i751 and n400 joint interview - no joint finances. What else?

[twilighthorse 5]

Spouse and I have a i751 and n400 joint interview coming up soon. Applying under 3 year rule. We have been together for many, many years but only married more recently. We don't have any joint finances as we are both very financially independent. 

 

Don't have:

• No joint taxes (married, filing separately)
• No joint bank account
• No joint credit cards

 

We have:

• joint utility bills,
• joint lease (live at the same address)
• multiple affidavits from friends and family members stating we have been together for a long time (many years even predating the immigration applications)
• loads of pictures going back more than a decade

 

Unclear if we have:

• Drivers license with same address - new drivers license of spouse is at new mailing address and mine still shows old address but updated in the DMV system to new the address. We both used to have driving licenses at the same address but spouses expired and got a new one whereas mine is still valid and unexpired so they didn't send me a new one as per the policy in my state.

 

Will we be OK for the i751? What else can we provide to show legitimacy? I've seen other posts that say they only care about joint financials and aren't interested in photos. We have no joint financials at all.

 

We don't want to just make information just to "prove" we are together when we have been for many years and they can literally call anyone in our phones and they will confirm it.

[Boiler 45,657]

I would expect it to raise complications, but then you know that.

 

Good luck

[OldUser 6,856]

Are you looking for approval? If yes, go replace DL to show up to date address.

 

Also, financial comingling is a very important component of I-751 / N-400 under 3 year rule. You can see it as an outdated thing, but USCIS sees it differently. In their view, for the most part, married people file taxes together to get bigger return. Married people make big purchases from joint accounts, save for house downpaynent in joint savings account. You may have a tough ROC / NAT interview because of that.

[discoverusa 277]

What about living will and life insurance, health insurance, emergency contact at work? Try to find more documents. 

[OldUser 6,856]

52 minutes ago, twilighthorse said:

they can literally call anyone in our phones and they will confirm it.

That's not what happens. They separate you and grill for few hours asking questions about random things and compare answers after. They show up at your place at 7am and go through personal items. They issue RFEs, NOIDs, threaten to take away LPR status.

Edited May 2 by OldUser

[SalishSea 17,920]

2 hours ago, twilighthorse said:

We don't want to just make information just to "prove" we are together when we have been for many years and they can literally call anyone in our phones and they will confirm it.

Unfortunately, it takes some effort, and deliberately commingling financials is what most people do.

 

That said, we had no problems even though my husband is not on the deed to my house, since I owned it prior to marriage.  We did have joint accounts, jointly owned assets, and each other as beneficiaries.

[OldUser 6,856]

12 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

Unfortunately, it takes some effort, and deliberately commingling financials is what most people do.

The very first thing me and my spouse comingled was money for rent. Couldn't be easier. Most of landlords won't accept credit cards and expect checks / bank transfers. Both of us set up automatic deposits to joint account covering the basic needs: rent, utility bills, car payments. Then we'd just pay from it for those expenses. Whenever we'd get tax refund (it was bigger when filing jointly), we'd also route it to joint account. And when we started saving for downpayment, we'd deposit money into joint high yield savings account. It provided transparency into how we managed money as a couple and gave us opportunity to track progress on savings towards common goal. Yes, we still kept some reasonable funds aside to cover for credit card payments and other items we may purchase individually. As a positive side effect, my I-751 sailed through without RFE or interview. We're very happy with this setup and now save towards renovations, kids, other goals. I think it helps to comingle finances at least on a basic level.

Edited May 2 by OldUser

[twilighthorse 5]

4 hours ago, OldUser said:

Are you looking for approval? If yes, go replace DL to show up to date address.

 

Also, financial comingling is a very important component of I-751 / N-400 under 3 year rule. You can see it as an outdated thing, but USCIS sees it differently. In their view, for the most part, married people file taxes together to get bigger return. Married people make big purchases from joint accounts, save for house downpaynent in joint savings account. You may have a tough ROC / NAT interview because of that.

got it thanks. wouldn't it look even more suspicious for the DL to show the address having been issued 1 week before the interview? I could go ahead and do that. I just figured that the DL still showing the old address was reasonable as I think most people just update the record with the DMV (what we did) and don't request a replacement DL until it expires and the new one comes in

 

Yeah, we don't commingle, it was a conscious decision. We could add our names now, but it seems to just be silly to do it in order to appease USCIS, we figured we would just live our lives as we do. But we do have joint utilities/lease/health insurance.

 

Worst case if they separate and grill us, we would still pass, it would just be annoying.

[twilighthorse 5]

4 hours ago, discoverusa said:

What about living will and life insurance, health insurance, emergency contact at work? Try to find more documents. 

thanks a lot! good point. We actually do have all of those and didn't think to include them. Will print them out and get them ready for interview

[OldUser 6,856]

8 hours ago, twilighthorse said:

got it thanks. wouldn't it look even more suspicious for the DL to show the address having been issued 1 week before the interview? I could go ahead and do that. I just figured that the DL still showing the old address was reasonable as I think most people just update the record with the DMV (what we did) and don't request a replacement DL until it expires and the new one comes in

I didn't realize you have interview so soon. It's not suspicious, but I think you got no time left to receive new DL.

I always got new issued whenever I changed addresses. I believe this was also free, only paying for renewal every 5 years. I replaced it, because that's what you show to employer with SS card when going through I-9. You also show DL to law enforcement if stopped, bank employees etc etc. I didn't want to be in ackward situation explaining why my address on ID didn't match the address where I live.

 

You may need to bring some proof you updated address at DMV but didn't replace DL. This may be one of the first questions at the interview. Also make sure you have compelling answer as to why you don't comingle finances.

 

Bring everything you have when it comes to evidece. Practice answers with spouse.

 

May be you'll have a nice officer and none of the stuff I mentioned would matter. But you never know who you get.

[beloved_dingo 1,979]

If you have separate accounts, can you at least show that joint bills are being paid from these accounts? For instance, if the rent/mortgage comes out of an account in your name, and the power bill/internet/whatever comes out of your spouse's account, that at least still shows you are both contributing to bills and expenses for the marital residence.

 

Also strongly agree with the other suggestions to provide proof of anything else you can get your hands on, such as insurance with both of you covered (health, car, home/renters/etc.), documentation of having each other as beneficiaries (life insurance, retirement), any utility or bill that has both names (phone bill?), etc. Also think outside the box - do you have joint memberships (gym, Costco)? Do you have pets where the vet would have a record that you are both the owners? Any mail addressed to both of you, or invitations addressed to both of you (wedding invite, baby shower, graduation)? 

[OldUser 6,856]

32 minutes ago, beloved_dingo said:

If you have separate accounts, can you at least show that joint bills are being paid from these accounts? For instance, if the rent/mortgage comes out of an account in your name, and the power bill/internet/whatever comes out of your spouse's account, that at least still shows you are both contributing to bills and expenses for the marital residence.

 

Also strongly agree with the other suggestions to provide proof of anything else you can get your hands on, such as insurance with both of you covered (health, car, home/renters/etc.), documentation of having each other as beneficiaries (life insurance, retirement), any utility or bill that has both names (phone bill?), etc. Also think outside the box - do you have joint memberships (gym, Costco)? Do you have pets where the vet would have a record that you are both the owners? Any mail addressed to both of you, or invitations addressed to both of you (wedding invite, baby shower, graduation)? 

Excellent ideas

[twilighthorse 5]

3 hours ago, beloved_dingo said:

If you have separate accounts, can you at least show that joint bills are being paid from these accounts? For instance, if the rent/mortgage comes out of an account in your name, and the power bill/internet/whatever comes out of your spouse's account, that at least still shows you are both contributing to bills and expenses for the marital residence.

 

Also strongly agree with the other suggestions to provide proof of anything else you can get your hands on, such as insurance with both of you covered (health, car, home/renters/etc.), documentation of having each other as beneficiaries (life insurance, retirement), any utility or bill that has both names (phone bill?), etc. Also think outside the box - do you have joint memberships (gym, Costco)? Do you have pets where the vet would have a record that you are both the owners? Any mail addressed to both of you, or invitations addressed to both of you (wedding invite, baby shower, graduation)? 

thanks, good idea. Yes, we already have health, car and renters insurance in both of our names. I didn't think of that so will definitely include!

And yes we have plenty of mail/wedding invitations etc addressed to both of us. Thanks for the ideas!