JLR-MPA

I spoke to an immigration attorney as suggested by Joanna. It went very well. He assured me 1) that my situation is not that unusual and 2) that the other evidence in our packet is very convincing. He said he was not concerned at all. 

Thank goodness. 

Part of my concern is that I don't feel UCSIS is that open to non-traditional marriages and circumstances. I also see how my two unique situations are red flags and that is why I am worried.

With regard to my step-son, there were legal barriers preventing my putting my name on his birth certificate. I will explain it to UCSIS as best I can, citing the legal statute. However, I never think of him as a step-son. He is simply my son. We have a letter from his pediatrician discussing both of our (my wife and my) involvement in his care during the last year and a half and affidavits from family and friends. 

With regard to the house, I felt at the time that buying a house with a third party would be a red-flag, but my wife and I discussed it and we did not want to pass up the opportunity to own a home. The third party owner is a family friend. He has his own bedroom. My wife and son and I share one bedroom and then we have an office that I use in order to keep all my projects and documents away from our son's eager little hands. 

Joanna (from a previous post), my wife and I do have evidence of living together, it is just not a legal lease or house title. 

We have:

·     -Letter of support from our son's pediatrician, showing his name and address

·      - Affidavits from family and friends referencing visiting our family at our one residence.

·       -Two life insurance letters and policies showing our address

·        -credit card statements showing our address

·       - Bank statements showing our address

·        -Health insurance policy info showing our address

·        -Envelopes addressed to both of us at our home

·      - Photos of our family at home

I'm going to go ahead and submit our son's birth certificate and the accompanying explanation of why I'm not on the certificate. 

I will go to the DMV and get a duplicate license as "f f" suggested above. Then I will submit the package. If I get an RFE, I will explain the best I can about the house. 

4 hours ago, Ontarkie said:

I'm still not on the deed to our house. It was no issue, we used drivers license and mail to show joint address. 

Just add other things - like bank, bills, joint cc's, I'm sure when you sit down and start thinking about things you can find all sorts of evidence. 

I even included vet receipts  

Thank you for your reply.

We just bought the house last year. So my driver's license does not have my new address and my wife does not have a driver's license. We live close to everyone we know. So we do not get much mail. We have letters from our health insurance provider, etc., but I've read that immigration does not consider this to be good evidence since it is easy to have one's mail sent anywhere one wants. We could easily receive mail at our home, but live elsewhere.

I'm still concerned about drawing unwanted attention to our case. In your opinion, should I submit the birth certificate and housing information with explanations in the initial application? Or not submit them and hopefully not get an RFE?

Thank you for your thoughts. 

Good evening, VisaJourney Members. 

I'm about to submit my immigrant wife's I-751 petition to remove conditions on her permanent residency. However, we have two unique situations and I am very worried about getting an RFE or a denial. 

Here are the two things I'm worried about:

1. We are a same-sex couple. Our son was born 5 months after we married. My mother is an attorney and informed me that I could not be on the birth certificate because I am not the "biological father." So we planned for me to adopt our son later. After we settled into our new life with a baby, we looked into adoption. It was too expensive for us since I am a graduate student and my wife is a stay-at-home mother. Our son is now 2 years old and we have never been hindered by the fact that I have not yet adopted him. So the adoption still has not taken place.

2. As a young couple in our twenties in low-paying positions (I am a grad student and my wife is a stay-at-home mother), we have had to live with a roommate to make ends meet in a fairly expensive college town. A family friend for many years agreed to be our roommate since we were comfortable with each other, he was accepting of same-sex partners, and was willing to live with a young child. We four (me, wife, baby, and family friend) lived together in an apartment for a year and it worked out very well. At the end of that year, we talked about moving to a bigger place. After looking around, we discovered that it was good investment to buy a house rather than rent since rent in our town was so expensive for three-bedroom apartments. Our roommate's parent's received a small inheritance from a deceased family member and they decided to give it to our roommate for a down payment on a house. However, our roommate would not be able to afford the monthly mortgage alone. We came to a mutually beneficial arrangement, in which he provided the down payment and I did all the leg work to purchase the house, then we share the mortgage. So we are co-owners on a house. Unfortunately, his parents did not like the idea of my wife being on the deed and mortgage because she comes from a very rural African town and has so little financial experience. Since they controlled the down payment money and we did not want to pass up this opportunity, my wife and I agreed to this. So now we all live in lovely home together, but my roommate/family friend and I are co-owners and my wife is not on the deed/mortgage.

The problem is that the I-751 requests both the birth certificate of any children born during the marriage and evidence of living together. I do not have evidence of us living together other than photographs and affidavits from family and friends. I have the birth certificate, but I'm not on it. So that seems like evidence against us.

Should I submit my application without reference to the birth certificate and our house and only address these things if I get an RFE?

Or should I submit explanations of why I don't have these things with my initial application?   

I'm wary of submitting explanations in our initial application, because I do not want to draw attention to our case and its unusual situation. 

Here is the evidence I do have and will be submitting: 

• Copy of federal tax return for 2016 showing status as “Married filing jointly”

• Copy of federal tax return transcripts (2015 and 2014), showing status as "Married filing jointly" 
• Copies of letters from the bank, bank statements, and bank cards (front) showing joint accounts (XXX and XXX Credit Union) and joint financial obligations and responsibility, over the course of the marriag
• Copies of XXX credit card statements and credit cards (front), showing <Cond. Perm. Res. Wife> as an authorized cardholder, further showing joint account, and joint financial obligations and responsibilities over the course of the marriage

• Copy of XXX credit cards (front), showing joint account.

• Copies of beneficiary letters for life insurance policies (XXX and XXX Life Insurance Company)

• Copies of Notices of Approval from Medi-Cal showing joint health insurance account

• Four Letters of Support/sworn affidavits by U.S. citizen family members, friends, and pediatrician, attesting to our relationship and marriage

• Photographs demonstrating consistent and continuous public affection, attendance, interaction, and identification as a married couple at family functions and in public, over the course of the marriage.