Joint Names on Utility Bills

[Kang Lang 7]

Woudn't necessaily agree with threatening tone advice... having worked in customer services, I can tell you that I was more inclined to go the "extra mile" for a customer who was polite and willing to try and work with me on a problem. I might be they have a particular policy on this - I would explain to whoever you speak to the reason for wanting this - if they seemed unable to help I would ask to speak to a supervisor.

I too did not have any utility bills to send to USCIS - I did explain on the cover letter why this was the case, if you are able to provide written proof from the utility companies I would send that ( maybe get them to send a letter advising that they do not add names or offer the option to have joint accounts).

Good luck with your journey.

agreed on the way to treat customer service people! you attract more bees with honey or something like that.

anyway we got my husband on the following as joint responsible not authorized user on the following with very little trouble.

pg&e

comcast

at&t

wells fargo (for his personal account also no ssn yet when opened but good for same mailing address)

macy's (this does not report to agencies so not a good way to build credit but stilla joint account)

joint account at bank of america before his ssn arrived (for our household expenses, mortgage etc)

going to be filing for ROC in a few days hope that will be a good start for evidence.

good luck

Woudn't necessaily agree with threatening tone advice... having worked in customer services, I can tell you that I was more inclined to go the "extra mile" for a customer who was polite and willing to try and work with me on a problem. I might be they have a particular policy on this - I would explain to whoever you speak to the reason for wanting this - if they seemed unable to help I would ask to speak to a supervisor.

I too did not have any utility bills to send to USCIS - I did explain on the cover letter why this was the case, if you are able to provide written proof from the utility companies I would send that ( maybe get them to send a letter advising that they do not add names or offer the option to have joint accounts).

Good luck with your journey.

[mingus_drake 0]

What I did with the companies who would not add my wife's name to the account, was to simply have her name added to the mailing address.

This way it shows the bill was mailed to both my wife and I at the same address. Not one company I contacted had a problem with doing the this.

this is what i've done, because the utilities won't send us a bill with two account holders. however, i'm concerned that it won't mean anything to uscis because it doesn't prove i have liability to pay that account?

[simel1110 4]

I didn't send any bills with both our names on it, I've never even seen 2 american spouses with bills in both names. A few bills in his name, a few in mine. I sent 4 a year in from 2007-2010.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

this is what i've done, because the utilities won't send us a bill with two account holders. however, i'm concerned that it won't mean anything to uscis because it doesn't prove i have liability to pay that account?

They won't really care. Your name wouldn't be added to the mailing address without account holders permission. All our bills were changed mailing address, not account name and there's nothing that says it's JUST his account on the letter.

It's kinda like USCIS not caring that you're not added to ALL bank accounts, or that the "joint" account isn't the money your pay goes into. It's just to show co-mingling of lives.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Vanessa&Tony

[Darnell 8,478]

I know this was for ROC, but - ever since returning from China after the marriage, I've been successful in getting her name on everything.

Utility bills were the easiest, I must admit my lease documents are not standard (I lease farmland and ranches straight from the owners, use my own lease documents, wife signs her set, sends em on to me via DHL from China) and the house deeds were straightforward, each county clerk 'trained' me how to make the addendums.

At one point I just thought the problem for other folk was simply 'no SSN' but I'm convinced, after getting it done without her here, in country, it's all down to 'your approach' on talking with the CSRs.

[Beautiful_years 0]

Well just an FYI basis information, we didn't have utility bills in our names, Our house we bought after marriage didn't have my name on it cos I had no ssn as at that time and didn't bother to have them add it afterwards, no health or life insurance together, no vehicle insurance as he had his long ago and I got a cheaper one that suit me when we got my car. We didn't have joint bank account either, he fears i'll make him go bankrupt in two days so we are fine with him holding on to his check book while I hold mine lol, not true we were okay with just having ours and true though I am a shoppaholic, it's the only thing I do outside work and spending time with hubby.

But we did have 2 credit cards we shared. I put everything else we had together neatly and organized and left a note detailing what I sent in and what I didn't and why.

My husband said if they think it's a problem then they should invite us for an interview lol and we would take the day off work and enjoy the time off.

I got approved without interview. My timeline is below.

Don't panic, give what you have, I have seen people who have everything intact and get selected randomly for interview or get denied.

Goodluck!

[midicat 0]

We didn't have any utility bills in both names either. I just wrote a long 2 page cover letter explaining why they were all in my name. Basically when we bought our house he wasn't even a permanent resident yet and had no credit, so the house went in my name. Because of that the water/sewer bill had to be in my name (they require it to be in the name of who the home is deeded to). The electric company did a credit check, was cheaper to do it in my name, same for cable company. I did sent proof of our joint auto insurance for a year of coverage, proof of joint dental insurance, our health card didn't have his name on it because it's through my work even though he is covered on it. Then I sent a copy of my pay stub showing where the health insurance is coming out and luckily enough my pay stub mentions life insurance spouse on it, so that helped! The main evidence I had was 1.5 years of bank statements, I sent the first page of each one and highlighted (color coded) each deposit he made and each I made and then sent a full bank statement from earlier this year with photo copies of our debit cards because my bank shows which card was used for EVERY transaction, I marked out all but the last 4 digits of the cards on each transaction and the photo copies.

I think as long as you explain why things are the way they are, you'll probably be ok. The first time I didn't really explain very well why I wasn't sending everything they were asking for and got an RFE. The second time around I sent about 110 pages of "evidence" and highlighted and wrote notes on a ton of it explaining things to them.