Should We Include These Pieces of Evidence?

[Kate + Evgeny 54]

Hi, guys.

My husband and I are running late (last few days before his GC expires -- yes, I know it was not wise) getting our evidence turned in, and I am panicking a little bit about feeling like we don't have enough. It's weird ... we were so busy building a life together that we didn't do as much documenting as we feel we need -- we share a bank account, rent, and utilities, get mail to the same address, etc., but do not have documentation of owning a house together or anything like that. We have been trying to make ends meet and moving across the country together, so taking vacations and going to concerts and stuff didn't happen, and we can't present that kind of documentation.

We do own two old cars together, but neither are registered … would it be okay to include that? We bought another, much more expensive, much newer car together for his work (I've only driven it once or twice, because I work from home and trust his driving much more when we go out for other things) but it's a loan in only my name as his credit was not well established enough to be put on it, and our state does not allow me to write his name on the title.

We were looking at what other options there were for evidence, and we see that we can include being each other's power of attorneys for all medical and financial matters.

We actually think both of those things are really good ideas, anyway, and we should have gotten them done regardless. The question is, if we do them at the last minute and include them in the packet, will that be worse than not including them at all because it will make us look fake?

Thank you!

[Sarah&Facundo 576]

I'm following this because we have to apply for ROC in a few months and don't have any more than you do. I'm curious as to what others will say. We also have a new car, but they would only put my name on it (even though we are both paying for it). 

[DoodlesLife 19]

This might be coming a little late, but here’s my 2 cents: send anything and everything you have, even last minute docs  as long as you have the same address on the documents, and it’s a lot of documents, it shouldn't matter as much. So don’t worry about looking fake - in couple months, when they’re reviewing the package, it’s not going to look that new anyway. 

[Kate + Evgeny 54]

Hey, guys.

Boy … I am really, really stressed. We made a huge mistake and waited until the last minute to turn in our I-751 packet (we were slowed down due to the situation with Covid in a variety of ways), and wound up realizing our deadline fell on a three-day weekend and we weren't able to send it on the day we thought we would, so it wound up getting there late. My husband's conditional GC expired on 5/25 and we didn't send it until 5/26 -- we overnighted it and it got there on 5/27. So, I guess it was technically three days late? We also had not realized until right at the deadline that the 90-day window did not include the expiration date itself. I feel very stupid, and we've been worried about it enough as it is, and now -- 11 days after the expiration of his conditional green card -- we just got a rejection notice due to an "Invalid" G-1450 (electronic payment authorization form). I really don't know what happened. I checked and the card number and fee amount were correct. Maybe it's because I wrote my full middle name as opposed to just the first initial, as it appears on my card? I'm just so used to the forms asking for full names that I didn't even think about it.

I am very concerned about all of this, of course, particularly due to his green card being 11 days expired, and have a lot of questions that I'm really hoping someone could help me with: 

1) In our original packet, I had included an explanation and apology for our filing late. Does the fact that they scanned everything in (I'm assuming that's what they did -- all the pages have their codes stamped at the bottom) and only mentioned that one issue with the "invalid" payment mean that they accepted our explanation/apology for filing late, and that everything else in the packet looks good? Would they have told us if there was another problem with it, too, and I should relax about the previous late filing and rest of the packet now?

3) As I understand it, I can send the same pages back again that have been stamped?

2) They changed the order of the pages I sent to a certain extent, and they are now stapled together into a few smaller stacks. I had used large clips and they removed those. The order that they are in does not seem as logical to me -- particularly because my cover letter and note of explanation/apology now appears in the middle. I want everything to make sense and help them reference the rest of the packet, but if I send the same pages back again that have been stamped by them but I rearrange them, that could be even more confusing. Should I go ahead and rearrange them, or leave them in this strange order? Will they bother to read the explanations of documents that I included in my cover letter if I leave it in the middle?

4) In light of the strange new order and the fact that I'm having to resubmit, should I include a new cover letter, or explanations of what is included? I feel like some of the documents might not make much sense if I don't explain them.

5) How about a letter of explanation/apology about the "invalid" payment -- should I write one of those, too?

6) Can I use this as an opportunity to add more information or evidence to the packet? There were several things, especially more pictures but also a couple more documents, that I would have added if I hadn't been in such a rush. If I add them, should I rearrange the packet to make it make sense? Or should I just include another section of added documents at the end? Should I write a brand new cover letter outlining all the things I included before and the new things? If I do, should I remove my old cover letter tat now appears in the middle of the packet, or just keep it there, too? It's very odd were they put the original cover letter and explanation for late filing and I'm concerned it will cause them to never reference it, or it will get lost.

7) Can I write descriptions on the pages where I left them out before, even though they were previously scanned and would then be different from their scanned version? There were some parts of the packet and some documents that I wound up thinking might not have been explained well enough, already. I realized after I sent it that I had failed to write a description in a couple of cases, and would like to add it now, if possible.

8 ) Some of  the pages might be confusing enough without explanation that, if I can't add descriptions, I would prefer to just remove them. If I just pull one or two sheets out from the packet, should I explain that? I almost feel like they'll think I'm tampering with evidence at this point, lol.

8 ) About a third of the pictures that I included are missing. I had included pictures not just from since we were married, but all the way back to the beginning of our relationship five years ago, as I feel that is pertinent, because we already lived together for two and a half years before we were married (in another country), also indicating a genuine, long-term, committed relationship. The packet was rather full when they sent it back (I had sent it in a box, and they sent it back in a large manila envelope), and maybe they just removed those so they would fit? I will go ahead and send it in a box again, so should I include the same pictures again?

9) How serious do you think this is, especially with the original late filing? Should I be worried that this caused a delay that could get him in removal proceedings, or are we alright because it at least shows good faith that we're attempting to submit our documents?



Thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read all this. I apologize for so many questions. I'm just really confused and want to make sure I do everything to use this as an opportunity to submit an even better packet this time if possible, and at least not a worse one!!!
 

Edited June 6, 2020 by Kate + Evgeny

[Kate + Evgeny 54]

On 6/3/2020 at 9:20 PM, DoodlesLife said:

This might be coming a little late, but here’s my 2 cents: send anything and everything you have, even last minute docs  as long as you have the same address on the documents, and it’s a lot of documents, it shouldn't matter as much. So don’t worry about looking fake - in couple months, when they’re reviewing the package, it’s not going to look that new anyway. 

That's a very good point, @DoodlesLife -- thank you so much for your input!!!!

@Sarah&Facundo -- Good luck to you in your process!!!!!

[NikLR 13,220]

7 minutes ago, Kate + Evgeny said:

Hey, guys.

Boy … I am really, really stressed. We made a huge mistake and waited until the last minute to turn in our I-751 packet (we were slowed down due to the situation with Covid in a variety of ways), and wound up realizing our deadline fell on a three-day weekend and we weren't able to send it on the day we thought we would, so it wound up getting there late. My husband's conditional GC expired on 5/25 and we didn't send it until 5/26 -- we overnighted it and it got there on 5/27. So, I guess it was technically three days late? We also had not realized until right at the deadline that the 90-day window did not include the expiration date itself. I feel very stupid, and we've been worried about it enough as it is, and now -- 11 days after the expiration of his conditional green card -- we just got a rejection notice due to an "Invalid" G-1450 (electronic payment authorization form). I really don't know what happened. I checked and the card number and fee amount were correct. Maybe it's because I wrote my full middle name as opposed to just the first initial, as it appears on my card? I'm just so used to the forms asking for full names that I didn't even think about it.

I am very concerned about all of this, of course, particularly due to his green card being 11 days expired, and have a lot of questions that I'm really hoping someone could help me with: 

1) In our original packet, I had included an explanation and apology for our filing late. Does the fact that they scanned everything in (I'm assuming that's what they did -- all the pages have their codes stamped at the bottom) and only mentioned that one issue with the "invalid" payment mean that they accepted our explanation/apology for filing late, and that everything else in the packet looks good? Would they have told us if there was another problem with it, too, and I should relax about the previous late filing and rest of the packet now?

3) As I understand it, I can send the same pages back again that have been stamped?

2) They changed the order of the pages I sent to a certain extent, and they are now stapled together into a few smaller stacks. I had used large clips and they removed those. The order that they are in does not seem as logical to me -- particularly because my cover letter and note of explanation/apology now appears in the middle. I want everything to make sense and help them reference the rest of the packet, but if I send the same pages back again that have been stamped by them but I rearrange them, that could be even more confusing. Should I go ahead and rearrange them, or leave them in this strange order? Will they bother to read the explanations of documents that I included in my cover letter if I leave it in the middle?

4) In light of the strange new order and the fact that I'm having to resubmit, should I include a new cover letter, or explanations of what is included? I feel like some of the documents might not make much sense if I don't explain them.

5) How about a letter of explanation/apology about the "invalid" payment -- should I write one of those, too?

6) Can I use this as an opportunity to add more information or evidence to the packet? There were several things, especially more pictures but also a couple more documents, that I would have added if I hadn't been in such a rush. If I add them, should I rearrange the packet to make it make sense? Or should I just include another section of added documents at the end? Should I write a brand new cover letter outlining all the things I included before and the new things? If I do, should I remove my old cover letter tat now appears in the middle of the packet, or just keep it there, too? It's very odd were they put the original cover letter and explanation for late filing and I'm concerned it will cause them to never reference it, or it will get lost.

7) Can I write descriptions on the pages where I left them out before, even though they were previously scanned and would then be different from their scanned version? There were some parts of the packet and some documents that I wound up thinking might not have been explained well enough, already. I realized after I sent it that I had failed to write a description in a couple of cases, and would like to add it now, if possible.

8 ) Some of  the pages might be confusing enough without explanation that, if I can't add descriptions, I would prefer to just remove them. If I just pull one or two sheets out from the packet, should I explain that? I almost feel like they'll think I'm tampering with evidence at this point, lol.

8 ) About a third of the pictures that I included are missing. I had included pictures not just from since we were married, but all the way back to the beginning of our relationship five years ago, as I feel that is pertinent, because we already lived together for two and a half years before we were married (in another country), also indicating a genuine, long-term, committed relationship. The packet was rather full when they sent it back (I had sent it in a box, and they sent it back in a large manila envelope), and maybe they just removed those so they would fit? I will go ahead and send it in a box again, so should I include the same pictures again?

9) How serious do you think this is, especially with the original late filing? Should I be worried that this caused a delay that could get him in removal proceedings, or are we alright because it at least shows good faith that we're attempting to submit our documents?



Thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read all this. I apologize for so many questions. I'm just really confused and want to make sure I do everything to use this as an opportunity to submit an even better packet this time if possible, and at least not a worse one!!!
 

Just send it back with the form corrected.  It doesnt matter if you reareange them and the old photos also dont matter as they really only care about your relationship since marriage or moving to the USA.  

[Crazy Cat 39,206]

Agree with @NikLR.  Just get the package back to them.......the sooner you get a proper package to them, the sooner your extension letter will arrive.

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

related topics merged

[Kate + Evgeny 54]

@Ban Hammer, I do not feel that these two topics are closely related enough to be merged. I was only replying to this earlier topic because people had posted, not because the question is the same. I no longer need answers to whether I should include that evidence or not, and I would rather you just delete that question if you need to, rather than merge the two threads, as I still have a couple more questions I would like to ask in the second thread that I feel will be buried under the "Should We Include These Pieces of Evidence?" posts and not get seen. Thank you for your work on this site, and for considering my request.

[Villanelle 4,121]

Sorry to hear of all the trouble  you are having! Im not a mod but just FYI the mods rarely move things back. As much as you feel you have 2 separate topics in all honesty you dont. You have one ongoing situation. And its much easier for readers here to be able to see the whole situation in one thread rather then having to click around to find the backstory... But its not up to me, maybe it will be un merged... 

 

For your questions- Im not going to go through them individually unless you need me to. Many times people get packages rejected. They come back exactly like you described- out of order with markings on them. You can mail back the marked papers. Thats not a problem. They also resort them. You can send them back resorted or in alphabetical order if you want, doesnt matter- as long as its all mailed! If you are going to add information to something then I would recommend re-doing that particular page (example if the page was of some pics and they marked it and now you want to add captions-- re do the page and send a new page with captions and no markings from them). This is just to make sure the new page is scanned in properly and they dont use the old marked one in their system if thats even possible for them to do. And yes, your package was rejected, so you can send in additional things in a new package or even remove things from it if you were so inclined. You dont need to apologize for the payment issue. You do need to send an explanation of late filing so yeah you can apologize and explain it is now late due to being unorganized and sending it before with the payment issue. The apology isnt required but it is polite. Send it in ASAP. Technically if you dont file ROC they take it as you no longer want the GC and are voluntarily surrendering status. So there is no removal proceedings. But its a slow process for them to figure out you failed to file ROC and for them to turn it over to a Judge who will confirm ROC wasnt filed and declare you surrendered your GC (all that goes on behind the scenes so to speak, so you dont get any notifications of it) For reference- people can file ROC 6 months - 1 yr late. Its not a quick process where they determine you are surrendering the GC so please dont worry about that happening, just get it in asap. 

[Kate + Evgeny 54]

@Villanelle, thank you SO MUCH for your comprehensive answer to both my questions about our packet and about the thread merge!!!!!

I am so glad they don't start immediate deportation proceedings … that is a HUGE weight off my mind!!!! We are going to turn it in in a couple of hours to FedEx -- we did go ahead and wait to send it until today because we were concerned about the protests/riots potentially leading to it getting lost or stolen if a FedEx building or truck was looted on Saturday, as on that particular day is when they were trying to get a million people to march in Washington DC and we didn't know how big (or bad) the riots might get around the rest of the country. Boy, if it hasn't just been one thing on top of another … so stressful during an already very stressful immigration process. My heart goes out to everyone dealing with all these things during their cases!!!

Thank you SO MUCH again for your answer and help!!!