Axle314

I have about 15-20 photos for 2016, 2017, 2018 each, with about 4 photos on each page, so figure around 15 pages total of photos, each with Captions of who's in the photo, where is the photo taken place, and the date. In most cases I indicated what's going on.

Anyone know if it's OK to send the package along with rubber bands? See picture...

I'm quite literally at the top of 3.5" Acco Fasteners... I even had to remove some evidence ( wasn't particularly needed ). The fasteners are clipped, but barely. The rubber bands are more for stability than anything.

I'm going to write on the top of the form the purpose of the submission, etc. I was going to go to the Post Office tomorrow but I wanted to give it another check to be sure it all is good and organized.

For the check, I'm using two small clips ( not Paperclips) to attach the check vertically, so I have two edges to attach to and not interfere with the two hole punch.

What I had done before is attach a small clip to the G-1145 form. No Envelope. Not a Paperclip.

Affidavits submitted must be originals? That's what the I-751 Instructions suggest, but I'm wondering if others see something saying otherwise?

So I have Life insurance, that includes coverage for both my wife and I, with me being the primary account holder ( it's through work)

Here's my question - The Certificate of Insurance doesn't imply or say that my wife is covered, whereas later on in the policy ( AFTER the table of Contents showing all 40 pages), it'll say that my spouse is covered. The rest of the policy is well, Legalese.

When should I ignore the " Include every page rule?" I know if I ignore it, it could lead to an RFE, but it feels like such a waste to include information about Life Insurance when all I wanted to do was prove we had Life Insurance for one another.

That moment when you realize 2" Acco Fastener won't cut it and you begin pondering whether a 3.5" capacity Acco Fastener will work..

I just bought those ACCO Bound Report Covers. Totally a great idea.

So I realized something - If you submit the package via USPS, it's one address ( PO Box) whereas Fedex/UPS/ etc. is their actual office address? Make sure to use the correct address!

How did you guys handle State Taxes? State Tax doesn't appear on the IRS Transcripts... so do you just submit your state return?

Sorry to bring up this topic again... but what about State Tax Returns? For California at least, I don't see an option for California State Tax Transcripts... so do I need to submit a Tax Return?

Federal I already have my Transcripts

2 hours ago, p-ana said:

 

 

 

 

If the phone bill has both of your names, it’s good to send out. If it’s just showing messages between the two of you, I wouldn’t bother sending all pages, would just choose a sample 

Unfortunately it's only under my name, but it clearly shows I'm paying for 2 lines. We don't have a message log, just a phone log, which usually shows that we call eachother at least once a day for a few minutes at a time.

If I may ask, how many pages did you guys end up having? I'm easily running into the 400 pages or more right now. Two full phone bills - just 76 pages alone for the two..... I downloaded phone logs and put them into a Table, much more reasonable. So I'm putting two phone bills, then the tabulated phone logs after...

1 minute ago, PollyC said:

 

I think if USCIS received your packet in Aug then you can count yourself in Aug  

 

hey but there's no harm to follow July as well  

Agreed 😁

Just now, Hlima hi said:

@Axle314 I sent mine yesterday, so should I consider myself August or July filer ?

I would think July? But feel free to follow the August Topic?

I didn't see a August 2018 I-751 topic so I thought I'd start one.

Preparing to send mine in less than a week! It might be quite a number of pages...

Anyone else filing in August 2018 and is getting their packet ready?

How's this for a Cover Letter?

John & Jane Johnson

123 E Fake Ave.

Fake City, CA 91234

August 5, 2018

USCIS California Service Center

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Department of Homeland Security

P.O. Box 10751

Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-1075

Re: I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence (Joint Application with U.S. Citizen Spouse), Original Submission

Jane VisaJourney Johnson, A# 123-456-789, Conditional Resident Spouse

Dear USCIS Officer,

Please find enclosed a joint filing of Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, for my spouse Jane VisaJourney Johnson. Jane had entered the United States on a K-1 Visa and we had subsequently married. She adjusted status to permanent resident in November 2015. We have remained married and we happily live together. We respectfully request that this petition be accepted for removal of conditions on residence for Jane V. Johnson.

We have enclosed an original Form I-751, a check for $680 USD for the application fee and biometric fee, and a front and back copy of her I-551 Permanent Resident “Green” Card. To support our I-751 petition, we have included supporting evidence for your reference contained within the below exhibits, which are further outlined in the Table of Contents found within Exhibit A. For your convenience, we have included labeled tabs along the bottom for ease of use.

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and we understand that we may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration officer at a later date. Please advise us if you have further questions or concerns related to this document.

We respectfully request that the interview usually required for the I-751 petition be waived under consideration of the evidence enclosed and in accordance to 8 CFR §216.4(b)(1).

Sincerely,

John L. Johnson                                              Jane V. Johnson

Date: ______________________                              Date: ______________________

Also a few questions on the I-751 Application on the evidence...

1) As I understand it, I only need to send the IRS Transcripts, but why not also include the jointly signed 1040s?

2) On each page of evidence, on the bottom, I plan on writing my wife's name in the form of Jane V. Johnson, A# 123-456-789... or should I put it as Johnson, Jane V.

3) Do I need to include the entire phone bill(s) to just show we call eachother? T-Mobile tends to also include pages of pages of Data usage...

4) Would it be better for me to put Notarized Affidavits ( they're already notarized!) towards the front or the back? Meaning, all financial stuff with financial stuff... Right now I have taxes, then affidavits, then the rest of the financial statements, etc.

5) So I currently make payments on my wife's car, but her name is not on the title - because with her not on the title - 0% interest. If her name was added... 5% interest. Do I need to explain any of this?

6) Let's pretend I have another legal name, like say Johnsie ( let's say it's like Bob vs. Robert ), that I have a few accounts use one or the other. Do I need to explain this at all?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi All,

Wanted to get your thoughts.  When my wife and I did Adjustment of Status, we lived in one address. We have since then, moved twice - every time we submitted a Change of Address to USCIS ( we did keep the receipts / e-mails saying they had received our change of address - so we thought nothing was unusual.

So now we are getting ready to remove conditions - and we got the 120 day letter reminding us that we need to file the I-751 - but they sent it to the original address from Adjustment of Status! If our mail hadn't been forwarded from the old place, we technically would have NOT received that letter ( but we knew about Removal of Conditions anyway ) - so what gives? Why did USCIS send a letter that's two addresses old?

We did all of the Change of Addresses online. Should I bother updating anything? It's concerning that they used such an old address.

Thanks in advance.

We have, but we have conflicting responses because Cross-Border taxes are so confusing.

Hoping someone can give some level of guidance.

My wife had inherited a large sum of money ( > 500k USD) from her Grandfather out of the EU, however the money's directed to her parents, who live in Canada. It was her grandfather's wish, verbally, that the money be used to help her specifically be able to buy a home.

My Father in Law is getting ready to figure all of this out, and for better or worse it's being set up as a Promissory Note held against a property that my wife and I found, for that money. The idea behind it was to set this up as a Portfolio Debt ( whatever that means) to help avoid gift taxes, etc. There are some other reasons for it being set up this way that I can't really get into here. Let's just say, there's a specific reason why he wanted to set it up as a Promissory Note, however I am wondering if that will cause problems.

He right now wants it so that he can give us the >500k USD Cash to our Canadian Accounts. Then we can transfer that money to an escrow account as a cash offer for a home we are in escrow for. Since we have to do FBAR regardless, I'm worried that we will by default have to report on the >500k USD transferred into the US Accounts. I'm not a fan of this, and wondering if this move is just applying extra exposure no one would really want.

I'm under the impression that if the money was sent to our US Accounts, or rather sent directly to our Escrow Account via wire transfer, and that there are no promissory notes ( meaning, we have a internal loan amongst ourselves only), that there would be much less headaches tax-wise. Part of the concern is if it was sent to the US in that fashion, from Canada to US Escrow account, that money could be considered "In-Situ" and would end up being taxed, unless a W8-BEN was made?

I was thinking, if the money was sent to us to our US Bank Accounts, and we report it as a Gift ( to the IRS) while we internally amongst the family still follow the terms of what would have been the Promissory Note, that a lot of tax problems go away.

Has anyone had to deal with transferring large sums of money from Canada to the US, or something like that? What's the right way to do it, that has the least amount of exposure / tax implications / that still lets my wife and I be able to have someplace to live for a long while due to this opportunity.

Thanks in advance.

HI all,

I'm going to be a August 2018 Filer, and I got some questions already. Thanks in advance!

1 - How did you / what do you recommend for attaching photos to your ROC packet? I bought myself these : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0066E5H7K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - and basically intended to attach 6 some photos per year ( so 2016, 2017, and 2018) to the packet. But i'm worried about what I bought that the photos would slip out. I'm planning on using those ACCO Fasteners for the packet and it would go through the photo page. I was also worried if I did a plastic baggy with a staple through to keep the photos inside that it would just annoy the officer.  I do intend on writing on the photos themselves when the photo was taken, who is in the photo, and what was the approximate location.

2 - I feel like I've read both options, but what do you recommend with respect to including all pages to bank statements, bills, etc. My phone bill, for example, is about 20 pages each month, about 9 of which is phone records about when we call eachother, and about 10 pages is DATA pages... I have no desire to include those pages, and they don't relate at all to the case. Is there a chance I'd get an RFE because I didn't include all 20 pages?? 

For Bank Statements, I think I would just include the transactions, but then end it there and move on to the next month.

3 - Has anyone included a separate table of contents? I've made one, and basically was going to refer to see the attached Table of Contents in support of this application.

4 - Is it a good idea to include an explanation of what a particular section of my evidence ( say bills ) is meant for and any pertinent information? Going back to my cell phone bill, saying my number is (XXX-XXX-XYXY and my wife's phone is YYY-YYY-YXYX)?

5 - Highlighting. I thought I read that highlighting was very much discouraged for the I-751 form itself ( makes sense!), but I didn't seem to get a clear answer on the actual evidence itself or whether it represented a problem.

6 - Tax Transcripts. I am thinking I will definitely include two years of tax transcripts, but do I go ahead and include my Form 1040 as well as the associated W2s?

Thank you for your help and responses.

I'm assuming a lot of people add page numbers or write other "notes" to help the officer? I'm not going to be dinged for " you modified a copy" or something like that?

I tried doing some research on this topic, but haven't quite got a good answer that's been current.

What are your thoughts on the following?

- On evidence that I'm submitting on the I-751 - is it beneficial ( at all?) to add the Beneficiary's Name and Alien Number on the bottom of each page of evidence, then on the right hand side include the section number and page number to what that sheet represents? For example, I'm including a table of contents. Let's say, my Exhibit K, with section K.2.a ( Exhibit K Titled: "Financial Statements", Section 2 ( Bank "Wells Fargo", subsection a ( "July 2017" ), then the page on the bottom right. Can that be somehow construed as modification of the evidence copy?

See attached example.

What are your thoughts on adding the name / Alien Number on the bottom?

I'm planning on doing all of this in Adobe Acrobat ( I own a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro, so adding it as a Footer is fairly straightforward), and on the bottom-most section of the page I can print / have it be legible.

Thanks in advance!

14 minutes ago, implife said:

why would you sign the cover letter? who cares?

I think he does.

Hi All,

I'm the USC in my marriage, and I'm getting a very good headstart on filing for the I-751 to be filed in August of this year. I've already got a table of contents, and a majority of the files together. 

Do I need to be concerned at all that I'm requesting beneficiary confirmation statements from my 401k plan / other retirement sort of accounts over 5 months early? I just did it now to get it out of the way, but then got worried if I'm requesting "too" early, and that it's better to have those statements later on, say in 2-3 months?

Am I just overanalyzing it, and that it doesn't matter how long before I actually apply for the Removal of Conditions to which my evidence was created?

Thanks in advance.

Hello!

I had my Cross-Border Taxes prepared by an accountant, and I've had some questions / comments on it. Today is the last day for filing w/o an extension.

I already have a Form 1040 prepared ( Pre-Comments ), along with all the other documents I need.

Speaking to the accountant today - he said that he's going to file an extension ( even though I feel my comments on my 1040 wasn't that terrible ), but since I have the 1040 already filled out, can I use this as part of the I-864??

I haven't signed the Tax Form 1040 yet, and I expect the Form 4868 today from the Accountant.

Since I have the copy of my 2015 Form 1040, along with the 2014, 2013 returns, Paystubs, Employment Letter - do I really need to worry that my taxes for 2015 aren't formally filed??

Sort of a bad situation in the morning.