Alex and Nick

On 11/10/2019 at 1:45 PM, debbiedoo said:

if you are in canada you can get a record of their border crossings. a physical i 94 is not issued between canada and the us. we printed that out and had zero issues. with over 30+ visits, knowing exact dates he was here by memory was .... impossible.

 

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

Already pulled the information from there just needed to know about needing to attach the I-94 which it turns out we don't but thank you!

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

If you are not currently inside at the time of petition filing, you do not

Thank you!

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Only if it in country,  follow the form,  instructions are not consistent 

3 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You didn't understand the question.   If the alien is in country at the time of filing the i129f, you provide the information 

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

By definition,  if the alien is currently VISITING the USA,  they absolutely have an i94

Okay, perfect! So I don't need to provide one now or in the future then (ex. one from my recent visit)?

3 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

I’m a little confused. Normally for K1, the fiance is in a different country hence the need for them to go to the US to get married. If your fiance is already in the US, you normally won’t do a K-1

I'm asking because in the I-129F form it states, "If your beneficiary is currently in the United States, complete Item Numbers 38.a. - 38.h. but the instructions for the I-129F form are leaving us a little confused making it seem like we should provide one and complete that portion of the form even though I'm not currently in the U.S.

Do we only need to provide an I-94 for the beneficiary if they are currently in the states? Does the petitioner need to provide one?

1 hour ago, Limey said:

I think the point of keeping it to a minimum is that you focus on quality, rather than quantity. Too much quantity looks like an attempt to make up for lack of quality evidence.

 

If you've made several trips its good to document more than one, just in case they eg can't read the date on a passport stamp for one of them.

 

Since you're from Canada its a much lower bar. Think about it

1) its very easy for a Canadian/US couple to meet as the countries are right next to each other. Would be very unlikely that a Canadian/US couple wouldn't have met within past 2 years, so requires relatively little evidence to convince USCIS, though in some cases where you can drive across border you won't have plane tickets etc so need to think more creatively.

2) at this point you don't need relationship evidence, but again, its much less likely that someone from Canada will engage in a scam marriage to get to the USA (since life in the USA isn't much different that Canada - better weather, worse healthcare, more shootings).

When you see people here getting RFEs its usually because

1) they omitted crucial evidence, eg they submitted loads of airline ticket receipts, hotel bookings, but no passport stamps to prove they actually traveled
2) in some cases USCIS appear to have missed crucial evidence that was sent (one can only speculate, but that seems more likely when the applicants have sent vast numbers of documents)

We submitted 2-3 photos, and documented several trips (both me to US, and wife to UK) with boarding passes, tickets and passport stamps. Each sheet of paper documented a separate trip so we only submitted 3-4 pages of evidence. 

 

Yes I'm aware that you just need to meet the requirements for the proof of having met portion. I'm talking about the optional section you can include that shows proof of an ongoing relationship. That's what I was referring too and that's what I think everyone in this thread is missing. The reason we're choosing to do this optional portion is because I have been ill for a full year so we've lost a lot of time that would have created proof/evidence. I'm submitting 2-3 photos in the required portion and an additional 2-3 photos in the option portion. Even if an extra 2-3 photos is 2-3 too many we'd rather be safe than sorry.

4 hours ago, Sunny_Skies said:

Now this topic got me worried. We had about 10 photos and to prove they were taken within two years, we provided my boarding pass from our first trip and his I-94 that included each of his visits as well as one boarding pass. This is the Montreal consulate, so is that enough?

This is EXACTLY what we plan on including. Only difference is we'll include slightly less photos but I don't see the extra few included being a problem.

10 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Since you're still researching and gathering information, please make sure to read about the limitations of the fiancé visa and compare with the spousal one. 

Already have compared the two and the fiance visa is the one that works best for us, thank you for the reminder though!

49 minutes ago, dentsflogged said:

Read the instructions. That question relates to you describing the event which means you qualify under the “meet in person within 2 years” requirement. 

 

Ie: John travelled to meet Jane in Ireland on 20 May 2018; we spent the next 2 weeks together in Galway and stayed at X hotel”

 

then you need to provide evidence to back uo that statement - passports, boarding passes, hotel receipt. 

Thank you, I was already given some clarity on that question and my confusion was cleared up!

40 minutes ago, Sarah n Ryan said:

No one here thinks that. I started on this forum in March and thought the same thing. 

They are just wanting to ensure your petition is successful so you are getting the good, bad, and, sometimes ugly outcomes. In result, setting you and your fiancé up for success. 
Posts on forums are often misconstrued as we can’t see others expressions or demeanor. 
While my story was not needed and rather a hallmark card per say (I am a writer on the side), We did keep it to a paragraph and than supported that paragraph with solid evidence

It appears like that is what your trying to do. 
Remember this is your petition and only the two of you know your journey best. 
If I can give some additional advice ; 

Just make sure before you send it to make sure you look all of it over including basic signatures required. 

Oh, and make a copy of your petition.(I forgot to do that as well)
I say this as I forgot to sign my letter of intent and noticed it right before I went to send it out. 

Hope your feeling much better but you appear to be on the right track👌! 

We appreciate it!
 

Already got checklists to make sure everything is completed and got two additional people to go over the packet with out checklist to make sure everything is done correctly! Also planning on doing two additional copies as well, one for him and one for myself!

Working on feeling better, long road of recovery for me but hopefully pushing through it all so we can get to the end together!

Thanks for your help and support! 

19 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Provide what is required first and foremost. Don't skimp here by any means. Keep in mind what is being asked and provide that. Photos are difficult to show when they were taken (date stamps are very easily added in post).

 

As for relationship evidence, that's your call. It's really not needed for Montreal as they will look at the evidence you provide at the interview. There is no advantage here to providing it early. But providing a few high quality items if you want generally won't hurt either.

 

I disagree. I've seen RFEs issued for information that they would have no way to know about unless evidence was provided originally. I've seen actual denials because people provided information that hurt their case. One such example was an individual from Australia who provided plans for an engagement party. They got an RFE for more details. They responded with photos. They got denied for being considered "too married" as a result.

There was also a case of an individual who provided evidence of staying in the same hotel together in their home country. Said evidence also made the IO think they may be married as it is highly unusual for non family members of the opposite sex to sleep in the same hotel room in that country.

 

So while rare, it 100% is possible to get an RFE for providing too much information.

Important thing is to screen whatever you send USCIS for how it could be more harmful than helpful.

I am 100% submitting what is required and then choosing to do the optional section that proves our relationship is ongoing.  It may not be required but we would like to add some additional information (probably an additional 5 photos and a few extra tickets) Nothing that would be harmful.. I don't know how this thread turned me in to someone who is looking to submit an INSANE amount of photos.

I'm talking about submitting photos of us going on a walk at a lake, or photos of us going to a landmark like the CN Tower. I wouldn't submit photos that at all portrayed us as already being married or doing anything that would give them a reason to issue an RFE or deny the petition. Also like I mentioned in this thread I couldn't if I wanted to, I lost a year of evidence due to an illness. That's why I'm trying to be thorough here.

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

What you're doing is your choice.  There are many threads where petitioners submitted "engagement " party photos and the consulate interpreted the pictures as cultural "wedding" photos and denied the k1, but none of these were from Canada 

 

This whole thing went sideways when another post said that certain evidence is required in the petition when it is clearly not.  That evidence is OPTIONAL.  Everyone must submit required evidence.   Anyone can submit additional optional evidence 

I will not be submitting anything that would portray us as an already married couple. I couldn't even if I wanted to, we lost a whole years worth of evidence and never had an engagement party because I fell ill. This is why I'm trying to make sure I have the proper proof/evidence and a little extra to help make up for that lost time. I truly don't see that causing any issues, if any issues were to occur it would be because we lost an entire year due to my illness. I am aware of that and I'm trying to be prepared for it. I'm submitting what is required in our 'proof of having met in the past two years' section and also adding anything extra to the "proof of ongoing relationship' section (which as you just mention is optional). I thought I was making myself clear on that but it must have got lost in translation. 

 

5 minutes ago, Sarah n Ryan said:

I think you are/or trying to provide way to much information based on where you are interviewing. 
Nonetheless, do what makes you feel confident for the interview. 
What I have in my bio is “literally” all we had.  A paragraph in total and each meeting with evidence. 

You are not “getting away with anything” as your fulfilling the requirements either way. 
As @payxibka said (and has much more knowledge than a ton of us here). Quality over Quantity. 
Good luck on your journey and I’ll look forward to watching your progress on VJ. 🎊🎈🍾!

 

I'm just trying to gather information on what people have or have not included in their packets. I personally don't think adding 5 photos with some tickets is providing too much but apparently that has caused quite the disagreement. I read your bio and it was beautifully written, it is exactly what we were personally trying to go for. Thank you for the well wishes! Best of luck to you on your wedding day, November 8th is so soon! It must be very exciting to finally get there!

3 minutes ago, dxec said:

You are free to do what you want, but when someone does a search later they should have the correct information. The correct information is to add what they ask for and not what you think they want. 

 

Just make sure you add all the stuff they want first then add the fluff stuff in later so you don't forget something that is required. You asked a question I gave an answer. I don't want you to get an RFE or a denial based on the information I provided so I answered with sound advice.

 

If you were coming from a country that is high on fraud I would say load up.

I have done my research and I am doing what they ask for and also what is suggested by every resource I have researched over the last year. Like I quoted earlier in this thread even the K1-Visa guide here on VJ says you can submit photographs, boarding passes, etc as proof of the relationship. I do not see that it will cause any issues by doing so. I'm submitting 5 photos and a few tickets, I'm very confident an officer wont think I'm committing fraud. I appreciate the advice, I truly do and thank you for helping answer the original question.

6 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Incorrect,  you have a 100% chance of getting an RFE if you do not submit evidence to meet the petition requirements,  you have a 100% chance you do not get an RFE if you submit evidence to meet the petition requirements.   Subtle but important difference 

Again, I am meeting the requirements of what is asked for in the package. I'm also choosing to include photos, tickets, etc in the package because it is heavily suggested to do so on pretty much any reference I have found so far. Including five photos with the package will not get you an RFE. In my entire year of researching I have not seen anywhere that indicates you will receive an RFE if you submit too much information in the package. If you can provide me with the references/resources that say otherwise I'd love to see them to get a better understanding on the packet. If not I really, truly do not understand what the issue is with submitting photos.

3 minutes ago, kumbaya said:

 

i doubt you will get an RFE but yeah, i dont get why so many people are against front loading as long as its done safely lol

 

ok but thats not whats happening here. including more pictures is not some sort of admittance of guilt or something. you wont go to jail for adding 5 pics instead of 3 lol

 

like i said, as long as you dont look married (or include something that looks like a marriage ceremony) everything would be ok. i included a ton of pictures and outlined each of me and my partner's meetings in like a 3/4 page letter. 

 

approved in 100 days and hopefully this will set them up in a good place when they go to interview at the embassy.  

I know, I just don't understand what is up with this. I just want to include and extra five photos max with a few tickets and a damn boarding pass and all of sudden I'm committing fraud? What you described is exactly what I'm going for. Just crazy that it is such a big deal to be thorough. 

4 minutes ago, dxec said:

The more information you include the more that can be used against you. Example: if they think you might be overdoing it to mask fraud. Same reason when a cop pulls you over and says do you know why i pulled you over? you say NO. You don't say yes i know i was speeding and didnt use turn signal etc.

 

You can do what you want but a lot of people come back complaining "The CO thought this about my picture which isnt true!" 

I understand that can happen but again I will not be overdoing the proof/evidence like crazy. Also not trying to mask fraud, simply trying to prove the relationship is bona fide.

1 minute ago, dxec said:

??? I don't understand. If you have done this before and know what works why the questions that are pretty straight forward in the instructions?

I haven't done this process before, I'm new to it and am researching it as much as I can while also getting some assistance from people I know who have gone through the same process. I'm not sure why your so insistent on getting me to not add what is basically 5 extra things to my packet. 

7 minutes ago, kumbaya said:

i never understand why people are so adamant on here about people NOT including information haha especially since it will not just be looked at by uscis

 

lurkers also read this board and they may not necessarily be looking at everyone's country to determine if their's is high fraud or not and whether they would need to front load.

 

either way as long as you don't look married, you should be good. do what feels right. too much cant hurt as long as you dont look married in the evidence. either they'll look at it or not. no biggie, i cant fathom too much info would delay anything unless your packaging was sorely organized.

Completely agree with you here. You 100% get an RFE if you don't include enough information. You 100% do not get an RFE if you include too much information. At the most, you might slightly annoy the USCIS officer reading the packet. What's the saying anyways, better safe than sorry? 

1 minute ago, dxec said:

Providing a ton of evidence for no reason. They are going to have to weed through all the junk to get to what they want. Make it as easy as possible for them to find whats required. If they wanted all the extra stuff it would say please include this, this, this, and this. Mine was 2 sentences that said "she came in august 2018 we went to universal studios and disney then came home and i worked the rest of the time." My evidence was a couple pictures which I wouldnt have sent any if I had to do it over and some passport stamps/boarding pass. NO RFE.

When I say I'm going to submit as much as I can I don't mean I'm going to submit 10-50 photographs. I'm going to try to prove our most recent meeting by using 1-2 tickets of us attending restaurants/theaters/events with 1 photo of us attending those 1-2 events. Then I'll add an additional 2-3 photos of us meeting during other instances within the last two years. I will also attach things like boarding passes, baggage tags, etc that show proof of travel. That may go beyond what others have done but it seems to be suggested quite often on a various amount of websites. Even here on VJ they say:

Quote

'Use as many of these items are possible. There is no minimum, but the more you can provide the less likely you are that you will receive an RFE. Additionally, please note that providing proof of your ongoing and genuine relationship in this package may benefit you by allowing the consulate to have access to this information prior to them formally contacting the non US Citizen fiance.'

I plan to meet the requirements and sightly more in the required section where we will prove we have met in the last two years but I will also be doing an optional section as well. That is where where I will submit as much evidence as I can (again not going to go crazy with 10-50 photographs) so we can prove that our relationship is ongoing and bona fide.  

I'd rather do more than asked for than do just enough and risk the RFE. I understand that is not everyone's preference on how they do things but it is ours.

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

I think you just inferred that I didn't take it seriously.  

I did not intend too and if you took it that way than I apologize.

29 minutes ago, flfreddy said:

You are proving a bonafide relationship... not just a meeting.  So front end heavy the application if I were you.   I gave them 9 meetings pictures, air - musical - train tickets, table of dates, app screen shots, facetime shots,   NO RFE.

 

Eg:  We take a picture with restaurant X, and included receipt of restaurant X.

        We took pictures with landmarks

       We took pictures with friends and HOLD a newspaper with date

       Our train tickets, air tickets, universal studio tickets have names and dates

 

Remember any RFE = delay 1 mth min.

We have plenty of proof/evidence we're going to be using. We'll be doing two sections for it like most people.

Section 1: 'Proof of having met in person in the past two years'
- This section seems to be meant for the meeting we will be describing in Part 2, Question 54 in the I-129F form so we will heavily focus on that.

- We will also include any other proof/evidence we have from our other in-person meetings over the last two years.

Section 2: 'Proof of ongoing relationship'
- This is the optional section but will be great for us since our relationship started prior to 2014.

- We can include all the proof/evidence we have collected over the last 5 years. This will help prove that our relationship is bona fide.

I plan on adding social media posts and private message screenshots like you have mentioned as well but I would imagine they would be best in the 'proof of ongoing relationship' section of the package.

Just now, payxibka said:

Lagos is a high fraud consulate, Montreal is not.  The level of proof required by the consulate relating to relationship evidence is far apart.  In the end it's a personal choice as to what you do 

Ah, yes I'm aware that for others in different countries the process may be harder/longer but that doesn't mean to me that I should feel like I can get away with doing just the basics on the requirements of this package. I'm trying to take it as seriously as I can so I will end up choosing to include as much proof/evidence as I can. Thank you again for your help.

4 minutes ago, flfreddy said:

This came from my attorney.  Yes on paper its 1 meeting in 2 years.   But the whole idea is to cast without a doubt this is genuine fiancee from the start.  Remember that all these paperwork trickle down to CO at embassy.     

 

Well we can technically say prove just 1 meeting, in the end we still need to prove bonafide relationship before visa is issued.    So yes you are correct, it is not in instructions.   The bare minimum allows for easy RFE should they doubt anything else.

I'm inclined to agree with you on this, the one immigration lawyer we spoke with even touched on this. While the bare minimum did work in this situation we have to remember that it wasn't always the case for others. When it comes to this entire process as well I don't want to be doing just the bare minimum, I want to be doing everything I can to ensure that I get to have a future with the person I desire to spend my life with.

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Your petition but your interviewing in Montreal not Lagos 

Sorry, not sure what you mean here?

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

You can't submit less than I did,  Result:  NO RFE.

Pictures are secondary evidence and provide little utilitarian value because while it might prove you met, it is not a definite as to the when.

 

I'm glad that it worked for you but that is far to minimal for us to be comfortable with. All of our research has shown us that submitting as much as you can will only be in your best interest. Even the K1-Visa Guide here on VJ directs filers to submit as much as they can, including photos.

And yes, pictures are more secondary evidence and don't really prove anything but it is still heavily suggested that you include them in your package and that is the route we're going to take.

3 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Quality not quantity. 

 

When I said minimalist I meant it.  My evidence of meeting consisted of entry stamp into country and two boarding passes with us sitting in adjacent seats.   No pictures,  no other receipts,  no social media posts,  no chats,  nada

Definitely wont be skimping on the quality of anything but it does seem the number one advice around here is to include as much proof/evidence as you possibly can. I understand the minimalist desire as it is something I prefer myself but I'd much rather submit too much proof/evidence than too little and end up with an RFE.