Bonafide Marriage Evidence...

[bmc 7]

Hello!

Getting closer to the actual submission of our application... but kinda stuck on the bonafide evidence part.

We were working on purchasing a house together, but it didn't pass home inspection so we can't use jointly owned property as part of our bonafide evidence.

Also can't do the joint bank account or mignled finances as my hubby uses a local Credit Union as his bank in the USA and they will not accept Canadian ID to add me onto the account.

So my question for all of you is - what did you use? It's starting to look more likely that we'll need to ask friends and family to write affadavits for us... do they need to be long? I know what the instructions require be listed, but some actual experience would be greatly appreciated.

[Matsiepan 6]

Bank of America allows you to open joint accounts using Canadian passports (that is what I used when my hubby and I opened up a joint account).

[SF2007 48]

My husband and I also did Bank of American joint bank account. That's what our interviewing officer was more interested in. Then came the items that proved we lived at the same address and mingled finances: marriage certificate, mail, bills under both your names (you will most likely need your social for this. We did water, gas and cable), driver's license showing same address, insurance paperwork showing you as beneficiary to his insurance, you listed as beneficiary to his 401k, a letter from his boss confirming you are his emergency contact and listed on his insurance, car insurance for both of you (same car, same address), pictures of you together, pictures of the wedding, pictures of you with his family, letters from friends or family confirming you both live together as a married couple, proof you have been taking vacation or traveling together, both cellphones on same plan, if you have a lease under both your names, AAA membership cards, etc.

I am not on our house's mortgage or have ownership and that was not an issue. I don't even own the car we bought for me because I hadn't yet received my social security number and couldn't be added on the title. It was never brought up at the interview as we had plenty other evidence.

Here's what I used for our friend's affidavits. We provided two; one for each our wedding witnesses.

DATE

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter to confirm that I have known [Husband's name] since 20XX. We met while him and I were co-workers at [Company name]. I first met [Wife's name] in 20XX. They were then and still are a loving couple.

I was [Wife name]'s witness at their wedding. Since their marriage, I have seen [Husband name] and [Wife name] together as a couple many times and in a variety of situations, both at my house and theirs, as well as in public. They are a wonderful and loving married couple.

The most recent time that I saw them as a couple was at a dinner, hosted at my house, on [Date]. If you have any questions, I may be reached at the phone number or the address below.

Regards,

NAME and signature

Address

Phone number

[hikergirl 277]

I opened an RBC USA account (from a Cdn RBC branch) and then when hubby and I were together we called into their 1-800 number and added him to the account.

We have each other on life insurance through work and we submitted copies of the add applications.

He was able to add me to his car insurance with my Alberta licence so we had that as well.

We submitted an affidavit from a friend of mine from here and a few from friends/relatives of his down there.

I also submitted flight itineraries for all of our various visits so they'd see we'd seen each other quite frequently.

Good luck!

Edited November 29, 2012 by hikergirl

[Marilyn. 340]

back when we filed the I-130 , I don't remember submitting a lot of evidence, maybe a few pictures and cards. at that time we didn't have any joint accounts...

[bmc 7]

My husband and I also did Bank of American joint bank account. That's what our interviewing officer was more interested in. Then came the items that proved we lived at the same address and mingled finances: marriage certificate, mail, bills under both your names (you will most likely need your social for this. We did water, gas and cable), driver's license showing same address, insurance paperwork showing you as beneficiary to his insurance, you listed as beneficiary to his 401k, a letter from his boss confirming you are his emergency contact and listed on his insurance, car insurance for both of you (same car, same address), pictures of you together, pictures of the wedding, pictures of you with his family, letters from friends or family confirming you both live together as a married couple, proof you have been taking vacation or traveling together, both cellphones on same plan, if you have a lease under both your names, AAA membership cards, etc.

I am not on our house's mortgage or have ownership and that was not an issue. I don't even own the car we bought for me because I hadn't yet received my social security number and couldn't be added on the title. It was never brought up at the interview as we had plenty other evidence.

Here's what I used for our friend's affidavits. We provided two; one for each our wedding witnesses.

DATE

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter to confirm that I have known [Husband's name] since 20XX. We met while him and I were co-workers at [Company name]. I first met [Wife's name] in 20XX. They were then and still are a loving couple.

I was [Wife name]'s witness at their wedding. Since their marriage, I have seen [Husband name] and [Wife name] together as a couple many times and in a variety of situations, both at my house and theirs, as well as in public. They are a wonderful and loving married couple.

The most recent time that I saw them as a couple was at a dinner, hosted at my house, on [Date]. If you have any questions, I may be reached at the phone number or the address below.

Regards,

NAME and signature

Address

Phone number

Thanks for taking the time to reply - the form letter you provided for the affadavit will be quite useful for our friends and family.

I am moving from Canada to the USA so we aren't able to do any of the other things you have listed as we don't reside in the same country... we are doing the CR1 route and neither of us can add the other to any insurance documents, etc without the other having an in-country SIN or SSN.

Also, we are not preparing items for the interview, just for the petition submission.

The hubby enjoys his current bank very much and is reluctant to switch over to another one entirely - so I wonder if it matters if we open a joint account that won't have much of a balance if he keeps his account open at the credit union he likes?

[SF2007 48]

My bad I didn't check what type of visa you applied for, mine was a K1.

The officer never asked the balance of our bank account neither did we volunteer the information.

[hikergirl 277]

Thanks for taking the time to reply - the form letter you provided for the affadavit will be quite useful for our friends and family.

I am moving from Canada to the USA so we aren't able to do any of the other things you have listed as we don't reside in the same country... we are doing the CR1 route and neither of us can add the other to any insurance documents, etc without the other having an in-country SIN or SSN.

Also, we are not preparing items for the interview, just for the petition submission.

The hubby enjoys his current bank very much and is reluctant to switch over to another one entirely - so I wonder if it matters if we open a joint account that won't have much of a balance if he keeps his account open at the credit union he likes?

RBC was a snap since it was my account and we could add him on via a phone call.

I was able to get added to hubby's life insurance without a SSN - in the section where it asked for one, he put "pending immigration" and it was accepted by his HR department.

He was able to get added to my life insurance without a SIN.

His insurance company for his car just wanted a copy of my Alberta Licence.

I am still in Canada so we just tried to be creative and ask as many places as possible. I'm sure some couples have little to none "financial mingling" because of the whole living separately.

[The Mean Lady 604]

I provided:

• (42) Pictures (overkill for Canada, but it spanned about 3 years of relationship and marriage)

• Him as my beneficiary on my 401k

• Bank statement from him and I on my Canadian account (I too have RBC in both countries but haven't added him to my US account yet)

• Canadian Lease with both of our names on it because I pay for his apt up here and am usually here

• Copies of my husband's passport with (5) I-94 visits to the US

• Join tax filing for 2010 and 2011 with my husband's ITIN paper

• Evolution of Relationship Explaining beginning to end

• NO affidavits because they hold little to no worth

I did not provide, but also have, my husband on my car insurance.

He has no license but Geico insisted on adding him when I called to change my name.

He was put on as a non-driver and my insurance went down.

This is something you could EASILY take advantage of.

You can also provide if you have them (but I don't):

• Copies of Conversations you've had on skype, yahoo, msn, etc or emails

• Copies of phone bills (should they require more evidence, I can show them I have had a family Canada/US plan for 3 years)

• Plane Tickets

• Hotel Reservations

• Affidavits, but only (2) or (3) if you really insist

[Kathryn41 3,205]

An option you can consider when you can't yet be listed as a joint account holder - you can inform the bank that you wish to have your spouse, name XXXX, listed as 'payable on death' for that account. This is an estate management practice that helps when it comes to probating a will or an estate but basically it means that the named individual assumes the assets in the account if the other person dies. The account then shows up listed that way - or the bank can provide proof of that status. This would be a good alternative to prove 'joint' assets when you can't own an account jointly. My husband and I both have individual accounts as well as our joint accounts and each of us is named as payable on death on the other's account so that we then get the assets in that account rather than have it go to probate. (Something our lawyer suggested). Here is more information about it: http://voices.yahoo.com/payable-death-bank-accounts-pros-cons-81637.html .

You should also consider doing your wills - you can modify them later when you move- listing each other as heir, although you will need to have executors in the same country in order for the wills to be acceptable. You can then submit copies of your wills.

Another thing we did - and my husband was able to do this while I was still a fiancee residing in Canada - is he added me as an authorized user on his American Express card. I had my own card and the account listed both of our expenses. When I moved to the States he then upgraded my status to joint owner with him still as the primary owner. You should be able to do that without a SSN or anything - I didn't have one and we had no problems.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Kathryn41

[bccanadagirl 0]

Hello!

Getting closer to the actual submission of our application... but kinda stuck on the bonafide evidence part.

We were working on purchasing a house together, but it didn't pass home inspection so we can't use jointly owned property as part of our bonafide evidence.

Also can't do the joint bank account or mignled finances as my hubby uses a local Credit Union as his bank in the USA and they will not accept Canadian ID to add me onto the account.

So my question for all of you is - what did you use? It's starting to look more likely that we'll need to ask friends and family to write affadavits for us... do they need to be long? I know what the instructions require be listed, but some actual experience would be greatly appreciated.

My Hubby & I don't have joint accounts either. Evidence can also be pictures of the 2 of you (like wedding pictures) also pics of you or him with your Mom/Dad ect..., trips you took & also itinerary's from when you would visit to see each other. Don't worry about not having joint account.

[SamF 0]

Hello!

My wife and I are going to send the I-130 now, applying for a CR-1 visa. She lives in New York, and I'm still in Belgium at the moment.

We don't have a lot of proofs with us, here's what we have so far:

- Pictures from three trips we took together (Ottawa - Montreal (our wedding trip); Washington,DC; and a week-end in Connecticut)

- Joint bank account

- One affidavit by a friend

As for phone bills and texts messaging, we use Apple FaceTime and iMessages, so no bills. I found a way to get a text file out of my phone, for the messages (8,000 just for October and November, that would be a good proof), but I'm not really willing to give it to USCIS, since it contains some very private messages, and some other where we actually talk about USCIS.

As for FaceTime, we call each other everyday, but I don't know how to get a log file.

My wife is also coming to Europe in January, planning on spending several months here, while the process is taking place, since I won't be able to travel to the US anymore. Would that help? How should we do that? Write them a letter explaining the situation?

So, considering this, would you have any recommendations for proof of bona fide?

Thanks y'all for your help, this site has been really helpful so far! :-)

[SamF 0]

My apologize, since I arrived on this topic via a search, I didn't see it was a regional forum for Canada.

Sorry about that.