Paperwork - How much is too much?

[hearsay 1]

I am preparing the I-751 application. Since it has been 2 years since the interview, we have a lot of bank statements, insurance papers, etc, etc. The pile I am preparing to send is getting larger and larger. But it all has very good information. For example, the bank statements show everything we spend our money on.

What is the average weight or size of the evidence everyone sends? I don't want to send them too much, but I don't want to send too little either. Thoughts?

Thanks

[farah2005 0]

This is what i sent.

• Copy of my green card.

• Two original letters written by my parent in law notarized, attesting to our relationship and marriage.

• Copy of our last two bank statements for our checking account.

• A copy of our 2006 joint US tax return.

• Copy of my company’s life insurance application with the designation of my life insurance to my husband.

• Copy of my husband’s life insurance form with my name listed as beneficiary.

• Copy of our auto insurance ID card with me listed as an additional driver.

• Copy of My 401K plan with my husband listed as beneficiary.

• Copy of My husband's 401K plan with me listed as beneficiary.

• Copy of our dental insurance card showing a joint policy.

• Copy of our renter insurance policy.

• Copy of our lease renewal .

• Copy of our driver license showing same adress

• Copy of our credit card showing same card number.

good luck

[Marilyn. 340]

I don't think they really care what you spend your money on.. they just want to see that your lives are co-mingled....

[spi9959 1]

What is the average weight or size of the evidence everyone sends? I don't want to send them too much, but I don't want to send too little either. Thoughts?

Thanks

I'm about to send my evidence in. It's about two inches thick. I don't think there is such a thing as "too much" evidence. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to buttress your case with all of the evidence that you have available.

Edited January 16, 2008 by spi9959

[lucyrich 20]

What is the average weight or size of the evidence everyone sends? I don't want to send them too much, but I don't want to send too little either. Thoughts?

Thanks

I'm about to send my evidence in. It's about two inches thick. I don't think there is such a thing as "too much" evidence. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to buttress your case with all of the evidence that you have available.

There IS such a thing as too much. Too much will delay your case. The examiners have to read it all. They'll be able to process your application more quickly if your pile is adequate, but not excessive, than if it's really huge. The people behind you in line will also get their applications processed more quickly, not that that matters so much for you. Furthermore, if there are any apparent inconsistencies in your evidence, that will delay things, perhaps very seriously.

Look through the history of this board to see what people have reported sending and getting approvals on. You don't need a huge amount. It IS wise to have a smattering of evidence covering different categories and different time periods, rather than having all the evidence concentrated in one category and/or from one brief time period. But, for example, you don't need bank statements from every month -- if they see one for each six month period, they're probably not going to be convinced one way or another by the addition of the other intermediate ones. (We sent ONE bank statement, kept the other 23 in reserve, sent a variety of other different kinds of evidence, and were approved without interview or RFE).

Everyone I've seen here for the past several years has reported approval of the I-751 (occasionally after RFE and/or interview, sometimes when the packet was big and sometimes when it was small). You don't gain any new rights or privileges after approval that you didn't have before approval. So the chances of really screwing things up in an important way seem pretty slim no matter what you do. The worst that's going to happen is they'll send an RFE asking for more evidence, and you'll have the opportunity to deluge them then if that happens. So why not make it easy on yourself, on the examiners, and on the people behind you in line, and submit a packet that's big enough without being massive overkill?

[spi9959 1]

There IS such a thing as too much. Too much will delay your case. The examiners have to read it all. They'll be able to process your application more quickly if your pile is adequate, but not excessive, than if it's really huge. The people behind you in line will also get their applications processed more quickly, not that that matters so much for you. Furthermore, if there are any apparent inconsistencies in your evidence, that will delay things, perhaps very seriously.

Look through the history of this board to see what people have reported sending and getting approvals on. You don't need a huge amount.

Everyone I've seen here for the past several years has reported approval of the I-751 (occasionally after RFE and/or interview, sometimes when the packet was big and sometimes when it was small).

Could you be so kind as to cite your proof that too much evidence will delay a case or is your claim just an intuitive assumption? If your proof isn't adequate or you are using your intuition, allow me to use mine. Formal evaluation of evidence and the determination of the extension of the green card are, in large part, dependent upon the perspective of the particular examiner looking at that evidence --- my intuition tells me that there may be examiners who would like to see or even require more rather than less evidence. Further, you state that examiners have to read all of the evidence sent in. Do you know this as a fact or is this statement intuitive as well? My intuition tells me that the quality and quantity of the total information in a package may be sampled rather than gone through piece-by-piece. It seems to me that the better the quality and the greater the quantity of sampled information, the greater the liklihood of satisfying the examiner. If this is the case, the people behind me may not necessarily be waiting longer to get their applications processed. In terms of inconsistencies, if I do my job well and review carefully the evidence that I am sending in, I see quantity of information as being a non-issue.

Again, whether one needs to submit a huge amount of evidence or not is not dependent upon what you think or other applicants think; it is dependent upon what any particular examiner may prefer or require. In this regard, I will "err" on the side of sending in a lot of information.

[lucyrich 20]

Could you be so kind as to cite your proof that too much evidence will delay a case or is your claim just an intuitive assumption? If your proof isn't adequate or you are using your intuition, allow me to use mine. Formal evaluation of evidence and the determination of the extension of the green card are, in large part, dependent upon the perspective of the particular examiner looking at that evidence --- my intuition tells me that there may be examiners who would like to see or even require more rather than less evidence. Further, you state that examiners have to read all of the evidence sent in. Do you know this as a fact or is this statement intuitive as well? My intuition tells me that the quality and quantity of the total information in a package may be sampled rather than gone through piece-by-piece. It seems to me that the better the quality and the greater the quantity of sampled information, the greater the liklihood of satisfying the examiner. If this is the case, the people behind me may not necessarily be waiting longer to get their applications processed. In terms of inconsistencies, if I do my job well and review carefully the evidence that I am sending in, I see quantity of information as being a non-issue.

Again, whether one needs to submit a huge amount of evidence or not is not dependent upon what you think or other applicants think; it is dependent upon what any particular examiner may prefer or require. In this regard, I will "err" on the side of sending in a lot of information.

Read the Adjudicator's Field Manual, Chapter 10.3 (d) (available on the USCIS website). The adjudicator is required to carefully examine every single piece of evidence submitted, and is not allowed to just skim and sample.

[bettenan 1]

What is the average weight or size of the evidence everyone sends? I don't want to send them too much, but I don't want to send too little either. Thoughts?

Thanks

I'm about to send my evidence in. It's about two inches thick. I don't think there is such a thing as "too much" evidence. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to buttress your case with all of the evidence that you have available.

There IS such a thing as too much. Too much will delay your case. The examiners have to read it all. They'll be able to process your application more quickly if your pile is adequate, but not excessive, than if it's really huge. The people behind you in line will also get their applications processed more quickly, not that that matters so much for you. Furthermore, if there are any apparent inconsistencies in your evidence, that will delay things, perhaps very seriously.

Look through the history of this board to see what people have reported sending and getting approvals on. You don't need a huge amount. It IS wise to have a smattering of evidence covering different categories and different time periods, rather than having all the evidence concentrated in one category and/or from one brief time period. But, for example, you don't need bank statements from every month -- if they see one for each six month period, they're probably not going to be convinced one way or another by the addition of the other intermediate ones. (We sent ONE bank statement, kept the other 23 in reserve, sent a variety of other different kinds of evidence, and were approved without interview or RFE).

Everyone I've seen here for the past several years has reported approval of the I-751 (occasionally after RFE and/or interview, sometimes when the packet was big and sometimes when it was small). You don't gain any new rights or privileges after approval that you didn't have before approval. So the chances of really screwing things up in an important way seem pretty slim no matter what you do. The worst that's going to happen is they'll send an RFE asking for more evidence, and you'll have the opportunity to deluge them then if that happens. So why not make it easy on yourself, on the examiners, and on the people behind you in line, and submit a packet that's big enough without being massive overkill?

I will add a tip some wise VJer gave here about the bank statements. To show the account was not just opened. Send a statement from early in the account's history and a recent statement. I did this for the two bank account's we had.

I also organized our info and used separators to make it easier for the examiner to go through the material.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

You have too much if you need 2 people to carry it.

[spi9959 1]

You have too much if you need 2 people to carry it.

Lol! That I will agree with!