My I-751 package...

[mcv 0]

This is what I'm sending. We have no joint anything, except for our lease and taxes. Neither of us has any form of insurance, we have our separate bank accounts, and the utilities are all in my name. We have lived together since before we got married and changed address once, which I did submit to the uscis online but I think they didn't get it because I keep getting mail at our previous address, which happens to be a friend of my parents who has a few rental units so we still get the mail.

Form I-751

A cashier check of $590 to pay for the filing fees.

6 recent passport size photos of Wife.

A recent pay stub showing Wife's residence and most recent employment.

A recent pay stub showing Husband's residence and most recent employment.

Bank statements for Husband's checking account at our current address.

Bank statements for Wife's checking account at our current address.

Credit card statement in Wife's name at our current address.

Phone bill for Wife at our current address.

Cable internet bill at our current address.

Two copies of Wife's current green card, front and back.

Two copies of Wife's social security card, front and back.

A copy of a recent utility bill from FPL at our current address.

2010 tax return information.

A recent receipt for our rent payment.

A list of the addresses at which we have lived since marrying, signed by each of us.

A few personal photos taken between November 2009 and June 2011.

Most of that stuff shows we are at the same address, working in nearby towns and I highlighted a few lines on her bank statement where she transferred me about $400 to pay part of the rent and other bills. I make more money and handle a bigger proportion, but we split them proportionately, but all the payments go through me. We filed taxes joint/married in 2010 and 2011.

I was thinking about affidavits but we don't really know anybody well enough to ask them for such a thing. She has a few friends at work that I've never met, but that's it.

Edited July 11, 2011 by mcovey

[Matt & Bing 56]

Just curious as to why you are sending 2 copies of green card & SS Card?

[mcv 0]

one copy is color and I already had a B&W copy so I just threw them both in. I copied the green card back side in high and low contrast because different security features reflect depending on contrast.

Edited July 11, 2011 by mcovey

[Diazy 10]

You don't need passport size pictures and you don't need a copy of SS card.

Do you have ID cards with the same address?

What about tax transcripts for the previous year? In my case I attached 3 tax transcripts from IRS: 2008, 2009, 2010.

I would also attach an explanation why you don't have joint bank account or bills in both names.

[sasaqlain 24]

SS Copy not required. And you are actually not supposed to copy your SS card. Secondly, no need for the wife's Passport pictures. They aren't required. Save them for something else. Good Luck.

[Inky 1,111]

ROC is based on 2 years of evidence. You only list 1 year of taxes. You should have at least 2 years of joint tax transcripts from the IRS.

[TBoneTX 46,071]

ROC is based on 2 years of evidence. You only list 1 year of taxes. You should have at least 2 years of joint tax transcripts from the IRS.

This, plus provide a spectrum of information that shows a merging of financial and personal lives since marriage/AOS.

[mcv 0]

we haven't really combined our financial lives, at all.

also I have very little evidence from before October 2010 when we moved to Florida, all old accounts are closed and paperwork is gone. We never had a lease or anything before since we were just renting from family friend and paid with checks.

[TBoneTX 46,071]

You'd better collect affidavits from people who know you who are aware of the legitimacy of your marriage and relationship.

These can be relatives. I also recommend affidavits from respected members of the community (minister, policeman, businessman, ex-military, et al.). Be sure that they know the correct spellings of your names and the correct date(s) of official happenings in your relationship. Otherwise, the text can be in their own words.

Keep these to one page, and be sure that each writer includes COMPLETE contact information.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

we haven't really combined our financial lives, at all.

This is very important and goes a long way to proving legitemacy of a relationship.

[~happyndinlove~ 540]

This is very important and goes a long way to proving legitemacy of a relationship.

You'd better collect affidavits from people who know you who are aware of the legitimacy of your marriage and relationship.

These can be relatives. I also recommend affidavits from respected members of the community (minister, policeman, businessman, ex-military, et al.). Be sure that they know the correct spellings of your names and the correct date(s) of official happenings in your relationship. Otherwise, the text can be in their own words.

Keep these to one page, and be sure that each writer includes COMPLETE contact information.

[mcv 0]

I'll wait and see if they request more evidence, the only people who we both know that know anything about our personal lives or marriage are my family.

it's her decision not to combine finances because she thinks I will get mad at her for sending money home or wasting her money...

[raypinot 0]

You said you have a joint lease and joint taxes right?

That's #2 and #3, and you said you added a few pictures, technically you should be fine. Technically.... But if I were you, I would make my case a little more certain with whatever other evidence I could dig up or I would be worried the whole time!

Basically there's 5 ways to prove good faith marriage as per I-751 instructions:

1. Birth certificates of children born to the marriage.

I'm going to assume that you have no children, but if you do—that’s like, instant approval--I don’t agree with that rule, but it is what it is…

2. Lease or mortgage contracts showing joint occupancy and/or ownership of your communal residence.

You said that you have this,so that's great.

3. Financial records showing joint ownership of assets and joint responsibility for liabilities, such as joint savings and checking accounts, joint federal and state tax returns,insurance policies that show the other spouse as thebeneficiary, joint utility bills, joint installments or other loans.

You said that you filed taxes jointly, right? That's a huge plus if you did. From what you have said it sounds as if all your bills and bank accounts are separate. So they don't really help. they just prove "joint occupancy" Same as the pay checks.

4. Other documents you consider relevant to establish that your marriage was not entered into in order to evade the U.S. immigration laws.

This is where you could bulk it up, if you wanted. Got any vacations taken together? same plane? same hotel? pictures? There are many things you can add here, I used a few vacations we took, the purchase of our dog (with both our names) and plenty of photos. Pictures from us at Disney, and in photo booths and Germany. Photos of me with her family in Germany, pictures of her with my family in America, We even sent goofy photos from medieval times! haha, ridiculous!

Yeah, but like anything you have is better than nothing.

5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by at least two people who have known both of you since your conditional residence was granted and have personal knowledge of your marriage and relationship.

Affidavits are not something we included, but many people do. And considering they are listed as #5 on the instuction form, they do matter. It would not be listed by the USCIS if it didn't.

Just for fun here's what I sent on January 30th, 2011 and how I worded it all...

Copy/pasted from Word, formatting isn't same.. But I did what I could.

Nature of the Submission – I-751 Original Submission

To Whom it May Concern:

Enclosed please find my Form I-751 “Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence” and supporting documents.

Contents are as follows:

• Letter of name change from maiden to married

• Payment of $590 ($505 + $85 biometrics fee)

• Form I-751

• Supplemental information page for I-751

• Copy of Resident Alien Card (Front & Back)

Evidence of Relationship

Financial records showing joint ownership & responsibility

• Tax Transcripts (Married Filing Jointly) for 2008 (5 pages)

• Tax Transcripts (Married Filing Jointly) for 2009 (2 pages)

• Notarized letter from bank stating history of co-mingled account

• Detailed Account Summary from Bank

• Bank Statement from 2008

• Bank Statement from 2009

• Bank Statement from 2010

Leases showing joint occupancy and ownership of residence

• April 2009 – February 2010 (15 pages)

• March 2010 – Present

• Photographs with descriptions establishing relationship (10 pages)

Additional Evidence of Relationship

Vacation Scans

• Scans from vacation to Disney including hotel keys & photo booth

• Scan of photos taken at Medieval Times Dinner Show

• Scan of photo taken at SeaLife during vacation to Germany

• Scan of photo taken at Seaworld Luau Dinner Show

• Plane tickets from last flight from Germany (including dog)

Additional Relevant documentation to establish ongoing marital union

• Certificate of purchase for puppy showing joint ownership

• 2008-2010 Medical records for puppy showing joint responsibility

• Brighthouse Bill (Telephone, Internet and Cable) showing joint responsibility and liability

• Sprint Family Plan Bill showing joint responsibility and liability

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date.

Respectfully,

[marizzacdo 4]

Hello,

Dont worry, you are perfectly fine. Me and my husband dont have much joint account neither. Based on the documents we submitted the only joint documents that we have is the Income Tax and Car Insurance. Postal Mail with my name on it addressed to our house is just an addition that proves to them that we are living together. Bills are not under my name, it's all under my husband's name (which is the original petitioner). Bank account, all my pay checks and cash recieve from my work are deposited to his bank account which is only under his name.

We didnt have any problem at all. I am almost done now. My biometrics was taken last March 11. And now i am only waiting for my plastic 10 year green card. Hoping to get it soon.

Edited July 18, 2011 by marizzacdo

[lechatnoir 0]

I can understand wanting to keep your financial situations separate...to an extent. I would think as people know when they get the 2 year green card that they will have to do it again, that it would be on peoples minds to get some form of joint financial accounts. Even if you keep your finances separate you can still get a joint bank account and put a little bit of money it from each of your individual accounts. Or add authorized users to credit cards ... even if you don't do it permanently, I would think it would be less stressful to just buck up and get some joint accounts. And this is not directly at the OP but just in general from various threads I've seen here.

To the OP, even though you don't have these things I think you did provide good things showing that you both live together aside from only including 1 year of taxes.