Layout of I-130 Supporting Documents

[Micam 32]

Hey all, hopefully this isn't a stupid question. I am just now arranging my images to file for the I-130, and I am hoping to submit in 4 weeks time. I am currently putting together the proof of bona fide marriage. I currently have images of boarding passes, photos together etc. 

 

My question is the best way to lay these out? Should I upload a few items per page, or 1 item per page? (e.g. should I condense it down to several images per page and create a document with notes, explanations, time stamps etc., or should things be kept full size with notes in document titles? How will people be looking through documents once submitted?) I will be applying online and I read there is a maximum to the size of documents you can upload, can anyone confirm this or know the limit? I am just hoping to create a concise and thorough document so it is easy to understand our relationship.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mike E 11,740]

Multiple  items

per 8.5x11 inch page. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Mike E

[BLC 112]

I did 3-4 images per page (condensed file sizes) and included a caption for each to show date, location/event, and names of people in photo. This file for evidence —My “photo album”—was around 20 pages in total. I arranged in a .doc file and then converted into a .pdf for upload. 
 

I think it’s 6 MB max per file (if I’m remembering correctly, anyway) -but it will tell you max file size on the page where you upload evidence.

[Micam 32]

Amazing, thank you guys. This is a huge help! 

[Ryan & Rachaya 9]

I'm also glad to hear these answers as we just submitted ours last week and I did multiple items per page. We used the online I-130 filing, so I made everything into PDF files to upload for that. We only did one page of photos* - with pictures of our wedding day and others that confirmed the various locations from the boarding passes. Our whole "Evidence of Relationship" file was nine pages with the cover letter, various explanations, affidavits, and pics of us, pics of boarding passes and financial stuff, and chat snippets. Of course there were also lots of other documents too (marriage and divorce papers, name changes and translations, etc.). I think that the online process did a good job of explaining what it wanted - and our NOA-1 was dated the same day that we submitted the I-130. Can't get much faster than that!

 

*I figured the Giant Book of Photos would be for later at interview time (which, being a year+ from now, would include more evidence than we have today).

[BLC 112]

3 hours ago, Ryan & Rachaya said:

I'm also glad to hear these answers as we just submitted ours last week and I did multiple items per page. We used the online I-130 filing, so I made everything into PDF files to upload for that. We only did one page of photos* - with pictures of our wedding day and others that confirmed the various locations from the boarding passes. Our whole "Evidence of Relationship" file was nine pages with the cover letter, various explanations, affidavits, and pics of us, pics of boarding passes and financial stuff, and chat snippets. Of course there were also lots of other documents too (marriage and divorce papers, name changes and translations, etc.). I think that the online process did a good job of explaining what it wanted - and our NOA-1 was dated the same day that we submitted the I-130. Can't get much faster than that!

 

*I figured the Giant Book of Photos would be for later at interview time (which, being a year+ from now, would include more evidence than we have today).

Nice! Looks very easy to follow. 

Did you submit everything as one whole file or separately? The way I ended up doing everything was: uploading files individually by type i.e. one file was just photos of us together, another was chat history, or insurance paperwork, etc…and then had a master index included with my cover letter to specify file name and type of content. And then within each file I had like a mini cover page to explain what exactly I was showing and  labeled contents within file. I def front loaded mine and included a ton of evidence, so had several files uploaded —and quite honestly, in hindsight, I almost certainly overdid it! Lol I guess at least I stayed organized though. 

[Ryan & Rachaya 9]

I put all of our "Relationship Evidence" (the nine pages shown) in a single document.

 

Actually, I took a screenshot at the end of the process - so I could remember exactly which files I sent in. I don't think the screenshot gives away any secret info (since our first names are already in my profile).  I'm sure they'll let us know if they want more stuff - otherwise the plan is to compile a big folder for the interview phase, and we'll have a lot more evidence by then.

[Bretth51 2]

I made quite literally a miniature book. My goal was simply to have good quality of evidence over quantity and to make it easy for the officer to navigate. Plus this is something my wife and I can keep updating as time goes on and keep for ourselves. 

 

It bas already been approved for the I130 stage

CR1VISA_evidence_packet_example.pdf

CR1VISA_evidence_packet_example.pdf

Edited August 23, 2022 by Bretth51
Redacting sensitive information

[Micam 32]

Thank you again guys, this is all really helpful. Being actually able to see some examples is so great!! Perfect, in fact.

[BLC 112]

On 8/23/2022 at 8:26 AM, Bretth51 said:

I made quite literally a miniature book. My goal was simply to have good quality of evidence over quantity and to make it easy for the officer to navigate. Plus this is something my wife and I can keep updating as time goes on and keep for ourselves. 

 

It bas already been approved for the I130 stage

CR1VISA_evidence_packet_example.pdfUnavailable

CR1VISA_evidence_packet_example.pdf 2.37 MB · 6 downloads

This is awesome and I think will be really helpful to a ton of people. Before I started  putting together our petition, I was so lost on where exactly to start with putting together all the evidence…lol USCIS doesn’t give much guidance, as we know…so this would’ve definitely been so useful for me to see. So a big thanks for including this visual for all fellow VJ members!