D R C

I sent in a copy of our HUD-1 settlement document (should have gotten this at closing) as well as statements of our maintenance fees listing both my wife and I as owners of our property.

NLR -

Sorry one last thing that I forgot to mention is that we pay all of our recurring bills through my own checking account because it gives us miles. For the last 6 months or so, the amounts that she gives me are deposited into my own (not joint) checking account. I can easily pick out the dates/amounts since it generally follows her pay days.

Would it be advisable to add the last six months of my individual checking account statements (in my own name, not joint) with the amounts she contributed highlighted, as well as quarterly statements as far back as we could possibly go to show that I was the primary means of support during the period she was unemployed?

Otherwise the plan is to submit only the joint statements with letter, and hope we don't get an RFE asking for connecting bank statements/documentation.

Thanks!

NLR -

Appreciate the help with the wording. I felt I was missing some leverage to go along with the joint bank statements because of our single income household.

The weight on my shoulders lessens with each additional dollar to the monthly pot...

DRC808

Hi All,

My wife and I were married in January 2014 in front of a judge. We set up a joint bank account + an account of her own which I put money into when I was financially able to. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we primarily used the joint account to build up funds to buy our own place. For most of 2014 and 2015, I was the primary person who paid all of the bills -- cable, cell phone, credit card, groceries, etc. as she didn't have a job lined up just yet. She also had a bank account in her home country which I encouraged her to keep as an emergency fund.

So in short, in 2014 and 2015 it was primarily only me supporting the both of us. We were living with family at the time so expenses were manageable. We have the joint account statements showing we made an occasional deposit, including several large monetary gifts following our wedding reception, and in Christmas 2015. Having said this, the account was lightly used until it came time to close on our place.

She landed a part-time job in October 2015 and we closed on our place in November 2015. She started chipping in twice a month beginning January 2016, in conjunction with her pay days, a small amount of money that helps pay our bills.

-I have a "paycheck" checking account that has two functions: 1) to handle my incoming paychecks, and 2) keep two months worth of mortgage payments on reserve.

-I move some paycheck funds into my "payment" checking account to pay bills. This also earns frequent flier miles so it's an added bonus, and we like to travel, too.

-She chips in money from her account into my "payment" account to help pay for our bills; I encourage her to save as much as she can.

So in reality, our 'real' co-mingling of finances only really began with the start of our mortgage payments six months ago and us living in our own property. She was mostly dependent on me on that financial support prior to that. Since this year started, we've had to tighten the belt considerably to keep a roof over our heads, pay the bills, and put food on the table. My "payment" account shows additional funds from her twice a month, but I messed up once when I put both her share and my paycheck in the same deposit lol!

Having said all of this, do I need to show USCIS how the money flows from account to account (joint & individual), or will joint statements showing some activity suffice?

Six months in, we're getting the hang of it and we're loving every moment.

Thank you andromeda1 and NLR for the clarification on best "single name items" to submit.

I'll just take out the mortgage statement (no big deal since the HUD-1, maint statements already have both names as well as physical & PO Box mailing addresses) on them. Cable bill has both addresses, but just my name.

We have very little documents (except the ones that count!) with our physical address. Extremely protective keeping the physical address secure. I'm mindful that ID and mail theft are rampant, so everything goes to a PO Box for peace of mind.

Can't use DLs since they have different addresses - won't get it updated until it is up for renewal.

The only single name items that I would say is okay are utility bills since they can have only one name. But make sure the address is the same in the utility bills. Example our internet bill is in my name and electricity in my wife's name but both have same address. For the rest, NLR is right, include only documents that have both names and/ or signatures.

Yes, for our joint bank account, we're sending in all pages that shows transaction history.

Statements in our packet reflect the end of each quarter: March, June, Sept, Dec, plus the most recent (May 2016)

There were no transactions on some months, but there are changes in the overall balance due to deposits made in the "in between" months.

Joint account was used primarily to build up funds for our home purchase. We don't use the account unless absolutely necessary.

Are you sending all bank and credit card statements dating back to when you got married (including all the transaction pages)?

We got an RFE after only sending the summary pages and a sample of the transactions.

We sent several hundred additional pages with our RFE response and got approved about a month later.

Best wishes!

Hi All-

Almost two years have flown by since my wife was granted CR status, and it's time to submit our I-751 package to get those conditions removed. How time flies when you're having fun!

We have no children (yet), but we have quite a bit of evidence we can submit:

* Paying USCIS fees with a check from our joint account (we're including a copy of the check that shows both names).

* Joint IRS tax transcripts from last 2 years.

* Joint checking account statements, last 2 years, every three months.

* Copy of her bank statements showing our new home address

* Copy of our HUD-1 showing recent home purchase in late 2015, both names

* Copy of mortgage loan statements in my name (better credit score, better loan terms)

* Copy of property maintenance fee statements, both names, showing mailing and physical address

* Copy of cable bills (service started 3 months ago), showing mailing and physical address, my name only

* Copy of joint insurance cards (medical, prescription, dental), both names

* Copy of most recent vehicle title and registration (last 2 years) showing length of time vehicle was in both of our names

* Copies of passport bio page & entry/exit stamps, boarding passes (some were lost), itineraries for trips taken over last two years.

(For trips we've taken to the U.S. mainland, I have more itineraries than receipts that shows we've completed travel, but have pictures to document)

* We have lots of pics together, and very few with family (to include, or not include?)

Is this too much info, or just about right? Thoughts?

My now wife and I went with your option B... She entered on a K1 and we did a civil wedding and filed for AOS to get the USCIS stuff out of the way. You can always plan the big wedding later with a LOT less stress.

Hi All,

My fiancee is a Japanese citizen currently living in Japan.

However, at one time she has lived for over 6 months in Canada -- If I understand the process correctly, this would require her to get a RCMP police clearance.

Apparently this is the one that is giving us the most headache. I've read in some instances that sometimes Japanese police may refuse to sign on the dotted line on the necessary forms to confirm the information is correct before sending it off to RCMP. I'd like to start this process as early as possible to avoid issues later on when our petition gets approved. Ideally, I'd like her to have her clearance in hand at the interview to make this process as painless as possible.

If there are any JAPANESE people IN JAPAN -- trying to get their Canadian clearance -- what have you done to get your clearance, and are you having any problems with either the Japanese or Canadian side in doing so? And if you are having problems, what are you doing to resolve them?

Responses are appreciated!

Thank you,

DC