I-129F, proof of meeting in past 2 years

[joe.b 33]

I'm working on the I-129F filing and am beginning to assemble evidence of having met in the past 2 years. A few questions, and sorry in advance for the length.

 

I keep reading about including boarding passes to show I was in the country where my fiance is. I didn't keep the physical boarding pass from my recent visit. What about sending a copy of my ticket confirmation from when I purchased the ticket? Together with passport stamps showing I was in India, I think that's evidence I really went there. Also, I am supposed to be getting a bill from the State Department for a U.S. Embassy-chartered repatriation flight I took back from India amidst the pandemic lockdown of the country, so I think that ought to be strong evidence, too, since it's from the State Department itself.

 

Second, I won't go into the entire story, but due to an emergency hospitalization while I was in India and the pandemic lockdown that ended up coinciding with that hospitalization, my fiance has a letter from the hospital, on the hospital's letterhead and with the hospital's stamp, that states he was at the hospital with me to attend to me. The letter states both of our names and lists the relevant dates. Since this letter is from a third party, does it seem like strong evidence that we were in each other's presence in the past two years? The only possible drawback I see is that the letter refers to him as my "friend." We are a same-sex couple and because of widespread negative attitudes toward homosexuality in India, we generally didn't make a point of telling hospital staff that we are boyfriends. But I could include a short explanatory note with the letter explaining that point to USCIS.

 

Additionally, during the same time I was in the hospital, I sent an email to the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi about some issues relating to the lockdown. In the email, I stated, among other things, that I was with my boyfriend and I gave his name. Given that the email was to the U.S. Embassy, I think including a copy of it could provide some additional proof. Sure, someone could fake such an email, but it would be pretty bold to do so since they could potentially confirm whether I really sent it to the Embassy.

 

I also have pictures I could include from my recent visit, but from what I read, those may be less direct evidence than some of the things I mentioned.

 

So my main question is whether the pieces of evidence I mentioned sound sufficient to show we were in each other's presence in the past two years. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

[Angge 3]

Hi. The things you mentioned above are good strong evidence from my opinion. I went through this process 2 years ago with my husband. The thing with the pictures, it really depends on the officer that will handle your case. When I submitted my I-129f process for my husband, after around 7-8 months of waiting I received a letter from USCIS requesting for photographic evidence even though I submitted my husband's I-129f application with several pictures already. So anything to make your visa application stronger, the better. Just include everything you can think of in there. Hotel, restaurant receipts, etc. Visajourney is a good place for everything you need to go through this process. Good luck with your journey. Take care

[Greenbaum 12,258]

I tend to recommend that you review the instructions to ascertain what is needed.

 

Item Numbers 53. - 54. Have you and your fiancé(e) met in person during the two years immediately before filing this petition? Indicate whether you and your fiancé(e) have seen each other in person during the two-year period immediately before to filing your petition. Select “N/A” if the beneficiary is your spouse. If you respond “Yes” to Item Number 53., use Item Number 54. to describe the circumstances of your in-person meeting. Attach evidence to demonstrate that you were in each other’s physical presence during the required two-year period. If you need extra space to complete this section, use the space provided in Part 8. Additional Information.

 

There is additional information here on VJ: https://www.visajourney.com/guides/k1-fiance-visa/

 

There is an excellent feature that is seldom used and that is a "search" of VJ for past topics on any issue. I did one on this and found many articles describing what others used. I'll put the results link here, but in the future if you want to use this feature it is in the upper right hand corner, in the blue ribbon with a box with the word "search" in it. 

 

https://www.visajourney.com/sitesearch/?cx=partner-pub-3407508467788263%3A9725800110&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q="evidence+of+meeting"&sa=Search

 

Good luck and stay engaged. 

 

 

[joe.b 33]

23 hours ago, Angge said:

Hi. The things you mentioned above are good strong evidence from my opinion. I went through this process 2 years ago with my husband. The thing with the pictures, it really depends on the officer that will handle your case. When I submitted my I-129f process for my husband, after around 7-8 months of waiting I received a letter from USCIS requesting for photographic evidence even though I submitted my husband's I-129f application with several pictures already. So anything to make your visa application stronger, the better. Just include everything you can think of in there. Hotel, restaurant receipts, etc. Visajourney is a good place for everything you need to go through this process. Good luck with your journey. Take care

Got it, thanks for the response!

[joe.b 33]

16 hours ago, Greenbaum said:

I tend to recommend that you review the instructions to ascertain what is needed.

 

Item Numbers 53. - 54. Have you and your fiancé(e) met in person during the two years immediately before filing this petition? Indicate whether you and your fiancé(e) have seen each other in person during the two-year period immediately before to filing your petition. Select “N/A” if the beneficiary is your spouse. If you respond “Yes” to Item Number 53., use Item Number 54. to describe the circumstances of your in-person meeting. Attach evidence to demonstrate that you were in each other’s physical presence during the required two-year period. If you need extra space to complete this section, use the space provided in Part 8. Additional Information.

 

There is additional information here on VJ: https://www.visajourney.com/guides/k1-fiance-visa/

 

There is an excellent feature that is seldom used and that is a "search" of VJ for past topics on any issue. I did one on this and found many articles describing what others used. I'll put the results link here, but in the future if you want to use this feature it is in the upper right hand corner, in the blue ribbon with a box with the word "search" in it. 

 

https://www.visajourney.com/sitesearch/?cx=partner-pub-3407508467788263%3A9725800110&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q="evidence+of+meeting"&sa=Search

 

Good luck and stay engaged. 

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I have actually been using the search function quite a bit. My question, though, was not about what to include generally, and more about the specific things I mentioned. Does a purchase confirmation of airline ticket suffice if I didn't keep the boarding pass? Does that letter from the hospital I mentioned in my original post seem worth including? And does the contemporaneous email to the Embassy I mentioned seem worth including?

 

I did try to perform a search about my specific boarding pass question, but didn't find results. And I suppose I assumed I wouldn't find much if I tried to search for answers about  certificates from hospitals or contemporaneous emails to the U.S. Embassy.

 

[EmpressDee 35]

On 5/6/2020 at 10:58 PM, joe.b said:

I'm working on the I-129F filing and am beginning to assemble evidence of having met in the past 2 years. A few questions, and sorry in advance for the length.

 

I keep reading about including boarding passes to show I was in the country where my fiance is. I didn't keep the physical boarding pass from my recent visit. What about sending a copy of my ticket confirmation from when I purchased the ticket? Together with passport stamps showing I was in India, I think that's evidence I really went there. Also, I am supposed to be getting a bill from the State Department for a U.S. Embassy-chartered repatriation flight I took back from India amidst the pandemic lockdown of the country, so I think that ought to be strong evidence, too, since it's from the State Department itself.

 

Second, I won't go into the entire story, but due to an emergency hospitalization while I was in India and the pandemic lockdown that ended up coinciding with that hospitalization, my fiance has a letter from the hospital, on the hospital's letterhead and with the hospital's stamp, that states he was at the hospital with me to attend to me. The letter states both of our names and lists the relevant dates. Since this letter is from a third party, does it seem like strong evidence that we were in each other's presence in the past two years? The only possible drawback I see is that the letter refers to him as my "friend." We are a same-sex couple and because of widespread negative attitudes toward homosexuality in India, we generally didn't make a point of telling hospital staff that we are boyfriends. But I could include a short explanatory note with the letter explaining that point to USCIS.

 

Additionally, during the same time I was in the hospital, I sent an email to the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi about some issues relating to the lockdown. In the email, I stated, among other things, that I was with my boyfriend and I gave his name. Given that the email was to the U.S. Embassy, I think including a copy of it could provide some additional proof. Sure, someone could fake such an email, but it would be pretty bold to do so since they could potentially confirm whether I really sent it to the Embassy.

 

I also have pictures I could include from my recent visit, but from what I read, those may be less direct evidence than some of the things I mentioned.

 

So my main question is whether the pieces of evidence I mentioned sound sufficient to show we were in each other's presence in the past two years. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

@joe.b, I believed the ticket confirmation and passport stamp will suffice. However, I am wondering how many times have you seen your partner? 

[JonSeattle 201]

I would go with the hospital letter and photos. I don't think a confirmation email is worth anything because they can be cancelled at no charge. A copy of the passport page with the entry stamp is good. And as Greenbaum highlights, a short description of the circumstances is required. It doesn't matter if you were engaged at the time.

[joe.b 33]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:18 AM, Ama_Kwaku said:

@joe.b, I believed the ticket confirmation and passport stamp will suffice. However, I am wondering how many times have you seen your partner? 

We first met in 2018. I was a tourist in Nepal and he was working there at the time. We spent some time together then and had a strong bond, but for reasons I won't go into here, we decided not to pursue a relationship then. We did stay in touch, though, and last year, we decided to start a relationship, and I visited him earlier this year. We spent a combined three and a half weeks together during this most recent trip.

 

So that might count as two times meeting in person?

[EmpressDee 35]

8 hours ago, joe.b said:

We first met in 2018. I was a tourist in Nepal and he was working there at the time. We spent some time together then and had a strong bond, but for reasons I won't go into here, we decided not to pursue a relationship then. We did stay in touch, though, and last year, we decided to start a relationship, and I visited him earlier this year. We spent a combined three and a half weeks together during this most recent trip.

 

So that might count as two times meeting in person?

Yes, that definitely counts as two visits; just have the passport stamps to show and pictures will be a bonus. Good luck on your journey! 

[Limey 550]

On 5/7/2020 at 11:48 PM, joe.b said:

Thanks for the reply. I have actually been using the search function quite a bit. My question, though, was not about what to include generally, and more about the specific things I mentioned. Does a purchase confirmation of airline ticket suffice if I didn't keep the boarding pass? Does that letter from the hospital I mentioned in my original post seem worth including? And does the contemporaneous email to the Embassy I mentioned seem worth including?

 

I did try to perform a search about my specific boarding pass question, but didn't find results. And I suppose I assumed I wouldn't find much if I tried to search for answers about  certificates from hospitals or contemporaneous emails to the U.S. Embassy.

 

Its generally a good idea to include everything that you have in these cases. Provide a copy of each item of evidence, and on it note what it is eg "letter dated XXX from YYY hospital during my trip that confirms I attended with my fiance". Generally more evidence is good. I'd say some of the things you have (eg hospital letter) are unusual and that probably makes them good additional evidence. I'm not sure if the email to State Dept is that valuable unless they replied to it (as that's good confirmation you sent it).

 

The general advice here about overloading on evidence only really kicks in when people include thousands of pages of chat logs (which doesn't prove a physical meeting) or when you've made numerous trips and decide to document them all in detail. So long as each bit of evidence is different, I think its worth including.

[DEVnAJAY 3]

Also same sex couple here. What I suggest is that you nicely front load your I-129f. Anything you have that show you had been together in the last two years I would include. I chose to live with my fiance in his community and used the lease as part of our submission since it showed both our names. Nothing mentioned about our relationship, just occupants. Our flat was 5 homes away from his family home.

 

Onto the the same sex question. 

When you enter an U.S. embassy or consulate you are considered to be on U.S. soil and should treated with the same respect as an U.S. citizen. This doesn't mean that the person who helps arrange your packet just prior to your interview won't have prejudice.  When you reach your interviewer that person is trained and has the knowledge needed to handle SS applications. 

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case Obergefell v. Hodges.

You and your fiance should feel confident you will be respected. 

 

Our process we have used a lawyer in the states. Worth every penny. 

D&A

[T&f2020 0]

On 5/6/2020 at 10:58 PM, joe.b said:

I'm working on the I-129F filing and am beginning to assemble evidence of having met in the past 2 years. A few questions, and sorry in advance for the length.

 

I keep reading about including boarding passes to show I was in the country where my fiance is. I didn't keep the physical boarding pass from my recent visit. What about sending a copy of my ticket confirmation from when I purchased the ticket? Together with passport stamps showing I was in India, I think that's evidence I really went there. Also, I am supposed to be getting a bill from the State Department for a U.S. Embassy-chartered repatriation flight I took back from India amidst the pandemic lockdown of the country, so I think that ought to be strong evidence, too, since it's from the State Department itself.

 

Second, I won't go into the entire story, but due to an emergency hospitalization while I was in India and the pandemic lockdown that ended up coinciding with that hospitalization, my fiance has a letter from the hospital, on the hospital's letterhead and with the hospital's stamp, that states he was at the hospital with me to attend to me. The letter states both of our names and lists the relevant dates. Since this letter is from a third party, does it seem like strong evidence that we were in each other's presence in the past two years? The only possible drawback I see is that the letter refers to him as my "friend." We are a same-sex couple and because of widespread negative attitudes toward homosexuality in India, we generally didn't make a point of telling hospital staff that we are boyfriends. But I could include a short explanatory note with the letter explaining that point to USCIS.

 

Additionally, during the same time I was in the hospital, I sent an email to the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi about some issues relating to the lockdown. In the email, I stated, among other things, that I was with my boyfriend and I gave his name. Given that the email was to the U.S. Embassy, I think including a copy of it could provide some additional proof. Sure, someone could fake such an email, but it would be pretty bold to do so since they could potentially confirm whether I really sent it to the Embassy.

 

I also have pictures I could include from my recent visit, but from what I read, those may be less direct evidence than some of the things I mentioned.

 

So my main question is whether the pieces of evidence I mentioned sound sufficient to show we were in each other's presence in the past two years. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

I am also  in the process of filing I129 for my fiance and I also do not have the physical boarding passes. Contact the airline (s) with your booking number and they can pull up all of that information for you. Do you have stamped visa in your passport??  Do you have an email with booking confirmation/ price paid for the ticket? I'm going to attach all of this in one. Good luck.