I-130 proof of relationship: Good enough?

[lierre 224]

Hello everyone! This forum has been really helpful with our I-130 petition package. I just want to get your opinion on what we currently have.

Quick background:

We met online. Met in person 5-6 times. Got married in my country (Philippines) 2 years after meeting each other.

I currently live with him near a military base outside the US. I have been here as his dependent for almost 7 months now.

We have no kids. We have a joint bank account with a US bank.

What we intend to send as proof of relationship + some questions I have:

2-3 photos from our wedding day, with dates and some explanation

1-2 photos each from the 5 countries we have traveled in together (or will boarding passes weigh more?)

Joint bank account statement

Photocopies of 2-3 cards & their envelopes which has our names on it

Marriage certificate

2 or 3 contracts from our wedding suppliers (caterer's, photographer's, my gownmaker's)

Copy of our marriage license (from Manila)

Boarding passes/itinerary emails of his flights to and from Manila for our wedding

Entry and exit stamps to the Philippines on his passport

My letter from their military command regarding my stay here near their base

My entry stamps to Japan (where we currently live)

My boarding pass/itinerary email to Japan

Questions:

We are already married and living together. Do I have to send proof of how we met? Like maybe his receipt from the dating site where we met? Or pictures from when we first saw each other in person? Or does that not matter since we are already living together?

Should I ask for affidavits attesting to our relationship? Like from our best man (who's his best friend) or from my mother-in-law (who was at the wedding)? Or we don't really need it anymore?

Really hope to get more info... We don't wanna get an RFE.

[AJabad 3]

I think your supporting documents are good enough. Also, I would recommend you print out some of your emails correspondence because it shows the time and date. From my experience, my wife and I decided to see an attorney in the Philippines. The attorney only charged us 500 pesos and wrote a narrative legal document of how we met in person it's called an affidavit of Proof of Relationship. I think it would help out to ensure that your marriage is done legally. The attorney has included the date of how we met in narrative format and also took our passport to see the date of entry and how long we have been seeing. Well this is only optional but I think it helped us a bit..

[caly 48]

Questions:

We are already married and living together. Do I have to send proof of how we met? Like maybe his receipt from the dating site where we met? Or pictures from when we first saw each other in person? Or does that not matter since we are already living together?

Should I ask for affidavits attesting to our relationship? Like from our best man (who's his best friend) or from my mother-in-law (who was at the wedding)? Or we don't really need it anymore?

Really hope to get more info... We don't wanna get an RFE.

You do not need to send proof of how you met but you can include a letter that outlines the evolution of your relationship if you wish to. Just have your husband type it up and sign it.

It's great that you are living together. If you have a lease that shows you live together in Japan or bills that have both your names on them do include them in your package. Proof of financial co-mingling seems to have a lot of weight in proving a bonafide relationship.

You can include affidavits if you want to but they are not considered primary evidence and if you already have a strong case, you generally don't need them.

Also, include photocopies of the entry/exit stamps in both your passports of the countries you have visited together. Photos are good, but entry and exits stamps are usually dated and can prove that you were in the same place at the same time.

Good luck!

[lierre 224]

Also, include photocopies of the entry/exit stamps in both your passports of the countries you have visited together. Photos are good, but entry and exits stamps are usually dated and can prove that you were in the same place at the same time.

Good luck!

Yey! Thanks for this great idea. So, no photos? Or will it be better if we just photocopy all our passport pages and highlight stamps which show that we were in the same country as the photos (with photos appended)? Or will that be too much? Hahaha... I'm also afraid to come off as defensive.

As for the letter, is that how a cover letter works? Or should that be separate? Thank you sooo much!

AJabad, thanks for the idea! Unfortunately, I am not in the Philippines. And also, I am not sure if their base's legal office does that re: emails showing our relationship. We have tons! Hanaha! I don't wanna come off as too defensive. But that got me into thinking if I should send copies of 2 or 3 of the postcards and cards we've sent to each other prior to getting married.

[caly 48]

Yey! Thanks for this great idea. So, no photos? Or will it be better if we just photocopy all our passport pages and highlight stamps which show that we were in the same country as the photos (with photos appended)? Or will that be too much? Hahaha... I'm also afraid to come off as defensive.

As for the letter, is that how a cover letter works? Or should that be separate? Thank you sooo much!

If I were you, I would just photocopy the relevant entry/exit stamps. Instead of highlighting, write on the top right hand corner of each page a very brief description such as "[beneficiary]/[Petitioner]'s entry stamp to [Country], [Date]". I've read that USCIS scans everything you submit into a black and white format so highlighting could potentially obscure the important information you want them to see.

You can group the passport stamps and photos (maybe one page per country; 2-3 photos + captions per page) by country or present them separately. It's really up to you.

We did our evolution letter separately from the cover letter. Our cover letter basically highlighted our names and the visa we were applying for and gave a list of items we were submitting in the package, in the order presented.

One more piece of evidence to consider adding to your list: if you are listed as the beneficiary on each other's insurance policies do include that too.

[The Mean Lady 604]

I would include the photos AND the entry/exit stamps.

I don't know how handy you are with mspaint, photoshop, gimp, etc, but you could arrange them all together on one sheet for (1) easy printout.

[lierre 224]

If I were you, I would just photocopy the relevant entry/exit stamps. Instead of highlighting, write on the top right hand corner of each page a very brief description such as "[beneficiary]/[Petitioner]'s entry stamp to [Country], [Date]". I've read that USCIS scans everything you submit into a black and white format so highlighting could potentially obscure the important information you want them to see.

You can group the passport stamps and photos (maybe one page per country; 2-3 photos + captions per page) by country or present them separately. It's really up to you.

We did our evolution letter separately from the cover letter. Our cover letter basically highlighted our names and the visa we were applying for and gave a list of items we were submitting in the package, in the order presented.

One more piece of evidence to consider adding to your list: if you are listed as the beneficiary on each other's insurance policies do include that too.

Thank you for those great ideas! As for insurance, I should definitely be on there as well.

Re: evolution letter, did you have the US citizen write and sign it? Does it need to be notarized?

[lierre 224]

I would include the photos AND the entry/exit stamps.

I don't know how handy you are with mspaint, photoshop, gimp, etc, but you could arrange them all together on one sheet for (1) easy printout.

I do know photoshop. However I have no idea if there's a similar program on the mac... It's the only computer I have now

But thank you for the idea! I will probably just rough it out and experiment with layouts on my husband's office photocopying machine. Or I will probably scan everything and lay it all out in MS word. Hahaha

Edited January 3, 2013 by ivyanddan

[caly 48]

Thank you for those great ideas! As for insurance, I should definitely be on there as well.

Re: evolution letter, did you have the US citizen write and sign it? Does it need to be notarized?

Yup. My husband (the USC) wrote and signed the evolution letter. It does not need to be notarized.

[lierre 224]

Yup. My husband (the USC) wrote and signed the evolution letter. It does not need to be notarized.

Thank you! Did you put any proof or documentation of how you first met and sustained your relationship? Or were your proof for the I-130 petition mostly about a marriage that had taken place?

[caly 48]

Thank you! Did you put any proof or documentation of how you first met and sustained your relationship? Or were your proof for the I-130 petition mostly about a marriage that had taken place?

Our evidence was a mix of both kinds. But we didn't have proof of how we first met because we met each other on an online game and had known each other for almost 7 years at that point.

In presenting what we had, I divided our evidence into 6 categories:

1. co-mingling of finances (copies of a couple of credit cards in both our names, insurance paperwork etc..)
   
2. affidavits from people
   
3. wedding related stuff (photos, receipts etc..)
   
4. 3 pages of photos
   
5. travel related stuff (boarding passes, entry stamps, trip itinerary etc..)
   
6. evidence of continued communication spanning the years we'd known each other as well as after the marriage(chat logs, phone logs, emails etc..)
   

We had to prove that we were communicating regularly since we weren't living together at the time. This is probably not as important in your case though!

[lierre 224]

Our evidence was a mix of both kinds. But we didn't have proof of how we first met because we met each other on an online game and had known each other for almost 7 years at that point.

In presenting what we had, I divided our evidence into 6 categories:

1. co-mingling of finances (copies of a couple of credit cards in both our names, insurance paperwork etc..)
   
2. affidavits from people
   
3. wedding related stuff (photos, receipts etc..)
   
4. 3 pages of photos
   
5. travel related stuff (boarding passes, entry stamps, trip itinerary etc..)
   
6. evidence of continued communication spanning the years we'd known each other as well as after the marriage(chat logs, phone logs, emails etc..)
   

We had to prove that we were communicating regularly since we weren't living together at the time. This is probably not as important in your case though!

Wow! That must have been a lot. We also met online, through a dating site. I guess I can just print out emails from when we first started talking. And whew, glad I was such a sentimental girlfriend and I kept a lot of my boarding passes when we flew all over Asia to see each other. haha!

Thank you so much for your input!

[leszeku1 0]

I gave a lot less and had no problems.

just a copy of my passport with visa stamps

1 wedding photo

1 Original marriage certificate

[lierre 224]

I gave a lot less and had no problems.

just a copy of my passport with visa stamps

1 wedding photo

1 Original marriage certificate

Hi leszeku1! Have you been living together since you got married? We also were in a long distance relationship pre-marriage. Just wanna make sure they know that we are legitimate.

[leszeku1 0]

Hi leszeku1! Have you been living together since you got married? We also were in a long distance relationship pre-marriage. Just wanna make sure they know that we are legitimate.

No we got married in last year, and i just completed the I 130 now dealing with the NVC process mainly long distance just travel back when my work allows me to take vacation for 2 or 3 weeks 2 times a year.