How to prove bona fide marriage if there's no lease, no assets...?

[luisima 0]

Hi everyone!

 

My husband and I are the process of filling out the I-130, I-485, and related forms for my change of status from F-1. I've been freaking out for a while now because of our specific situation. My husband suffers from a physical condition and has been dependent on his parents since he was 21. For this reason, he doesn't work and has always lived with them. He's never filed taxes and doesn't have any assets on his name, only his bank account but no credit cards. 

 

I have no clue what to provide as proof of bona fide marriage. We don't have assets on our name, we both have separate health insurance and we're pretty broke right now on our own so I don't think we'll be purchasing any other insurance in the near future. Both of our cars are under our relatives' names as well as our car insurance. We dated for over 3 years before getting married but I don't think that we have anything to prove this besides pictures, affidavits from family and friends, and maybe hotel receipts of trips we did together. 

 

I plan to add him to my bank account as to show a joint account, but I'm not sure what else we could do...? Also, would it be recommendable to have him add me to his? Or just one joint account would suffice? We pretty much have lived these past three years between his house and mine and he moved to my place this month. Again, "my place" is really my aunt's place. Is there a way to add us to any formal document to prove that we live together? I'm thinking about having him change his address on his driver's license and school stuff but other than that I'm clueless. Also, is there a way to add us to our car titles on time for filing the forms? (we plan to file in a couple of weeks). The reason I am asking this is I have no idea what are the requirements for leases or titles (can three people be on the title as owners, for example?). I don't know if it is necessary to have a credit history or similar in order to do that (neither of us has any so far).

 

I appreciate any insight you guys have. I will probably ask a bunch of questions regarding the forms pretty soon as well. Thank you!! 

[eckoin 211]

18 hours ago, luisima said:

Hi everyone!

 

My husband and I are the process of filling out the I-130, I-485, and related forms for my change of status from F-1. I've been freaking out for a while now because of our specific situation. My husband suffers from a physical condition and has been dependent on his parents since he was 21. For this reason, he doesn't work and has always lived with them. He's never filed taxes and doesn't have any assets on his name, only his bank account but no credit cards. 

Remember to include a letter explaining why he didn't file taxes. 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

I have no clue what to provide as proof of bona fide marriage. We don't have assets on our name, we both have separate health insurance and we're pretty broke right now on our own so I don't think we'll be purchasing any other insurance in the near future. Both of our cars are under our relatives' names as well as our car insurance. 

Is this legal where you are? In most places, you have to be listed as a second driver on someone else's insurance. If you are listed as second drivers, you can list each other on the two cars. If you're not, check that you're actually insured in the unfortunate case of an accident. 

 

I'm guessing you don't have renters insurance. Look into that, since you now live together. Unless your aunt has homeowner's insurance, in which case she should add you both as residents (in fact, she may have to by insurance rules. This will not increase her premiums). 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

We dated for over 3 years before getting married but I don't think that we have anything to prove this besides pictures, affidavits from family and friends, and maybe hotel receipts of trips we did together. 

If your package is very light, you could include a brief selection of text/IM messages going back the three years as well. But pictures and trips together are all right on their own. Look for photographs that have other people in them, especially if they also wrote the affidavits. All of this is not really strong evidence, but in the absence of others, it's better than nothing. 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

I plan to add him to my bank account as to show a joint account, but I'm not sure what else we could do...? Also, would it be recommendable to have him add me to his? Or just one joint account would suffice?

One account is fine, but make sure you both use it. Having a joint account that only one person is clearly using can lead to more questions than answers. 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

We pretty much have lived these past three years between his house and mine and he moved to my place this month. Again, "my place" is really my aunt's place. Is there a way to add us to any formal document to prove that we live together?

Have your aunt write a letter from a landlord, affirming that you live together. Feel free to draft a pre-dated lease agreement outlining the terms of the lease, even if you won't pay rent. It's good to have anyway. Imagine your aunt goes on vacation and something goes wrong--it's good to be able to prove that you live there. 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

I'm thinking about having him change his address on his driver's license and school stuff but other than that I'm clueless.

Obviously. Think about other memberships you may have with the same address. If your aunt has memberships, she could potentially add you to the household. Library cards? Museum memberships via school? 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

Also, is there a way to add us to our car titles on time for filing the forms?

Like, your relatives giving you their titles? They can do that, yes. Adding both of you to the titles probably depends on the state.

18 hours ago, luisima said:

(we plan to file in a couple of weeks). The reason I am asking this is I have no idea what are the requirements for leases or titles (can three people be on the title as owners, for example?). I don't know if it is necessary to have a credit history or similar in order to do that (neither of us has any so far).

No, unless the cars are leased or financed. In which case, your relatives who "own" the cars don't actually own them, the title belongs to the financing/leasing company. Without a credit history, there's no financial sense to try to add you to the financing agreement in that case. 

18 hours ago, luisima said:

I appreciate any insight you guys have. I will probably ask a bunch of questions regarding the forms pretty soon as well. Thank you!! 

Do you guys have cell phone plans, even if you're on a family plan? Add one of you to that (if you don't, you can get a family plan for the two of you). 

 

Do you have Netflix/Hulu/other subscriptions? With the same address, one for each of you could be helpful. Postcards from people addressing both of you? Do you pay for any of your aunt's utility bills? If you do, you could ask her to add you two/transfer it to you. Things like TV/internet are included. 

 

Most of the above isn't really fantastic stuff, but you do what you gotta do. The best evidence is things that show that you have shared financial responsibilities that, in the event of a divorce, would be tough to deal with--joint accounts used for household purchases, leases, mortgages, insurance. You know, things that a fraudulent marriage would rather avoid entangling with. In your case, since you're young, I think it makes sense that you don't have much of this, so show what you can.