ROC - lack of evidence - could it be a problem?

[karenkaye94 0]

Hello Everyone! I haven't been here on Visa Journey for almost 2 years - where has that amount of time gone! Getting ready to do the ROC thingy on my greencard and I'd like to get everyone's opinion on what we have in the way of evidence being substantial enough.

Here's the evidence that we can provide:

- copies of deeds for home and other property in both names

- copy of insurance papers for the past two years covering the above, again in both names.

- joint bank account statements - not my primary usage account so there's very little activity though

- letter from my 15 yr old son's high school stating we are both listed as parents on his (yearly updated) school records for past two years (he lives with us)

- copy of son's report card listing us both and showing our address

- tax bill from our town showing both names/ address

- we can also provide affidavits from his parents, his brother, my sisters, even my son's father - all have visited here over the past two years.

- my son could write a letter - not sure if he could swear an affidavit because of his age

This is what we do not have:

- copies of jointly filed tax returns

- health insurance cards with all family members listed

- letters from really anyone other than family who has known us well for over 2 years.

- a lot of photos of the two of us together - I think we have a total of two! (I am allergic to cameras)

- utility bills or credit card bills or any such in both names

Does it matter that we don't provide copies of jointly filed tax returns? And if we aren't doing so should we provide an explanation of why not in our cover letter, or is that necessary? Any and all feedback would be very much appreciated!

Edited November 6, 2009 by karenkaye94

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Your evidence looks fine. Even if you didn't file taxes jointly you would have had to file them as 'married - filing separately'. Send in the transcripts that show you filed that way - it is evidence that you are listed as married with the IRS. You are not required to file jointly if it is not in your best tax interests to do so. You can certainly indicate in your cover letter that it made more financial sense for you to file as 'married - filing separately' and are including those documents. You could also include copies of household bills paid by you and household bills paid by your spouse. They don't need to be joint bills but that would show that you are sharing/splitting the expenses of the household as well in a way that works for you. I do think you have good evidence to submit as it is. You can beef it up a bit by providing evidence that both of you live in the same house (Driver's licenses, etc.) even if you don't have a lot of joint accounts.