Credit Card on a different billing address. Good for RFE?

[cris2016 1]

Just received an RFE for I-751 since we treated the process a bit too lax the first time around. I guess that's what happens when you're sure of your marriage :)

 

Now I'm compiling a list of documents and had a question regarding credit card bills. Most of the bills are on my husband's name (US Citizen), and two of the credit cards has me as the authorized user. Of course on the statements only show his name, but we made copies of both cards to show the common credit card number. Also got a statement from the bank showing I'm the authorized user.

 

Now the issue comes that two of those credit cards don't have our billing address. The reason is simple: one was opened at my in-laws house and we never bothered to change it since it's an email statement anyway and the second at a friend across the street who's always home so it helps to ship packages there since we travel a lot. My in-laws address shows up also on our car insurance cards (all cars are registered under one account) and also on checking bank statements since my husband's account was initially opened there. 

 

The question:

 

1. Should I still include those bank statements for both credit cards even though it doesn't show our regular residence? Will that be an issue? Should I even explain the situation? Not sure how strange that will sound to them.

 

2. Also, we pay most of our bills thru a single credit card under my husband's name and we didn't add myself as an authorized user since AMEX charges an extra $100/year. That credit card is registered to our current residence. But again, not sure if that's relevant in any way since my name doesn't show up on it and I'm inclined not to send the statements, even though they show a lot of transactions. 3.

 

3. We have joint bank accounts, one for each one of us with both of our names on it, but we just pay utilities from there and assessments, not much else. We will send those anyway since I believe they are relevant despite the low volume of transactions.

 

Thank you!

[gregcrs2 1,777]

What did the RFE say?

 

 

[cris2016 1]

"Although you have submitted some evidence to show that you recently began using a common address, the evidence is insufficient to establish that you have resided together and shared responsibility for a common residence from the date of your marriage to the time of filling I-751. Furthermore, the bank statements only cover a short period of time just prior to the filling of Form I-751. In addition, there is no proof that the 2015 and 2016 taxes were filled with the IRS.

 

To establish eligibility for removal of conditions on residence, please submit additional evidence to show you and your spouse entered the marriage in good faith and continue to share a life together. The evidence should reflect your name and your petitioning spouse's name, and it should also cover the period of time from the date of your marriage to present."

 

Then it goes on listing some of the evidence that you should include. 

 

It's true, we only sent 2-3 bank statements, only because we treated this lightly (stupid), but we sent the married filling jointly taxes but without the account records from the IRS website. I have those now ready to go.

 

 

[gregcrs2 1,777]

1 hour ago, cris2016 said:

Just received an RFE for I-751 since we treated the process a bit too lax the first time around. I guess that's what happens when you're sure of your marriage

 

Now I'm compiling a list of documents and had a question regarding credit card bills. Most of the bills are on my husband's name (US Citizen), and two of the credit cards has me as the authorized user. Of course on the statements only show his name, but we made copies of both cards to show the common credit card number. Also got a statement from the bank showing I'm the authorized user.  We will be providing copies of the credit cards showing both account numbers are the same and added a statement to a table of contents stating the US citizen spouse is the primary cardholder and the green card holder is an authorized user.  

 

Now the issue comes that two of those credit cards don't have our billing address. The reason is simple: one was opened at my in-laws house and we never bothered to change it since it's an email statement anyway and the second at a friend across the street who's always home so it helps to ship packages there since we travel a lot. My in-laws address shows up also on our car insurance cards (all cars are registered under one account) and also on checking bank statements since my husband's account was initially opened there. 

Not that it will help you at the moment but you need to have you current address on all your accounts.  It sounds very strange that these were not changed in almost 2 years.  

The question:

 

1. Should I still include those bank statements for both credit cards even though it doesn't show our regular residence? Will that be an issue? Should I even explain the situation? Not sure how strange that will sound to them.  Don't really have a good answer for you on this.  You should try to explain it as that is all you can do.   

 

2. Also, we pay most of our bills thru a single credit card under my husband's name and we didn't add myself as an authorized user since AMEX charges an extra $100/year. That credit card is registered to our current residence. But again, not sure if that's relevant in any way since my name doesn't show up on it and I'm inclined not to send the statements, even though they show a lot of transactions.  We also will not be providing credit card statements as they are all only in the name of the US citizen primary card holder.

 

3. We have joint bank accounts, one for each one of us with both of our names on it, but we just pay utilities from there and assessments, not much else. We will send those anyway since I believe they are relevant despite the low volume of transactions.  Good, send them!

 

Thank you!

See comments in RED above.  

[cris2016 1]

2 minutes ago, gregcrs2 said:

See comments in RED above.  

Thank you for the insight. Agreed that it does look strange, but usually when you have nothing to hide, you don't tend to plan that far ahead. I should have, no doubt about it. Was thinking about the daily convenience rather than the paperwork needed to be sent in. Same goes for many utilities, internet and other things we could have had both of our names on it. 

 

Luckily we have:

 

1. 3 years of taxes filled jointly

2. 401K accounts with both of our names as beneficiaries

3. a joint lease from previous residence

4. bank statements

5. medical insurance card for both,

6. condominium insurance property with both names (I'm the only one on the mortgage since I had great credit and income)

7. management property association monthly fees paid showing both of our names on the property since the dues come out of my bank account

8. 14 vacations in the last 3 years with tons of photos and plane reservations 

9. 4 statements from neighbor and spouse's family,

10. social media print outs with photos of us

11. phone statements showing our numbers on it with tons of daily calls between us (but the main name on the account is my husband's)

12.  electric bills with our name on it

 

Not sure what else to send, at this point, I feel this is the best we can do. We don't mind the second interview and I guess that might be happening. 

 

 

[gregcrs2 1,777]

You can only provide what you can provide.  Your list of documents look good.

[cris2016 1]

22 hours ago, gregcrs2 said:

You can only provide what you can provide.  Your list of documents look good.

 

That's very true. Lesson learned, always stay on top of this regardless how secure you feel about the process. 

 

Thanks for the feedback, fingers crossed

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Anything you may not have or anything that you feel they may see as weird, such as different addresses can easily be solved by writing statements about the issues.

[cris2016 1]

Just now, Ash.1101 said:

Anything you may not have or anything that you feel they may see as weird, such as different addresses can easily be solved by writing statements about the issues.

 

I thought about that for sure, I think the address with the in-laws' being the same it's fine, other documents show that address so I guess it's understandable. I'll see about the second card which shows the friend's address instead of ours, even though it's literally a few numbers down the street. 

 

I think we're good on the last residence where we've been for 18 months now, it's the previous one that we didn't really collect sufficient evidence for it since some of the bills and the lease were on the husband's name before I moved in. 

 

Some people say our list is sufficient, considering how little we sent the first time, but you never know. A lawyer instructed us to be confident to write a statement saying that if the evidence is not satisfactory to the officer, to feel free to schedule us for an interview. Hopefully that's good advice. 

[cris2016 1]

Do you guys include a statement saying that if the evidence doesn't satisfy the requirements, to feel free to schedule us for an interview? I heard it's common practice