Jeffiejay01

41 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Note that one reason you are getting strange advice is that you are adjusting status, but posted your question in a spouse visa forum.  Expect your topic to be moved to the correct forum soon.  What kind of visa are you adjusting from?

OH. Didn't realize that. Thank you. I'm a newbie here so I don't have a grip of it yet. I'm adjusting from F1 Visa. 

2 hours ago, Babu Frik said:

What evidence did you provide prior and what's different now?

Great question Farik. I'd give you a bit of background. At the time of our first interview, we were living at my wife's mom's since we didn't both have jobs. My wife also had a blemished record which raised further flags. We were seperated and sent home and our case was placed under review. Things got better after my EAD arrived. My wife also got a job and we were able to move into our own place two months after the interview. Over the next two years, we survived one home visit to our place and two visits to my wife's parents place. One of the visits to my inlaws created a problem because they met my father inlaw home alone and he said he didn't know me. They sent us an NOID with reason stating the marriage was to circumvent immigration laws. We sent a strong response with medical records showing my father in law had dementia and didn't recognize his wife, or daughter anymore let alone me. It included police reports of the cops showing up to their house after he made several bogus calls to 911 because he was hallucinating about seeing people in the house. We also included pictures of all the previous holidays spent together showing us together as a family which indicated he knew me. We added evidence of joint taxes, joint leases, utilities, auto, health and renters and life insurance, affidavits, letters from the apartment management, pictures etc. Our evidence went from Exhibits A to T literally. By my own admission though, we didn't submit joint bank statements because it was impossible to add by wife to my bank account due to her flagged banking history. We added a letter from the bank and credit bureau stating her failed credit check and reasons. We had credit card statements but didn't submit them since they were maxed out and we weren't using them. I basically paid the bills and she gave me cash. A year later they denied us anyway due to not meeting our burden of proof by a preponderance of evidence. Thankfully thought, they accepted the medical records and dismissed my father in law's testimony. They reiterated other minor reasons which we already addressed in our response to their NOID. 

Long and short, we re-filed immediately and our interview comes up in a few weeks. We have addressed all the minor issues raised and have more evidence. My wife's banking flags have been been dropped and we now have one single account where our pays checks go and all our bills come out of. The statements only go as far as eleven months ago so we hope that's okay. We also have joint brokerage accounts that we fund monthly and she's also listed as the beneficiary on my 401k, IRA and health insurance plans at work. We now have joint debt together as well. We also have a living will and power of attorney. We would be submitting credit card statements too. IDs showing same address, different letters, cards and mails addressed to both of us, joint purchases, joint memberships, dog adoption paperwork, gifts receipts, gifts exchanged with my wife's family during Christmas, more pictures(my parents also visited from my home country and stayed with us for two weeks and met my wife's parents) affidavits, more recent taxes all of these in addition to the previously submitted taxes, joint leases, utilities, auto, health and renters and life insurance, pictures etc. We would also be submitting three years worth of daily text conversations as husband and wife and phone records dating back to a year ago. That's all I can think of for now. Our document stack is about ten inches tall. Besides the evidence, we've also addressed all minor reasons listed in the denial and just hope it would be enough this time. We would also be going with an attorney this time. Do you think our evidence of bonafides is okay? 

On 7/18/2019 at 2:17 AM, Marioooo85 said:

Any updates on this??

Hello Mario, we received an NOID in 2018, and a denial in 2019. Reason for denial was not meeting the burden of proof for bonafide marriage by a preponderance of evidence. We re-filed immediately and have our interview coming up next month. We have more evidence now and have addressed all the issues raised in the denial. Hopefully we get approved this time. 🙏🏿

I'd return with good news. 

Thank you. 

On 3/9/2020 at 11:31 AM, geowrian said:

A lack of evidence to demonstrate a bona fide marriage is different than a finding of a willful, material misrepresentation, or fraud.

It's impossible to know exactly what happened in your case with the information presented here, but personally - assuming I was comfortable with the evidence now - I would file again.

Thank you Geo, we re-filed immediately and have our interview coming up in a few months. We have addressed all the reasons indicated in the denial by providing ample evidence this time around. Hopefully it would be enough this time. Thanks again. 

Hello guys, please I need some insight.

I'm the beneficiary of an i130 petition and two years ago we received a NOID. Reason given in the NOID was "the marriage was a marriage of convenience entered into to circumvent the laws of the US". With the aid of counsel we responded with a strong rebuttal. A year later we were officially denied but this time around, reason given was "based on the review of testimony and documentation, USCIS finds that you have not meant your burden of proof in demonstrating the bonafide nature of your marriage by a preponderance of evidence. Therefore USCIS denies your form i130".


1) Does the INA 204c bar apply here given the denial reason was clear and did not mention "sham marriage, fraud marriage etc"? 

2) Does the denial letter have to expressly state a fraud finding as the reason for denial if there is one? (I assume the have a statutory obligation to do so) 

3)If we provide preponderance of evidence (which we lacked in the denial reason) would that be enough or are we subject to the clear and convincing standard of proof if we apply again? (we are still happily married)


Thank you. 
Less
 

Hello, 

My wife who is a USC and I just received an RFE that said the below;
"The petitioning sponsor lists their income on form I864 as an amount considered as sufficient however no evidence has been submitted as proof of current income". 

They then proceeded to ask for Paystubs for the past six months and a letter of employment. 

When we filed we only submitted tax transcripts for the last three years for my wife and also a joint sponsor affidavit(with their W2, last year tax transcript and current Paystubs at the time). 

To respond to the RFE do we just submit the Paystubs and letter of employment since we already submitted everything else or does my wife and joint sponsor have to fill new I864 affidavits and then include all the requested income documentation in the RFE? 

Secondly do we have to attach the Yellow Rfe letter when sending or a copy would do? Thank you. 

22 minutes ago, Laura123 said:

wow! Why did they suspect of a staged marriage in the first place?

 

I think you are fine now. They saw you guys live together and share a life so u shouldnt worry anymore  

Hello Laura, thanks for replying. Feels sooooo good just seeing your message of reassurance. I just responded to a previous poster with a detailed explanation on why they suspected us of a staged marriage in the first place and what happened during the home visit. You can check that . By the way a lawyer told me to write down everything that happened during the home visit just incase of false accusations from the USCIS officials. Crazy to even think their integrity could be compromised. Sigh. We would just pray and hope for the best. And thank you once again.

2 minutes ago, car0593 said:

seems like everything looks fine.... unfortunately there is no time frame to know ... did they say anything before they left?

Well they just asked me and my wife a bunch of questions. There were two red flags in our initial interview which is what they came looking to confirm or falsify. 1. My wife wasn't working as at the interview. 2. My wife had issues with the law. During our initial interview last year they told my wife I was using her for immigration benefits and didn't love her and asked her to withdraw the petition which she refused to. We waited one year for an update and then they visited us last week. When they arrived they asked her if she had a job now, and she told then yes, she had been gainfully employed since the week after our interview in a full time position. I pay the bills in the house (with my personal account) cos I earn way more than my wife while she pays for her car, insurance and groceries(from our joint account). They wanted to be sure I didn't have any other bank accounts, so they asked me to show all the major bills(rent, cable, insurance, car note) coming out of my bank account which I did by showing a copy of my recent bank statement. They took it. Alongside two recent statements of our joint account. My wife uses is mostly, I do too sometimes. Finally they asked me why my wife wasn't added to my personal account, I told them the bank declined to add her because of issues they received from a consumer report agency saying my wife commited financial crime. We showed them a copy of the bank letter declining my wife and a copy from the Consumer reporting agency. The officers then went around the apartment and took pictures. Asked us why we had a  2Br2Ba and we explained that we had a move-in special which was half the rent for first month. The guest bedroom contained a mattress, bed and standing lamp which was disconnected cos it isn't in use.. No bed/pillow sheets, no clothes and nothing else. The guest bathroom contained just hand soap, and a towel, the medicine cabinet was empty. Our bedroom and bath room contained all our other stuff. They took pictures of our bathroom and closets. My stuff appear more organized than wife's but don't think that should be a problem. We had pictures in the bedroom, living room and TV stand.  My wife also had a childhood picture of her gay best friend from 20 years ago on our dresser.  They asked her who it was and she told them. We asked if they needed to see our joint bills and other documents and they said not right now. They said they would call and ask for more evidence if the need arises cos they weren't the ones making the decisions and the were only evidence collectors. They said there was the possibility we could even be called back for a second interview. We do understand. We have both never been previously married, have no kids and we are both under 30. 

Generally me and my wife think it went very well but we are still worried cos they took copies of our bank statements away. We feel like we already have a preponderance of evidence which should satisfy their compliance review.

I'm sure they also went to the leasing office because our apartment is gated and you need a code to access it. The officer also told me my didn't include my apartment number in my petition so I guess the leasing office must have given them that info.  Personally I think they just suspect me cos I'm from Nigeria(notorious for marriage fraud),  and my wife is a beautiful, plus size Caucasian woman. They actually told my wife this during our initial interview and really lowered her self esteem. Our lifestyles are also different. I'm more reserved and organized while my wife is a fun loving carefree person who doesn't obsess with organization and structure. Sad to think in this age they would judge us based on that because our personalities really compliment each other. We deeply love each other. Her parents and friends see how I treat her and even gifted us an expensive dresser and bed set for our wedding gift. 

Whew. Guess I'm just over thinking it all and we are really fine? Well we'd see how it goes and I'd drop a follow up response here if anything comes up. 

Feels so good to get it off and write about this. 

Thanks yall. 

Hello there, 

My wife is a US citizen and petitioned for a GC for me in August 2016. The officers suspected us of a staged marriage. My wife was out of a job and had had some runs-in with the law. We were also living at my wife's mother's at the time pending when we found jobs and moved into our place. Me and my wife had joint bank accounts but I also told the officer that I had a separate bank account that my wife wasn't added to. 

Anyway we didn't hear from USCIS again until 11 months and 20 days later when they showed up at our home. It was 8am Feb 14. 2018. They met my wife and I and spent 45mins speaking with us and taking pictures. They asked me to print copies of our joint bank statements and my single separate account(luckily I had a printer at home). We now live alone in our own place; a 2BR 2BR(so we could use the second room for AirBnB which we never have). The second room and bath are empty. Our closet, bath and bedroom and living room contain both our male and female items, clothing, pictures etc. 


It's now been a week since they visited. What should we expect?