Evidence of Bonafide Marriage

[Dadoc 0]

Hi,

I recently married my wife a few months ago. We were going to go the route of the fiance visa, but her mother is not in the best of health conditions and she was worried about being able to leave and return if she ever needed to check on her mother. I noticed on this site that with the CR1/IR1 visa she would virtually have her green card right when she arrived which would alleviate this situation but I didn't check out the documentation required for the I-130 believing that the marriage certificate would be our proof (definitely a bad move on my part). However, now that we are married and I'm looking to file the I-130 I realize that we unfortunately don't have the documents that they ask for to verify bonafide marriage. We do have of course the official marriage certificate, but none of the others and our only option looks like maybe filing affidavit(s) from people we know who could vouch for us.

I do visit her in her country regularly...3 times this year alone so far and I plan to go at least once more before the year is over. We also talk regularly on the phone, but I'm not sure if this counts toward evidence for this visa as it would for the fiance visa. I am also wondering if any of the experienced folks out there who have used affidavits would have any more detailed information on how the affidavits could be drawn up and maybe if there is a minimum number of affidavits to submit and qualify for this option. Any other tips on using the other options, if possible, would be appreciated as well if you believe that in your experience they are easier or that they provide a smoother process in some way.

Another concern we had was whether she could apply to come here temporarily on a visitor's visa for visiting purposes only before and/or during the above process without any complications to the above visa provided of course that she returned within the time allowed in the visa. We would like to make this process as smooth as possible. Thanks in advance for all of your assistance.

[cathy2904 97]

All we sent with our petition was our marriage certificate and three affidavits from people who knew us as a couple. We were approved with no RFEs. We are now at NVC and since filing the original petition we have been collecting our evidence.

[cathy2904 97]

All we sent with our petition was our marriage certificate and three affidavits from people who knew us as a couple. We were approved with no RFEs. We are now at NVC and since filing the original petition we have been collecting our evidence.

We just asked people to write a few lines about how long they had known us as a couple and how they could tell it was a genuine relationship. We asked a friend who we knew would write something sloppy, another friend who wrote something more formal and Trevor's former boss (also a friend) who wrote something more official sounding.

[caly 48]

We went a bit crazy and submitted a few months of phone logs, a couple of pages of chat histories, 4 affidavits, photocopies of our passport entry stamps from flying to see each other, and a couple of pictures of us together or with family.

As cathy2904 said, not all of it is needed for an approval on the petition. In fact, most of this is optional. All you really need to submit as evidence of bonafide marriage is your marriage cert and one or more of the items listed from items E to J on the " What Documents Do You Need to Prove Family Relationship?" part of the I-130 instructions.

Just throwing it out there to give you an idea of what can be considered evidence.

Good luck!

[Dadoc 0]

Thank you all for such a quick response. Posting at this hour, I wasn't really expecting any response until at least tomorrow.

We went a bit crazy and submitted a few months of phone logs, a couple of pages of chat histories, 4 affidavits, photocopies of our passport entry stamps from flying to see each other, and a couple of pictures of us together or with family.

Caly, I don't consider that crazy at all. I managed to search some other topics in the meantime. I saw something about "frontloading" which seems like exactly what you did and I think that might be the way to go as well so I'm already planning to ask some of my friends and family that have met her to see if they would be willing to put something down for us.

But if anyone has anything else to add on this or regarding the visitors visa before/during this process, I'm still all ears. Thanks again to you both! Your responses are encouraging and help the process seem less overwhelming

Edited September 14, 2011 by Dadoc

[mountaingoat 4]

Hi,

I recently married my wife a few months ago. We were going to go the route of the fiance visa, but her mother is not in the best of health conditions and she was worried about being able to leave and return if she ever needed to check on her mother. I noticed on this site that with the CR1/IR1 visa she would virtually have her green card right when she arrived which would alleviate this situation but I didn't check out the documentation required for the I-130 believing that the marriage certificate would be our proof (definitely a bad move on my part). However, now that we are married and I'm looking to file the I-130 I realize that we unfortunately don't have the documents that they ask for to verify bonafide marriage. We do have of course the official marriage certificate, but none of the others and our only option looks like maybe filing affidavit(s) from people we know who could vouch for us.

I do visit her in her country regularly...3 times this year alone so far and I plan to go at least once more before the year is over. We also talk regularly on the phone, but I'm not sure if this counts toward evidence for this visa as it would for the fiance visa. I am also wondering if any of the experienced folks out there who have used affidavits would have any more detailed information on how the affidavits could be drawn up and maybe if there is a minimum number of affidavits to submit and qualify for this option. Any other tips on using the other options, if possible, would be appreciated as well if you believe that in your experience they are easier or that they provide a smoother process in some way.

Another concern we had was whether she could apply to come here temporarily on a visitor's visa for visiting purposes only before and/or during the above process without any complications to the above visa provided of course that she returned within the time allowed in the visa. We would like to make this process as smooth as possible. Thanks in advance for all of your assistance.

I really didn't have much either but I just gave them anything I did have. I sent copies of my phone bills for the past year, a few photos taken after our wedding, my flight itinerary for my trip there to get married and an affidavit from his mother stating that she had known about our relationship from the beginning, knew how it had progressed from conversations with her son and that at some point he told her that we were going to get married. She also stated that she met me and approved of the marriage, attended the marriage and wished us a life filled with happiness. Not sure how much that helped but we were approved without and RFE's.

[CDN2US 10]

We only submitted our marriage certificate and evidence of our joint bank account (to show "co-mingling" of our assets).

That was all! No RFEs.

I'm of the mindset that we should give them ONLY what they ask for and NOTHING more.

Frontloading has its own drawbacks in that there is now more stuff for them to slog through, scrutinize, and discover error or inconsistency.

Just my two cents...

[elkhris 7]

Thank you all for such a quick response. Posting at this hour, I wasn't really expecting any response until at least tomorrow.

Caly, I don't consider that crazy at all. I managed to search some other topics in the meantime. I saw something about "frontloading" which seems like exactly what you did and I think that might be the way to go as well so I'm already planning to ask some of my friends and family that have met her to see if they would be willing to put something down for us.

But if anyone has anything else to add on this or regarding the visitors visa before/during this process, I'm still all ears. Thanks again to you both! Your responses are encouraging and help the process seem less overwhelming

She can definitely come and visit you while the process is pending, she just have to show strong ties to her country and that she will return when she is supposed to.