Allie D

Hi Allie, 

The language on your Interview Notice is quite generic. They give all applicants the same list of what to bring, regardless of if you have already submitted those documents, or if they were up to the standard they require. I have read testimony of the interviews saying that they very often don't ask for those documents again, but do require you to have them in the event that they do want to see them. It doesn't hurt to bring along everything they ask for, even if those things are already in your original application. I wouldn't read into the semantics too much, they just want you to be prepared to answer questions about every aspect of your application and made sure that all of the information you submitted originally is still valid and current.

I hope this helps!

Very true about using a cc responsibly to build good credit history for decent interest rates.
Everyone should build and track their credit score.

Regarding Credit Card usage,
We (Indians) have a lot of misinformation concerning credit card and how it affects your buying capacity. It is advised to use credit card, but you should use it as you would debit card. Don't spend more than you can pay back with your current paycheck (not future paychecks). Using credit card builds your credit score which is really helpful when you want to buy a house or any other big investment and you want advances from a bank. If you don't have good credit score, you will not be offered a good deal (or worse no deal at all).
 
Regarding your other queries, I will not give you any uninformed advise as I am not familiar with that.
 
Good luck.

Not so much in terms of savings, but having an emergency fund is always a good idea, because life happens when you least expect it to. And setting up something like a 401K through work isn't a bad idea either. The rest I think looks easily explained. The way you guys both add money to a joint account is actually a neat case of co-mingled finances from my perspective. From what I've read, USCIS also likes to see joint assets, so having both names on car deeds or house deeds/leases are another good way of showing that. 

No problem at all that you don't have all accounts mingled, what you describe is suffificient and easily explained if asked about it at the interview. It's how you both prefer to handle your finances. Look over the ROC guide list on things you will need to ROC and use some for AOS and start collecting now for ROC in 2 years.
One piece of advice for life and not AOS, save in a savings account and agree to a mutually agreed deposited amount monthly, stuff happens and you need an emergency fund. 
If I had to do things over again in my life I would save for retirement in my 20 ties ! You think retirement is light years away and all of a sudden you get in a rut and realize you didn't think ahead for retirement. So retirement fund and personal savings I consider is a needed thing to have for life in general, not needed for AOS if you have sufficient other evidence. Joint car loan, car insurance, car title, health insurance, utility bills, phone bills, lease or mortgage, joint gym card, power of attorney, wills, living wills are all good evidence and good to have in life.
For ROC they like to see a joint account with bank statements from inception of marriage and are a bit pickier on the amount of evidence. I am mentioning it here because too many people are caught by surprise at the last minute for ROC. 
Best wishes for you both.

Not unusual when adjusting from K1 (relationship previously vetted at the visa interview). She IS now a permanent resident, but need to remove conditions after two years.

Thank you so much for the reassurance. We haven't started shopping for rings. My husband and I will go to Walmart this weekend to try some. We don't know our ring sizes or what kind of fit we might like. E.g. someone suggested the comfort fit, which sounds great. I didn't know that was a thing.
 
You're right about setting boundaries with friends. The advice we got, with regard to price and type, were intimidating. Some female friends told me to pester my husband to buy an expensive, belated engagement ring ("it's an investment!"; "you deserve it!"). This amused me because these friends consider themselves to be very egalitarian, open-minded, feminist, etc. 
 
My husband and I will likely get two durable and inexpensive rings, split the costs, and see if we like wearing them. If not, we'll keep them as mementos from a misadventure.
 
Everyone on this thread has been so wonderful with ideas and encouragement. I'm grateful to you all and am glad to have stumbled upon VisaJourney!

Don't assume that what you send them isn't enough. The fact is things happen. If you knew what the inside of the service center looked like and their filing system well you wouldn't be surprised how things go missing. Just because they send you an RFE asking for evidence, doesn't mean that your evidence isn't good enough. It may be that they lost your evidence that you sent to begin with. They will never admit that either. Photos are secondary evidence, so if that's all the person relies on in terms of evidence, then of course they will ask for more.
 
 

Hi there! I understand your frustration, I honestly do.  I know you didn't ask for my advice, but here it is anyway.  I was in your situation not long ago.  I was wishing every single day away while waiting for my future husband to have his K-1 visa in hand.  During that time, I think I placed a lot of unnecessary stress on both of us.  The K-1 process is not easy, it's not short, and it's highly unpredictable.  Try to enjoy what the two of you have together right now...today...in the present.  Learn about each other, teach each other slang from your respective countries, watch Netflix together over Skype, "share" Chinese food while talking on the phone.  Once you are together in the US, a whole other set of worries and stresses will come up based on the AOS process and learning to live together.  So enjoy your time "together" even when you are apart.  I know the time difference between the US and the UK is a ROYAL pain in the hind end and makes it difficult to talk when you're working a full-time job, but you'll get through this.  You never know what tomorrow might bring, so enjoy today.  You'll be together soon.  

From people on VJ at least not people that you're aware of.  Of course they've approved cases this week.  

Pictures are secondary evidence of meeting within the past 2 years. It's incredibly difficult to confirm where the photo was taken, when it was taken, and that it has not been altered. More basic things like boarding passes, passport stamps,. receipts, etc. show a person, date and location together.
 
Don't get me wrong...I'm also often surprised by some people getting an RFE for evidence of x, while others had no issue with the same type of evidence.

Omg... you two are awesome..my wedding ring was $150 . that was a splurge!

If you do end up getting rings and intend to wear them, I highly recommend the "comfort fit" style. The bands are designed to be slightly domed/rounded on the inside of the ring so it rests comfortably against your finger, when sized correctly, you will barely notice the ring is on

where have you been shopping at? A simple gold ring (white or gold or rose) will do. Don't let the standards of others force you to over impress. A former friend made ask if my ring had diamonds and that was the last time she had anything to say about my ring. And these are usually the single friends. Set boundaries for your friends and they will keep their nasty opinions to themselves. 
Inbox me and I show you where to even get cheaper rings. if you like.

Thanks for the suggestions! Until I started this thread, I hadn't even considered that it was possible to get inexpensive yet durable rings. It makes sense though, since a lot of people work with their hands and wouldn't necessarily want to wear their finest jewelry 24/7. Given our sheltered, privileged upbringings, we've kind of been brainwashed by the idea that it's either spend $$$ on rings or don't get them at all. One of my friends ridiculously said that it's "common knowledge" that an engagement ring should cost 3x the proposer's monthly salary.
 
We didn't have an engagement ring, so we're not going to conjure one out of the blue now.

My wife's and my rings only cost $12, but we had to have rings at the civil wedding in the Philippines.

My husband and I got our rings from blingjewelry.com Both for less than $20 combined. So worth it. Mine got scratched and since it's my actual wedding band I ordered a cheapie from Amazon. 

Hi just to add, we got our rings really cheap on Ebay/Amazon. Google Tungsten, its very good metal and it was only like 12.00 . Not sure if they are necessary because like you said, different cultural practices. I

Its totally up to you. We bought cheap sterling silver rings off of Amazon for like, $25, for our interview in Guatemala. We didn't want to wear any of our gold jewelry there. I don't think the rings made any difference to be honest. 
 
For my husband's recent naturalization interview, he didn't wear a ring because its too small for him, and we haven't bothered to get it resized. He thinks he'll lose the weight he's gained...
 
 

I gotta say, Walmart has pretty decent looking rings -for both female and male- for cheap. Even if it is just for trying out if you both can get used to wearing rings. When my husband was still my boyfriend, I bought him a $28 tungsten ring from Walmart. He wore it for two years, barely scratched! It's now his key-chain and I'm honestly impressed by the quality. His $500 wedding bang is already gigantically scratched up Anyways, I think that we are a generation where we should be able to make the choice for ourselves whether we wear rings or not. I do not think my rings define my love for him or my marriage. My actions do, my feelings do. And I think the USCIS should understand that.

My wife and I have simple white gold rings from a 585 store.  That is store that sells 58 1/2 percent gold, which to Americans would be .585 * 24 or 14 Karat

Your I-131 and I-765 applications are free when filing with the I-485. Since your I-485 got rejected for not sending a check with the right amount, the other 2 are automatically rejected too. They are not going to start processing them for free without the I-485, you have to resend everything again.
 
 

Actually the DeBeer's people came up with the 2 month's salary idea in the 1980's in ads
I don't know when someone started with the 3 month thing. I have not heard that. 
The average, is just over 1 month's salary

I think I understand your point.
However, student visa will be based on it's own merit. That he qualifies to the school he applies to, he gets accepted and he can prove the financial support for his education.
We are also assuming that OP and his boyfriend will eventually get married. We are assuming that OP's boyfriend will abandon his education after he gets married. We are assuming that OP's boyfriend can ONLY use marriage to OP as the only way to stay (by the way, many others have use the lottery to adjust from F1).
 
There are so many assumptions but do they prove fraud? Nope.
because OP is not free to marry. So you can't say he is coming to marry OP and adjust and use that basis to deny a student visa.
 
I am no expert either but an assumption is not proof.

Don't worry about rings at all.  The interviewer isn't going to care one way or another. 
As someone mentioned, it is easy to slap a ring on your finger.  The interviewer wouldn't know whether it was there for 10 minutes or 10 years, and it's not going to change their mind