VWP & quick marriage- am I over explaining in my cover letter?

[lesleypowers 3]

Hey folks,

 

About to submit my I-751 and am writing the cover letter. All the example ones I have seen state the date that the immigrant (that'd be me) entered the country, how, and the date of the marriage.  Well; I entered the country from the UK under the visa waiver program with the genuine intent of leaving within the 90 days, but one thing led to another (in the best possible way) and my wife and I ended up getting married a little over 2 months after I arrived. All above board and I got my AoS & provisional green card with no problems- we are very happily married- but I can see that on paper it does seem very quick (we had only been together for about 8 months- when you know you know!). I am wondering if my wording is ok or if its likely to flag attention (we'd like to avoid an interview, obviously).

Side note: Will this evidence be sufficient...? It's really all we have, we're young and have no kids or property yet. We haven't changed our names (for multiple reasons) and didn't have a wedding (couldn't afford it, but we did have a lovely dinner after we went to the courthouse).

Thank you!:

 

"Dear USCIS Officer:

 

I am filing a joint Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, with my wife, [Name of Immigrant]. My wife entered the U.S. through the Visa Waiver Program on January 13th 2015 with intent to leave on April 9th, but cohabiting over those weeks made us realize how strong our relationship was when under the same roof, and we were married on March 20th 2015. We have remained living together and have a happy and loving marriage. We respectfully request that this petition be accepted for removal of conditions on residence for [Name of Immigrant].

 

We have enclosed Form I-751, a check for $590 and a biometrics services fee check for $80, and a copy of the permanent resident card for Sophie Birkin. Please also find the following documents enclosed to verify the status of our marriage and ongoing relationship:

 

• Copy of our marriage certificate
• Copy of documents proving joint occupancy of a rental property
• Copy of rent and utility payments made by [beneficiary] to [sponsor]
• Copies of joint tax statements for the previous two years (2016-2017)
• Documentation showing our joint checking account
• Copies of Chase credit cards showing [beneficiary] as an authorized user
• Documentation showing our joint family healthcare plan with Kaiser Permanente
• Documentation showing our joint family phone plan with Sprint
• Four sworn affidavits by U.S. citizen family and friends, attesting to our relationship and marriage
• Copies of flight confirmations/plane tickets showing trips taken together
• Photographs from various vacations and visits to family (annotated)

 

You may feel free to inquire at any of the sources of enclosed documentation for validity of their statements. Please advise me if you have any further questions or problems related to this petition. We very much appreciate your time and assistance.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

[Sponsor] and [Beneficiary]"

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by lesleypowers

[Wuozopo 4,285]

You don't even need a cover letter. Not a requirement. Skip it. I did and had no RFE, interview, or hold ups. If you insist then leave out that first paragraph. It all about the form and documentation, not a list that probably never makes it out of the mailroom. 

 

Make sure your proof includes dated material that covers the entire time of your marriage. Joint things with 2015 to 2018 dates. Joint healthcare proof from 2015, 2016, 2017 for example. Your earliest joint bank statement, some in the middle, and latest. Show a history of jointness as required. How quick you married doesn't matter to them. "Happy loving marriage" type words doesn't influence them. Don't you think a fraudster could write the same words? Present good hard evidence of living at the same address and mutually sharing money since 2015.

 

"Copy of rent and utility payments made by [beneficiary] to [sponsor]" is kinda weak. Sounds like she is paying you off for her greencard. Both names on lease and utilities with both paying the vendor at various times is more convincing. Work on your evidence and come up with other convincing things.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Wuozopo

[lesleypowers 3]

1 hour ago, Wuozopo said:

You don't even need a cover letter. Not a requirement. Skip it. I did and had no RFE, interview, or hold ups. If you insist then leave out that first paragraph. It all about the form and documentation, not a list that probably never makes it out of the mailroom. 

 

Make sure your proof includes dated material that covers the entire time of your marriage. Joint things with 2015 to 2018 dates. Joint healthcare proof from 2015, 2016, 2017 for example. Your earliest joint bank statement, some in the middle, and latest. Show a history of jointness as required. How quick you married doesn't matter to them. "Happy loving marriage" type words doesn't influence them. Don't you think a fraudster could write the same words? Present good hard evidence of living at the same address and mutually sharing money since 2015.

 

"Copy of rent and utility payments made by [beneficiary] to [sponsor]" is kinda weak. Sounds like she is paying you off for her greencard. Both names on lease and utilities with both paying the vendor at various times is more convincing. Work on your evidence and come up with other convincing things.

Thanks for your response Wuozopo. I'll cut down the cover letter.

 

There's a lot of evidence we simply do not have. I couldn't get on the same healthcare plan or open any kind of bank account until 10 months after I arrived in the country, because of open enrollment, waiting for my employment card, etc. We only opened a joint bank account a few weeks ago. Perhaps this is just a Colorado thing, but when we were filing our Adjustment of Status we called our gas, electric and water and pet insurance providers and they said they were unable to hold accounts for married couples, only individuals. Both our names are only on our phone bill and health insurance. We've paid both our landlords with checks from my wife's account, which is why I transferred payment to her. Although we have evidence that we lived together, our first landlord for 2 years refused to put my name on the lease because he had "rented to a lesbian couple before and they broke up" (seriously). None of this was an issue for Adjustment of Status, though- I thought I-751 was subject to less intense scrutiny?

Is this a "you MUST have this evidence or you will not pass" kinda deal or can they use common sense? We've visited each others families on 9 occasions combined and have plane tickets, photographs and signed affidavits to prove it. I would hope that any rational person could look at the evidence we have and see we have a genuine relationship. We're just young. Honestly, I would imagine it's easier to fake a joint utility bill than it is to spend thousands of dollars over multiple years on flights together to see family?

Thanks again.
 

[mindthegap 2,543]

5 minutes ago, lesleypowers said:

Is this a "you MUST have this evidence or you will not pass" kinda deal 

No. Nothing is mandatory.

 

5 minutes ago, lesleypowers said:

 or can they use common sense? 

Supposedly.

 

 

 

 

 

Send what you have.  You cannot send what you do not have or that does not exist.

[Wuozopo 4,285]

10 minutes ago, lesleypowers said:

s this a "you MUST have this evidence or you will not pass" kinda deal or can they use common sense? We've visited each others families on 9 occasions combined and have plane tickets, photographs and signed affidavits to prove it. I would hope that any rational person could look at the evidence we have and see we have a genuine relationship.

We too lacked much of their suggested evidence, but dug deep to find anything with both names on it. Do you both have driver licenses or state ID cards showing same address? Cars in both names, or auto insurance in both names. Library cards. Pet adoption together. Medical bills with one name and the other name as responsible party. Keep thinking and give it your best shot. Most don't interview so submit a bunch of different things with the form. Even if you were really lacking, you would be given an interview so you would have an opportunity to talk about it. 

[sddude89 31]

Marriage Certificate is unnecessary.

Also, your dating history up to the marriage is completely irrelevant and unnecessary. That was already evaluated for the 2 year green card.

 

This is for ROC and what counts is evidence dated AFTER marriage or AFTER 2 year green card approval.

 

Affidavits from colleagues at work or a neighbor (for example) are much more valuable than friends and family. Friends and family affidavits are really very weak evidence.

But overall, affidavits are of least importance.

Financial commingling has much more weight for USCIS.

 

I got approved and submitted no affidavits at all.

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by sddude89