I-130 preparation questions (split topic)

[luukee 18]

Thank you so much for providing this information. I'm putting together my Petition for the I-130. And was wondering what are some of the examples of the bonafide marriage. The Visa Journey guide is excellent, but I didn't know if I should include our chat logs or not.

The guide at the end states:

Any other relevant documentation to establish that thereis an ongoing marital union.

How did you guys handle putting in your chat logs? We used Viber for Messaging and calls and Skype for Video calls. I just took a look and our viber chat logs if printed out is about 3000 pages.

How do you guys go about getting the affidavits from friends and families? Do we just have our friends and family write a letter stating their information and their knowledge of our relationship and have a Notary confirmed them?

Thanks so much guys!

[TeaCup 65]

Thank you so much for providing this information. I'm putting together my Petition for the I-130. And was wondering what are some of the examples of the bonafide marriage. The Visa Journey guide is excellent, but I didn't know if I should include our chat logs or not.

The guide at the end states:

Any other relevant documentation to establish that thereis an ongoing marital union.

How did you guys handle putting in your chat logs? We used Viber for Messaging and calls and Skype for Video calls. I just took a look and our viber chat logs if printed out is about 3000 pages.

How do you guys go about getting the affidavits from friends and families? Do we just have our friends and family write a letter stating their information and their knowledge of our relationship and have a Notary confirmed them?

Thanks so much guys!

For skype, we downloaded a programmed recommened by other VJ users, It's called Skypelog I think, it allows you to see all calls, chats etc with certain people without seeing the actual content of the message. We printed about 5-6 pages for every year showing various dates, so about 20pages altogether

We didn't bother with affidavits from friends as we provided alot of other stuff showing joint bank acc, etc.

[luukee 18]

For skype, we downloaded a programmed recommened by other VJ users, It's called Skypelog I think, it allows you to see all calls, chats etc with certain people without seeing the actual content of the message. We printed about 5-6 pages for every year showing various dates, so about 20pages altogether

We didn't bother with affidavits from friends as we provided alot of other stuff showing joint bank acc, etc.

Sweet, Thanks Teacup. Will check it out. I wonder if they have one for Viber.

[luukee 18]

These evidence for marriage is already pretty good. Any kind of proof of comingling of assets is good. You do not need a lawyer. You can do this on your own and now you have VJ members to help you all the way. Just do not hesitate to ask questions. Someone will respond fairly quickly. Please do not send any originals to USCIS. Send only copies (simple Xerox copies, do not need certified copies).

Please check the VJ- I130 Guide (as mentioned in the following post) for a check list of things to send to USCIS.

Excellent advise. We do not need to send originals and or certified copies to USCIS. Also agree that VJ 'rocks'.

Thanks Bkghosh!

We have a joint Bank Account only at the moment, since my wife is here once a month (if her schedule doesn't change)...Yes Thank you very much VJers, I really appreciate everything on this site and everyone who has given me advice. I've spoked to a few lawyers, and they didn't seem to understand my situation as my wife is a flight attendant -- so I was concerned that once I start the petition for CR1, that her C1D (crew visa) would be void, but thanks to VJers, it's to my understanding that as long as we follow the right route and follow the law, we will be fine, and that she can continue to work with her C1D while we wait for our paperwork to be approved.

[luukee 18]

You don't need these messages, as they violate personal privacy. But its your decesion.

To backup your viber message history

Simply Go To VIBER Menu

Go to Settings

Than Calls and Messages

There select EMAIL MESSAGE HISTORY

The viber will send you the entire chat history for the last 2 weeks. So it's not much helpful for your evidence.

Also the chat history on viber is really poor since it comes out in Excel and all mixed up...

Let me know if you have any further questions or need assistance.

Ahsan Syed

NYC PARALEGAL

Thanks Ahsan. Yes I was able to do that with Viber and it actually sends the history far more than two weeks. Since I switched phones, and had to reinstall the program, I only have from October 2013 until now. On my previous Phone, I sent the history from Feb 2013 until September 2013, so I still have that.

You're right about the Viber mix up, but for the most part is pretty accurate. I was hoping for something like that skypelog program to reduce the content since printing out my viber chat logs would be like 3000 pages of paper, I don't mind paying for the prints, but I would think that USCIS wouldn't like a huge package of paper.

[luukee 18]

Hahaha.. really happy to read your little love story. Well the Affidavit asserting that you are legal of age to marry and are freely marrying each other is optional that is what many religious countries uses for their court marriages. So I just tell my clients hey, on your marriage, just create a small 2-3 line affidavit about who you are and your parents and your partner information and tell that you are marrying on your own will. This only proofs that you guys are not forced to marry each other and are doing it on your own. This is not required by the United States. This affidavit is just for you guys to keep for yourself... It comes in handy if for any reason any of you say you guys were forced to get married or you guys had no other choice but to get married under pressure. ONCE AGAIN ITS NOT REQUIRMENT. ITS FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL BACKUP COPY in case during or after interview they want more proof.

Second, the messages are person and I don't like anyone reading my messages because it violates my privacy. That's why you don't have to show the MESSAGES, Call history is as far as I will let them in my personal life. So Call history can work so you don't need messages to show communication. And you should really don't bother about this unless you have a really long distance relationship. However, since your wife is working traveling lady you don't have to worry much about the messages at all. Call history will be okay in your case.

Also another way to proof of relationship, is that you guys help each other out financially. So a receipt of you guys sending each other money is also a major evidence that they can not neglect.

For more specific questions you can message me from my profile.

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

Ahsan Syed

NYC PARALEGAL

Ahsan,

Thanks again for the great advice. I forgot to thank you in a previous message about your advice for privacy. You brought a very valid point and I always wondered about that with chat logs. Nice thing about technology that it lets us talk to each about everything and keeps a record of it -- As you've said there are a lot of personal stuff that we talk about, and you're right, it does feel like your privacy is violated when someone that is not you or your wife reads it.

She's doing okay in terms of her financial situation, but I did keep receipts of our reception and all the various expenses that we had to pay for during our wedding banquet and engagement. Although we legally married in the U.S. - Our cultural traditions requires us to have an engagement and a wedding banquet for our families to treat us as married couples.

Good point about religious countries. That's so true, either religion or culture, sometimes there are circumstances that people are forced.

We are fortunate that we don't have that problem, and very lucky to have found each other.

Thanks again Ahsan!!

[luukee 18]

Great... So the two weeks must be because I had to re-store the phone lol.

Thanks for the correction.

What phone do you use? I am using Sony Xperia T. Maybe the chat history i backed up was due to re-storing the phone 2 weeks ago probably.

I previously had an iphone 4s, and switched now to the Samsung note 3.

Yeah more likely you lost your previous chat log due to re-installation of the application. That sucks Ahsan. I'm guessing that Viber stores all of your chat log locally on your phone, even though it looks like its retrieving it from the network when you're trying to look at older messages (it's probably just retrieving the older messages from that local file).

You're up very late! get some rest.

[Ryan H 3,810]

***Posts split into separate thread as poster is asking about their own situation and not replying to the OP of the other thread.***

[Ryan H 3,810]

~~~Replies to this thread's OP in the other thread carried over to here.~~~

Greetings,

The requirement of chat logs and phone calls or instant messaging are not mandatory. If your marriage is legal and real, than you don't have to worry about sending in your chat logs or video logs and even phone/text logs.

Simple way to proof your marriage is through
- Marriage Certificate registered with your local government where you got married
- 2-4 Affidavits, 2 Affidavit of your self asserting that your of legal age to marry and are joining in marriage with ____ your partner at free will
- Marriage/Reception pictures, with description of what is it you are showing, Don't send them a 40 page album, few are fine, that shows the couple, couple with relatives, friends, gifts, than 3-4 pictures from a vacation or a dinner you guys attended,
- Passport Entry and Exit stamp
- Copy of your tickets
- And if possibly you got pregnant than that's something they can't deny. If you have a doctors report that shows you got pregnant during the time of your stay and after marriage they won't have anything else to question about your marriage and eliminates the requirement sending in pictures, but you should still send like a minimum of 10.

If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks Ahsan. Why would you need the legal age affidavit? If you're sending in your Birth Certificate.

2 Affidavit of your self asserting that your of legal age to marry and are joining in marriage with ____ your partner at free will

For the affidavits, will just a few sentence be okay and then have it notarized?

You mentioned that the chat logs etc are not mandatory, but it can only help right? Yes, our marriage is legal and real. We married here in the states, she entered with her C1D visa (Crew visa) and she's been back to work as usual (she's a flight attendant). We had our reception in Vietnam just last month. So that's why I'm very thankful for the support from you guys and all of VJ. I want to kick off my CR1 request as soon as I can. Although I am very fortunate to see my wife, but one day with her every now and then just isn't enough. Thank goodness for Skype and all the technology out there to help us communicate and see each other.

Thanks again for your advice

Thanks Ahsan. Why would you need the legal age affidavit? If you're sending in your Birth Certificate.

2 Affidavit of your self asserting that your of legal age to marry and are joining in marriage with ____ your partner at free will

For the affidavits, will just a few sentence be okay and then have it notarized?

You mentioned that the chat logs etc are not mandatory, but it can only help right? Yes, our marriage is legal and real. We married here in the states, she entered with her C1D visa (Crew visa) and she's been back to work as usual (she's a flight attendant). We had our reception in Vietnam just last month. So that's why I'm very thankful for the support from you guys and all of VJ. I want to kick off my CR1 request as soon as I can. Although I am very fortunate to see my wife, but one day with her every now and then just isn't enough. Thank goodness for Skype and all the technology out there to help us communicate and see each other.

Thanks again for your advice

My husband worked n his C1/D right up until the IR1(CR1) visa was put in his passport... Then he worked using the I551 stamp (given upon entry to the USA) until his GC arrived so no worries... It is not cancelled until another visa is issued.

~~Moderator hat off~~

Regarding the part of the post in bold and red above, CBP is no longer placing special I-551 stamps in passports of immigrant visa holders. Instead, CPB places a standard entry stamp on the page next to the visa itself (the endorsement). It is a combination of the visa endorsed by an entry stamp that acts as a temporary green card until the actual card arrives.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Ryan H

[NikLR 13,227]

At the bottom of this wiki is a very comprehensive list of all kinds of evidence to include. Remember that affidavits are the lowest form of bona fide marriage evidence.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/EZGuideSpouse

[luukee 18]

At the bottom of this wiki is a very comprehensive list of all kinds of evidence to include. Remember that affidavits are the lowest form of bona fide marriage evidence.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/EZGuideSpouse

Awesome Thanks NLR!

***Posts split into separate thread as poster is asking about their own situation and not replying to the OP of the other thread.***

Thanks for the split Ryan, sorry I didn't mean to take away from the OP. I just didn't want to get the "did you research other people's post?" Rather I needed additional info from what someone already asked. Thank you again.

[luukee 18]

Ryan Wrote:

"Regarding the part of the post in bold and red above, CBP is no longer placing special I-551 stamps in passports of immigrant visa holders. Instead, CPB places a standard entry stamp on the page next to the visa itself (the endorsement). It is a combination of the visa endorsed by an entry stamp that acts as a temporary green card until the actual card arrives."

Thank you very much for the info Ryan.

[luukee 18]

Regarding the Affidavits and Certifying, I was wondering for:

"Personal notarized affidavits that describe how the relationship is evolved like first meeting, who arranged the meeting, how long you knew each other before marriage, how is the relationship until now etc."

Should my family and friends just type up something, and then bring it to a notary to notarize that they are who are they are, and sign it in front of the notary?

As for certifying, I was reading on other Posts, for example a translation of a document - how do you certify it?

Thanks!

[luukee 18]

At the bottom of this wiki is a very comprehensive list of all kinds of evidence to include. Remember that affidavits are the lowest form of bona fide marriage evidence.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/EZGuideSpouse

Hi NLR,

Regarding some of the supported documents, such as pictures etc. Do you suggest placing the pictures on an 8x10 white sheet of paper for each picture? With dates etc.

Thanks!

[luukee 18]

Regarding the Affidavits and Certifying, I was wondering for:

"Personal notarized affidavits that describe how the relationship is evolved like first meeting, who arranged the meeting, how long you knew each other before marriage, how is the relationship until now etc."

Should my family and friends just type up something, and then bring it to a notary to notarize that they are who are they are, and sign it in front of the notary?

As for certifying, I was reading on other Posts, for example a translation of a document - how do you certify it?

Thanks!

I must've missed it, but someone did post about certifying translations - so it's just a statement sheet.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/translations