Sufficient documentation?

[ReconditeGrape 0]

My wife (petitioner) and I are working on her removal of conditions petition. The material we're planning to assemble is not wildly unconventional, but in some ways it's also a little sparse (we don't have a forest of utility bills or joint financial instruments like some people), and I'm wondering whether it'll be enough - and if not, how we should tweak it.

Core evidence

• Joint lease for last 1.5 years.
  
• Tax transcripts for jointly filed 2011 and 2012 returns.
  
• Extensive records from joint bank accounts through which we route all income and make all purchases.
  

Evidence in more detail

Documentation of shared housing.

• Lease agreement, in both our names, covering past 1.5 years.
  
• For 0.5 years before that, she lived at a lease only in my name. Documentation of our joint presence at this old address is limited to:
  
  • State drivers' licenses with same address on the back.
    
  • Old joint bank statements with the same address.
    

  [*] Unfortunately, all utilities are in my name only… I’m kicking myself for this.

  [*] Mail:

  • Have plenty of other correspondence, from official entities of varying importance, listing one name or the other (but not both) at this address. I’m not sure whether this is useful or not. Logically, it seems like important mail addressed separately to each individual at an address would help establish a claim that both are living at that address, but this doesn’t seem to be so popular. But maybe having a little is complementary to other evidence?
    
  • Not much correspondence addressed to both of us jointly. Aside from key documents mentioned elsewhere (tax transcripts, bank statements, health insurance, etc.), only jointly addressed official mail is the “city census” form.
    

Documentation of financial intermingling

• Joint tax transcripts for 2011 and 2012.
  
• Joint bank account statements throughout marriage
  
  • Both of us heavily use credit cards in our individual names, but that are paid for through our joint checking account, as is clear from bank records. All purchases go through joint bank account or these credit cards.
    

  [*] Wife was under my health insurance for most of the period, though she recently switched to the cheaper student plan for the university she now attends. Only evidence:

  • Official coverage form (listing her as a dependent) for 2012.
    
  • Health insurance cards listing same account number.
    
  • Unfortunately no evidence for 2011 that I can find...
    

  [*] Not much else. No other insurance or joint financial instruments. My dad cosigned her student loans, which is definitely a form of financial intermingling, though it would be more straightforward if I was directly the cosigner.

Other possible evidence of life together

• Currently both grad students in the same (fairly small) city. Could get official transcripts/enrollment info to document this. This substantiates our living together, though I’m not sure how much it adds given our other more direct evidence of joint location.
  
• Taken several trips together, some of them international. Could go all out on convincing documentation of these joint trips – airline tickets, passport stamps (when international), credit card records showing simultaneous travel (i.e. on both cards a purchase in Miami one day and a purchase in San Francisco the next, as well as Chicago during a stopover), etc.
  
• We have lots of photos, though none I can find right away with dates. (The main camera we used has a clock that’s off, so the dates in the metadata are all wrong.) Might be able to find some from another camera, though – is this very important for me to dig up, or should I just include undated photos and explain when they are from? (e.g. a trip that’s documented in our travel records – I imagine this would be very clear if, say, we visited China and we had a picture that was clearly from China.)
  

Anything here that's particularly useful? Superfluous? Desperately needed? Thanks in advance for your comments.

[Navyk 78]

My wife (petitioner) and I are working on her removal of conditions petition. The material we're planning to assemble is not wildly unconventional, but in some ways it's also a little sparse (we don't have a forest of utility bills or joint financial instruments like some people), and I'm wondering whether it'll be enough - and if not, how we should tweak it.

Core evidence

• Joint lease for last 1.5 years.
• Tax transcripts for jointly filed 2011 and 2012 returns.
• Extensive records from joint bank accounts through which we route all income and make all purchases.

Evidence in more detail

Documentation of shared housing.

• Lease agreement, in both our names, covering past 1.5 years.
• For 0.5 years before that, she lived at a lease only in my name. Documentation of our joint presence at this old address is limited to:
  • State drivers' licenses with same address on the back.
  • Old joint bank statements with the same address.

  [*]Unfortunately, all utilities are in my name only… I'm kicking myself for this.[*]Mail:

  • Have plenty of other correspondence, from official entities of varying importance, listing one name or the other (but not both) at this address. I'm not sure whether this is useful or not. Logically, it seems like important mail addressed separately to each individual at an address would help establish a claim that both are living at that address, but this doesn't seem to be so popular. But maybe having a little is complementary to other evidence?
  • Not much correspondence addressed to both of us jointly. Aside from key documents mentioned elsewhere (tax transcripts, bank statements, health insurance, etc.), only jointly addressed official mail is the "city census" form.

Documentation of financial intermingling

• Joint tax transcripts for 2011 and 2012.
• Joint bank account statements throughout marriage
  • Both of us heavily use credit cards in our individual names, but that are paid for through our joint checking account, as is clear from bank records. All purchases go through joint bank account or these credit cards.

  [*]Wife was under my health insurance for most of the period, though she recently switched to the cheaper student plan for the university she now attends. Only evidence:

  • Official coverage form (listing her as a dependent) for 2012.
  • Health insurance cards listing same account number.
  • Unfortunately no evidence for 2011 that I can find...

  [*]Not much else. No other insurance or joint financial instruments. My dad cosigned her student loans, which is definitely a form of financial intermingling, though it would be more straightforward if I was directly the cosigner.

Other possible evidence of life together

• Currently both grad students in the same (fairly small) city. Could get official transcripts/enrollment info to document this. This substantiates our living together, though I'm not sure how much it adds given our other more direct evidence of joint location.
• Taken several trips together, some of them international. Could go all out on convincing documentation of these joint trips – airline tickets, passport stamps (when international), credit card records showing simultaneous travel (i.e. on both cards a purchase in Miami one day and a purchase in San Francisco the next, as well as Chicago during a stopover), etc.
• We have lots of photos, though none I can find right away with dates. (The main camera we used has a clock that's off, so the dates in the metadata are all wrong.) Might be able to find some from another camera, though – is this very important for me to dig up, or should I just include undated photos and explain when they are from? (e.g. a trip that's documented in our travel records – I imagine this would be very clear if, say, we visited China and we had a picture that was clearly from China.)

Anything here that's particularly useful? Superfluous? Desperately needed? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Looks good to me. Regarding utilities, why don't you try get one or two in joint name at least now and it will be useful, if for some unknow reason you get a RFE, which I don't think will happen. Check to see that you sent your bank statements convering the full period - 4 to 5 statements spreading accross the full period.