Sending our I-751 packet tomorrow. Would this evidence be enough?

[None-saurus 0]

Hi guys,

So we are getting ready to mail our I-751 package tomorrow morning. We have a bunch of evidence, but some of them don't span the full 2 years since I got here. Part of it was due to our ignorance - we were naive and didn't realize that we needed evidence that spanned all 2 years and thought the most recent would be enough when the time comes. Part of it was due to various circumstances that we could not control for the most part. So, here's the evidence that we do have and our concerns over them:

1). Apartment Lease Renewal agreement and signed letter from property manager stating that I have lived here with my husband for the last 2 years - the thing is, our apartment is really lax with lease agreements. My husband has lived here since 2003 and I joined him in December 2009. Since my husband moved in, they have never had him sign a lease renewal. From the beginning of this month they increased rent, so we requested a Lease Renewal agreement, which we have now signed. Because the Lease Renewal is just 2 weeks old, we asked the property manager to give us a letter confirming that we have lived in our apartment, together, for the last 2 years, and she was happy to do so. She attached her business card to the letter too. So we are sending the Lease Renewal Agreement and the letter.

> question: do you think this would cause a problem that we don't have an older lease agreement to show?

2). We filed taxes jointly last year, and are submitting the tax returns. Pretty sure nothing's amiss there.

3). My husband's Investment portfolio showing me as 75% beneficiary and his mom as 25% beneficiary - this is no problem for me; I like having Mom in there because she knows about these financial matters a lot more than I do (which is basically nil! ). She and I have a great relationship, and I know that I can rely on her for help in this regard if anything should happen to Daniel (God forbid!).

> question: would this be a cause for concern for the USCIS officer who is reviewing our case? Like, why is his mom in there???

4). Joint Bank account & Credit Card statements - this is where we were a bit slack. We have joint accounts with Wells Fargo and a local Credit Union here in El Paso, TX, and we have all statements from these account since January/February 2010, so this is no problem. We also have a savings account with a Credit Union in Appleton, WI where my husband's originally from, and we only put me on there as a joint owner since April 2011 (we have been to WI several times before since I came to USA, but never really had the chance to go and take care or it). Also this account also lists Daniel's Mom as a joint owner together with Daniel and me - simply because she lives in Appleton and it's easy for her to run to the Credit Union sometimes to deposit a check etc. which we can't do from over here.

> question: would this be something that USCIS view as strange and suspect?

5). A letter dated January 2011 from a former group health insurance policy offered through Daniel's work showing both of us under his policy - the problem is this insurance has since been discontinued by the company because of really high premiums, and now we have separate health insurance policies - albeit through the same insurer. This is because Daniel has a pre-existing health condition which means he has to be insured under the Texas Health Risk Pool or some such policy, which has rather high premiums, and I can't go under it because I am not a citizen of Texas yet (we explained this on the cover letter where we list the evidence).

> question: would this be an issue? (Unfortunately this is where our ignorance come into to play. We don't think we have any paperwork from our current health insurance policies which list the other as a beneficiary or anything)

6). Flight ticket from March 2010 showing both our names on the same schedule. Tour itinerary, invoice and some other documents (a hotel voucher & a transfer schedule) from our trip to Costa Rica in May 2010 (couldn't find the flight tickets, but we have photos to show that we were there) and flight tickets and and invoice for hotel bookings from a tour company for our planned trip to Sri Lanka coming November. We hope these would be enough.

7). Three notarized affidavits - one from Daniel's Mom, one from his sister and one from our Pastor for the last 2 years, who is also a close friend.

8). Envelopes and a couple of letters showing letters addressed to both of us at our home address. We also included a "Christmas Letter" from some friends who mention in the letter about the time we spent at their place as guests (it even has a pic of us with their dog).

9). Photos documenting our marriage celebration (church wedding) in January 2010, plus our travels throughout - multiple trips to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Costa Rica and eastern Texas. The photos show us with Daniel's extended family, with some of our friends and even with his kindergarten teacher .

We know USCIS probably don't put much stock in the affidavits, letters/envelopes and photos, but figured, what the heck, let's give them all we have.

So....what are your thoughts and insights on these? Anything we can add to improve this package?

Thank you so much for your time, and sorry about the long read

[Drogs 24]

Looks quite good so far,

Get a letter/Lease from your landlord stating that you both live at the address and have done so since --/--/----

Copies of Driving licences as these also show your address, the evelopes ect you are sending are a good idea.

Previous Tax filings are available if you filed together in the previous years.

Hope this helps

[Inky 1,110]

LIfe insruance / car insurance / heath insurance all shared.

Phone bills for shared lines/cellphones.

[None-saurus 0]

Thanks Drogs and Inky!

We already have a letter from the apartment's Property Manager saying that we have lived in this apartment together since I came over in December 2009.

I don't have a driver's license, because I never learned to drive. Hope to learn this year. So that option's out. We do have car insurance but our old insurance agent told us when we asked about putting me on it that since I don't drive, I can't be put on it. We have since changed agents and have learned that I can be put in it because I am a regular passenger, so we have done that. But that was done this month and it's still being processed I think. We could show it if they ask for more evidence I guess.

We don't have life insurance at the moment. Have been looking into life insurance, but haven't proceeded with it - still researching whether to get a Term policy or universal policy.

We have only 1 year's tax transcripts. I came in December 2009, so we filed separately for 2009 while we were figuring things out. In 2010 we filed jointly and we have tax transcripts for it which we are enclosing.

No joint phone/utility bills - we didn't change our utility bills from Daniel's name to both our names. Silly as it sounds, it just never occurred to us!

[Drogs 24]

I think you have plenty to go with, and as you stated, you can work on other things incase of recieving RFE, i was same as you guys, Mortgage was taken out before we met, all utility bills already in place and it seemed silly at the time to change.

I would put all that you wrote in the reply to myself and Inky in a Covering letter, let them know that you have thought about all the little things.

Good Luck with the Application

[Inky 1,110]

Hm.. if I was you might write a letter as to why you don't have 2 years of joint tax returns just incase. I'm a constant worrier though about paperwork and things lol.

[None-saurus 0]

Thanks guys! Will do as you suggested!

VJ crowd are the best!! *hugs*

[mark101 2]

hi shani

actually I think you will do well with the paperwork and evidence you described. you are suppose to cover as much as the two years you've been together but I have heard that many people who filed the I 751 provided only the last 6 months of documents until they filed the I-751 and still got APPROVED. This should also answer your question on whether or not the USCIS will suspect any of your documents. I don't think anyone can answer that question because nobody knows who the officer at the USCIS will be assigned to your case. It's really up to the officer who is assigned to the case. How he sees the file and if he or she is convinced that the documents you submitted show clearly that you married for the purpose of love and not just to get a green card. You know its like many of my friends who come from Israel always ask me what are the chances of the officer not letting me into the USA and my answer is always it really depends who the officer is - you can get an officer who doesn't really care to go thru your passport and ask 1000 questions about your visit and you can also get an officer who loves to go thru every page in your passport and ask 1000 questions and find every reason to say "No" at the airport.

So the bottom line is you need a little luck with everything in life. Based on what you presented I think you are good to go. And about having other people on your documents like your mother in law...that should not be a problem as long as you and your husband are also on the documents

[None-saurus 0]

Thank you so much again, Drogs, Inky and mark101! We have some good news. we sent out the package on 09/15 and received our NOA with the 1 year GC extension on 09/23. A big weight lifted off our shoulders, because we have plans to travel to Sri Lanka in November, and my GC would otherwise have expired 1 week from when we return to USA. So now hoping that we won't have to mess with any additional evidence or that any interviews they set up won't be during the time we will be in Sri Lanka *fingers crossed*.

Thanks again, guys! You're the best!

[Barca 10]

Good luck and safe travels!

Edited September 30, 2011 by Barca

[shashar 0]

Thank you so much again, Drogs, Inky and mark101! We have some good news. we sent out the package on 09/15 and received our NOA with the 1 year GC extension on 09/23. A big weight lifted off our shoulders, because we have plans to travel to Sri Lanka in November, and my GC would otherwise have expired 1 week from when we return to USA. So now hoping that we won't have to mess with any additional evidence or that any interviews they set up won't be during the time we will be in Sri Lanka *fingers crossed*.

Thanks again, guys! You're the best!

A month before we filled for ROC, i was added to the gas,electricity,cable and internate bills which were actually the few bills that i pay from my checking account.WE had all other documents such as life,house ,health and car insurance ,credit cards and joint checking and saving accounts,etc and felt pretty confidence about our documents.Its a huge difference what a few bills will make to your package.My husband started stressing out about it because like many people said,your evidence has to cover the last two years of your marriage.VJ is a great place,i insisted we have me added to them,three weeks later we mailed our package and was approved in less than three months.I will suggest you go ahead and have you added to these bills just in case you received a RFE,,,,

Have a wonderful trip and good luck

[None-saurus 0]

A month before we filled for ROC, i was added to the gas,electricity,cable and internate bills which were actually the few bills that i pay from my checking account.WE had all other documents such as life,house ,health and car insurance ,credit cards and joint checking and saving accounts,etc and felt pretty confidence about our documents.Its a huge difference what a few bills will make to your package.My husband started stressing out about it because like many people said,your evidence has to cover the last two years of your marriage.VJ is a great place,i insisted we have me added to them,three weeks later we mailed our package and was approved in less than three months.I will suggest you go ahead and have you added to these bills just in case you received a RFE,,,,

Have a wonderful trip and good luck

Thanks Barca and shashar! We went ahead and added me to the car insurance which also includes a renters insurance. Also we just got our new checks with both our names on it (the old ones only had his name on them because they were from before we married and lasted long coz we don't use checks much). We will also go ahead and put me on the bills as you suggested, shashar, in case they send a RFE.

On the plus side, we got the Biometrics appointment this Friday (10/28). Hopefully that'll take care of things and we won't have to have an interview. My husband's going to be traveling a bit early next month and then we leave for SL mid-Nov. So hoping for no interview to fall during that time

[Barca 10]

Thanks Barca and shashar! We went ahead and added me to the car insurance which also includes a renters insurance. Also we just got our new checks with both our names on it (the old ones only had his name on them because they were from before we married and lasted long coz we don't use checks much). We will also go ahead and put me on the bills as you suggested, shashar, in case they send a RFE.

On the plus side, we got the Biometrics appointment this Friday (10/28). Hopefully that'll take care of things and we won't have to have an interview. My husband's going to be traveling a bit early next month and then we leave for SL mid-Nov. So hoping for no interview to fall during that time

best of luck