In Person meeting question?

[dazed'nconfused 14]

So my partner and I are filling out the form i29F and what the instructions seem to suggest need to be in there and what others are commenting are making me paranoid that we have misunderstood the instructions.

 

But as I browse this page there seems to be lots of questions about how to tell USCIS about meeting online and proving it's not an international marriage broker and stuff like that.

 

But I don't see anywhere that it asks how we initially met?  There's the question about "Have we met in person in the last 2 years?" and then to describe that.  So we obviously ticked yes and put in a quick blurb about me visiting in November and that we have attached photocopies of passport stamps, boarding passes and some photos as evidence - this seems to be what they're asking as far as I can tell, but the comments that others are making about "how do we tell them we met on Tinder/OKCupid" and similar makes me wonder if we should be putting more information?

 

We also have a folder with other documents we'll be submitting including letters of intent to marry, and a quick breakdown of the proof of in-person meeting with a 1-line throwaway about how we met (while he was on a working holiday in my country); as much proof of meetings as possible (certified copies of my passport photo page and 2 passport stamps from my visits, my first visit booking confirmations - at the time I didn't know we were going to be doing this or I would have kept my boarding passes - boarding passes from this visit, tickets from when we went to an attraction on my first visit, photos of us with a band member after a concert we went to, print outs of my bank statement showing cash withdrawals and purchases in his town, other pictures taken on this most recent trip). We've also got some screenshots of all the calls back and forth on Facebook Messenger as proof of ongoing relationship, and I'll print out the reciept from the christmas gift I sent him in 2016 (my visit November was my "gift" this year so I didn't buy him anything else) 

Am I worrying over nothing? Should we re-jig our answer or fill out more info with how we met/evolution of our relationship?   It doesn't seem like that should be 100% needed at this stage - it seems like they're making sure that we are legally able to marry and have fulfilled the requirement of meeting in person, and then when it gets to the consulate is when they ask more questions?

Can people waylay my fears? I hate waiting and the idea that it'll get sent back with an RFE because I wasn't properly prepared or didn't understand is making me really anxious.

[Boiler 45,655]

Much depends on which Consulate is involved.

[dazed'nconfused 14]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Much depends on which Consulate is involved.

Ok, that makes sense from what I've seen. 

I'm Australian, so I think that means the Sydney one.

[Boiler 45,655]

You are worrying over nothing

[dazed'nconfused 14]

Just now, Boiler said:

You are worrying over nothing

Thank you. 

I feel silly about worrying but it's such a long process already and we don't want it to be any longer than necessary by missing out on including simple stuff! 

[geowrian 22,337]

You'll find different viewpoints on this as disclosing your first contact is not a firm requirement. Many people have filled out the I-129F without disclosing how they first contacted each other and did not get an RFE. Others did. As such, my personal suggestion is to disclose it and provide evidence of them not being an IMB.

 

The common misconception is that the "first contact" issue is part of Question #54 (circumstances of meeting). The RFE is actually issued due to Question #55: "Did you meet your beneficiary through the services of an IMB?". This does not mention anything about only meetings within the past 2 years. You may say "No", but the IO may want proof of this since he doesn't know how you met unless you tell him/her. That's why I suggest providing the info and then not having to wonder what they will decide.

 

Anyway, the "evolution of relationship" item is relationship evidence. USCIS won't determine if the ongoing relationship is bona fide or not. That's done at the embassy stage. Frontloading relationship evidence can be valuable depending on the consulate involved...some are suspected of having COs that "pre-judge" a case before the interview, so frontloading it gives them some good background before the interview. Sydney isn't one where this is typically necessary (but can still be done fine). As stated, you should be fine on that side of things.

[mich923 23]

I put in the answer of where we met, and then said see attachment. On the attachment, I described how we met online and then went on to our first meeting.

[dazed'nconfused 14]

Thanks guys. 

We ended up putting in a quick line about having met through a mutual friend while my fiance was travelling in Australia. 

I feel like it's probably not the "done" thing to say so in this forum, but I sort of expect that the international marriage broker question probably won't come up due to being from a country and culture where arranged marriages is not a commonplace occurrence or generally socially accepted. 

[NikLR 13,227]

Someone once had to include TOS of WoW on an RFE.  LOL  Dunno which country the beneficiary was from though. 

[geowrian 22,337]

1 hour ago, dazed'nconfused said:

I feel like it's probably not the "done" thing to say so in this forum, but I sort of expect that the international marriage broker question probably won't come up due to being from a country and culture where arranged marriages is not a commonplace occurrence or generally socially accepted. 

I got one for this from the Philippines, where arranged marriages are not commonplace. I've seen cases from Australia, Germany, and various western nations where it's uncommon as well also get an RFE for this. They don't really look at the beneficiary's country for the IMBRA requirements.

Anyway, arranged marriages have nothing to do with an IMB.