Is this enough to file with?

[Cino 5]

Look at this link which I have posted recently

http://www.visajourn...s/page__st__930

Edited March 23, 2012 by Cino

[DaniG 3]

Sorry but I agree with the person who said that they're not a requirement and for people with weak evidence. Of course they don't HURT but I'm not going to waste my time. Your friend probably had some red-flags in her case you didn't know about. She could also not have mailed enough evidence thinking it wasn't a big deal. She might have told you she sent more than she actually did out of embarrassment or confusion. Could be your friend being in Europe was an issue.

The ROC thread with my list is mentioned in my signature. I have HEAPS of stuff and won't waste time asking friends/family to sign statements about our relationship (they don't know what goes on behind closed doors so they're all worthless basically anyway).

I was not saying the affidavits are required. Strictly speaking, nothing is always "required", except the I-751 form, the check and copy of your GC - there are even couples who don't file tax returns, so obviously USCIS cannot require that from those couples.

What I said was that occasionally USCIS sends an RFE if affidavits have not been provided and I can say that because I know first-hand of such a case (which I am very familiar with because she is a close friend of many years, who helped me with my immigration stuff). She was in Europe because her husband was stationed there for a few months, and this was actually part of their evidence, among many other things (and being a military couple with kids, they had tons of good hard-to-fake docs generated as a result of her hubby being in the army). I actually looked at your ROC list and you have way less stuff than she had sent. Which doesn't mean you WILL get an RFE for the affidavits (or something else), but it's always possible, people even get RFE-ed for things they have already sent.

With that in mind, if you want to send the least amount of paper and save on postage, by all means, only send them the crucial stuff, like tax returns, bank statements and maybe a rental agreement or insurance and cross your fingers - if they want anything else, USCIS will surely let you know. If your goal is to minimize the chance of getting an RFE or wasting a day to go to an interview - then send as much stuff as you have, even if it is weaker evidence, because viewed as a whole, it makes your petition more convincing.

Edited March 24, 2012 by DaniG

[VanessaTony 3,567]

With that in mind, if you want to send the least amount of paper and save on postage, by all means, only send them the crucial stuff, like tax returns, bank statements and maybe a rental agreement or insurance and cross your fingers - if they want anything else, USCIS will surely let you know. If your goal is to minimize the chance of getting an RFE or wasting a day to go to an interview - then send as much stuff as you have, even if it is weaker evidence, because viewed as a whole, it makes your petition more convincing.

I agree in part with what you're saying - that sometimes more is better but people HAVE been RFE'd for sending too much #######... that's the only way to explain why they get RFE's asking for stuff they already sent in. The consensus being that USCIS didn't want to sift through the mounds of paperwork and instead specified what they wanted.

You said your friends sent in more than what I have in my list (I've actually since revised it but that's neither here nor there). Others have sent less and approved without interview or RFE. people have sent MORE and been RFE'd... and vice versa. So it seems to be that it doesn't really matter. It's an individual case.

Also, no offense, but you are not your friends. You don't know exactly what they sent and how much weight it carried (sending in a lot of stuff doesn't matter, the value is what matters). They could have had red-flags you weren't aware of. Being in the military isn't irrelevant to getting or not getting RFE'd. Having kids doesn't make a stronger relationship (they're a factor but not a huge one). We'll never know why they got RFE'd for Affidavits because they really are just weak evidence (friends will sign anything for friends).

Edited March 24, 2012 by Vanessa&Tony

[fairandfoul 7]

I was not saying the affidavits are required. Strictly speaking, nothing is always "required", except the I-751 form, the check and copy of your GC - there are even couples who don't file tax returns, so obviously USCIS cannot require that from those couples.

What I said was that occasionally USCIS sends an RFE if affidavits have not been provided and I can say that because I know first-hand of such a case (which I am very familiar with because she is a close friend of many years, who helped me with my immigration stuff). She was in Europe because her husband was stationed there for a few months, and this was actually part of their evidence, among many other things (and being a military couple with kids, they had tons of good hard-to-fake docs generated as a result of her hubby being in the army). I actually looked at your ROC list and you have way less stuff than she had sent. Which doesn't mean you WILL get an RFE for the affidavits (or something else), but it's always possible, people even get RFE-ed for things they have already sent.

With that in mind, if you want to send the least amount of paper and save on postage, by all means, only send them the crucial stuff, like tax returns, bank statements and maybe a rental agreement or insurance and cross your fingers - if they want anything else, USCIS will surely let you know. If your goal is to minimize the chance of getting an RFE or wasting a day to go to an interview - then send as much stuff as you have, even if it is weaker evidence, because viewed as a whole, it makes your petition more convincing.

I think RFEs are sent on a case-by-case basis, but certainly not because among a tonne of paperwrk, such as the OP claims to have, a couple of affidavits are absent.

As a reference point (and in no way a recommendation), I filed with FAAAAAR less than the OP listed. I focused on the "high-quality" examples of financial and domestic co-mingling (tax returns, bank statements, credit cards, insurance policies, leases, etc) and didn't bother with the affidavits. There is no need to introduce fear and have people throw the kitchen sink. The OP has more than satisfied the standards for financial co-mingling, and will have the case examined on those merits. I doubt those merits, as strong as they are, will be further strenghthened by letters from friends.