Very bad news, we ned your help!!!

[Georgian 0]

Guys

I'm not in a good mood, we need your help.

Today I came home from work to find this letter from USCIS asking us for more documents to prove that we are in a bona fide marriage, are they crazy???????????????????? what's wrong with them, I feel insulted by this stupid letter. They are giving us until January 7th to submit extra documentation. We have no idea of what else to submit.

We sent them already:

- 3 letters notarized of family and friends.

-Copy of our joint tax return.

-Letter from hubby's company (life insurance)

-Copy of our Visa card showing a joint account.

-Copy of health insurance cards showing a joint policy.

-Copy of airline reservations for a vacation we took together to Peru last year.

-Pictures of trips, New Years and diffrente celebrastion.

-Pay checks of hubby and mine showing our current address.

Maybe I made a mistake opening my own checking account???

We don't own our apartment, we pay monthly.

Any suggestions? Hubby is freaking out, he thinks that we made a mistake not hiring a lawyer to help us with this process but I thought that that wasn't necessary.

Another thing you might want to add is a letter from your work stating that your status at work is married and also your husband is mentioned as a emergency contact person. Your husband can also get a letter like that from his work.

Good luck!

[SusieK 3]

You have gotten a pretty typical RFE at this stage of the game. They want to see that over the past two years (and since you have been married, really) you have begun to mingle your financial assets and liabilities. By the looks of the list of evidence you initially provided, you were very light on this kind of documentation. There have been some excellent suggestions already in this thread for additional proof you can send in. I personally would focus on the following:

--anything that proves you are each other's beneficiaries -- wills, life insurance, medical insurance, etc etc

--anything that proves you are co-mingling your assets & liabilities -- tax transcripts from all the years you have been married, copy of mortgage/lease, joint bank accounts, joint investments, bills in both your names (or, if you are keeping your money separate, show how things are getting paid -- ie. You are paying the phone bills, he pays the cable bill, etc etc).. I would include a sample of those kinds of things that span the existence of your married life together, Ie. not every single bill from every single month.

-- anything that proves you live at the same address

Anyways, it sounds like you will be ok. Don't freak out too much.

LEASE OR MORTGAGE SHOWING BOTH VERY IMPORTANT and gl to you .........damn the USCIS.

Cheers

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Guys

I'm not in a good mood, we need your help.

Today I came home from work to find this letter from USCIS asking us for more documents to prove that we are in a bona fide marriage, are they crazy???????????????????? what's wrong with them, I feel insulted by this stupid letter. They are giving us until January 7th to submit extra documentation. We have no idea of what else to submit.

We sent them already:

- 3 letters notarized of family and friends.

-Copy of our joint tax return.

-Letter from hubby's company (life insurance)

-Copy of our Visa card showing a joint account.

-Copy of health insurance cards showing a joint policy.

-Copy of airline reservations for a vacation we took together to Peru last year.

-Pictures of trips, New Years and diffrente celebrastion.

-Pay checks of hubby and mine showing our current address.

Maybe I made a mistake opening my own checking account???

We don't own our apartment, we pay monthly.

Any suggestions? Hubby is freaking out, he thinks that we made a mistake not hiring a lawyer to help us with this process but I thought that that wasn't necessary.

I forgot to mention that we sent both our paychecks stating our current address, pictures, and copy of my green card. Silvio is going to make an appointment with our lawyer (the one we hired to help us with the Visa Process), he thinks that is going to save us. He wanted to hire him to start with this process (Rem. Cond) but I told him that that wasn't necessary, my mistake . I know I might sound a little desperate but we are very nervous, Sil says that he woud like them to show up at our apartment at any time and see how we live, or maybe go to an interview. It's so unreal, we live together, we have a normal life we are a REAL COUPLE. My in laws are super upset and I think that my father in law is going to contact our Senator (he has good connections) I think thta he is afraid that IF tHey send me to Peru his son will have to move with me.

Guys THANk so much for your advices, you are GREAT!!!!

[Marilyn. 340]

i think seeing a lawyer is unnecessary...

a lot of people get RFE;s...

just send in more info and you will be fine....

they probably just want to see more financial info...

Edited December 1, 2007 by MarilynP

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Your list looks quite good, I would submit anything else that you have, and wait for them to reply. If anything they should send you precise info of what they are looking for. We didn't even send out letters from friends regarding our relationship. We sent out our checking account info

current month, and every 3 months out to about the time the account was opened, so it shows a pattern of transaction from both of us.

utility bills, and everything that had both of our names in it.

Good luck, Don't stress it.

[Cassie 8]

i think seeing a lawyer is unnecessary...

a lot of people get RFE;s...

just send in more info and you will be fine....

they probably just want to see more financial info...

I'm with Marilyn, I wouldn't get yourself worked up into too much of a frenzy about this. This is a very typical RFE request, just assemble as much evidence as possible and send it in. You are going to be ok!

[spmalone 0]

Thank guys,

I'm with Sil and we are talking about that right now, you think the letter from our landlord has to be notarized or stamp or something??

More ideas???? please, please, please we are desperate

Gracias

Vi

Take a long deep breath, it is going to be O.K. There seems to be a lot of RFE's lately, Kim and I had one. I see on article on the home page that USCIS is over loaded. Get everything you can, ask as many people to write you an affidavit and have them notarized. I found out what was required and made a little form for people to fill out, age, place of birth, how they know us, and than what they thought of us as a coupls I was told to have them hand write them so USCIS could see that it was truly their own words. They wanted 2 I sent them 9. I do feel this more of a function that they are overloaded, have hired a bunch of new people.

[Vi Mazzella 4]

I'm going to start calling friends tomorrow morning and ask them for the notarized letters with the info they are asking for.

What sucks is that they waited 6 long months to send us this stupid letter telling us that what we sent is not enough and now they are just giving us 1 month to gather as much info as possible during this time of the year, I hate USCIS!!!!!!!!

I have my own saving account, not so much $$$ but hubby's is pretty decent, what do you think about adding my name to his account, will they realize that we just add my name recently???

We don't have a joint checking account, he has his, I have mine.

We just joined a gym together, we will send those documents too. I'm thinking, thinking what else can we send?????

I told hubby that we don't need a lawyer . The first I did all the work and we got this stupid RFE, he doesn't want to take the risk this time

[Nancy2015 2]

I'm going to start calling friends tomorrow morning and ask them for the notarized letters with the info they are asking for.

What sucks is that they waited 6 long months to send us this stupid letter telling us that what we sent is not enough and now they are just giving us 1 month to gather as much info as possible during this time of the year, I hate USCIS!!!!!!!!

I have my own saving account, not so much $$$ but hubby's is pretty decent, what do you think about adding my name to his account, will they realize that we just add my name recently???

We don't have a joint checking account, he has his, I have mine.

We just joined a gym together, we will send those documents too. I'm thinking, thinking what else can we send?????

I told hubby that we don't need a lawyer . The first I did all the work and we got this stupid RFE, he doesn't want to take the risk this time

It's just an RFE, you're stressing out too much, imho. Just send them some more stuff, they will shut up. Well, maybe they will call you for an interview. Maybe not - not a big deal, really.

It will take a USCIS officer under the influence of LSD to deny a joint I-751 of a legitimate couple.

[Marilyn. 340]

i would still send your account stuff even if it isn't a joint account... like include bank statements from both of your accounts that show you live at the same address...

don't stress... you are not the only one who has gotten an RFE... you really don't need a lawyer.. there is not much they can do for you... all you need to do is send in more stuff...

[samsbs 0]

Did you send in more than one statement or bill? You need to cover the whole time period. Two or three for each year.

[Vi Mazzella 4]

Yes, we sent more than one statement, maybe three???

[allycat 0]

Did you send tax return or tax transcript (document from IRS)?

Just a thought. I have noticed people mentioning this before, that they want the transcript from IRS not the return you sent in.

It only takes a week or less to get one after you call IRS.

Good luck.

[James 2]

I'm going to start calling friends tomorrow morning and ask them for the notarized letters with the info they are asking for.

What sucks is that they waited 6 long months to send us this stupid letter telling us that what we sent is not enough and now they are just giving us 1 month to gather as much info as possible during this time of the year, I hate USCIS!!!!!!!!

I have my own saving account, not so much $$ but hubby's is pretty decent, what do you think about adding my name to his account, will they realize that we just add my name recently???

We don't have a joint checking account, he has his, I have mine.

We just joined a gym together, we will send those documents too. I'm thinking, thinking what else can we send?????

I told hubby that we don't need a lawyer . The first I did all the work and we got this stupid RFE, he doesn't want to take the risk this time

Hi Vi,

It may have been lost among all of the suggestions, but the lease is the most important piece of evidence you can submit right now. The I-751 instructions specifically ask for a copy of a lease or mortgage to show joint occupancy or ownership of a communal residence. Your petition didn't include such evidence. Hence, you received an RFE.

Additional financial evidence may be helpful, but the lease is literally in a class by itself. Good luck and don't worry! If absolute worse comes to worse, they'll just call you in for an interview.

[*JG* 2]

Do any of your pictures have other relatives or friends in them?