Including WhatsApp etc messages?

[UsFin 1]

Hi guys,

 

we are in the process of submitting the i-130 online and doing the consular processing since my husband lives in the States and I'm still in Finland. I've read a lot of posts about couples including WhatsApp/Facebook/Skype/email messages as supporting evidence in their i-130s. How necessary is this? My husband and I first met back in 2014 and basically we've been talking daily on WhatsApp ever since. So, you can imagine the amount of conversation/msgs and there is no way we can start putting that into PDFs.

 

Since we've never lived together we obviously have no joint leases, joint bank accounts, credit cards or any of that yet. What we have, on the other hand, is lots of selfies/photos of us over the course of five to six years (planning on using phone screen shots so the time stamp of each photo is visible), affidavits, passport stamps of visits, a few hotel reservation bills, wedding pics and life insurance policies, where we are marked as each other's beneficiaries.

 

Would you still try to add some online conversations (it would be hard  though due to the massive amount...) or do you think we are good without?

[Duke & Marie 1,389]

3 minutes ago, AnuKatariina said:

Hi guys,

 

we are in the process of submitting the i-130 online and doing the consular processing since my husband lives in the States and I'm still in Finland. I've read a lot of posts about couples including WhatsApp/Facebook/Skype/email messages as supporting evidence in their i-130s. How necessary is this? My husband and I first met back in 2014 and basically we've been talking daily on WhatsApp ever since. So, you can imagine the amount of conversation/msgs and there is no way we can start putting that into PDFs.

 

Since we've never lived together we obviously have no joint leases, joint bank accounts, credit cards or any of that yet. What we have, on the other hand, is lots of selfies/photos of us over the course of five to six years (planning on using phone screen shots so the time stamp of each photo is visible), affidavits, passport stamps of visits, a few hotel reservation bills, wedding pics and life insurance policies, where we are marked as each other's beneficiaries.

 

Would you still try to add some online conversations (it would be hard  though due to the massive amount...) or do you think we are good without?

No, not required, most people just take a snapshot of chat log with them to interview as a precaution

 

visits stamps hotels photos and insurance together is far more important and more than enough in the majority of cases 

[NikLR 13,220]

High fraud countries often include things like this. Is your husband Finnish? Is his family from a high fraud country? If not then Finland is low fraud and the quantity of evidence is lower. Evidence of time spent together is best. 

Edited March 29, 2020 by NikLR

[Reg&des 26]

On 3/29/2020 at 5:49 AM, AnuKatariina said:

Hi guys,

 

we are in the process of submitting the i-130 online and doing the consular processing since my husband lives in the States and I'm still in Finland. I've read a lot of posts about couples including WhatsApp/Facebook/Skype/email messages as supporting evidence in their i-130s. How necessary is this? My husband and I first met back in 2014 and basically we've been talking daily on WhatsApp ever since. So, you can imagine the amount of conversation/msgs and there is no way we can start putting that into PDFs.

 

Since we've never lived together we obviously have no joint leases, joint bank accounts, credit cards or any of that yet. What we have, on the other hand, is lots of selfies/photos of us over the course of five to six years (planning on using phone screen shots so the time stamp of each photo is visible), affidavits, passport stamps of visits, a few hotel reservation bills, wedding pics and life insurance policies, where we are marked as each other's beneficiaries.

 

Would you still try to add some online conversations (it would be hard  though due to the massive amount...) or do you think we are good without?

I would send the conversations as well. It shows you guys are in communication with each other everyday. Take a couple of screenshots over a period of time and have them printed. 

[millefleur 5,039]

Depends on how much other evidence you have and if your case has red flags. Are you submitting a lot of other evidence? If yes, the chat logs are probably not necessary.

 

I agree with @Duke & Marie that evidence of travel together and other time spent together in person carries more weight than chat logs. Sounds like you have that already from your list. Also, you could just include a couple pages of chats just to show you kept in touch from month to month, absolutely no reason to include pages and pages of it unless it is a high fraud/red flag case.

[UsFin 1]

Thank you for the replies!

 

On 3/29/2020 at 4:51 PM, NikLR said:

High fraud countries often include things like this. Is your husband Finnish? Is his family from a high fraud country? If not then Finland is low fraud and the quantity of evidence is lower. Evidence of time spent together is best. 

 

• Im the beneficiary and Im Finnish. My parents are Finnish too, born and raised.

 

3 hours ago, millefleur said:

Depends on how much other evidence you have and if your case has red flags. Are you submitting a lot of other evidence? If yes, the chat logs are probably not necessary.

 

I agree with @Duke & Marie that evidence of travel together and other time spent together in person carries more weight than chat logs. Sounds like you have that already from your list. Also, you could just include a couple pages of chats just to show you kept in touch from month to month, absolutely no reason to include pages and pages of it unless it is a high fraud/red flag case.

 

• Maybe we'll add some screen shots just to be on the safe side.

[HelsinkiFi 14]

We also did some screenshots of messages plus a whole bunch of vacation selfies and flight itinerary’s to prove we’ve been going back and forth a long time. We’ve also never lived together but we’ve visited each other’s countries regularly.
 

Logically speaking you’d think that that is very strong proof, better than messages. 
 

Nice to find another Finn on this forum!  
 

 

[Sparkle Sparkle 913]

Just prove you both communicate on regular basis...maybe whatsapp call log

[NikLR 13,220]

We really didnt send anything showing communication. Low fraud = not a concern.  We showed time spent together ie: photos and itineraries, boarding passes, and some co-mingled lives ie: joint account and joint car insurance.  It's really easy to add someone onto a car insurance.  We had two affidavits.  But yiu can send some small emails that arent too private or some screen shots or talking or messaging if you want. 

[UsFin 1]

Thanks for the replies!

 

We did add screen shots of WhatsApp chat log (that showed the amount of sent messages, photos etc) and some individual shots of messages over the years.

 

On 4/11/2020 at 5:34 PM, HelsinkiFi said:

We also did some screenshots of messages plus a whole bunch of vacation selfies and flight itinerary’s to prove we’ve been going back and forth a long time. We’ve also never lived together but we’ve visited each other’s countries regularly.
 

Logically speaking you’d think that that is very strong proof, better than messages. 
 

Nice to find another Finn on this forum!  
 

 

 Yea not too many Finns here Ive noticed. Joten totta puhut

 

[FAW 12]

You can download your WhatsApp chat log into a zip file and submit this.  It’s nice and clean. 

[NikLR 13,220]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:11 PM, FAW said:

You can download your WhatsApp chat log into a zip file and submit this.  It’s nice and clean. 

You cant submit a zip file. 

[FAW 12]

42 minutes ago, NikLR said:

You cant submit a zip file. 

Yes,  but you can print it off and submit 

[Mounat02 63]

If you rank all the evidence you listed in terms of value or quality, chat logs would be at or near the bottom. As others have noted, you seem to have enough of the strong, more valuable variety of evidence to submit for the I-130. I would suggest to keep any chat logs and/or affidavits and bring them with you to consular or USCIS interviews.

 

Also, I-130 confers no status so there's really no concern of fraud. It's when you reach the immigrant visa or AOS stage that there is usually concern of fraud.

 

I don't think too many Finns are trying to immigrate to the US so fraud shouldn't be an issue here. Yes, sadly, the world is not all treated the same when it comes to high-fraud (typically poorer) countries.

 

Good luck.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Mounat02