K3 interview - secondary evidence requirement

[kss 0]

I need some advice on an issue thats been bothering me since last week. I was looking at the K3 Interview Packet 4

instructions and had a question on the secondary evidence required for establishing a bonafide marriage. Now the thing is we havent had a traditional religious wedding (Indian - hindu style). We had a court marriage and had a small family function after that. We had a pretty elaborate Engagement ceremony though (marriage and engagement ceremony -- all within a span of month). The thing is and this may sound strange to some but we didnt have any auspicious dates for marriage when I visited India last Janaury and also didnt have enough time to prepare for the wedding. So we decided not to have an Indian Style wedding and went with the court marriage. Should this be a cause of worry at the K3 interview ? We have loads of other evidence (phone calls, ecards, etc...), but was worried about the requirements for wedding photos. Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jigi 0]

Your Marriage certificate from court is enough evidence... and for secondary evidence you can show emails, phone call details.

jigi

[Dakine 26]

We had a court marriage and had a small family function after that. We had a pretty elaborate Engagement ceremony though (marriage and engagement ceremony --

Surely you must have pictures of the above.

That will work along with the MC.

Most scammers unless they really have their act together don't go to all that trouble!

[pushbrk 12,160]

Your Marriage certificate from court is enough evidence... and for secondary evidence you can show emails, phone call details.

jigi

You've already proved you are legally married. That is the purvue of the USCIS in the petition approval process. At interview, they are looking for evidence your relationship is bona fide and ongoing. Evidence of additional visits, pictures with family in different locations, and evidence of ongoing communication are the most common ways of showing bona fides.

[SanfordnBonnie 0]

They never asked us for secondary evidence. We brought tons of pictures but they said they didn't need to see them. I went with my wife though so maybe that helped her interview a lot.

[kss 0]

Thanks everybody for the replies. Yes, I do have pictures from our engagement ceremony and other family photos. I havent visited India after I filed for I129F though. I read somewhere that having notarized affidavits from someone who can attest to our marriage helps. Any samples/suggestions on what to write in the affidavits. Also is it okay if our parents fill out the affidavits ?

[Imua 0]

I hope affadavits from family are OK, because that is what we are planning on using. I guess we were lucky because when I was in Nepal my FIL(who happens to be an astrologer ) found a highly auspicious date for our wedding - happened to be summer solstice, June 21 - it was small with just his family but beautiful and very traditional Nepali Hindu style. We also had court marriage - I wanted to take a photo of us signing the certificate of marriage at the CDO but gov'ts are paranoid everywhere and didn't know if that would be OK...

I think photos from the engagement will be fine, if they even bother to look at them, hopefully the court marriage cert and affadavits will be enough. I think they will understand about waiting for the right time for temple wedding.

If you search in VJ for 'bonafide marriage letter' you will find some threads with examples of letters.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Pattu Rani