I-129F Packet: P. 2, Q. 54 - Circumstances of your in-person meeting

[Alex and Nick 8]

5 minutes ago, Sarah n Ryan said:

I think you are/or trying to provide way to much information based on where you are interviewing. 
Nonetheless, do what makes you feel confident for the interview. 
What I have in my bio is “literally” all we had.  A paragraph in total and each meeting with evidence. 

You are not “getting away with anything” as your fulfilling the requirements either way. 
As @payxibka said (and has much more knowledge than a ton of us here). Quality over Quantity. 
Good luck on your journey and I’ll look forward to watching your progress on VJ. 🎊🎈🍾!

 

I'm just trying to gather information on what people have or have not included in their packets. I personally don't think adding 5 photos with some tickets is providing too much but apparently that has caused quite the disagreement. I read your bio and it was beautifully written, it is exactly what we were personally trying to go for. Thank you for the well wishes! Best of luck to you on your wedding day, November 8th is so soon! It must be very exciting to finally get there!

[Mrs Ryan Carreras 247]

1 minute ago, Alex and Nick said:

Best of luck to you on your wedding day, November 8th is so soon! It must be very exciting to finally get there!

Yes, finally we are together and watching movies in bed while I still read VJ. 😊

What you described is what we did as well. One paragraph with the evidence of each visit and 5 pictures in total. 
Thank you very much and you both will be together soon enough! 

[Alex and Nick 8]

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

What you're doing is your choice.  There are many threads where petitioners submitted "engagement " party photos and the consulate interpreted the pictures as cultural "wedding" photos and denied the k1, but none of these were from Canada 

 

This whole thing went sideways when another post said that certain evidence is required in the petition when it is clearly not.  That evidence is OPTIONAL.  Everyone must submit required evidence.   Anyone can submit additional optional evidence 

I will not be submitting anything that would portray us as an already married couple. I couldn't even if I wanted to, we lost a whole years worth of evidence and never had an engagement party because I fell ill. This is why I'm trying to make sure I have the proper proof/evidence and a little extra to help make up for that lost time. I truly don't see that causing any issues, if any issues were to occur it would be because we lost an entire year due to my illness. I am aware of that and I'm trying to be prepared for it. I'm submitting what is required in our 'proof of having met in the past two years' section and also adding anything extra to the "proof of ongoing relationship' section (which as you just mention is optional). I thought I was making myself clear on that but it must have got lost in translation. 

 

[geowrian 22,335]

Provide what is required first and foremost. Don't skimp here by any means. Keep in mind what is being asked and provide that. Photos are difficult to show when they were taken (date stamps are very easily added in post).

 

As for relationship evidence, that's your call. It's really not needed for Montreal as they will look at the evidence you provide at the interview. There is no advantage here to providing it early. But providing a few high quality items if you want generally won't hurt either.

 

51 minutes ago, Alex and Nick said:

Completely agree with you here. You 100% get an RFE if you don't include enough information. You 100% do not get an RFE if you include too much information. At the most, you might slightly annoy the USCIS officer reading the packet. What's the saying anyways, better safe than sorry? 

I disagree. I've seen RFEs issued for information that they would have no way to know about unless evidence was provided originally. I've seen actual denials because people provided information that hurt their case. One such example was an individual from Australia who provided plans for an engagement party. They got an RFE for more details. They responded with photos. They got denied for being considered "too married" as a result.

There was also a case of an individual who provided evidence of staying in the same hotel together in their home country. Said evidence also made the IO think they may be married as it is highly unusual for non family members of the opposite sex to sleep in the same hotel room in that country.

 

So while rare, it 100% is possible to get an RFE for providing too much information.

Important thing is to screen whatever you send USCIS for how it could be more harmful than helpful.

Edited October 31, 2019 by geowrian

[Alex and Nick 8]

19 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Provide what is required first and foremost. Don't skimp here by any means. Keep in mind what is being asked and provide that. Photos are difficult to show when they were taken (date stamps are very easily added in post).

 

As for relationship evidence, that's your call. It's really not needed for Montreal as they will look at the evidence you provide at the interview. There is no advantage here to providing it early. But providing a few high quality items if you want generally won't hurt either.

 

I disagree. I've seen RFEs issued for information that they would have no way to know about unless evidence was provided originally. I've seen actual denials because people provided information that hurt their case. One such example was an individual from Australia who provided plans for an engagement party. They got an RFE for more details. They responded with photos. They got denied for being considered "too married" as a result.

There was also a case of an individual who provided evidence of staying in the same hotel together in their home country. Said evidence also made the IO think they may be married as it is highly unusual for non family members of the opposite sex to sleep in the same hotel room in that country.

 

So while rare, it 100% is possible to get an RFE for providing too much information.

Important thing is to screen whatever you send USCIS for how it could be more harmful than helpful.

I am 100% submitting what is required and then choosing to do the optional section that proves our relationship is ongoing.  It may not be required but we would like to add some additional information (probably an additional 5 photos and a few extra tickets) Nothing that would be harmful.. I don't know how this thread turned me in to someone who is looking to submit an INSANE amount of photos.

I'm talking about submitting photos of us going on a walk at a lake, or photos of us going to a landmark like the CN Tower. I wouldn't submit photos that at all portrayed us as already being married or doing anything that would give them a reason to issue an RFE or deny the petition. Also like I mentioned in this thread I couldn't if I wanted to, I lost a year of evidence due to an illness. That's why I'm trying to be thorough here.

 

[Mrs Ryan Carreras 247]

26 minutes ago, Alex and Nick said:

It may not be required but we would like to add some additional information (probably an additional 5 photos and a few extra tickets) Nothing that would be harmful.. I don't know how this thread turned me in to someone who is looking to submit an INSANE amount of photos.

No one here thinks that. I started on this forum in March and thought the same thing. 

They are just wanting to ensure your petition is successful so you are getting the good, bad, and, sometimes ugly outcomes. In result, setting you and your fiancé up for success. 
Posts on forums are often misconstrued as we can’t see others expressions or demeanor. 
While my story was not needed and rather a hallmark card per say (I am a writer on the side), We did keep it to a paragraph and than supported that paragraph with solid evidence

It appears like that is what your trying to do. 
Remember this is your petition and only the two of you know your journey best. 
If I can give some additional advice ; 

Just make sure before you send it to make sure you look all of it over including basic signatures required. 

Oh, and make a copy of your petition.(I forgot to do that as well)
I say this as I forgot to sign my letter of intent and noticed it right before I went to send it out. 

Hope your feeling much better but you appear to be on the right track👌! 

[dentsflogged 352]

5 hours ago, Alex and Nick said:

Synthesize what though, the first in-person meeting only or every in-person meeting that has occurred during our relationship? I wouldn't be able to fit 5+ years of in-person meetings in 2-3 sentences. 

Read the instructions. That question relates to you describing the event which means you qualify under the “meet in person within 2 years” requirement. 

 

Ie: John travelled to meet Jane in Ireland on 20 May 2018; we spent the next 2 weeks together in Galway and stayed at X hotel”

 

then you need to provide evidence to back uo that statement - passports, boarding passes, hotel receipt. 

[Alex and Nick 8]

40 minutes ago, Sarah n Ryan said:

No one here thinks that. I started on this forum in March and thought the same thing. 

They are just wanting to ensure your petition is successful so you are getting the good, bad, and, sometimes ugly outcomes. In result, setting you and your fiancé up for success. 
Posts on forums are often misconstrued as we can’t see others expressions or demeanor. 
While my story was not needed and rather a hallmark card per say (I am a writer on the side), We did keep it to a paragraph and than supported that paragraph with solid evidence

It appears like that is what your trying to do. 
Remember this is your petition and only the two of you know your journey best. 
If I can give some additional advice ; 

Just make sure before you send it to make sure you look all of it over including basic signatures required. 

Oh, and make a copy of your petition.(I forgot to do that as well)
I say this as I forgot to sign my letter of intent and noticed it right before I went to send it out. 

Hope your feeling much better but you appear to be on the right track👌! 

We appreciate it!
 

Already got checklists to make sure everything is completed and got two additional people to go over the packet with out checklist to make sure everything is done correctly! Also planning on doing two additional copies as well, one for him and one for myself!

Working on feeling better, long road of recovery for me but hopefully pushing through it all so we can get to the end together!

Thanks for your help and support! 

[SalishSea 16,804]

3 hours ago, payxibka said:

I think you just inferred that I didn't take it seriously.  

While us oldies here know that in fact, you took it seriously more than once 😉

[Alex and Nick 8]

49 minutes ago, dentsflogged said:

Read the instructions. That question relates to you describing the event which means you qualify under the “meet in person within 2 years” requirement. 

 

Ie: John travelled to meet Jane in Ireland on 20 May 2018; we spent the next 2 weeks together in Galway and stayed at X hotel”

 

then you need to provide evidence to back uo that statement - passports, boarding passes, hotel receipt. 

Thank you, I was already given some clarity on that question and my confusion was cleared up!

[Lemonslice 4,563]

3 hours ago, Alex and Nick said:

 

I haven't done this process before, I'm new to it and am researching it as much as I can while also getting some assistance from people I know who have gone through the same process. I'm not sure why your so insistent on getting me to not add what is basically 5 extra things to my packet. 

Since you're still researching and gathering information, please make sure to read about the limitations of the fiancé visa and compare with the spousal one. 

[Alex and Nick 8]

10 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Since you're still researching and gathering information, please make sure to read about the limitations of the fiancé visa and compare with the spousal one. 

Already have compared the two and the fiance visa is the one that works best for us, thank you for the reminder though!

[thisisgr8 6]

[MissyB651 15]

12 hours ago, payxibka said:

Quality not quantity. 

 

When I said minimalist I meant it.  My evidence of meeting consisted of entry stamp into country and two boarding passes with us sitting in adjacent seats.   No pictures,  no other receipts,  no social media posts,  no chats,  nada

If you aren’t in a high fraud country, you don’t need much.

[Sunny_Skies 22]

Now this topic got me worried. We had about 10 photos and to prove they were taken within two years, we provided my boarding pass from our first trip and his I-94 that included each of his visits as well as one boarding pass. This is the Montreal consulate, so is that enough?