Evidence - naturalization on the basis of marriage to a U.S. Citizen

[Cassandra PC 1]

Hello Fellow VJers!

It’s back to paperwork for me, looking to get my husband’s N-400 app. mailed by the end of the month! Could this really be the end

As usual, I’m having trouble with the evidence pieces. Trying to paint a reasonable picture of a somewhat complicated situation.

So far I plan on sending in 3 joint bank account statements, transcripts of jointly filed taxes for 2010, 2009, & 2008, a certificate of coverage for our health insurance, and the title of our jointly owned car.

Here’s my question about lease/mortgage evidence:

My mom and my dad owned a large duplex together. My mom gave her half to my husband and I in 2010 (we have the grant deed) and my husband and I moved in to one of the units. My dad lives in the other unit and is currently paying the entire mortgage in exchange for my husband’s remodel work on the house (mortgage is in my dad’s name). Electric/Gas bill is in both my name/ husband’s name. Water is in my husband’s name. Internet/cable is in my name.

Should I send those bills in? What about the grant deed? Or just the tax transcripts?

Maybe after going through K-1 I’m too paranoid about marriage evidence

[OKflyboy 35]

Yeah, you are a bit paranoid, but I don't blame you

I only sent the tax transcripts, joint bank account statement and the birth certificate of our youngest one. I'm not on the mortgage at all, since we bought the house before I got my SSN, the cars are owned by my husband and his mom, and we didn't have health insurance back when I filed. I didn't get any RFEs regarding proof of marriage.

I think the paperwork you're sending is more than enough.

[NickD 203]

Yeah, you are a bit paranoid, but I don't blame you

I only sent the tax transcripts, joint bank account statement and the birth certificate of our youngest one. I'm not on the mortgage at all, since we bought the house before I got my SSN, the cars are owned by my husband and his mom, and we didn't have health insurance back when I filed. I didn't get any RFEs regarding proof of marriage.

I think the paperwork you're sending is more than enough.

Could be true if you met with a board of officers rather than just one IO that could have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Personally know of friends that were rejected because of lack of proof of either a joint lease or home ownership.

Often wondered if any authoritative person from the USCIS comes here and reads these posts.

Cassandra did explain her home situation to anyone that reads these posts to read, sounds reasonable to me, embellish that and explain it to the USCIS.

Another option, is to wait another two years so you are not required to provide all this proof.

Least during the AOS interview they let both couples explain their situation, but during the N-400 interview, also based on marriage, kick out the US spouse, that doesn't seem right to me.

[Cassandra PC 1]

Could be true if you met with a board of officers rather than just one IO that could have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Personally know of friends that were rejected because of lack of proof of either a joint lease or home ownership.

Often wondered if any authoritative person from the USCIS comes here and reads these posts.

Cassandra did explain her home situation to anyone that reads these posts to read, sounds reasonable to me, embellish that and explain it to the USCIS.

Another option, is to wait another two years so you are not required to provide all this proof.

Least during the AOS interview they let both couples explain their situation, but during the N-400 interview, also based on marriage, kick out the US spouse, that doesn't seem right to me.

I probably will just send in all the evidence I have - that’s what I did for K-1 and AOS and it went fine (except for that RFE for not sending in my 1099s).

I’m still conflicted about the grant deed - on the one hand it shows the truth, which is that my husband and I are lucky to have been GIVEN a house to live in by my mom. On the other hand it’s a simple document that shows no financial commitment (like a mortgage) which is what proof of marriage at this stage is all about. Could it just confuse the officer?

Yes I do hate that my husband might have to explain all this complicated stuff by himself, especially since his English isn’t 100% yet and he gets nervous. Lots of border harassment will do that to you. He is a great person and an excellent community "citizen", so my job is to keep his confidence up, right? (and properly fill out the paperwork! )

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

You have already removed conditions for your husband. That was a joint petition. The N-400 does not involve you anymore; it has to be done by the applicant himself and if you want to prepare it for him would have to state so at the bottom of the page. Rather let your husband do this on his own. If he's ready to become a US citizen, he should be ready to fill out an online form.

That said, for the ROC petition you needed evidence of comingling. That's done and over with. For the naturalization process, such evidence is not needed. If he sends in bank account statements, it only proves that he has problems with English comprehension.

[Cassandra PC 1]

You have already removed conditions for your husband. That was a joint petition. The N-400 does not involve you anymore; it has to be done by the applicant himself and if you want to prepare it for him would have to state so at the bottom of the page. Rather let your husband do this on his own. If he's ready to become a US citizen, he should be ready to fill out an online form.

That said, for the ROC petition you needed evidence of comingling. That's done and over with. For the naturalization process, such evidence is not needed. If he sends in bank account statements, it only proves that he has problems with English comprehension.

Wow, people used to actually be informative AND supportive on this site.

There is nothing wrong with helping your spouse - He hates paperwork, I hate doing the dishes. It’s a partnership.

I don’t really see the point of insulting people, especially about their ability to speak English.

Don’t worry...I won’t be back.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Please remember that it is possible to answer a question or request for information without being rude. Visa Journey is supposed to be a helpful site and if you can only answer in a negative 'tone of voice' then it is better not to answer at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra,

I am sorry that some of our members are being less than helpful. The N400 is actually the easiest petition to complete, especially if you started with the I-129f. You are provided several options of the types of evidence to include if you are filing based upon a 3 year marriage to a US citizen. They certainly don't go anywhere into the same detail reviewing the bona fides of the marriage as they do for the AOS or the ROC. If you haven't checked it out yet, there is a really useful list at the end of the "Guide to Naturalization" published by USCIS http://www.uscis.gov...000082ca60aRCRD . Certainly read the whole guide over and refer to their document checklist before you fill out the form - it might save you some work.

Basically all you need to provide is your husband's green card (copied on both sides), 2 passport style photographs, 4 items listed that relate to his eligibility through marriage: 1) proof of your US citizenship (copy of birth certificate) 2) current marriage certificate 3) proof that prior marriages for either of you are legally ended 4) Documents referring to you and your spouse - and they provide 3 options - you only have to include ONE of them: IRS tax transcripts for the last 3 years OR IRS certified copies of tax returns for last 3 years OR tax returns, bank account statements, birth of children, leases, mortgages, etc. The important thing is that you include only one of them - not all - and the easiest is to get the free tax transcripts from the IRS and just include those.

Your husband can bring all of the other documents with him to the interview but don't include them up front - just get the tax transcripts instead. That is all I submitted and brought the other evidence with me to the interview. It was never required - stayed in my folder the whole time.

There are other questions that need to be answered on the form and other evidence that may be required but not ones that relate to proof of eligibility through marriage. Send in basic information only - no one will really be looking at it until just before the interview. My interviewer went through my file for the first time with me sitting there and just checked off the items I had against a list. So, make it easy on yourself - and your husband. This is by far and away the easiest part of the whole immigration process.

The important focus for your husband should be on the examination questions. He will be asked to read one of the questions and then asked to write a dictated answer to one of the questions so if he knows the questions well, he will be fine for the written and oral English test as well.

Good luck to him.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Kathryn41

[NickD 203]

I wholehearted agree on this husband and life thing, in my wifes' home country, she is a whiz in dealing with legal matters, and while her written English skills are excellent. Well, I will put it this way, still working on her verbal English skills. And dealing with legal matters is an entirely different story that I have been dealing with my entire life in this country.

In Part 12 of the N-400, the person who filled out her application is the "Husband of Applicant", for my stepdaughter if was the "Stepfather of the applicant". But with each, we sat down for at least a couple of hours and went through every step of the application to make absolutely sure they understood every question and answer I put down. LOL, even screwed up on a Spanish name my stepdaughter corrected, I skipped a letter.

This what a family is all about, one way of looking at this, we met, had a long relationship, and we both wanted to marry each other. After that was determined, which country should we live in was the next question? In evaluating all circumstances, we mutually agreed on the USA. It is wrong to assume all would settle in the USA, but the USCIS certainly makes that assumption.

But it could have gone the other way around and we settled in their country. If that was the case, I would be completely dead lost in the immigration process, and my wife would have had to carry the ball. Not only a language barrier, but their laws are entirely different than ours.

And our whole immigration process was based on marriage, I am definitely a part of that as well as any sponsoring US citizen, and what would affect my wife and stepdaughter, would definitely have effects on me. But for the USCIS citizenship interview, they don't even consider that aspect. One thing I am positively sure about, the word "family" is not even a part of their vocabulary.

If fraud is found, the penalty for the sponsoring US citizen is a $250,000.00 fine and five years in a federal prison. But for the immigrant, they just send those back to their home country. So as the sponsoring US citizen, you want to make damned sure, everything is 100% correct.

I know sponsoring US citizens that just dumped all of this immigration ####### on their immigrant applicants. That is not a marriage, matter of fact, two of those marriages ended up in a divorce.

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Adam is about to start the paperwork on his N400. Its very exciting! Kathryn, your post was very helpful, thanks!

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105370,00.html

Also, heres the link if you want to request your tax transcripts for free. I just called and requested 3-4yrs worth and it should arrive within 5-10days. Hope this helps

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Adam is about to start the paperwork on his N400. Its very exciting! Kathryn, your post was very helpful, thanks!

Wow - has it been that long already? I'm glad my post of helpful. Congratulations and good luck!

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

There is nothing wrong with helping your spouse - He hates paperwork, I hate doing the dishes. It's a partnership.

The N-400 form explicitly requires the applicant to fill out the form personally. If anybody, even the spouse, does it for them, this has to be stated on the bottom of the form where they have a specific field for this. Since your husband has to sign the form, he's responsible for it. If you deliberately fail to disclose that not he but you filled out the form for him, he is guilty of misrepresentation which can have as a consequence not only the denial of his petition but a termination of his resident status.

You may not like that, the same way you hate doing dishes, but that are the rules of the game and, after all, this is not about you but your husband. Unless you are trying to get your husband deported, you better drop your attitude and wise up. Reading the N-400 form and the instructions would be a good start. After you're done, have your husband read them. There are some things so important in an immigrant's life that they do not really compare with doing dishes.

[NickD 203]

I wanted my name on that form since 100% of all the marriage evidence we supplied also had my name on it. And wish I was in the office with my wife, what an idiot her IO was. Wanted a piece of paper with a 2008 date on that. She already had that, stupid person doesn't even realize taxes for property and income taxes were paid in 2008! But fortunately, my wife had a current bank statement her IO copied, but she also had that in our file.

Only wish I was there for that section of the interview and felt I should be, since my name was also on all that evidence. But the USCIS does offer an easy out to this, just wait another two years.