I-751: To include Marriage certificate, Passports, DL or not?!

[j25 0]

We are assembling documents for I-751 following the list in I-751 instruction. However, these documents are not listed, but we see that many are sending them too.

- copies of passports

- copies of marriage certificate

- copies of marriage license

- copies of driver's license

Do we need to send them as well?

[YuAndDan 153]

Copies of passports show traveling together.

Copy of marriage cert just shows still married, marriage license is only a permit to marry, and does not show being married, some states the marriage license is also marriage cert, depends on state.

Copy of DL is just evidence of living together (both DL's need to show same address)

I-751 needs evidence of living together, bonafide marital relationship.

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=47220

Profile details please: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...rCP&CODE=01

Edited May 4, 2009 by YuAndDan

[lucyrich 20]

We sent copies of our drivers licenses because they showed our shared address.

With each bit of optional evidence you send, ask yourself, "what am I trying to prove?" Or equivalently, "How does this evidence help the investigator separate us from a fraudulent couple who just got married for papers?"

If you can't come up with a good answer, then leave it out. If you can think of documents that DO show that your marriage was bona fide, then include them even if they're not on most people's list of documents that were included.

On your cover sheet, you may want to continue on this theme. Don't just say what you're including, but also briefly describe WHY you're including it. E.g.

• Drivers licenses, showing our shared address
• One months' cell phone bill, showing a shared family plan, with calls to each other highlighted
• Life insurance policies, showing each other listed as beneficiaries
• Boarding passes showing that we sat next to each other on our vacation to Florida
• Title of our car, showing both our names as joint owners

You get the idea.

I don't know what a marriage certificate or license would prove, other than the fact that you got married, but they already know that, and the fraudulent couples also got married and can show a marriage certificate. Besides, they've already seen your marriage certificate.

[j25 0]

Copy of marriage cert just shows still married.

I wouldn't say that one can use copy of marriage certificate as evidence of still being married. One can divorse and still have their marriage certificate copy.

Anyhow, thanks for input.

[j25 0]

We sent copies of our drivers licenses because they showed our shared address.

On your cover sheet, you may want to continue on this theme. Don't just say what you're including, but also briefly describe WHY you're including it. E.g.

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

Edited May 4, 2009 by j25

[randidliyo 0]

We sent copies of our drivers licenses because they showed our shared address.

On your cover sheet, you may want to continue on this theme. Don't just say what you're including, but also briefly describe WHY you're including it. E.g.

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't a BABY the big trump card?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

We sent copies of our drivers licenses because they showed our shared address.

On your cover sheet, you may want to continue on this theme. Don't just say what you're including, but also briefly describe WHY you're including it. E.g.

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't a BABY the big trump card?

This is a mistaken idea. A child is NOT proof of a bona fide relationship. It is only -pardon the crude words- proof of successful intercourse amongst 2 people. So no, it is not a trump card at all.

[lucyrich 20]

We sent copies of our drivers licenses because they showed our shared address.

On your cover sheet, you may want to continue on this theme. Don't just say what you're including, but also briefly describe WHY you're including it. E.g.

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't a BABY the big trump card?

This is a mistaken idea. A child is NOT proof of a bona fide relationship. It is only -pardon the crude words- proof of successful intercourse amongst 2 people. So no, it is not a trump card at all.

Well, yes and no. It's certainly not absolute proof. In fact, chances are good that a couple doesn't have absolute documentary proof that the child even belongs to the purported father. But what's required for the I-751 isn't absolute proof, it's just proof "via a preponderance of the evidence" that the marriage was not solely for the purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit. That "preponderance of the evidence" thing is a legal phrase that just means that, when a reasonable person looks at all the total pile of evidence on the record, the reasonable person should say it seems a bit more likely than not that what you're trying to prove is true.

The mere existence of a baby may not be convincing in and of itself, but if you combine the baby's existence with evidence that the two of you are raising the baby together and sharing the parental responsibilities, then it starts to look at least more likely than not that there was some reason the couple got together besides just immigration paperwork. Photos of the family together; both names appearing on the birth certificate; a joint health insurance plan covering mom, dad, and baby; joint tax returns showing baby as a deduction; these kinds of things may supplant the birth certificate to help show that the family really is a family.

We so rarely hear of couples being denied on their I-751s, its hard to know just exactly where they'd draw the line about how slim you could make the evidence pile. And I wouldn't want to push it. But if you've got a birth certificate, I suspect you'd have to have a pretty slim or strange evidence pile in order for the officer to suspect fraud. So don't be too complacent, but submit what you have and don't worry much.

[Silke 1]

Out of the 4 items you listed we only submitted our DLs to show common residence.

If your passports contain stamps from trips you've taken together go ahead and submit copies of your passports as well(maybe along with the corresponding boarding passes or pictures).

There's no reason to resubmit your marriage certificate as they already have it on file.

Good luck!