Got an I-485 RFE for 'Evidence of shared marital life' [merged threads]

[TinNhi 22]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I recently received an RFE requesting our marriage certificate and 'evidence of shared marital life' and beginning from March 27 2021 (day we got married) to present.

 

First, is the wording of their request the same as them suggesting and asking for evidence of a bona fide relationship/marriage?

 

Second, I'm really concerned we may not have strong enough evidence to submit.  That's because between March 2021 to present, we've really just been homebodies (that's why we match so well too) not only due to the pandemic, but also because I work so much from home and my wife works FT hours when I am off work, and we honestly have very few friends. 

 

We don't have joint financial accounts as the banks we looked into need her to be a permanent resident.  She does have an SSN, work authorization card, and got her biometrics done, etc.

 

What we do have, includes:

 

- Both of us are on our apartment lease agreements for June 2021 to June 2022, and another one from June 2022 to present.

- She's on my employer based health care plan, that includes medical, dental, life insurance and is my 401K beneficiary.

- Notarized Affidavit from my father whom we lived with him and my mom from March 2021 until our first day at our new place attesting he was a witness to our court marriage ceremony and that we dined out together, played games, watched movies, helped them around the house, etc..

- Flight receipt for our trip to Georgia to see my sister in 2021.

- A dozen photos but they're of just her and me mostly (and our dog) as I mentioned us not having many friends.  There's a few that my parents took at our court wedding ceremony along with the judge that married us as well and her and I with my parents. (Ceremony video recorded as well). It was just me, my wife and our two witnesses were my parents). Middle of Covid spike.

- Joint utilities,  joint electric, joint cell phone bills.

- A single credit card statement with both our names.

- Her bank account statement, highlighting her payments for some of our utilities.

- My bank account statement showing me paying for our apartment.

- My driver's license and her driver's permit ID.

 

Last, should I write a cover letter and a letter of explanation as to why we don't have so much?

 

What are your thoughts?  

 

Thank you immensely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by TinNhi
Adding

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

What you have is actually not bad at all. Send all of that in and you should be good to go. 

[JeanneAdil 6,555]

your evidence is strong

making friends is not part of this 

its cohabition and sharing joint finances

[.yana 597]

Any chance both of your names are on your vet bills?

[OldUser 6,884]

@TinNhi you need to look into different banks. I opened accounts in my name with non-immigrant visa, so LPR wasn't the requirement. Especially if your spouse has SSN, it should be possible.

 

Have you tried the following banks?

• Bank of America,
• Chase,
• TD Bank,
• US Bank,
• Wells Fargo.

 

I had accounts in three of the banks from the list above. No issues opening with my foreign passport and valid visa / documentation.

[SalishSea 17,928]

OP, all of that sounds quite solid.  What did you send initially?  Did you not send the marriage certificate?

 

I agree that you should be able to get a joint bank account with just an SSN.  She does not need to be a green card holder.  My husband and I opened accounts at our local credit union after he got his SSN.

[bakphx1 789]

Even if you don’t have a joint bank account, if you can show you intermingle funds, or you pay her expenses as household expenses, that’s the next best thing.  If she’s an authorized user of any credit card, that helps.  I think that aside, you’re pretty solid.  Writing a letter helps-address anticipated questions. 
 

Aldo shared gym membership, Costco accoun, AAAt-stuff like that can help.  Just thinking beyond bank and utilities.

[TinNhi 22]

Thank you so much for all of your replies, it truly means the world to us.  

 

But now a terrible, and I mean AWFUL development in the last 45 min and I can hardly type this I'm shaking so badly and fighting back tears.

 

I did not know it's ILLEGAL to not notify USCIS of our change of address within 10 days of moving from my parents' house to our new and current apartment we've been leasing.   My parents' house is literally 2 miles away from our place so I thought nothing of it.  Should I immediately find an immigration lawyer?  I can't even afford one.  Or are we finished, either way?  Stupid stupid me.  I feel so sick to my stomach and need to tell my wife in two hours. 

 

[.yana 597]

Eh?

 

I did not notify USCIS for months about my new address. Not ideal but happens all the time and nothing came of it.

 

You’re fine.

[TinNhi 22]

6 minutes ago, .yana said:

Eh?

 

I did not notify USCIS for months about my new address. Not ideal but happens all the time and nothing came of it.

 

You’re fine.

It's been over a year.  June 2021 until now, so 1 year and 4 months.  I'm so stupid to have assumed getting our mail 2 miles away, weekly was okay.  I'm in full panic mode now.

[OldUser 6,884]

@TinNhi it's better late than never! File it ASAP. LPR needs to submit AR-11 and the I-864 sponsor needs to file I-865.

[TinNhi 22]

6 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@TinNhi it's better late than never! File it ASAP. LPR needs to submit AR-11 and the I-864 sponsor needs to file I-865.

Thank you so, so much.  We will do so immediately.  This isn't something that can be done online, is it?  

[OldUser 6,884]

@TinNhi I've never done it, but you should be able to do AR-11 online:

https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do

 

For I-865 that can only be done on paper as far as I know:

 

https://www.uscis.gov/i-865

[nastra30 2,288]

14 hours ago, TinNhi said:

I did not know it's ILLEGAL to not notify USCIS of our change of address within 10 days of moving from my parents' house to our new and current apartment we've been leasing.   

Though it's the law, nobody gets prosecuted for not notifying USCIS about address change. Don't stress yourself over this all. Just make sure to send it ASAP. Good luck.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

I mean, by law you should have done it within 10 days of moving, but no, she's not going to be deported. File AR-11 online, I865 by mail, breathe, carry on. 

 

You said your wife is going to get mad at you for not doing this. Remember, you're together in this process and it's a shared responsibility. She needs to do her part too.

 

Also, your evidence sounds strong, but if I were you, on my way tomorrow to drop off the I-865 to USPS I'd stop at Chase with your wife and open a joint account. 

If you both have DL that show the same address, that's another evidence of cohabitation.