thewarface

This is a response after a long time, but it puts such heart in me to see that your additional evidence was accepted. That's almost word for word what I have to supply. I too submitted the minimum required documentation because my husband and I thought that submitting additional supporting evidence "should" be done only if your required evidence wasn't strong enough. I also am fearing an RFE or NOID. Did you get a lawyer to help you, or did you just submit the listed documents and the cover sheet?

Well, I did a little of both. I went and saw a lawyer, but the lawyer was just as dumbfounded as I was. I showed him the list of items I planned on submitting, in addition, and he looked at me and said, "You don't need my help on this."

So...in reality, I really didn't use a lawyer for this. I submitted the additional information that I listed and that seemed to do the trick. If it's at a local office, it seems like you'll have more problems than it being at a normal service center. But...you may never know that it's at a local office, like me, until you receive an RFE or NOID.

If you do receive one, don't freak out. They just want to see that you do have additional evidence for them. A lot of people that are trying to dodge the system won't submit additional evidence because they think USCIS is on to their scheme.

After one month of patient waiting, our I-130 has been approved! Yep, that's right! The additional evidence I gave them must have done it.

I'm so happy we're past that step.

I actually did put the description on the pictures, I just figured I would do it on the cover letter, as well.

And neither of us have stamps on our passports for coming in and out of Canada or the US. I don't really pay attention when I go through, but neither one of us have stamps. Do they not stamp when going through the border anymore? The last stamp I have is from 2008.

Do we ask them to stamp from now on?

I apologize. This is the updated one. Forgot all the pictures!!

Deny Petition Cover Letter.pdf

My appointment to hand them the appeal is tomorrow morning at 9am. Wish me luck.

For those of you interested, I've attached the cover letter, which gives everything I am including in the packet.

Would like to hear your feedback.

Deny Petition Cover Letter.pdf

Question...while I'm getting my packet together here.

I have over 1000 pages of Facebook chats that her and I have exchanged over the past 6 months. How do I give that to them? Do I print them all out? Do I put it on a CD?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/403274-i-130-intention-to-deny-petition/page__view__findpost__p__5861807

Normally I would agree with Brother Hesekiel, but I don't think his statement is entirely true. It states in the I-130 instructions to prove a "bonafide" marriage. I'm sure the definitions are different, but essentially, to me, it sounds like they want to know that the marriage is legit, in every way. Not only is it legal, but it was entered in good faith and will continue in good faith. All of the things they asked for, with the exception of the birth certificate, are all items included in the I-130 instructions.

Did I provide them all? No. But I provided as much as I thought it would take to prove a bonafide marriage. So, Brother Hesekiel's statement isn't entirely true when you look at what they're looking for on an I-130.

Unfortunately, I usually travel a lot and I haven't kept one boarding pass in YEARS! I don't really have a choice there. There's no way to get the boarding passes again, so I'm SOL on that one.

What's weird about this is the birth certificate. I know I will have to present it eventually, but it's not all that easy to get a long form from Canada. I think I can get one in a week or so, but I hate this rushing stuff. I can't understand what they mean about birth certificates on the USCIS website. I've read through the instructions, and they state the following:

Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, the petitioner, and your spouse together

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that statement refers to the birth certificate of the "child" in question, if there is one.

Can I ask for a list of what you submitted for the bonafide marriage proof originally?

Yes please! I'd like to know that information too, if it's not too much trouble. Also if there are any red flags in your case? (big age difference, difference of religion/culture, haven't seen each other for a while, stuff like that)

To answer your questions....

Originally, I submitted the following for bonafide marriage proof.

- Pictures of our wedding

- Pictures of the week we first met

- Pictures of our honeymoon

- Letters we had written to each other. (One from me every single day.)

- Pictures with my family after the wedding

That was pretty much it. That's all we really had at that point. I figured the letters and the pictures were everything that showed how we had spent time together, before getting married, and before putting in the immigration papers. But.....I guess not.

I am putting the following in the packet to send back on appeal.

- Beneficiary paperwork listing her for my two 401K's and both my life insurance policies.

- Joint Bank account proof

- Affidavits from 5 individuals testifying they are fully aware of relationship and how legit and loving it is.

- More pictures from the first week we met, more pictures of our honeymoon, pictures of the two months in Canada I spent with her while on assignment from work

- Itineraries for our trip to LA the first time we met, her trip to Las Vegas the week we got married, my trip to Canada for work, and her upcoming trip back to Las Vegas for New Years.

- Her birth certificate

- Facebook Chats (Questions here: What do you do with the part of the chat that may be private? Do you edit it out? Leave it in? Black it out? Need your input on this one.)

I will be assembling this proof and I will be hand delivering it via an InfoPass appointment with the local office, in which, I will be asking them why this information is required at this level (On the advice of an immigration lawyer who thinks I am justified in asking this question.)

So...of course, I will continue to update everyone of how this goes. If it works, maybe this case will help others in the future.

hey - can post that letter here, let us review it ? Thanks in advance !

Here ya go. Sorry it took so long. I forgot.

0085_0011.pdf

Hi Aluk,

No...I did not receive a notice that it had been transferred to Las Vegas. I didn't hear anything after the first NOA either, but the fact that you can't check it online is bothersome. I would definitely continue to check on that. I went three months without hearing anything at all on it until this letter.

I meet with an immigration lawyer in an hour, so we'll see how that goes. I'm hoping he can help me. This process of denying right away is suspicious.

I will scan it in tomorrow morning at work. I'm so nervous right now, I'm shaking. I just don't know what to do.

There is, indeed, an address on that letter. Should I send it back to there? Or both?

errata:

1. what was the return address to submit this information back to ?

2. was it an intent to deny or a request for evidence?

3. here's what I wrote about this stuff, ages past - note it took me a month to have it - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=218775&st=0&p=3324240&hl=Rusticentry3324240

4. HER birth certificate is not listed in the I-130 instructions. I have to guess yer at a local USCIS office, and they not be reading the instructions. A copy of a certified birth certificate is sufficient, make sure it's the long form BC available from Canada.

5. other stuff - yup - trip receipts, full copy of your passport showing the stamps, call logs, logs of electronic stuff (email, skype, yim, etc)

6. there IS a format for the affadavit. From what I remember, it must be notarized.

Note to Harpa - they still be prior to NOA-2 - so it's really weird to get a notice to deny, unless it came in from a local office. Each local office seems to be using the JOINT I-130/I-485 instructions for I-130 stand-alone adjudication, and it sucks.

Yes. It came in from the Las Vegas office. There is no return address to submit. Do I submit it to the local office or back to the NBC? This was an Intent to Deny...so I don't know how bad that really is. Do I still have a chance? I'm so lost right now. Should her and I open a bank account together? Will that help now or is too late?

So, I just received an intention to deny our petition. After my heart dropping, I have decided to do what I need to do to repeal the action but I was hoping I could get your guy's help.

I'd like to give you our background so maybe you can point me in the right direction with what I should submit in the repeal.

We met in Los Angeles, while both of us were there for work. We both work for the same company. We kept in touch for a couple months then decided to get married. She came out to Las Vegas, where I live, and we got married there. We spent a week together and then she went back. During the following month, August, I submitted the I-130. In October and November, I got sent out to Toronto, where she lives, for work and her and I lived together for 2 months and I have only been back for a couple weeks.

So...if I itemize the list they're looking for I get the following:

- Documentation showing join ownership of property: I have a house in Vegas, already, and she lives in an apartment so there is nothing here for us.

- Lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence: Hard to do seeing as she lives in Toronto.

- Documentation showing commingling of financial resources: We never really did this. Her and I have our own finances because we are still living separate lives. I guess there would be something here for us to do now, but what? Open a bank account together? Open a credit card account together? What can I do?

- Birth certificate: I didn't know I should have submitted this, but I will. Don't know how it shows a bona fide marriage, but I will definitely do this.

- Affidavits of third parties having knowledge: I would love to get everyone that knows us, our friends, work employees, etc. but what should these look like? What should they include? It mentions that these should be supported by one or more types of documentary evidence listed in this paragraph; I don't know what that means. What, along with the affidavits, should I submit?

- Any other documentation relevant: Not sure what this is either. Should I submit her plane tickets? My plane tickets? Pictures of our time together in Toronto? What else can I do to show them that this is legitimate?

I hope you guys can help me out. I want to do this as soon as possible. It really hurts right now knowing I have failed this process. I have failed myself, but most importantly, I have failed my wife. I want to make this right so badly, but I just don't understand the process as much as I should.

Thanks to all of you already who I have read your stories and guides. It has helped me this far and I hope you can do it again.

Aaron

It's so random as to how quickly they get approved. I don't understand it. We had our NOA1 given on September 20th (the second NOA1, saying it had been transferred to NBC). It would definitely be nice to get it pretty soon.

I did have one mistake, in which I stated my wife's birthday was 2012.....however, I noticed it after receiving the receipt number. I sent a letter, with the request for correction, to the California Service Center, and then after receiving the transfer notice to NBC, I sent the letter again. I would think it would have caught up to the packet by now.

Here's what is weird. I received my letter back from the California Service Center with my correction highlighted, but no letter with it stating that the changes had been changed. That, and I doubt that service center would have still had the packet as quickly as I received the transfer notice to NBC.

I guess, for now, no news is good news, but is there a way to force someone to check on this, in case it is being overlooked?

I have a feeling, that because of the new visa process that opened up the ability to get green cards for so many people recently, that it will slow down ALL of our processing times.

Just happened to me, as well. I have a weird feeling that it's because they're backed up.

I would tend to agree with abezyo on this one. I would agree with Darnell if this happened to 10 - 15 people, but 100's of applications are being send to NBC. Let's keep in mind that August and September are the prime months for the newly allowed "children living here most of their lives" visa. Those applications have flooded the service centers so they're giving them to the NBC.

So...I've been looking around these forums trying to find the exact question, but I haven't been able to.

The reason why I think this is different from other topics is because Canadian citizens don't need a special visa to travel to and fro to the US. So, the question is simple. If my wife is in Canada, and I put in the CR-1 paperwork, can she still travel to the US? I read, in the guidelines, that they can't travel into the US once the processing starts. Does this apply to Canadian citizens seeing as no other special visa is required?