Evidence of a bonifide marriage

[kumar1234 0]

You do not need to prove your Bona Fide marriage with your AOS application. However you do have to at the AOS interview.

Yes. CINO is right. All we sent for AOS was the required documentation. We took the evidence that bonafides marriage until the AOS interview. No need to mail.

Actually, CINO is not completely right.

The original poster states (in another topic) that he and his spouse are filing an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. If this is the case, they must submit evidence of the bona fides of the marriage with the I-130. (It is not required for the AOS application itself.)

I quote from the I-130 instructions:

NOTE: In addition to the required documentation listed above, you should submit one or more of the following types of documentation that may evidence that bona fides of your marriage:

E. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or

F. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or

G. Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources; or

H. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, the petitioner, and your spouse together; or

I. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship. (Each affidavit must contain the full name and address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner of beneficiary, if any, and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge of your marriage); or

J. Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.

The I-130 Guide here on VisaJourney says the same thing.

Note that this requirement has been added to the I-130 fairly recently (within the last couple years, I think??) and many people here filed before the requirement was added. It also seems to be sporadically enforced. However, the instructions also say:

Initial Processing. Once the petition has been accepted, it will be checked for completeness, including submission of the required initial evidence. If you do not completely fill out the form or file it without the required initial evidence, you will not establish a basis for eligibility, and USCIS may deny your petition.

One more thing, I and my wife recently completely the GC process starting from a joint I-130/AOS filing. We submitted a modest amount of evidence with the I-130. When we were interviewed, we were not asked for any evidence at all.

JERIII -- thanks for your due diligence of recognizing me from my previous posts! very much appreciate your answer..

[Slightly Bonkers 0]

JERIII: However to be fair, a number of posters requested both that the OP fill in a timeline, and give us further information.

I think unless an OP takes some responsibility to give us the full story every time, no body can be upset if they sometimes get inaccurate information.

OP: as you can see, timelines are extremely important so that we don't make mistakes, please take the time to fill yours in.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Slightly Bonkers

[eric_and_teresa 10]

The OP made a post with his timeline already.

Jerri is right, the OP has a prior I-130 petition so his case is different than those of you who filed an I-485 with all the rest of the papers. He does need to submit evidence of bonafide marriage as it is requested on the I-130 instructions.

OP, submit EXACTLY what the form is asking you to submit:

1-130 INSTRUCTIONS, page #2

NOTE: In addition to the required documentation listed above, you should submit one or more of the following types of documentation that may evidence that bona fides of your marriage:

E. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or

F. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or

G. Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources; or

H. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, the petitioner, and your spouse together; or

I. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship. (Each affidavit must contain the full name and address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner of beneficiary, if any, and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge of your marriage); or

J. Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.

I'd think the pictures would be included on this last group of documents that the form is asking you to submit.

Edited April 1, 2009 by eric_and_teresa

[Slightly Bonkers 0]

A timeline in a different post, that isn't referenced in this post, isn't much use to people trying to help.

The standard on visa journey is either to fill out the Timeline tool or to include it in every post.

When I made my suggestion I clicked on the OP's timeline, and requested more information. I try REALLY hard to give the right information. If I know a post isn't about K1, I usually don't post at all, because it's not in my (admittedly very limited) range of knowledge.

I think if the OP doesn't fill in a timeline, he'll probably continue to get very dangerous advice from other posters.

Edited to add: Sorry if I sound snarky, but I really hate giving wrong advice. On a site like this, a stupid post can make a huge difference to how someones visa journey goes, and I weigh that responsibility with all my replies. So I like to have all the information at hand, without having to search through a users posting history.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Slightly Bonkers

[eric_and_teresa 10]

You are right about that, it is extremely important that he fills his timeline and the type of benefits he is applying for on the proper space to get the right advice all the time. I did not mean to sound as if it was wrong to encourage him to complete his timeline, you are right that he needs to do it, because after all is for his own benefit.

OP, in case you don't know where or how to do it, go to "My Assistant" on the right side of the screen and then when a smaller window displays click on "add/edit my timeline" confirm your email, and there you go!

Edited April 1, 2009 by eric_and_teresa

[kumar1234 0]

You are right about that, it is extremely important that he fills his timeline and the type of benefits he is applying for on the proper space to get the right advice all the time. I did not mean to sound as if it was wrong to encourage him to complete his timeline, you are right that he needs to do it, because after all is for his own benefit.

OP, in case you don't know where or how to do it, go to "My Assistant" on the right side of the screen and then when a smaller window displays click on "add/edit my timeline" confirm your email, and there you go!

eric_and_teresa,

thanks for your answer, and directions for adding timeline. I updated my timeline but seems like it's not showing up like yours do (in blue font). Also, it didn't give me an option to let me mention that I am on H1B. Should I add that stuff in "comments" box?

Thx.

[kumar1234 0]

I added my timeline in my signature. Hope the timeline police is happy