K1 Proof of Meeting Requirement (Canada)

[jakelo 0]

Hi VisaJourney,

 

We are starting to gather the Proof of Meeting Within the Last 2 Years requirement. I am writing as the beneficiary (Canadian citizenship).

 

Please follow the scaffold below. It'll be great to know if the collective evidence below is enough to not get an RFE. In the case that it's not enough, then I'd reckon a resort trip together in the same plane to Mexico would do it: boarding passes of us in the plane next to each other, complimentary Mexican passport stamps, and a resort reservation/receipt, along with photos. 

 

1. She drove across the border October 2017, stayed the night in Canada, then the next day we both drove back into the USA (same car). Stayed several days with her, then flew back to Canada.
   1. She has no passport stamp entering Canada
   2. We both entered USA together, in her car, received no stamps on either of our passports.
      1. i94 travel history online records reveal that I did in fact cross that day. As she's American, she doesn't have access to these records, therefore us two cannot confirm this.
         1. We could note that we did in-fact cross together in the same car? Is this a good idea? I'd reckon they can fact-check this on their systems.
   3. We both have credit card statements revealing purchases in the USA, indicating same place, same time.
      1. Unfortunately no receipts were kept.
   4. I flew back to Canada. I have the boarding pass, United boarding e-Ticket, and i94 travel history online records revealing I left USA.
   5. Many photos.
2. I visited her for a week in USA on November 2017, flying in.
   1. I have a passport stamp passing CBP.
   2. I do not have the departure boarding pass. I do have the return boarding pass. I have the Delta e-Ticket confirmation.
   3. I have a subset of receipts of my purchases. Some of them have my name on them. She has none.
   4. We both have credit card statements revealing purchases in the USA, indicating same place, same time.
   5. Many photos.
3. She visited in Canada on January 2018.
   1. She has all her boarding passes.
   2. No passport stamp was given in Canada.
   3. Unfortunately no receipts were saved.
   4. We both have credit card statements revealing purchases made in Canada, same place, same time.
   5. We have tickets to an event, with group photos.
   6. Many photos.
4. ... It goes on with several more trips, with evidence as a set or subset of the above ... There was one more trip where I visited her by plane in February (I have a passport stamp here too, but only departure boarding passese). Thereafter, we've been strictly train (me getting to a Canadian border city) and car (her driving across the border) bound due to better weather.
   1. There was one more instance of us crossing end of March 2018 in her car together into the USA.
   2. There was one instance where we both crossed into Canada from USA together.
   3. Unfortunately, besides the trip of her flying into Canada, we do not have a complete set of boarding passes

 

A main pattern has emerged to me. We do not have a single instance of having a passport stamp AND complete boarding passes in either of each others countries. We however have supplemental evidence (as exampled above, like receipts and credit card statements indicating cross spending, photos, airplane e-Tickets, etc.). Is this enough to not get an RFE?

 

Additionally, as I've done in the past for myself, we can both request our Canadian border passage history. This we can attach as evidence of her entries into Canada. In addition, it will indicate that we crossed the border at the same time (to the second), in the same lane. Is this a good idea?

 

... USA/Canada is a weird combination as neither country likes to stamp each other's passports for each other ...  Will be great if other American/Canadian couples can chime in here.

 

Cheers,

Jake.

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by jakelo

[Hawksquill 151]

You'll be fine.  It might be a bit dodgy if you didn't have a passport stamp and you only met once, but you've clearly met in person several times over the last 2 years and have multiple types of evidence proving that.

 

I honestly don't even think you should include credit card statements proving you were in the same place at the same time.  It's not really necessary considering you also have passport stamps, boarding passes, and photos, and I'd worry that the officer reviewing the file won't understand the purpose of those statements or see their evidentiary value.  It's really just adding fluff to pad out a file that already has enough evidence, in my opinion.  Fluff can be overkill and just holds up the process, especially if you include evidence they never even asked for.

[jakelo 0]

22 minutes ago, Hawksquill said:

You'll be fine.  It might be a bit dodgy if you didn't have a passport stamp and you only met once, but you've clearly met in person several times over the last 2 years and have multiple types of evidence proving that.

 

I honestly don't even think you should include credit card statements proving you were in the same place at the same time.  It's not really necessary considering you also have passport stamps, boarding passes, and photos, and I'd worry that the officer reviewing the file won't understand the purpose of those statements or see their evidentiary value.  It's really just adding fluff to pad out a file that already has enough evidence, in my opinion.  Fluff can be overkill and just holds up the process, especially if you include evidence they never even asked for.

Thanks!

 

She's visiting me this weekend (another car trip). If not bothering to submit credit card statements, is it a good idea for both of us to make a few purchases at a grocery store at similar times? We can then submit this along with the package.

 

Will be great if others could chime in too!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

Edited July 9, 2018 by jakelo

[ITMFA 241]

You'll be fine - All you have to do at this stage is prove you've met in the last 2 years! I got approved just this morning after filing in late December 2017. We've been together for 3.5 years, with the first year spent living in the same city, and 2.5 years of visiting back and forth, so we included a selection of photos and plane tickets and passport stamps, but made sure not to include too many unnecessary things. I agree that the credit card statements aren't needed. It sounds like you have more than enough evidence of meeting and can show you are in a "real" relationship! 

[ITMFA 241]

p.s. Try not to overthink the i129f! They want only what they ask for, so be as clear and concise as possible and you should be ok. I know it's super stressful putting it together; use the visajourney forum search function because most questions you have are the same as the rest of us! Be thorough but not overly fussy, and check the form and the contents of your folder at least 3 times more than you think you should. Good luck! 

[jakelo 0]

1 hour ago, Canadianmusician said:

You'll be fine - All you have to do at this stage is prove you've met in the last 2 years! I got approved just this morning after filing in late December 2017. We've been together for 3.5 years, with the first year spent living in the same city, and 2.5 years of visiting back and forth, so we included a selection of photos and plane tickets and passport stamps, but made sure not to include too many unnecessary things. I agree that the credit card statements aren't needed. It sounds like you have more than enough evidence of meeting and can show you are in a "real" relationship! 

Thanks! How did you present/organize this data? By trip? Or all as one with post it notes indicating where, when and what trip?

Congrats on the approval! Wish you two a happy journey! Have a nice celebration tonight!

 

Is it possible also to point me to a guide you used to assemble the whole package? Researching online pointed to conflicting opinions (to use a binder, or not to use one, using plastic sheet protectors, etc...)

 

Would love more opinions from other people!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

[ITMFA 241]

1 hour ago, jakelo said:

Thanks! How did you present/organize this data? By trip? Or all as one with post it notes indicating where, when and what trip?

Congrats on the approval! Wish you two a happy journey! Have a nice celebration tonight!

 

Is it possible also to point me to a guide you used to assemble the whole package? Researching online pointed to conflicting opinions (to use a binder, or not to use one, using plastic sheet protectors, etc...)

 

Would love more opinions from other people!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

We tried to be organized but as concise as possible in the way we presented everything. We constantly referred back to the official USCIS instructions, and followed the K-1 visa guide on this website very closely. (http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide)

We didn't use any binders or plastic - too much fuss for USCIS because they scan everything, and those things get in their way. We had a cover letter that itemized everything we were sending them, and we had a separate index for our "evidence of meeting and ongoing relationship" section which included the photos and proof. Note that photos don't constitute "evidence" by themselves. We organized it by trip, so for each trip we made an entry on our index. For example: "#4. R visited F in _____. [dates] - R's plane ticket and passport stamp, photo of us at _____. The photos were all in one ziplock bag with numbers and dates on the back of each (9 photos in total - no more than one for each trip). We paper-clipped small sections that went together (such as the form itself), and used a huge bulldog clip to hold the whole thing together. Make a system that is clear and easy to understand, and you should be fine. Again, search through old threads to see how other people did it, and try not to stress too much! Good luck

[jakelo 0]

56 minutes ago, Canadianmusician said:

We tried to be organized but as concise as possible in the way we presented everything. We constantly referred back to the official USCIS instructions, and followed the K-1 visa guide on this website very closely. (http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide)

We didn't use any binders or plastic - too much fuss for USCIS because they scan everything, and those things get in their way. We had a cover letter that itemized everything we were sending them, and we had a separate index for our "evidence of meeting and ongoing relationship" section which included the photos and proof. Note that photos don't constitute "evidence" by themselves. We organized it by trip, so for each trip we made an entry on our index. For example: "#4. R visited F in _____. [dates] - R's plane ticket and passport stamp, photo of us at _____. The photos were all in one ziplock bag with numbers and dates on the back of each (9 photos in total - no more than one for each trip). We paper-clipped small sections that went together (such as the form itself), and used a huge bulldog clip to hold the whole thing together. Make a system that is clear and easy to understand, and you should be fine. Again, search through old threads to see how other people did it, and try not to stress too much! Good luck

Thanks! Were they tickets or boarding passes? If boarding passes, did you have complete sets (return and departure) for all of them? Did you also include your Canadian passport, scans of bio-page and all pages (even blanks), given you had passport stamp evidence? 

 

Yep, am de-stressing from your helpful advice. Thanks again! 

 

And as usual, would love to hear from others that are or have been through this journey!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

Edited July 10, 2018 by jakelo

[Hawksquill 151]

5 minutes ago, jakelo said:

Thanks! Were they tickets or boarding passes? If boarding passes, did you have complete sets (return and departure) for all of them? Did you also include your Canadian passport, scans of bio-page and all pages (even blanks), given you had passport stamp evidence? 

 

Yep, am de-stressing from your helpful advice. Thanks again! 

 

And as usual, would love to hear from others that are or have been through this journey!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

We didn't have complete sets of arrivals/departures for every trip.  We included what we did have, including some train tickets.  If you do have all of that, great, but you won't get RFE's or a rejection if you don't.  

 

You should still include scans of the bio page of the passport, because it's explicitly listed as a required document. Read the official list very carefully and make sure you check off every item.  It can be easy to get carried away including a lot of pictures and boarding passes and whatnot, but what will really get you a RFE is neglecting any of the basic things that are absolutely required. 

 

Good luck! 

[Vicki Corpse 27]

When you booked your flights, did you do them online? 

I know airlines send your flight itinerary to your email. 

Just wondering if that would work? 

 

[jakelo 0]

21 minutes ago, Vicki Corpse said:

When you booked your flights, did you do them online? 

I know airlines send your flight itinerary to your email. 

Just wondering if that would work? 

 

 

Yup! We have all the e-Tickets as they're in email. Will be great if you can give a list of other items you've submitted for evidence!

 

 

29 minutes ago, Hawksquill said:

We didn't have complete sets of arrivals/departures for every trip.  We included what we did have, including some train tickets.  If you do have all of that, great, but you won't get RFE's or a rejection if you don't.  

 

You should still include scans of the bio page of the passport, because it's explicitly listed as a required document. Read the official list very carefully and make sure you check off every item.  It can be easy to get carried away including a lot of pictures and boarding passes and whatnot, but what will really get you a RFE is neglecting any of the basic things that are absolutely required. 

 

Good luck! 

 

Will be great if you can also give a list of other items you've submitted for evidence!

 

Thanks all for the wonderful help!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

[ITMFA 241]

40 minutes ago, jakelo said:

Thanks! Were they tickets or boarding passes? If boarding passes, did you have complete sets (return and departure) for all of them? Did you also include your Canadian passport, scans of bio-page and all pages (even blanks), given you had passport stamp evidence? 

 

Yep, am de-stressing from your helpful advice. Thanks again! 

 

And as usual, would love to hear from others that are or have been through this journey!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

Hmm I think we had a mixture of things. Don't forget that evidence that proves more than one meeting is extra! They really just want to see proof that you have met once in the past two years, so if you send them at least one set of rock solid evidence then the others can be a bit looser. I agree with the post above that reminds you to focus on nailing the basics of the form and not worrying too much about the extras. You don't want to try too hard! If you have a real relationship and have spent a lot of time with that person, you should have trouble proving it in the interview (although of course I'm still nervous for mine!)

[ITMFA 241]

FYI a lot of visajourney regulars get tired of giving the same advice over and over, so you'll probably get more info through searching through old threads than you will by posting your own questions. That was my experience, but I'm also happy to help when I can!  

[Vicki Corpse 27]

5 minutes ago, jakelo said:

 

Yup! We have all the e-Tickets as they're in email. Will be great if you can give a list of other items you've submitted for evidence!

 

 

 

Will be great if you can also give a list of other items you've submitted for evidence!

 

Thanks all for the wonderful help!

 

Cheers,

Jake.

Well our situation isn't the best to be go by, considering we received an RFE for more proof. I can tell you what I included for both. 

We've been together for over 6 years, so there is a lot of evidence. However for the last 4 years, there really hasn't been much because I've been driving down and they don't ever stamp my passport.

For the original submission of i-129 we did ; The whole long typed up letter from the fiance about our meetings. Included 10 pictures of us, about 5 pictures of us with friends/family. Fiance's boarding pass from one of the only flights in the last 2 years. Receipt of the engagement ring, a hotel reservation which had both of our names on it. Ticket stubs from events we've both attended. 

When we submitted our RFE, we had printed 20+ pictures of us within the last 2 years. 2 Notarized affidavits from the Fiance's mother and best friend. A notarized Letter of intent from me,  2 affidavits from fiance's father and our friend. My fiance gave me one of his credit cards, statements from my gas purchases when traveling down. A credit card statement of a hotel reservation. Up to date i-94, which had the May/June 2018 visit on there. I highlighted the visits for the last 2 years. I also included a Facebook screenshot of us tagged at a location. 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

you can get a record of border crossings from the CBP website and print it off.

 

canada doesnt stamp. my fiance and i have 30+ trips between us (mostly him) and only a couple of stamps. 

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home