Do we need a statement by a US citizen?

[ally33 0]

I'm gathering some information for evidence of a bona-fide marriage. So far, I have:

- Flight tickets to Florida and 2 trips abroad, his trip to Vietnam, my trip to the US.

- Hotels/AirBNB receipts

- Pictures of us since freshman year college > graduation, post-graduation, now. (5 years in total)

- Statement showing he's the authorized user on my credit cards and vice versa.

- Statement of joint saving account.

 

We've never lived together. I'm wondering if I should ask my best friend (US citizen) to write a statement or not. He went to the same college as us. I don't mind doing it if it's necessary but I'm sort of uncomfortable asking him to do this.

 

What do you think?

 

Edit: Actually, I might not submit the joint saving account statement because we haven't been consistently putting money towards it. 1 deposit of thousands of dollar might not be a good supporting evidence.

Edited November 6, 2018 by ally33

[EandH0904 1,184]

I also changed my name, added proofs of that, including professional licenses. We published our wedding announcement in our local paper, I filed jointly on my taxes, I added my husband to my health insurance at work (even though he cannot use it in his country), added him as beneficiary to my life insurance and 401k, added him to my car insurance as a non-driver. 

 

I tried to think of everything a traditional couple would do and did as many as I could. 

[ally33 0]

Thank you for your reply @EandH0904. However, I'm not changing my name and we won't get our marriage certificate/license until the end of this month.

 

We are trying to submit the application in December so I don't thinking filing jointly on taxes next year is an option for us either.

[Khallaf 648]

1 hour ago, ally33 said:

Thank you for your reply @EandH0904. However, I'm not changing my name and we won't get our marriage certificate/license until the end of this month.

 

We are trying to submit the application in December so I don't thinking filing jointly on taxes next year is an option for us either.

If you got married in 2018 you have to either file married filing joint return or married filing separate, there is not a choice, some have done it as single but I advise against that. If you can obtain the passport for your spouse when you go to file taxes file for an ITIN number and send in a paper copy of your tax return and the application for ITIN to the ITIN address.

 

This will be very helpful in gathering further evidence of on going marriage.

 

not to mention an added tax deduction, if you have further questions feel free to message me and I will assist you, I did this for my husband.

 

I added 5 affidavits from friends in family, all though they might not hold much wait as the number of visits together, it could help in a small way.

 

Pictures with each family is a great thing, it shows family involvement, and acceptance.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Khallaf

[ally33 0]

Thank you @Khallaf. He does plan on filing taxes as Married. However, what I meant is that we will submit the documents for I130 package before he submit his taxes so it won't be applicable to us this time around. Am I missing something?

[Khallaf 648]

1 minute ago, ally33 said:

Thank you @Khallaf. He does plan on filing taxes as Married. However, what I meant is that we will submit the documents for I130 package before he submit his taxes so it won't be applicable to us this time around. Am I missing something?

no the taxes will not play a role till the NVC stage and interview anyway so that is fine, just a little information.

 

when I submitted mine, I also included my husband on our apartment lease, water bill, electric bill, gas bill.

 

 

[ally33 0]

@Khallaf Got it. Were you living together? My fiance and I have never lived together. I'm living with my family at the moment in Vietnam so I don't have any utility bill. given that, would you suggest I ask my USC friend to write a statement for us?

[Khallaf 648]

3 minutes ago, ally33 said:

@Khallaf Got it. Were you living together? My fiance and I have never lived together. I'm living with my family at the moment in Vietnam so I don't have any utility bill. given that, would you suggest I ask my USC friend to write a statement for us?

we never lived together, is your husband living on his own, have his own house or apartment?

 

if he does I would ask him to find out what he needs to do to either 1. add your name to the apartment lease, 2. add your name to the deed of the home.

 

with your USC husband, he will be able to add your name to all household utility bills, IE: water, electric, Gas there is no need for a SSN or ITIN for this, he just needs to explain that he needs to do this for immigration purpose and they will allow it.

 

I would get your family, and friends both in your country and in USA to write up an affidavit to contest to your marriage and relationship such as how they know you, how long they have known about your relationship and so on.

 

 

[ally33 0]

@Khallaf Thank you. He's living with his parents at the moment but he's been paying the bills; though I'm not sure if his name is on the bill or is he simply taking care of payment for them. I'll ask him.

 

I'll also get the affidavit like you suggested. It doesn't hurt to have more evidence it seems.

[Khallaf 648]

Just now, ally33 said:

@Khallaf Thank you. He's living with his parents at the moment but he's been paying the bills; though I'm not sure if his name is on the bill or is he simply taking care of payment for them. I'll ask him.

 

I'll also get the affidavit like you suggested. It doesn't hurt to have more evidence it seems.

With Egypt each entry for a USC had to come with a visa sticker in my passport so I copied each one and gave dates of each, with each one of those I added pictures to a work document with each visa scan and dated it.

I sent in extra pictures of us with his family on each visit.

6 affidavits for the initial petition to USCIS, my birth certificate, a copy of his passport info page.

I sent in our marriage certificate with translation, the apartment lease in our names and all utility bills in each name, a copy of a credit card that was sent to me with his name still attached to the paper, that was sent to me in my name and our address.

I sent in 2 years of text chat message and 2 years of phone call history.

 

When it came to NVC as I was not sure what all got sent to NVC from USCIS I sent in updated affidavit letters, his application for ITIN our joint tax return, updated text and phone call history more pictures.

 

My flight information for all 5 trips, and upcoming trip back to Egypt. I added the Joint checking account since he now had an ITIN and could be added to that in USA.

 

we were still stuck in AP for verification for almost 2 months.

 

some embassy are easy when it comes to a new marriage and some want more and more and more evidence of meetings. ( I further believe that it also depends on the CO who is reviewing the case) 90% of the time they have already made a decision before the interview even takes place.

[NikLR 13,220]

Affidavits are very low on the evidence scale.  If you don't want to ask, dont bother.  You have plenty of other evidence. 

[ally33 0]

@Khallaf I've seen a lot of people saying that phone calls and text messages are unnecessary. Personally, I think pictures from trips are enough. I don't think anyone has time to read through all of our texts and call logs. I also don't want to share that kind of personal information.

 

hi @NikLR , thank you for your insight. Do you mind if I ask why you think it's low on the evidence scale? If you have a source, it would be great! If not, is it anecdotal from your experience?

[NikLR 13,220]

2 minutes ago, ally33 said:

@Khallaf I've seen a lot of people saying that phone calls and text messages are unnecessary. Personally, I think pictures from trips are enough. I don't think anyone has time to read through all of our texts and call logs. I also don't want to share that kind of personal information.

 

hi @NikLR , thank you for your insight. Do you mind if I ask why you think it's low on the evidence scale? If you have a source, it would be great! If not, is it anecdotal from your experience?

Because anyone can write anything.  It's not a sworn statement from in front of a judge.  So it counts for very little compared to authorized users on credit cards or beneficiaries of accounts or joint leases.  

Edited November 6, 2018 by NikLR
Small phone keyboards are the devil

[WandY 430]

On 11/6/2018 at 5:18 AM, NikLR said:

Because anyone can write anything.  It's not a sworn statement from in front of a judge.  So it counts for very little compared to authorized users on credit cards or beneficiaries of accounts or joint leases.  

Yes. From my experience in Vietnam and with Vietnamese immigration/visa issues, having dual names on legal and financial documents is much better than letters from friends and family. Of course you wouldn't submit a letter of negativity. It's like letters of recommendation I get at school - they all say the same thing and don't mean much. Transcripts and other certified documents mean everything. Although you don't share a lease, you need to show that you are sharing some sort of responsibility, both contractually and financially.