Will we pay back our laziness?

[ACINLOVE 2]

Hi,

Question if you could help…preparing evidence for I-751

Married on November 2009 jointed bills and bank account only on August 2010….we were a little lazy in taking care of that and honestly no time to do it before!

Should I include letter explaining why we are missing in our package joint evidence for bills and bank account for the first 10 month of our wedding or include everything from August 2010 and not to mention earlier?

What about this letter?

“Dear USCIS Examiner,

The following letter is to explain why our Chase bank account was joint in August 2010 and not earlier.

We honestly forgot to do it at the beginning of our life together even if we were already co-mingling our finances.

Cordially,”

Thank you!

[milimelo 4,513]

Hi,

Question if you could help…preparing evidence for I-751

Married on November 2009 jointed bills and bank account only on August 2010….we were a little lazy in taking care of that and honestly no time to do it before!

Should I include letter explaining why we are missing in our package joint evidence for bills and bank account for the first 10 month of our wedding or include everything from August 2010 and not to mention earlier?

What about this letter?

"Dear USCIS Examiner,

The following letter is to explain why our Chase bank account was joint in August 2010 and not earlier.

We honestly forgot to do it at the beginning of our life together even if we were already co-mingling our finances.

Cordially,"

Thank you!

Is it a problem for you to go online and print the bank statements (couple of them) from the date you were granted a green card? Most banks have it going back several years.

[ACINLOVE 2]

I can print old bank statements but my husband name shows up only on August 2010...10 months after our wedding? How do I justify the missing co-mingling?

[bigdog 376]

Do the letter attach statements, notarize it. Nothing else you can do. Show everything else you have combined, insurance, cars, utilities etc.

[elya 17]

why attract extra attention to something that may or may not bother them? If you joined them in August 2010, you have over a year of joined accounts and it's the most recent year. It's not like you just joined the accounts immediately prior to filing. I would not include a letter at all. If they ask you to explain later, explain then.

[Ning 619]

why attract extra attention to something that may or may not bother them? If you joined them in August 2010, you have over a year of joined accounts and it's the most recent year. It's not like you just joined the accounts immediately prior to filing. I would not include a letter at all. If they ask you to explain later, explain then.

This is correct. We did many of these things when time allowed & it never came up. No one asked us why we waited. They understand these things.

Also there is no need to notarize things you submit. A notary verifies signatures & has nothing to do with content of documents. It would serve no purpose to submit someone elses documents for your case.

[rahulv 4]

Agree with Ning and Elya, no need to answer something that hasn't been asked yet.

[ACINLOVE 2]

Alright, thank you all for your input!

I will avoid explanation and just send documents starting August 2010....finger crossed!

[Drogs 24]

Tell them you had a Long Honeymoon

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Did your immigrant spouse work? If she had direct deposits from her employer, you can ask them to provide documentation that her paychecks was deposited into your account. If she got a real check, then perhaps you can show those checks were deposited into your account by comparing them to your old statements.

Agree with the others. Good to be prepared. Only provide what is asked for. Do not volunteer information.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Jojo92122

[lechatnoir 0]

Don't feel bad... I goofed on my submission. My hubby and I have actually had a joint account the entire time but I didn't realize that I actually needed to send 2 years worth of bank statements, so I just sent our most recent ones. I of course sent tons of other stuff that spanned the years but I didn't think that I needed to show statements from all those periods just that we had a joint account.

I haven't been asked for anything yet, and I'm crossing my fingers that we don't...but don't sweat it, we all have our little imperfections.

[Helen Louise Pile 80]

Not all married couples choose to have joint bank accounts.

My husband and I haven't. But both our names are on the lease and we are paying the same bills and we are the beneficiaries of each others insurance etc.

We may get a joint savings account at some point but it won't be to satisfy USCIS

Joint checking and saving accounts are just one example in the instructions of how you could show joint finances. So not required. I wouldn't apologize for not opening it sooner in your application You should be fine.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi,

Question if you could help…preparing evidence for I-751

Married on November 2009 jointed bills and bank account only on August 2010….we were a little lazy in taking care of that and honestly no time to do it before!

Should I include letter explaining why we are missing in our package joint evidence for bills and bank account for the first 10 month of our wedding or include everything from August 2010 and not to mention earlier?

What about this letter?

“Dear USCIS Examiner,

The following letter is to explain why our Chase bank account was joint in August 2010 and not earlier.

We honestly forgot to do it at the beginning of our life together even if we were already co-mingling our finances.

Cordially,”

Thank you!

It MAY be a problem and the letter MAY help. Since the cost of the letter is a few minutes time and some printer ink, I would say "do it"

None of us can say if it will be a problem, nor can we say the letter will fix the problem, if any.

For others, you need to MAKE this a priority and OTHER things need to be put off, delayed, postponed, etc in favor of protecting the status of your foreign spouse.

[BTalley 0]

I wouldn't open a can of words by explaining anything.

My utility companies would not even allow me to add Svetlana's name to our account. They said it had to be in one person's name.

Anyway, the fact that you have RECENT evidence is better than evidence that is 10 months old. Whatever evidence I had, I always made it as recent as possible.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

No.

My wife and I never had a joint bank account. There is no requirement to have a joint bank account. If you guys have one, good for you, as you can use it as proof.

Like in court you will submit everything that will help make your case. What you don't want to do is giving them anything that doesn't help you. Telling them that you are lazy, forgetful, irresponsible, have bad breath or rotten teeth or being apologetic doesn't help you.

Give them what you have and that's it.