I-130 Additional Documents

[Airmettetal 0]

Hello. I have some questions on the additional documents that should be sent with i-130. I have questions on five areas. If someone can provide knowledge on all 5 areas then great. However, I will appreciate responses that clarify even one of these areas for me. Thanks!

 

1.  To show that I am a US citizen, I am not clear if I need to send a copy of my birth cirtificate and a copy of my passport, or just one or the other. I have a copy of my passport but am not sure where my birth certificate is. 

 

2. There are several documents they ask to receive in order to know the marriage is a bona fide marriage. They ask to see "one or more" documents. Is just one document type truly ok? Or would it be safer to send as many documents as possible for this section?

 

3. One of the bonafide marriage documents they ask for is "documentation showing that you and your spouse have combined financial resources." My wife and I use the same bank account, but the bank account is only under her name. There are plenty of transactions in there though that I could show are associated with me. Should I show maybe a few months of bank statements? Is there any particular format I should follow to show that our financial resources are combined?

 

4. Likewise for the "affidavit" of marriage do I need to follow any particular format for the information they request? Is there a certain number of affidavits I should use? Could the affidavits be any people? (i.e. in laws, mutual friends)

 

5.  I also plan to submit pictures and text messages to show that we have a bonafide marriage/relationship. Again, is there a particular format that is best to follow to show this documentation?

[Ryan H 3,790]

Answers:

1. One or the other
2. Focus on evidence of time spent together in-person, this is your strongest evidence. Don't limit yourself to just one thing.
3. Joint accounts and or/combined financial resources are not a requirement; see my previous answer for what to focus on and don't bother with these particular bank statements.
4. These are also not required and carry little to zero weight in the overall evaluation of file, see my answer to #2.
5. There's no particular format to follow for either. What I did with the pictures was print 4 to a page with annotations (where they were taken, who was in them, etc.)