Advice For Those Just Starting Their Journey

[CarlaDave 27]

I had mentioned it before in another post and again to another member that the one (actually two) thing I wish I knew when my husband and I started this crazy journey is:

Save receipts for everything

Save cards & envelopes

What is that one thing you wish you knew then that you know now?

Edited April 30, 2013 by Carla & Dave

[mymarriagejourney 113]

That I didn't have to stress so much about our full list of "red flags." The whole thing was easy and painless.

We didn't have receipts or envelopes or anything. We had a lease, bank account, car insurance, affidavits, and pictures.

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

Same here...no receipts, no envelopes or cards kept whatsoever. And luckily (so far- knock on wood) had no problem whatsoever, and the whole process was a breeze. I have no regrets (yet). We also had joint bank account, car insurance, rental lease, photos. And got no questions asked from the IO besides the usual 10 questions from the form. She just shoed us out approving us on the spot.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

You will remove conditions in another two years. You are expected to cover the entire period of your marriage (or at least the two years since the greencard) with evidence of co-mingling your lives and finances. With that in mind, get a shoebox or folder and start filling it with things that have both your names on it. Don't get to 2015 and wish you hadn't thrown out your 2013 joint auto insurance card, or bank statements, or driver licenses with the old address that showed you both lived at the same address in 2013, or the lease with both names on it.

Get joint names on whatever you can like the car title. If you sell the car, photocopy the title before you turn it over. Then you have an old date on a joint asset. And you will have a newer date on the new car title.

Save boarding passes if you travel together.

Take photos with family showing you spend holidays together. Take photos in your home just doing normal things together like painting the bathroom or cooking dinner. It paints a picture over time, especially if you have different hair-dos. It doesn't look like you met up to pose for some pictures before the removing conditions application was due.

Take turns writing checks out of the joint checking account. If your bank doesn't provide thumbnails in the statement, then use carbon checks. We use few checks but I had bank thumbnails showing he wrote the water bill or paid the lawn guy some months, and I did others, over two years time. Any fraudster can open a joint bank account with a small amount of money. USCIS will want to see that you use that joint account with changing balances, deposits from each of you or direct deposits from both employers, or both writing checks out of it. I tend to write all the checks, but made the conscious effort to say "write this check out so we will have some proof for USCIS."

Plan for proving your co-mingled finances by creating a place to save things that look like good evidence. Then when the time comes, you already have a collection to sift through and organize into evidence to submit. It doesn't have to be everything, but a sampling covering dates for two years.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I had a space in a desk drawer where I would just chuck everything. Even the most insignificant piece of mail.

By the time removal of conditions came, we had plenty of evidence to choose from.

For something specific, I suggest getting wills made up. That's really good evidence of "commitment".

[Wishing on a Star 4]

How important really is the joint bank account? We've chosen so far not to have one. It's really easy for us to do that though because through our bank we can just email each other money. I pay most the bills and then he will email my checking account money for rent, and on my bank receipt it has his name, the amount of money and he'd type in "rent" for what the money is for. We have other things, such as car insurance, car loan, credit cards in both our names, leases, etc that have our names in it together.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

For AOS, a joint bank account is not that crucial. But for ROC, it is. There is no reason not to have a joint account. You can still do what you like with your money, but giving access to use the account (even if the person doesn't use it) is important. It also good in case of emergency.

There is no single piece of evidence that you are required to have for ROC or AOS, but if you don't have a joint account you'll have a harder time at it. RFE, possible interview.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

In my opinion a joint bank account is a biggie with USCIS. Might as well play the immigration game.

Here is some current discussion in the ROC FORUM. Read it and plan ahead so you aren't that person when your time comes.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/427744-rfe-commingling-of-finances-not-enough-bank-statements/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/427550-i-751-additional-evidence-required/

It is extremely rare to have an interview so you load up the application.

[Wishing on a Star 4]

Ok, thanks for that info! I think we will definitely become joint account holders for one of our accounts! Do you think that they will think it's suspicious that we didn't have one during the first year of our marriage? I thought what we were doing checking account wise was ok.

We haven't even been approved for his AOS yet, and that's been a year in the waiting too as of tomorrow!

[KimberlyAhmed 28]

I added Ahmed to my medical and dental insurance as soon as we got married. Another good thing I can think of is, my 401K and life insurance on myslef, that is company paid, has Ahmed as my benificarry. At this point we don't have life insurance on Ahmed, but will be doing so in the near future and I will be the benificarry.

Right now Ahmed is not on the lease, due to the fact that he is not a pernament resident, but we have a letter stating he has lived at this address since we both moved in right after we got married. He is also on some credit cards, bank accounts(checking and two savings) and our cable/phone/internet bill(all one account). We don't pay any electric, heat or water bills in our apartment, as this is all part of the rent, so no other utlitiy bills at this point. If we move, for sure Ahmed and I will be joint on those bills.

I also save everything, just like i did for the K-1. If it has both our names on it, it goes into a box.

[CarlaDave 27]

There are some great replies, thanks everyone!

Off topic: Do you need a SSN to be added to utilities?

[ImmemorialN 7]

I personally didn't need a SSN to be added to the water and gas - the electric company required it! I think it's down to the company...

[CarlaDave 27]

I personally didn't need a SSN to be added to the water and gas - the electric company required it! I think it's down to the company...

Thanks, ImmemorialIN.

I'll have to start making calls tomorrow on my lunch hour. I haven't even changed my name on my utilities yet. Guess that's what happens when life gets in the way, aye?