I-130 cover letter, please check and give advice! Thank you!

[elvenshadow 19]

I am just about finished with putting together my I-130 packet and hope to have it sent out early next week. Before doing so, I would very much appreciate it if some of you could take a quick look at my I-130 cover letter and tell me if everything looks OK. I will assemble the packet in the order as listed with the G-1145 on top as indicated in the instructions for the G-1145. I will put small thin post-it note tabs on the bottom of the first page of each numbered section, labeled with the corresponding number. I also will use paper clips to separate each numbered section. Finally, I will clip the entire document together with a Jointex clip (or very large paper clip if that is better?).

Does the order of documents seem OK? Is there anything else I should add or omit from the wording of the cover letter?

Also, the letter JUST fits on one A4 size sheet but only if I change the margins to be 12.7 mm all around on each side.

Does all this seem OK? Thank you for any feedback you can provide!

April 11^th, 2014

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services
P.O. Box 804625
Chicago, IL 60680

Nature of Submission: I-130 Application for my spouse, <spouse’s name>

Dear Sir or Madam:

I, <my name>, am a U.S. citizen and would like to file a petition I-130 for my spouse, <spouse’s name>. Please find enclosed the following required and supporting documents:

1. Form I-130 (and continuation sheet)

2. Check for I-130 filing fee
3. G-325A Biographic Information for Petitioner (and continuation sheet) with photo of Petitioner

4. G-325A Biographic Information for Beneficiary (and continuation sheet) with photo of Beneficiary

5. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Passport (all pages)

6. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Birth Certificate (both sides)
7. Copy of our Certificate of Marriage (with English translation)
8. Copy of Beneficiary's Birth Certificate (with English translation)

9. Copy of Beneficiary’s Passport (all pages)
10. Copy of current joint apartment lease (with English translation) as evidence

11. Joint Savings Account document from US Bank as evidence

12. Photos of us together over a span of 7 years, before and after marriage, as evidence

13. Written Affidavits as evidence

Copies of the documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an immigration or consular officer at a later date.

I kindly request you to process the above petition and to provide the receipt notice as soon as possible.

Thank you very much,

<I will sign with pen and write date here>

<my name>

SSN: ***-**-****

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 1>

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 2>

Phone; ***-****-**** (Japan)

E-mail; <my email>

Edited April 11, 2014 by elvenshadow

[patnjac 130]

I think it looks great. I added emails and msgs from times we spent apart as well.

Good luck!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Comments in bold and red:

I am just about finished with putting together my I-130 packet and hope to have it sent out early next week. Before doing so, I would very much appreciate it if some of you could take a quick look at my I-130 cover letter and tell me if everything looks OK. I will assemble the packet in the order as listed with the G-1145 on top as indicated in the instructions for the G-1145. I will put small thin post-it note tabs on the bottom of the first page of each numbered section, labeled with the corresponding number. I also will use paper clips to separate each numbered section. Finally, I will clip the entire document together with a Jointex clip (or very large paper clip if that is better?).

Does the order of documents seem OK? Is there anything else I should add or omit from the wording of the cover letter?

Also, the letter JUST fits on one A4 size sheet but only if I change the margins to be 12.7 mm all around on each side.

Does all this seem OK? Thank you for any feedback you can provide!

April 11^th, 2014

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services
P.O. Box 804625
Chicago, IL 60680

Nature of Submission: I-130 Application for my spouse, <spouse’s name>

Dear Sir or Madam:

I, <my name>, am a U.S. citizen and would like to file a petition I-130 for my spouse, <spouse’s name>. Please find enclosed the following required and supporting documents:

1. Form I-130 (and continuation sheet)

2. Check for I-130 filing fee
3. G-325A Biographic Information for Petitioner (and continuation sheet) with photo of Petitioner

4. G-325A Biographic Information for Beneficiary (and continuation sheet) with photo of Beneficiary

5. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Passport (all pages) Don't need this if you are submitting a copy of your birth certificate (only need one or the other of these items, not both)

6. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Birth Certificate (both sides) Don't need this if you are submitting a copy of your passport (only need one or the other of these items, not both)

7. Copy of our Certificate of Marriage (with English translation)
8. Copy of Beneficiary's Birth Certificate (with English translation) not needed

9. Copy of Beneficiary’s Passport (all pages) not needed
10. Copy of current joint apartment lease (with English translation) as evidence

11. Joint Savings Account document from US Bank as evidence

12. Photos of us together over a span of 7 years, before and after marriage, as evidence

13. Written Affidavits as evidence

Copies of the documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an immigration or consular officer at a later date.

I kindly request you to process the above petition and to provide the receipt notice as soon as possible.

Thank you very much,

<I will sign with pen and write date here>

<my name>

SSN: ***-**-****

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 1>

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 2>

Phone; ***-****-**** (Japan)

E-mail; <my email>

[elvenshadow 19]

Ryan, thanks for the tips.

I did read in some places that you only need either the passport OR the birth certificate but I figured I would send both just to be safe. It won't have any negative effects right?

As for my wife's birth certificate and passport, I have seen some lists that say they are needed so I was just going to include them to be on the safe side. Another reason for the passport is that it has all of the stamps from when she visited the US with me. Since we traveled at the same time, it shows proof that we went on trips together which I figured could also strengthen our case. I also was going to send a copy of her family registry which now has my name on it. Given those facts, do you think sending the extra stuff wouldn't hurt just to be safer?

[NikLR 13,227]

You can put the photocopies of the stamps in the evidence section BUT sending things the USCIS doesn't need will only annoy the person adjudicating your case. So in this instance, sending extraneous information can hurt your case.

[elvenshadow 19]

Oh I see... So I guess it would just be best to send the specific pages of her passport that have the stamps and maybe the main information page?

How about the family register? It has my name on it now so do you think it would be worthwhile proof of marriage?

As for my passport and birth certificate, I already scanned and printed every single page of my passport in color but I haven't copied the birth certificate yet. Does either of the 2 documents hold more weight/value than the other?

[Ryan H 3,812]

How about the family register? It has my name on it now so do you think it would be worthwhile proof of marriage?

As for my passport and birth certificate, I already scanned and printed every single page of my passport in color but I haven't copied the birth certificate yet. Does either of the 2 documents hold more weight/value than the other?

Your proof of being married is satisfied by the marriage certificate; the family register means absolutely nothing.

The purpose of sending a complete copy of your passport or a copy of your birth certificate is to establish your US Citizenship, no one document holds weight over the other.

[elvenshadow 19]

Right, I understand that. But in the instructions that I read, it says to include any supporting evidence that shows that you are married like affidavit, photos, joint bank accounts, joint lease on apartment, etc. Wouldn't the family registry also show this? I also read in another thread that someone from Japan applied and he got an RFE notice after sending his Japanese marriage certificate only and they wanted the family register as well.

[NikLR 13,227]

bona fide marriage = proof of an ongoing genuine relationship.

family registrar proves you got married, not that you have an ongoing genuine relationship.

Since you live together, photos together, envelopes and cards addressed to both people, proof of trips and time spent together is your best evidence, after co-mingling of finances. But that's only because you live together which many people cannot do or because they haven't been married long enough.

For people who don't live together, emails, skype logs and screenshots, chats, facebook, plus proof of any time spent together is the evidence they're looking for.

[pushbrk 12,803]

I am just about finished with putting together my I-130 packet and hope to have it sent out early next week. Before doing so, I would very much appreciate it if some of you could take a quick look at my I-130 cover letter and tell me if everything looks OK. I will assemble the packet in the order as listed with the G-1145 on top as indicated in the instructions for the G-1145. I will put small thin post-it note tabs on the bottom of the first page of each numbered section, labeled with the corresponding number. I also will use paper clips to separate each numbered section. Finally, I will clip the entire document together with a Jointex clip (or very large paper clip if that is better?).

Does the order of documents seem OK? Is there anything else I should add or omit from the wording of the cover letter?

Also, the letter JUST fits on one A4 size sheet but only if I change the margins to be 12.7 mm all around on each side.

Does all this seem OK? Thank you for any feedback you can provide!

April 11^th, 2014

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services

P.O. Box 804625

Chicago, IL 60680

Nature of Submission: I-130 Application for my spouse, <spouse’s name>

Dear Sir or Madam:

I, <my name>, am a U.S. citizen and would like to file a petition I-130 for my spouse, <spouse’s name>. Please find enclosed the following required and supporting documents:

1. Form I-130 (and continuation sheet)

2. Check for I-130 filing fee

3. G-325A Biographic Information for Petitioner (and continuation sheet) with photo of Petitioner

4. G-325A Biographic Information for Beneficiary (and continuation sheet) with photo of Beneficiary

5. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Passport (all pages)

6. Copy of my (Petitioner’s) U.S. Birth Certificate (both sides)

7. Copy of our Certificate of Marriage (with English translation)

8. Copy of Beneficiary's Birth Certificate (with English translation)

9. Copy of Beneficiary’s Passport (all pages)

10. Copy of current joint apartment lease (with English translation) as evidence

11. Joint Savings Account document from US Bank as evidence

12. Photos of us together over a span of 7 years, before and after marriage, as evidence

13. Written Affidavits as evidence

Copies of the documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an immigration or consular officer at a later date.

I kindly request you to process the above petition and to provide the receipt notice as soon as possible.

Thank you very much,

<I will sign with pen and write date here>

<my name>

SSN: ***-**-****

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 1>

<current foreign address where we both live right now line 2>

Phone; ***-****-**** (Japan)

E-mail; <my email>

I have made bold the item that are not needed in the petition package.

Your birth certificate is your only needed evidence of US Citizenship. All pages of passport would be a potential substitute. No need for both, unless you're using pages of both passports to show time spent together. Since you have a joint lease, that's not necessary. It's overkill. The same goes for the affidavits. You live together. It's Japan, not Nigeria or Vietnam. No need for overkill.

You've already dated the letter at the top. I like the idea of signing but it's not critical to sign at all, much less to date the letter twice.

Edited April 11, 2014 by pushbrk

[elvenshadow 19]

OK, I see. I guess I am just paranoid because i read a lot of stories about people not having sufficient evidence and I just wanted to make sure there isn't a shadow of a doubt in whoever's mind that reviews our application. I just want to do everything possible to avoid REF.

Thank you all for your support.