TonyMichael

1 hour ago, Ash. said:

Reviews aren't everything. If they have been skirting the law but have historically made their clients happy, then they will have a good rep as an attorney that "did everything they could!", lawyer to lawyer their rep might be kind of dirty and less respectable, but lawyer to client, they might look like the bees knees.

You plan of divorcing and starting the process now is the better of choices for sure.


 

Wait, you mean I should divorce now and file it with a waiver, is a better choice??

I'm seriously at a loss what to do as even attornies with good reputation still give me shady or sketchy advice. 

If the i751 cases only took 6 months or so, I might be able to stay married butivinf in California with all this pandemic, its gonna take 1.5 to 2 years. There's no way I can stay married for that long. It's not healthy for both me and my spouse. 

So I'm thinking about applying jointly for the time being because my Gc will expire in less than 2 months and I dont have time for divorce, and in a few months divorcing my spouse, and I'll submit the receipt or proof of it to USCIS with a letter explaining the divorce process has begun. Then as soon as I get a decree I'll send it again. 

What do you think? 

I just remembered another thing one of the attornies told me. She said I should stay married for now because we are in the middle of collecting documents for i751 and it's not a good idea to add more stress by going with divorce right now and doing a waiver option. 

She said (as long as my spouse is willing to wait to divorce) that I should stay married, and go to marriage counseling and get receipts of them. According to her, since joint bank account is not a good option for us, it's better to collect the counseling records as we see a divorce in the future. 

Divorce cases are almost 100% interviewed, she said, and having proofs of us having been to counseling will help A LOT as it shows that we tried to save our marriage, which shows the bonafide-ness. 

Also, she said somehow collect the proof of my spouse's cheating, or I should write a letter explaining the cheating incidents, have my spouse sign it with notary public. 

She said I could use that as one of the proofs that we tried to save the marriage by me forgiving him. 

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, what do you think?

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I tried speaking to 4 other attorneys. 

Surprisingly,  one of them told me to divorce RIGHT NOW before my GC expires within 2 months. She said I should get a paper proof from the court that the divorce paper has been submitted, and i should submit it with the WAIVER i751 packet. Since we live in CA, where divorce takes 6 months, I wont get my divorce finalized until later, and I wont get a divorce decree until then. So she said for now just do it as a waiver, but include a letter explaining the divorce process has begun, and include the proof of it. 

The rest of the 3 told me basically the same thing as my current attorney: For now, stay married and submit the i751 packet as joint. 

And then they told me I should go for as long as possible until I really have to divorce. Until them, they advised me to keep collecting more documents. During which time, there might not be anything new, but like it will still add the longer length of living together, which they said would help. 

They didnt tell me to "hide" the separation though, but they didnt tell me to "be open about it" either. They basically said just submit everything I have except for bank statements. One attorney said my bank statements not only show that we were separated but also, since I was mainly the only person putting money in it and my spouse spending it, it doesnt really look like "commingling of finances" and hence it doesnt show much evidence of bona fide ness. He told me to collect as much other stuff as possible. Even small things like receipts of when we purchased rings, or for when we ate a dinner at a restaurant on our anniversary. He also said I should get more affidavits. 

What all attornies I spoke with agreed with, though, was that even though not submitting a joint bank account is a big deal, they did say there are lots of couples who didnt have a joint bank account and still got approved. Some attornies said I should include a letter just briefly mentioning that my spouse and I dont really share the same bank account due to the spending habit difference. 

To my surprise, attornies (even the one I have been using) I have picked were all rated very high with so many reviews. I know that doesnt always mean the attorney is great, but that was the only thing I could count on at this moment to find an attorney. 

Talking to these attornies have now made me even more confused what to do...

14 hours ago, Villanelle said:

Sorry for the delayed reply. Ive been thinking about this a bit. The attny you are using or considering using is a bit sketchy. Some attnys are like that, they like to play on the edge. That can be a very dangerous game. The most important thing to understand is YOU are responsible for everything in your package and on the forms- not the attny. If you get bad advice or do something incorrectly it will fall on you not the attny. USCIS will not accept the excuse that the attny did it. 

 

Now a skilled attny can carefully walk the line of whats allowed vs whats misrep but its a fine line and you would be putting a lot of faith into them that they are on the right side of things. So reading all you posted- it seems your attny is suggesting the strategy of submitting bare bones evidence that doesnt draw attention to any issues and then will wait to see what USCIS requests additionally. At that point they will address the issues brought up by USCIS if they need to. You know how I said USCIS doesnt connect the dots? Your attny is basically suggesting sending them random 'dots' and then waiting for USCIS to specifically request which dots they want connected rather then laying everything out there for them at the start. This is going to cost you more in legal fees overall (unless they are charging you a flat rate- but even a flat rate I would think would be higher then normal due to them knowing there will be additional work needed to respond to the RFEs). You also have to be very care to not misrep. There are often discussions on VJ about whats referred to as 'omissions' and whether omissions are misrep or not. Sometimes they are, sometimes they arent. 

 

I think the best metaphor for this would be if a person was arrested for a crime. Defense attnys will always tell you to not speak to the cops. To say nothing or very little so it cant be held against you. Your attny is kind of going at it as if you are 'guilty' so they are holding back initially and then will address things when USCIS brings it up. Personally I am not comfortable with that strategy but it can be a valid strategy if done correctly. 

 

 

Again bonafide marriage does not mean happy marriage. If you had problems (which you did) I dont see any point in trying to hide the fact you had problems. If you did nothing wrong then why not lay it all out at the beginning? But I believe in 100% upfront honesty- thats just me though. I agree overall with mindthegap though that you should speak to other attnys and get their opinions. Nothing you listed out in your timelines is a reason for denial in itself. If anything it shows you repeatedly tried to make the marriage work. 

 

Please speak to other attnys and let us know how it goes. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I tried speaking to 4 other attorneys. 

Let me edit and fix the timeline a little bit.

November 2013: Met for the first time and started dating & relationship

June 2016: Not married yet, but started living in the same place

March 2017: Got married. I moved out of the state for my job at the end of March. My spouse remained where we lived because he had a good job.

May 2017: The beginning of May 2017, my spouse quit his job and moved in to my new apt in the different state. Started living together again.

October 2018: Got my conditional GC

December 2018: The end of December, my spouse cheated on me (He cheated on me twice previously, but I forgave him because I was so in love. But this cheating devastated me to the point that I want some distance from him. But due to our jobs and location, we remained in the same address, but we were not intimate and happy)

April 2019 - September 2019: Married but separated (In January 2019, my spouse got fired, and in February 2019 I got fired. So we decided to move out of the state. We actually moved at the end of March 2019.  From April 2019, I started living at my friend's while I look for a new job, and my husband started living at his family's place. 3 hours away.)

October 2019 - February 2020: Married living together (I signed the lease for both of us because I thought we should try again to see if we can be happy together. I moved in to a new address in mid September, and he moved in with me a few weeks later)

February 2020 - June 2020: Married but separated (At first his family's health issue got worsen, and my spouse visited them, but with coronavirus pandemic and stuff, he did not come back for a while. For about 4 months, we were living in different addresses.)

June 2020 - Present: Married and living together (But recently I found out he is cheating AGAIN (the 4th time) and I am exhausted and want to divorce already as I don't see any more happy, faithful marriage for us, but my attorney said I should remain married for as long as I can so I can collect more documents in the meantime while the case is pending once we submit I751 packet.)

My lawyer said we might be able to "hide" the separation if we don't submit the joint bank account.

5 hours ago, Villanelle said:

Ok so this is probably why your attny said you have a weak case....

 

Can you list out a timeline of your relationship so we can compare it against the evidence you have. Date you started dating, date of marriage, dates you actually lived together, dates you were separated etc etc.

November 2013: Met for the first time and start dating, relationship

June 2016: Not married yet, but started living in the same place

March 2017: Married living together

October 2018: Got my conditional GC

April 2019 - September 2019: Married but separated (Not officially, but we were living in different addresses)

October 2019 - February 2020: Married living together

February 2020 - June 2020: Married but separated (At first his family's health issue got worsen, and my spouse visited them, but with coronavirus pandemic and stuff, he did not come back for a while. For about 4 months, we were living in different addresses.)

June 2020 - Present: Married and living together (But recently I found out he is cheating AGAIN (the 4th time) and I am exhausted and want to divorce already, but my attorney said I should remain married for as long as I can so I can collect more documents in the meantime while the case is pending once we submit I751 packet)

And here is my spouse's employment history after I got my conditional GC.

October 2018 - January 2019: Employed

January 2019 - October 2019: Unemployed

October 2019 - November 2019: Employed

November 2019 - August 2020: Unemployed

As you can see, my spouse was unemployed most of the time after I got my GC, so we never really got a chance to commingle our fiances because it is mostly me providing for my spouse. And he has a overspending habit, so I didnt wanna put, for example, $100, in our joint bank account, because he would use it. So I put in $10-30 every few days more like as allowance, and I paid all the bills from my own checking account.

I have many pics throughout the relationship, and most of the basic stuff people submit as bona-fide marriage evidence, EXCEPT good joint bank accounts. We have a joint checking account where he is the main spender, and me provider. And the problem is, the bank statement will show that he was not with me during the separated months because they show that he was spending money in a different address from where we currently live.  

Also, even when we were separated, I was visiting him once a month because we did miss each other. It is just that we (well, mainly me because he cheated on me) were not sure if we should live together. 

5 hours ago, Villanelle said:

 

Its important to remember that bonafide does not mean 'happy', it means legitimate. Legitimate marriages can be unhappy ones, they can have problems. You have to show the marriage was legit. That you entered it with the intentions of being married and not just to get immigration benefits. So if you can list out the timeline and where the proof you have falls in to it it will be helpful. You most likely are going to need a solid letter of explanation because the proof you have is scattered since it was a rocky relationship- but being rocky doesnt mean it wasnt real. 

My lawyer, btw, is against mentioning anything about me being separated from my spouse. Even though we are back together and living together in the same address, it doesn't change the fact that we were living in different addresses for a long time. 

And my lawyer say that it is a big red flag that we were not living together, and he even said I should have divorced at that time. Getting back together now, ironically, makes the I751 approval more difficult.

I don't know what to do anymore, and every day I am stressed out thinking I will most likely get deported.

1 hour ago, Villanelle said:

YES. You absolutely send both joint and sole accounts. Some people are able to send a minimal assortment of statements and USCIS is OK with that, but if they arent they will RFE for ALL the statements for the entire marriage.  Because of the specifics of your case I anticipate them wanting all the pages. Yes this is a lot of pages. It is not uncommon for peoples ROC packages to be 5-6 inches thick! Now you may encounter comments saying thats too much or they dont need all the pages. Remember everyones situation is different. A couple that both works and both have their checks auto deposited into a joint account and have auto bill pay service set up may not need to send every statement. Thats them- this is you. My personal opinion- they are going to want all the statements, so send them initially or not get them assembled to be able to respond to an RFE.

 

I think you are getting caught up on the terminology of 'joint'. Joint assets, joint debts, joint accounts. Its about co-mingling. Mingle means to mix or join. Co means the two of you. So they want to see that you guys mix, intermix, combine, join your expenses, assets, and debts. It doesnt have to be 50-50. The accounts or bills can be in one persons name or both names. There is no requirement to bank a certain way. The most common and easiest way to show this is if you guys have a traditional set up of one joint account and you both put all your money in and pay everything out of it. But that set up doesnt work for everyone. And thats fine. You need to show them what your set up is. Again you need to directly explain it because they will not sort through your stack of papers to try to figure it out. Do not use highlighters. The papers are scanned in and the scanner will not pick up highlighter. So if you want to notate something on a statement you need to do it in pen directly on the document. You can either make * or circle transactions or you can make a quick list that says phone bills for both/family plan paid from sole account 2/25, 3/20,4/15.5/20 etc etc. Theres no right or wrong way to do it. You just want whoever is looking at your package to be able to understand it with little effort. 

 

You may want to go through your evidence again and look to include things that maybe you left out because they werent 'in both names'. Whose name is it in does not matter if it benefits both people. For something like proving you share a residence- #1 proof is usually drivers licenses. That shows them you reported the address to a gov agency. It also has your signature on it which they compare to the signature on the form. Your tax return also shows the joint address. You can also show mail addressed to both of you and mail addressed to you both individually. Showing that your spouse receives Sports Illustrated monthly (addressed to him alone) to your address supports the fact that he actually lives there. And then showing the subscription was paid for by a check or debit to your sole account shows a co mingling. 

 

You may have to get creative. It can help to look through your bank statements and see what stands out. When a couple only has one account and its a sole account in only one of their names you really want to highlight how it is used for both of you. There can be a bill in his name but the payments are all made from your account, so you want to show that. If the bills are all in your name and the payments as well you want to show that the bills and purchases were for both your benefit. If you ever made any large purchases- furniture, electronics, stuff like that- that can be used to show 'planning a future together'. Dig around and see if your spouses name is anywhere on the paperwork. For example we had carpet put in when we moved in to our new home. It was paid for out of my husbands sole bank account. But I signed the work order when they came. So I could show both those items as evidence we were both involved. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm more and more frightened now because of (possibly) little things. 

Unfortunately, my husband doesnt drive and he only has a ID, and I have a drivers license but they show a different address because he got his ID when he was visiting his family for a few months. 

Now, we both live together. I changed both of our addresses to our current address in DMV website a few weeks ago, but on the actual cards we have, they show different addresses. 

After he cheated on me multiple times, we were temporarily separated to see if we actually want to be together. That's when he got his ID. Then we decided to get back together and start living together.

During that time, he was jobless. 

So our joint bank account looks like I put money in so he can spend and it comes from my then address, and he spends it in another address.

That's another reason I am frightened. Is separation like that (about half a year) fatal factor for I751? Or can I explain this in a letter? 

In addition to the list I mentioned, I'm going to add:

-Mails addressed to both of us individually (but show the same address)

-Mails addressed to both of us together 

-phone line together 

-receipts for the rings and some more from our dates

-plane tickets, movie tickets, theme park tickets etc 

-photos from BEFORE the marriage (I decided to include them as supporting documents because it at least can show that we just didnt meet and got married right away. Instead we actually spent a lot of time together before marriage)

I cant think of any more. 

11 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

For ROC you need to submit evidence for the entire marriage. Not just from when you got the GC- the entire marriage. You can submit stuff from before the marriage if you feel it will help your overall case. Im struggling to find the right words here- basically stuff from before the marriage can not be used as 'proof' but it will be considered in the overall evaluation. 

>> Before the marriage, we didnt have much stuff anyway, so i was just going to add pics and texts as supporting evidence. 

11 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

 

Can you list out all the evidences you do have or is it just the stuff you listed ?

>> Yes. There might be other things, but only little things like receipts etc.

11 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

You said you have a lease and not a mortgage. Thats not held against you. Not everyone owns a home. You are not required to own a home. Home ownership is not for everyone. So a joint lease is just as good as a mortgage. You also said all the utilities are built in to the rent. (sounds like a good deal!) So you will want to highlight that because they look for utility bills. Again this is them not putting together the pieces. If you dont send a letter explaining the utilities are included in rent you can expect an RFE asking where are the utilities in which you will have to respond they are included in the rent. Moving on you mention bills being paid (by you) out of an account in only your name. What kind of bills are these since they are not utilities? Credit cards? personal loans? Medical expenses? Car payments? Insurance? You will want to highlight what it was. Show your sole account was used to pay for expenses for both of you. Your spouse is unemployed so all the income you guys have comes from your paychecks. So it shouldnt be hard to show your income was used to support both of you. 

>>I can write a short letter explaining the utilities are included in the rent.

When I say bills, I'm talking about our phone bills, car insurance payments, our internet cable bills,  and both of our medical bills. I paid almost all these for both myself and my husband, from my checking account. 

So do I have to print my checking account statements and highlight in a marker where I paid all those bills? 

The rent includes only the electricity, water, gas, sewage and trash. 

11 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

 

The only thing I see missing from the list you posted is bank statements. USCIS will want bank statements. You can send them with no explanation but if you do they most likely will RFE you for an explanation.

>> but the bank statement, you are talking about the joint bank account statement right? That's what we cannot provide because we haven't used it much because I paid bills and groceries from my own checking account. Or are you talking about my own personal checking account statement? 

11 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

 

We actually do have a joint checking account we opened a few months after I got my conditional green card. 

But that's around the time my spouse got fired from his job, and he hasn't worked ever since. 

So of course he didnt put money in the joint checking account because he didnt have money to begin with. 

Also I have paid all the bills by myself, because he has no income. So I have been just paying everything from my own checking account.

The joint checking account does exist, but there's not much transaction. I put 10-15  every few days and he spends it on his stuff from it. 

So the transactions are thereoften, but it's not like we are both putting money in it and using it together. But this is because like I said, he didnt have income. 

Should I still submit all the statements? 

Just now, Ku Mưa said:

You were in 3.5 years relationship. That's good for you. My marriage less than a year but i got approve without RFE and interview.

Your evidence is not strong enough. Maybe they will set you an interview

Can you please tell me why our evidence is not strong enough? Is that because we are lacking joint bank account, morgage/loan?

Does USCIS mainly only consider the evidence of marriage you collected AFTER you got your conditional GC? 

Dont they consider the whole length of marriage, or before the marriage when it was just a relationship? 

My husband and I were in a relationship for 3+ years before marriage and we have lots of pics, text etc together. And we got married, and it has been over 3.5 years. I didnt get my conditional GC until 1.5 years into my marriage. 

So all together we will have been together for almost 7 years in a few months, but does USICS only want to consider the past 2 years of marriage after I got my conditional GC? 

I hoped they would consider the entire length of the relationship, because the longer a relationship the better it looks compared to a relationship that ended in marriage after 6 months or so, for example. 

1) joint lease (all Bills are included in the rent, so we dont have separate bills for utlities)

2) mails to our address 

3) my company life insurance covering both

4) dental insurance covering both 

5) vision insurance covering both

6) health insurance covering both 

7) my 401k with him as the beneficiary 

😎 joint tax returns past 3 years 

9) pics and texts over the past 7 years of relationship and marriage (me, my spouse, and his family. Unfortunately my family doesnt know I'm married because of my sexuality)

10) affidavits from my mother in law and my best friend 

11) my car insurance with him as the beneficiary 

This is the evidence I can provide. 

My lawyer said this is "too little".  

12 minutes ago, jakelake said:

Your lawyer is right concerning not sending a letter at this time. You have already filed and should only send a letter if you get an RFE.

 

Because things are not working out now between the two of you does not mean that the marriage was not in good faith.

USCIS is looking for evidence that shows that the marriage was in good faith. What can you provide or explain to USCIS that will help your case? Not being in good terms now does not mean that you were that way when you entered the marriage.

 

Having said that, the question is what attracted you two to each other? You have already stated that you have completely different spending habits. Did you know that coming into the relationship? Did you know that money was spent on alcohol, weed, etc?

 

You mentioned that your spouse is willing to go the interview with you. Are you okay with that? I think that you should file for divorce and wait for a waiver.

 

The question to the VJ community is, even though they are not in good terms now, is it okay for the spouse to go the interview with him even they get a divorce? I think that if they go together and establish that the marriage was in good faith, that is all that matters. If they explain that they are planning on divorcing now, I don't see that as a problem. They did file together when they were in good terms.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, we have not filed i751 yet. I am collecting documents. 

I have always known that he is an overspender when we were in a relationship. Of course it would bother me to some extent that he is not a good saver, but it didnt stop me from falling for him. Because you know, you dont marry someone for money. 

I honestly didnt care that he has a bad spending habit. I always felt that if we get married, we can just keep our finances separate.

The problem here was not money, but his multiple adultery. But USCS places a huge importance on financial commingling, and that's why I am frightened. 

I also think that I should divorce without waiting. But for now, I have to apply jointly because I have about a month left before my GC expiration and our divorce will take st least 6 months because we live in california.  So I will need to switch to divorce waiver later. 

But we have filed joint tax returns for the past 3 years. 

I already paid some good amount of money to my lawyer, and I already signed the contract..

I am not sure if I should let my money go to waste... 

I don't have joint account with my spouse because of the very different spending habits. I mean, we do have a joint checking account, but it has been mainly I put little money every time and my spouse uses it because he has been jobless for 1.5 years, and he has had no income.

But I dont put money in it for bills and stuff because my spouse would spend whatever available money on alcohol, weed etc. 

Thats why we have always kept our finances separate. I have paid all the bills for both of us from my own checking account. The joint checking account was used more for me giving my spouse some allowance (little amount) every few days. 

Even if he had a job, we both know our spending habit is very different where I save every penny and he lives paycheck to paycheck because he wants to spend his money on the stuff I mentioned above.

And my lawyer told me he would NOT include a letter explaining all this at the time of I751 application because front-loading all these letters might make it look suspicious or look like we are trying to cover something up. So he said this kind of letter should be included if we get an RFE.

What do you all think? I feel like a letter explaining why we don't have joint finances is not too much or suspicous.  

22 minutes ago, jakelake said:

Just curious, is your spouse willing to go to the interview with you, if there is one, and will support your getting a permanent green card?

Yes my husband said he would help because he is the one who cheated on me. And we have been together for 7 years. 

But still, it would make it harder for both of us to meet other people. We both know the divorce is the best option for everyone but my lawyer said we should stay married because we lack evidence (financial comingling).

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Don't stay in a marriage for immigration reasons. Nothing good will come of it by any stretch. You can divorce and do ROC fine, just as many, many, many have before you.

 

"Most" cases having an ROC interview would be inaccurate, or at least misleading IMO. I have not seen a noticeable uptick for VJ members based on their timelines, anyway.

 

Sounds like you had a Stokes interview. Not idea why off-hand...could have been random.

I'm the one who wants to divorce already. There's no love after my spouse cheated on me multiple times. 

But my lawyer told me that I should stay married and just "bare with it". 

He is saying that because I lack enough evidence, and USCIS will most likely doubt our marriage.  

My husband and I dont have joint bank account because of our very different spending habit. And my lawyer said joint bank account is one of the most important evidences, and if you dont have it, you should submit other money commingling like joint loan/mortgage, none of which I have.

And he even told me that it's not a good idea to submit a  letter explaining why we dont have a joint bank account UNLESS USCIS sends me an RFE. He said overloading with letters like that from the beginning could raise a question and might make it look like you are trying to cover up something. 

But on VJ, many say just put a letter in as evidence explaining why we dont have joint finances. I'm so confused what to do. 

But is is true that most cases now go to the interview? 

Btw, I didnt go through k1 process when I first got my GC. I did AOS from F1, and we went through a scary interview, where they separated us and asked us 30 same questions. Even though we did it with an attorney and we provided lots of evidence. 

That was the scariest experience. We felt like they are trying to fail us unreasonably because we are a same-sex couple and we were in a conservative state. 

Is that true that USCIS has made everything more strict than ever, and now they are interviewing more couples than ever for I751 petitions, so they can deny more cases? 

My lawyer told me that if you divorce before i751 is approved, you'll get an interview almost 100% even if your evidence is really good. 

He said it wasn't like this before but now the interview is almost mandatory for many couples, and a divorce case will be 100% interviewed. 

I have been cheated on by my US spouse, but I haven't been able to divorve before i751 submission because in my state it takes 6 months for the divorce to be finalized. 

So I am going to apply for i751 jointly for the time being, and then after a few months I'm going to submit divorce paper, so I can live separately from my spouse. But my lawyer told me not to divorve because that'll make the interview harder and increase the denial rate of my petition. 

Is this all true?? 

Thank you everyone. It certainly made me feel better.

Does anyone know if USCIS has issued an official record like that for divorce waiver cases? 

I believe that most approved cases are from joint petitions, but at the same time there must be many couples who annulled their marriage, or who divorced for various reasons. I am actually applying jointly as I am running out of time and I cannot divorce on time, but I am going to switch to divorce waiver once the divorce is finalized. 

I would like to know if the approval rate is not too bad for divorce/annulment waiver, too.

Is that true that more than 50% of I751 (removal of condition from conditional green card obtained through marriage with a US citizen) are denied?

https://mypathtocitizenship.com/uscis-study-67-of-i-751-interview-cases-are-denied-why-is-this-so-high/

When you look at this page it says 67% of i751 applications are denied. Is this even true?

Is the denial rate really that high?? 

I am about to apply for i751 with my lawyer, and I am extremely frightened after reading this. 

And my husband and I dont have a joint bank account because of the big difference in our spending habits. Now I am scared that they will automatically send me an RFE or deny my case because they believe married couples are expected to combine their finances. 

7 hours ago, Sukie said:

Not every couple combines finances.  It is NOT a requirement at all.  It's just "usual". 

 

Tax transcripts are ALL masked now as far as SSN numbers.  No worries here.

 

Do explain in your cover letter that you two have very different spending habits, and that, for your marriage, you have chosen to keep separate accounts.  But you will need to be able to show how you pay for life together, and explain that, too.  Are you the higher earner, and so do you cover the household expenses?  You will need to explain this in your cover letter.  How do you pay rent?  Do you both pay half?  If so, include a couple of bank statements from BOTH your accounts that show rent checks being paid from each account.

 

You are trying to tell your story using documentation, yes, but it doesn't hurt to add a little narrative to help the officer out.

 

It's better to front load explanations rather than risk an RFE.

 

Again - please don't freak out at what Pats5415 said.  Not every couple combines finances, and they still get through the process.

 

Best of luck!!!

 

Sukie in NY

Thanks everyone.

What do you mean though by cover letter? 

I dont remember seeing a cover letter as a required document in i751 instruction.

Should it basically briefly mention what the packet is about (in our case, i751), and what's included in the packet?

Actually, my husband has been jobless for 1.5 years, and I am the only person who has been paying for all the bills,  rent, expenses and stuff. 

We do have a joint bank account, but it is mainly me putting little "allowance" in, and my husband using money from there as he has had no income.

And I know his spending habit, so I put 10-15 every few days so he wont overspend or buy something I dont approve. 

Do you think i should still submit this accounts transaction history?? 

I have to renew my conditional green card with I-751, and I would like to know if the below is enough to prove that the marriage was bona-fide.

Since my spouse and I have a very different spending habit (where I save every penny and he spends it all on alcohol, weed, etc), we have never really had a joint bank account.

1) Lease agreement with both  of our names

2) Mails that came to our place (One for me, and one for him) to show that we actually live together

3) Health insurance with my spouse as the beneficiary  (through both my current job, and my previous job) 

4) Dental insurance with my spouse as the beneficiary (through both my current job, and my previous job) 

5) Eye/Vision insurance with my spouse as the beneficiary (through both my current job, and my previous job) 

6) Life insurance with my spouse as the beneficiary (through both my current job, and my previous job) 

7) My car insurance with my spouse

8) Affidavit from my best friend who knows all our relationship and marriage

9) Joint tax return from the past two years 

    -Question: When I tried downloading the tax transcript from IRS website, I noticed that it doesn't have my spouse's name. It only shows his last 4 digit social. Does this still work as joint tax return proof? 

10) Photos from our wedding, family gathering like Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and random occasions, and our dates.

11) Texts between us, and between me and his family members, in the past few years

12) Marriage certificate 

13) Emergency contact list

Do you think this is enough? Since we dont have a joint bank account, I am a little concerned. 

Also, do we need to submit the original documents? or can we just submit photocopies of them?

Thanks all for the advice!

I'll then submit application as married, with the evidence of bona fide marriage, and later I'll submit the divorce decree. 

Should I let them know, though, about me starting the divorce process? Since california takes 6 months for divorce to be finalized, I dont want USCIS to start preparing something for my case without knowing I'm actually in the process of divorcing. 

So before I receive the decree, should I send them a letter or something stating I have started divorce process and that it will take 6 months before I get a decree?

What else should I send with the letter in order to make changes to the current case?

29 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

Yes you can file jointly and then switch. Or you can file when your divorce is final - this is permitted for divorce waiver filings, but will come with added stresses and scary letters. 
 

You can order tax transcripts from the IRS.

 
Divorce is not a reason for I-751 denial.

 

Yes covid is delaying things..by how much, who knows? 

Yeah since my GC will expire in 2 months, and I haven't even submitted divorve paper to the court, so the divorce process has not been started yet. 

But I dont wanna risk anything and get unnecessary stress from USCIS telling me I will be deported blah blah blah because I didnt file i751 on time...