How does embassies, etc. verify details about your relationship and yourselves?

[meowmeowmeow 1]

so, hubby's interview is on Sunday...I was just thinking and obsessing about everything and had a question:

we met in TR when I went there to backpack back in 2006, we married in 2007 after a year of...courtship, I guess, lol. But how would they know this? Certainly, I or he don't have paperwork to verify this, we just met, traveled together, know each other through our parents (my dad and his mom were neighbors growing up) and friends (that's how we met again), etc. I just don't understand...maybe I'm freaking myself out too much.

I just hope and pray there are no delays for us. But this is an honest question: how do embassies really verify such personal information anyways???

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They look at the evidence - your airplane boarding passes, and hotel, restaurant receipts, photos of the two of you together, phone records, chat records, letters sent with envelopes. In the interview, just be sincere and honest about the courtship and you should be fine.

[NickD 202]

It's kind of like building a homebuilt aircraft and dealing with the FAA, every bit of material you purchase, every rivet you put in, has to be documented. Really takes the fun of even attempting such a project.

So you have to document your relationship.

If you happen to be old enough to have grown children, kind of humiliating to have a kid evaluate your documentation that still requires their moms to dress them.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

my main concern is not after our marriage but before....obviously, when i met him, i didnt think that we would get married and be in this situation. FYI, we never wanted to go this route, i was dying to move to dubai and we had planned to do that ever since we got engaged. we felt that the immigration process for the US was going to be a nightmare (YES IT HAS) and we didn't want to deal with it...lo and behold, here we are.... so obviously, i didn't keep a lot of e-mails and my phone records and what not (phone records through t-mobile were not given to me, long story that i've bitched about here at length).

i'm just saying you can say that you met at the circus or paragliding or whatever, how the heck are they gonna know? that's what annoys me....we met having dinner with mutual friends in ankara. but obviously i dont have any proof of that. that's my point.

i get your points, though. thanks...

[NickD 202]

my main concern is not after our marriage but before....obviously, when i met him, i didnt think that we would get married and be in this situation. FYI, we never wanted to go this route, i was dying to move to dubai and we had planned to do that ever since we got engaged. we felt that the immigration process for the US was going to be a nightmare (YES IT HAS) and we didn't want to deal with it...lo and behold, here we are.... so obviously, i didn't keep a lot of e-mails and my phone records and what not (phone records through t-mobile were not given to me, long story that i've bitched about here at length).

i'm just saying you can say that you met at the circus or paragliding or whatever, how the heck are they gonna know? that's what annoys me....we met having dinner with mutual friends in ankara. but obviously i dont have any proof of that. that's my point.

i get your points, though. thanks...

But you never know until you try, may even run into a human IO that doesn't think he/she is somekind of a god going way overboard to protect the nation. Our AOS officer was very nice.

And in sense, could be protecting the USC from fraud, but that only occurs if the spouse is from a different country. They sure don't protect you from fraud if you marry another USC.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

But you never know until you try, may even run into a human IO that doesn't think he/she is somekind of a god going way overboard to protect the nation. Our AOS officer was very nice.

And in sense, could be protecting the USC from fraud, but that only occurs if the spouse is from a different country. They sure don't protect you from fraud if you marry another USC.

lol that'd be nice now, wouldn't it?

big brother style.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Congratulations on his approval! When do you expect him to arrive here in the states?

[Niels Bohr 72]

They check basic stuff. They lack the resources to do a thorough investigation.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

Congratulations on his approval! When do you expect him to arrive here in the states?

thanks a lot

we are looking at 2-4 weeks, i want to definitely start searching for plane tickets when i am sure he has his passport/visa in his hand. i just read some posts on here from people who were told that they were approved, had their passports taken away, then apparently are going through AP. so my bubble is slightly pricked but if they give his passport to him next thursday as they say, then we will start. i definitely want to aim before the end of the month though! he's been bugging me to take him to a thai restaurant in manhattan right after we leave the airport LOL ....

good times

[Kathryn41 3,205]

moved from Off Topic to US Embassy and Consulate Discussion

Congratulations on your approval!

[sachinky 465]

I was kind of wondering about the same thing. My husband and I met in college and dated through junior and senior year. We literally spent every minute together from dawn till dusk but didn't think to document it since obviously we had no idea we'd end up married. We have pictures, chat-logs and support affidavits from friends and parents for evidence. It's not the post-marriage bit but the pre-marriage bit I'm thinking about.

I didn't think to save movie tickets or dinner tabs or hotel/gift receipts (I think I have a few somewhere but those are sitting in the pocket of some winter coat in some suitcase in some storage unit in MI). But I'm guessing me walking into the USEM with a copy of The Dark Knight as proof of Christmas presents exchanged with hubby (then boyfriend) isn't really going to get me very far.

Edited November 12, 2009 by sachinky