cute, funny, unusual, interesting things sent with I-751

[venusfire503 54]

Ok, as you can tell by my sudden increase in posts, we're in the middle of preparing our I-751 packet to send. This is a stressful, yet boring, process. I came across some things I had set aside in my ROC folder (I forgot about some of them), and thought it would be fun to have everyone list uncommon things we have or will send with our packet. Things not mentioned in the checklist of recommended items.

I found a cute cinquain-style poem my son wrote about my husband 2 years ago at school, a school paper where my son wrote that he was happy his stepfather is here, a zoo membership receipt, a hospital bill from when my sweetie first got here (all the utilities and such were only in my name until we moved), newspaper articles featuring the 2 of us, and a newsletter from my son's classroom mentioning that he took his stepfather in as a kind of "show and tell". Geez, if we get called for an interview, I should just take my son along!

Oh, and to tell a little about the poem - my son started with "nice. kind.", then wrote things like "takes alot of showers".

ah, memories

venusfire

[MoroccanInTexas 24]

Good luck:)

Keep us posted how things go

[venusfire503 54]

Good luck:)

Keep us posted how things go

Thank you!

Oh, I will probably be a posting fool for a while now...

I just remembered about making copies. I think I forgot to make copies of the things I sent in for AOS. I still had the stuff, but it wasn't a nice, neat, organized, already put together packet like I did for the visa.

Also, I am realizing that I have very few pictures of me and my husband together. I'm almost always the one taking the pictures. I have tons of pictures of him with the children, but I'm rarely in them. I know we have some, I'll just have to spend more time looking.

Oh well

venusfire

[poochie 0]

From your post, it looks like your son is your best proof against USCIS! He's such a sweetie. Good to know that him and his stepfather got along pretty good right from the start. Good luck on your filing. Good luck to us!

Edited April 10, 2009 by poochie

[venusfire503 54]

From your post, it looks like your son is your best proof against USCIS! He's such a sweetie. Good to know that him and his stepfather got along pretty good right from the start. Good luck on your filing. Good luck to us!

Thank you!

Yes, my son is a little cuddle bug. My youngest, too, but she's too young to write much yet! I'd love to take them both to the interview if we get one. They both adore their stepfather. They cuddle with him - I have plenty of pictures of them playing together, reading together, watching tv together, etc. (you know, all those ones I took so I'm not in them - haha) My youngest loves to crawl up on his shoulders whenever he sits down, and my son tells everyone that his stepfather is his FAVORITE person in the world (I think I'm second - oh well!) Even my oldest daughter seems to be getting along with him again. That's all such a relief.

venusfire

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Sending 'unique' items is certainly a good idea and in your favour. I tried to do that as well, although I didn't have a lot of 'cute' ones to send. One thing I did send is a letter envelope addressed to "Papa Joe and Nana Kathryn" with our address - Joe's daughter couldn't remember my last name (I kept it when we married) so addressed it just like that from their whole family. Fortunately, the post office delivered it. I also included a sweet photo of Joe asleep on the couch in our house with his legs stretched in front of him and on his legs curled up also asleep was one of my cats that I brought with me from Canada (and included the cats' microchip registration information with both of us listed as well). Another photo showed me and our grandchildren all dressed up in Civil War clothing at a re-enactment we attended together - they were helping me finish getting dressed (VBG). I also included a letter we sent together to one of our neighbours advising them that we would take their cat into the Humane Society if it kept coming on our property and trying to attack our cats through the window if they didn't contact us about finding a solution. Then there was a rhyming letter addressed to both of us from Joe's sister advising us that 'we' had all chipped in together to buy Joe's Mom a year's worth of beauty parlour visits for Christmas - with all of our names and relationship worked into the rhyme. The only other 'telling' thing that was unique wasn't funny but effective - our income tax returns for my first year here were audited by the IRS, so we included the audit notification letter to us, a copy of our joint response cover letter and their notice to the two of us that our 'audit' passed.

Good luck with you application.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Kathryn41

[Arazia 0]

We sent in pictures of the two of us at a party where I'm eating a huge mouthful of easy-cheese (spray cheese) just to prove I can. And a picture of the two of us with a ton of friends at a Build-a-Bear birthday party for an adult friend of ours. So it's a really goofy picture of us all hitting each other with our stuffed animals.

I think that's about the oddest stuff we sent.

[venusfire503 54]

Thanks for adding your posts. I'm enjoying reading them. It's been a rough day (not as rough as for some others, I know), and I needed some things to make me smile. (nothing major - just one of those days when everything hits me and I find myself crying sometimes and sad all day)

I hope others join in. I'm sure over the years there have been some pretty interesting things sent to USCIS. I'd love to hear from them about the weirdest things they've seen in packets!

venusfire

[John and Camie 39]

The pic of John and I -- post-Oreo Cookie Ice Cream Cake Massacre '08 -- we sent that. We figured they couldn't deny us while laughing at how ridiculous we look.

[John and Camie 39]

Oops, apologies for crashing the I-751 thread!

[james&adry 3]

Oops, apologies for crashing the I-751 thread!

Hey there I just wanted to ask what newspaper articles were you two in? That is very unique.. besides all the other stuff your son writes about. Nice stuff!

[Usher 0]

To be brutally honest, they don't give a damn. They need to see joint tax filing and joint money accounts. Life insurance, health insurance, bank accounts and the like. To them, any two strangers can pose together for pictures, but it takes a lot of faith and trust to share financial burdens, privileges and liabilities. All I sent was financial stuff, most importantly - joint tax filings, and I got approved last week. No RFE, no interview, just a simple approval.

With that said, if it makes you feel better, send the cute stuff along. Just make sure you give them what they need first, they want to know that you're taking this as seriously as they are.

[venusfire503 54]

Oops, apologies for crashing the I-751 thread!

The more, the merrier! Maybe I should have this moved to another forum, so that people can add anything they sent for visas or AOS, too.

venusfire

[venusfire503 54]

Hey there I just wanted to ask what newspaper articles were you two in? That is very unique.. besides all the other stuff your son writes about. Nice stuff!

Thanks!

Well, the elementary school two of my children were attending last year was having an "International Week" celebration. They picked Morocco as one of the countries, and we were given an entire room to decorate. It happened to be about 2 weeks after we went to visit his family. Since we had just bought a house, we already wanted to buy things to decorate at home. We left everything packed to take to the school, and didn't even decorate our home until after we brought everything back from the school. We ended up taking a bed and a couch from home to the school, and decorated with the things from Morocco - an area rug, sheets, blankets, curtains, pillows, etc. We also had access to several fold out tables. We covered them with all the other Moroccan things we had 'collected' - shoes, purses, wooden items, etc. I'm going to try to figure out how to post some of the pictures for everyone to see. Anyway, the local paper sent a reporter and photographer, and they put a full page article about the displays. They included a picture of him holding my hand up to show everyone my henna. I was wearing a Moroccan outfit, too. Later, my husband contacted the reporter and said he'd love to tell his story about coming here, and she thought it would be a good idea. We ended up being "Reader of the Week", complete with quotes and my favorite picture of the two of us. It was subtitled "finding love in a distant land". It ended up being a story about how we met, and a brief glimpse into what was involved in the immigration process. We were really happy with the way the article turned out. Both articles mention that he is stepfather to my children. We figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to include that in our packet. Not only is it kind of like an affidavit, it also has a picture of the two of us together (kind of lends credence to our other pictures - that they are actually us).

Another thing - when the students who saw our display see us now, they say "hi Morocco". We also had a few people mention that they recognized us from the other article.

I hope this all makes sense. I was up late working on my taxes, and then up early with my kids...

venusfire

[venusfire503 54]

To be brutally honest, they don't give a damn. They need to see joint tax filing and joint money accounts. Life insurance, health insurance, bank accounts and the like. To them, any two strangers can pose together for pictures, but it takes a lot of faith and trust to share financial burdens, privileges and liabilities. All I sent was financial stuff, most importantly - joint tax filings, and I got approved last week. No RFE, no interview, just a simple approval.

With that said, if it makes you feel better, send the cute stuff along. Just make sure you give them what they need first, they want to know that you're taking this as seriously as they are.

How do you know they "don't give a damn"? I imagine when they see that my son drew a picture (including names in his handwriting) in school of "who I live with", and it includes my husband, that adds a little more proof that we're living together. The newspaper articles with pictures of the two of us, also with captions of who we are, also shows that we spend time together. Yes, the financial (and 'social') stuff is important - and we have the deed to our house that we bought together, a car title, tax returns, utility bills, credit cards, drivers licenses, life insurance, retirement accounts, the trip to Morocco, pictures of us together at (no joke) both a wedding and a funeral, cards and letters from friends/family and businesses, etc. But remember that there are (despite jokes to the contrary) actual humans opening and inspecting these packets. They are the ones who get to decide whether or not to send an RFE (and maybe pick us for an interview or flag us for suspected fraud), and we all know that mood influences their decisions. Backing a strong case with cute evidence (like pictures of people with cookies in their mouths) can possibly make the difference. Some people get approved with much less, some people get RFEs and can't figure out why because they sent everything on the list. You just never know. The more you send, the less you stress while waiting, I think.

And in my case, my kids are excited that their school papers, drawings, etc. are being copied and sent. You can't put a price on that.

If nothing else, it makes us and them (at USCIS) smile a little.

Congratulations on your approval.

venusfire