates, wrong locations for meetings, etc. There is a reason you are advised to answer questions concisely at border control - don't make things unneccesarily difficult for yourself. That holds true for this part of the immigration process as well.

 

The adjudicator at USCIS is probably not going to look at it anyway. (There have been some interviews with adjudicators posted on here in the past, they are a great read!) I'd say front-loading only makes sense if there's something special about your story that you want the embassy to have a look at before meeting you. However, from accounts posted in the past, there is a good chance the officer at the embassy won't review your application before the interview anyways.

 

I'd focus on quality over quantity. Check out the 2017 RFE master list for what tends to fussed over by USICS. If you do front-load, make it as easy as possible for the adjudicator or officer to find information with labels, table of contents, etc.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Mirte

[noraliz73 243]

I suppose people would call my petition "front-loaded."  I did not do it that way on purpose.  Being an English major, I wrote and re-wrote my "story" about 50 times.  I actually did have a love story to tell since we met for the first time when we were kids in 1989 and then got separated and happily re-united.  It felt right to me to select photos that went with the timeline and with chats and e-mails that helped illustrate the picture for the adjudicator.  Even if they did not read it.  I didn't feel like I was trying to prove anything to anyone.  I just felt as though I was so happy to be with Waseem again and to finally be engaged that the presentation of the petition meant something special to me.  I hope that the person in the Embassy can feel this too.  But I did not do this with a motive.  I guess it will help because he is Egyptian.  The way that I had to bring myself to look at it was that government documents are stressful and that I had to turn it into a bit of a fun and creative project. I put my heart and soul into it.  Writing is what I am good at and I really worked hard on my essay.  Maybe harder than any other piece of writing I ever did.  There are so many facts and feelings to convey and not a lot of space.  I also did not want to make the package a 10 pound mess that was hard for the person to follow.  It needed to be cohesive, brief, and maybe a bit of a breath of fresh air for them--I hope.  I tried to make it somewhat of a stress reliever for me too.  I think the answer is to do what is right for you.  Not according to trying to prove something to them.  This is your journey.  Go with your heart.  Make it special and joyous.  I ended up being proud of my petition.  I hope it gets approved!  I want to get married and miss him very much!  I poured some of my love into my work.  Good luck to you.

[Kush_Omaded 29]

I think frontloading can be beneficial, if it's the right kind of evidence. Obviously no USCIS agent or Consular officer wants to read 300 pages of chat logs, but  including a mixture of every type of evidence can be good for your case. Include pictures, receipts, chat logs, copies of visas or passport stamps. Don't go overboard, of course, but it can't hurt to show an example of a chat log from every month of your relationship, for instance. Or even one screenshot per week, if you want to be extra sure. But ultimately, if your case is otherwise solid, including those extra chats probably won't be critical for your case, but I doubt it would hurt you.

 

While an earlier post did raise a valid point about trying to keep the information to a minimum, so as to not accidentally misrepresent yourself during an interview, that's an easily solved problem. Make copies of the documents you include with your I-129F and be sure that both the petitioner and beneficiary know everything completely. Review the documents thoroughly, make sure you both understand the same version of events. For instance, my fiancé insists our first date was the first time we went out together, while I consider it to be once we'd formally started dating a little bit later. These exact details are harmless in the scope of the overall relationship; it's not like we love each other any less or have less of a desire to get married. And when it comes time for the interview, we'll both agree which timeline we'll use.  If there's a discrepancy during the interview, even a harmless one like that, it can look bad. So more info isn't bad, but be sure both petitioner and beneficiary have a clear grasp on the details.

[phildinftlaudy 17]

We worked with an attorney. She had us front load. We didn't overload, but we did front load. Showed the relationship through: email messages, phone bills call log, photos of the times I visited, statements of intent, Western Union receipts, and airline/hotel receipts. Our interview in the DR lasted less than 10 minutes (maybe 5-6) with very basic questions. Every case and every country different, but we didn't have any problems. Did the same for the AOS and got approved with no interview. We were very well prepared however with details should we have been asked together or separately about anything included in the package or about our relationship.