Will they actually read chat logs?

[lucy 242 4]

3 minutes ago, Daphne K said:

In my opinion that would be the sort of proof that would be needed/used for when you have to do ROC to remove the conditions of your 2 year green card (same as the mingling of finances, joint bank accounts, taxes, utility bills etc.) because that would be ‘normal’ for a married couple that lives together. 

 

At this point, you have been married and apart (as many of us) and the CO wil know that there will not be a lot of proof in terms of the ones mentioned above since you don’t live in the same country. 

 

Not sure what other members think, but ‘creating’ proof in the form of adding a name to a CC all of a sudden without any history would not be considered really good proof I think? 

Will our honeymoon hotel reservation be better? and more pics?

[Daphne . 1,700]

2 minutes ago, lucy 242 said:

Will our honeymoon hotel reservation be better? and more pics?

My packet to bring to my interview has the following (only regarding the additional proof btw..):

• Pictures of the wedding. About 10 pictures and these are pictures of just us but also pictures with all the family members and guests.

• FB screenshots regarding the wedding and I included the part where it shows how many ‘likes’ it had in an attempt to show that many people support us. If it doesn’t help, it doesn’t harm either..

• Pictures of us on different trips together

• Screenshots of FB regarding those trips (because they show the date and location)

• Flight reservations of a trip we made together to see my brother in the UK last Christmas (it has both our names on it)

• Pictures of us with the family in the UK to actually prove that we went (a flight confirmation alone does not prove that you actually went 😉)

• My passport stamps of all the trips I made to see my husband (which they could also see in my passport of course)

• A few e-mails (about 2 for every year to show continuous relationship)

• A few screenshots of random text messages up until now (the decent ones.. 😊)

• A screenshot of an overview of our FT calls up until now

• I even added a screenshot that shows how long we have been FB friends and how many friends we have in common. Again, if it doesn’t help it will not hurt either..

 

 

My lawyer also sent me all the copies of our wedding cards and the statements of our family members (we have 5). I will bring those too but I’m not sure if they will carry a lot of weight..

 

By no means am I saying that my packet of proof is the perfect packet, I just tried to use common sense when I assembled it and I am confident that it could be good proof if the CO wants to see it.

[lucy 242 4]

5 minutes ago, Daphne K said:

My packet to bring to my interview has the following (only regarding the additional proof btw..):

• Pictures of the wedding. About 10 pictures and these are pictures of just us but also pictures with all the family members and guests.

• FB screenshots regarding the wedding and I included the part where it shows how many ‘likes’ it had in an attempt to show that many people support us. If it doesn’t help, it doesn’t harm either..

• Pictures of us on different trips together

• Screenshots of FB regarding those trips (because they show the date and location)

• Flight reservations of a trip we made together to see my brother in the UK last Christmas (it has both our names on it)

• Pictures of us with the family in the UK to actually prove that we went (a flight confirmation alone does not prove that you actually went 😉)

• My passport stamps of all the trips I made to see my husband (which they could also see in my passport of course)

• A few e-mails (about 2 for every year to show continuous relationship)

• A few screenshots of random text messages up until now (the decent ones.. 😊)

• A screenshot of an overview of our FT calls up until now

• I even added a screenshot that shows how long we have been FB friends and how many friends we have in common. Again, if it doesn’t help it will not hurt either..

 

 

My lawyer also sent me all the copies of our wedding cards and the statements of our family members (we have 5). I will bring those too but I’m not sure if they will carry a lot of weight..

 

By no means am I saying that my packet of proof is the perfect packet, I just tried to use common sense when I assembled it and I am confident that it could be good proof if the CO wants to see it.

You have a lot of proof, we don't have all that unfortunately, we don't even use facebook, I think I have an old account that has 10 friends that I haven't seen or talked to in 15 years

[carmel34 3,532]

I would suggest side-loading more evidence when you upload documents at NVC stage, via CEAC website.  A few photos, definitely passport stamps showing trips when you spent time together, boarding passes, hotel receipts showing both names, etc.  Chat logs aren't evidence of time spent together, and quality time together is the best evidence of a bona fide relationship when you live in different countries.  Good luck!

[Daphne . 1,700]

8 minutes ago, lucy 242 said:

You have a lot of proof, we don't have all that unfortunately, we don't even use facebook, I think I have an old account that has 10 friends that I haven't seen or talked to in 15 years

Just bring what you have and don’t stress out about what you don’t have.

You can explain your situation at the interview and the CO will be able to tell if you guys have a good case by the way you answer the questions too. It does not all revolve around only the relationship proof that you are able or unable to provide. I still think that creating last minute proof of  a bonafide marriage (opening a CC now just for the sake of it) will not help..

 

Make sure that all the other paperwork is complete and correct. 

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

3 hours ago, lucy 242 said:

there's also a text saying that I love dogs more than people...

I mean, really, who doesn't? Sartre said people are hell.

[lucy 242 4]

Just now, Russ&Caro said:

I mean, really, who doesn't? Sartre said people are hell.

Yeah well I hope the officer agrees as well lol or doesn't read it 

[Just Paul 4,591]

1 hour ago, lucy 242 said:

Maybe my husband can order a credit card with my name? will that be a good idea?

That was our of our petition

[Amadia 711]

Sometimes they read/skim thru the chat logs....sometimes they don't. I took pages of Skype chats and WhatsApp conversations but they were never read. Each IO is different.

 

Wishing you the best of luck in your visa journey! 

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

As to chat logs, they tend to skim them a bit. The CO did look through our chats anywhere as he asked my husband about them. but dark humor or sarcasm is hardly an issue.

[lucy 242 4]

3 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

As to chat logs, they tend to skim them a bit. The CO did look through our chats anywhere as he asked my husband about them. but dark humor or sarcasm is hardly an issue.

The question is do they prepare for the interview and read everything before we arrive or they just look at it when we are there...? 

I kinda find it hard to believe that they sit for hours and read everything.. 

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

14 minutes ago, lucy 242 said:

The question is do they prepare for the interview and read everything before we arrive or they just look at it when we are there...? 

I kinda find it hard to believe that they sit for hours and read everything.. 

 

Doubt they read everything. They do it generally before the interview so when they go into the interview with you they already have a question or two in mind about them if they want to ask something. Obviously if they skim them and then see something alarming they might read more but just depends on the CO. For instance, we only sent in maybe 30 pages of texts/chats showing a communication time line, the CO skimmed them enough to see "pogi" in the texts 5-10 times so asked my husband who was saying that. "Pogi" means handsome in Tagalog essentially and he just answered that it was me (the USC) calling him pogi. Very generic, harmless questioning, but again CO can throw in anything they want to know since you supplied them with the evidence, but again sarcasm and dark humor (which I myself admittedly have also) is nothing to worry about. 

[RCable 75]

6 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

you can still be the beneficiary on insurance policies and wills

It's very hard to do this if they don't have a social security number. I can't make my husband the beneficiary of anything because of that. I have to get an executor of the estate instead and then have him listed in there. 

I also cannot have him added to any of my bank accounts because he doesn't have a social security number. 

 

What I included was:

1.) 1 sample of conversation from every month we've been together (context didn't matter,  just that we're contact)

2.) A few photos from our wedding with family
3.) A few photos of us with friends
4.) Receipts from trips taken together

5.) Plane ticket stubs from visits
6.) Marriage certificate (obviously)

7.) Some vendor contracts from our wedding

8.) Honeymoon trip receipts

I probably sent off way more than needed, but I was edging on the side of playing it safe. 

If you made it through the first part, I would just plan on bringing some good evidence in a binder to the interview. If they want to see more proof, they'll ask and you'll be prepared. 

I was married to an English man years back and I went through this process before. The couple in front of us were unprepared and got taken into another room for long questioning. My ex was very prepared and said that they briefly looked through the "proof" and approved. 

Don't create any new evidence, just bring what you have. They know and understand that if you don't live in the US yet, you won't have some things. That's why you're getting a CR and not an IR. 

Good luck, but try not to lose sleep over it! 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

50 minutes ago, RCable said:

It's very hard to do this if they don't have a social security number. I can't make my husband the beneficiary of anything because of that.

Everywhere is different but my husband doesnt have his social yet and except for utilities, he is on everything. wills and power of attorneys do not require it. my life insurance policy does not require it. 

 

every area is different, perhaps. 

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

Just bring what you have and be confident in your relationship, ready to answer any questions. Like others have said, it'll be taken into account that you are still living in separate countries right now, so some things are difficult or impossible to accomplish for the time being, or just more practical to wait until you've moved and are living together.

 

Pictures from a "non-traditional" wedding will not be an issue. While we did a K1, not a CR1, we still had to bring similar evidence to my husband's AOS interview later on. He arrived in May, and we got legally married about 2 weeks later to suffice the visa, and planned a traditional wedding several months later with friends and family. So our "wedding" pictures didn't necessarily look like wedding pictures - I wasn't wearing white, and it was just at a local park. The primary piece of evidence when it comes to that is the marriage certificate, of course. Plenty of people just do courthouse weddings, it's not an issue.

 

FYI, you can be added to certain things even without an SSN. Sure, some places may operate differently, but for the most part, you just have to talk to someone who knows what they're doing. We ran into that at my bank. I happen to work for the same company I bank with, so I knew not having an SSN was not an issue, but the first person we spoke with gave us pushback. We had to go see another banker, and he was able to add my husband to my main banking accounts without him having an SSN yet. I was also able to add him to the utility accounts and to my health insurance, as well as my retirement beneficiary at work.

 

Lycka till, and Grattis!!