Received RFE because it does not cover whole period of marriage?

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

HI everyone,

I'm am worried about the language of the letter I received in the RFE because although they list very general items (and some specific comments about some of the items we sent), we don't really have much more evidence to submit for the RFE. I'm really worried and wonder if we should get a lawyer.

The letter mentions: documentation submitted is insufficient because it does not cover the whole time period, documentations should reflect the names of both permanent resident and Us citizen spouse. "making difficult to determine if the marriage was entered to evade immigration law!!!"

We submitted originally:

Our credit cards and debit cards showing both of our names (He is an authorized user of my card because he had no credit and I didn't even know that joint credit cards existed). The RFE asks for credit card statements showing BOTH of our names, authorized users are not considered a joint users.

Our Driver's License showing same addresss (probably slightly suspicious as I had just renewed my driver's license recently because it was due, and they took the old license away from when I renewed)

His auto insurance listing me as a non driver (but his martial status on there is married!). RFE asks for auto insurance ? I guess we can add my name on there instead to give for the RFE(I rarely drive so we didn't bother plus we were trying to save money which apparently was the wrong thought to have in our decisions).

My graduation pictures with him and my mom plus the transportation tickets flying him there. I graduated in 2011 and the tickets reflect 2011.

Statements from 2011 and 2012 from our joint banking account. RFE asked for more statements, but the bank account was opened in 2011, so no 2010 statements.

My 2012 Federal Tax return. RFE asked for 2010-2012 tax returns + w2's unless we are submitting tax transcripts. So I think I will request for those when the IRS is back up and running again.

RFE asks for additionally other than those mentioned above:

-Proof of children (childless)

-Proof of rental leases/morgage agreements showing joint tenancy at a common residence

(We live with my mom, again to save money as he was taking classes at school so we would be down to one income. Do we just show a rental agreement between us and her? We don't have evidence spanning the length of living arrangement).

-Proof of life insurance (none), health insurance (I had refused health insurance at my first job in 2011 and got insurance in 2012 but the company portion for spouses for health insurance was astromonical and again decided not to add him due to finances, by the time we decided to add him, I got fired from my job)., rental insurance (we live with my mom?), vehicle insurance (We can add my name to the insurance that he recently renewed but that's all we can do). Utitlies (all in my mother's name).

Also is it important to send in information for the RFE? My deadline is in December but the contents of the letter make it sounds like better if I submit it as soon as possible.

What I planned on sending back is not very much:

IRS Transcripts from 2010-2012 (I jointly filed when we could, I think the only time I didn't was 2010 because he didn't have a SS# and I had do my taxes, filed married but separately then.)

A letter explaining my living situation with my mother signed by all of us, which would also explain utitlies

new auto insurance listing me as a possible driver

Credit card statements from our authorized user credits (there's no reason to make a joint acccount credit card since it didn't span the time period of the marriage) I can send an article stating joint credit accounts are not that common? I really no idea these existed, plus his credit was non existant so he couldn't build any credit.

We pretty much keep to ourselves(I'm surprised I'm married sometimes), i can have my family members write affvadits but what good would that do? What else can I do to show evidence of the length of marriage to present date? To clarify the situation, I was in school from 2010-2011 (We were apart for about a year =( but it was a great scholarship opportunity that I couldn't pass up and also didn't want to uproot him from familiar asian things completely since Nc is devoid of asians.). From 2011 on ward we lived together in joyful bliss until we hit the hurdle that was this RFE.

I pretty much been working off of Visajourney suggestions but I was so relieved he was here, I never really followed up and made sure I took steps to keep evidence for the eventual 751.

What does everyone think? I should I ask an advice from a lawyer at this point? I know there's still a Stokes interview possibly (he still doesnt' speak english that well poor guy, but that's why he's taking ESL classes). I am just freaking out right now.

[RandyW 149]

Think of it as a delaying tactic on their part. They can show your case as being 'Waiting for response to RFE', instead of 'Processing'. They seem to issue these almost arbitrarily.

Simply comply by submitting new evidence. A few new things (include up to date pictures) will be fine.

I don't think I've heard of anyone being harassed further after responding to one of these non-RFE's.

[victorian221b 12]

Hello!

I totally understand what you are going through. I got an RFE as well but my situation is a bit different (not by much though) as I do have more evidence to provide such as rental lease, car insurance, title, bank statements, employer-based insurance etc. My RFE was very generic and didn't even say what it is I am missing. It only provided a boiler-plate statement that the evidence needs to support the duration of our marriage. And then it listed everything under the sun on the original i-751 instructions form (e.g. I submitted bank statements, and yet it lists bank statements as a potential evidence - as if I never submitted those).

A few other ideas that hopefully can help you:

- Tax transcripts are good

- Resubmit anything that you had submitted originally for the Conditional GC - I don't know if that was included in your original ROC application. If not, go ahead and include them.

- Get as many notarized affidavits as you possibly can. There are some here that say affidavits aren't strong evidences but I personally think sending in more seemingly useless evidences than sending nothing is better.

- Get your mom to notarize her letter explaining the living situation. There are a lot of people who live with their parents, you are not alone.

- Go through all the mails you have kept, whether it's bills or letters etc, and see if you can find anything from your husband and/or anything to both you and your husband to the same address etc. You'd be surprised what you can find if you haven't looked into the pile for years.

- Emails/letters/texts between you two, even just very boring planning stuff if you got those - just to show you are "actively" married.

- If you have to "create" more evidence (i.e. add yourself to his auto insurance policy etc) while you put together items for your RFE, then so be it. Again, more evidence than no evidence is better.

- When you were employed did you put down your husband's name as emergency contact? Any beneficiary information that you listed as him?

- Did you pay for your husband's airticket to visit you at your graduation? If yes, then you can maybe print out the statement showing you as the payee for an airticket under his name.

- Did you submit bank statements from each month or was it periodic (quarterly, semi-annually)? If you submitted every month, then just resubmit those otherwise just get a copy of every month. Not sure what else you can do with the missing year. It is what it is.

Again, these are just suggestions and may be things you have already considered already but since I had to respond to an RFE as well I had to come up with all sorts of things. I hope this helps give you some ideas on what you can find.

If it makes you feel better, maybe you can consult with an immigration lawyer but based on my personal experience they don't always know. I went through a law firm when I first applied to get my conditional GC with my husband and after the interview I wasn't given any indication whether I was approved and nothing was given to me as per the law firm's instructions. The paralegal was confused too. But it all ended well as I got an email a few days later stating that I have been approved.

If USCIS still doesn't think the RFE response is sufficient they'll just call you in for an interview. And if they keep dragging this on, then you can maybe consider applying for citizenship after his 3-year continuous permanent residency is up.

I would consider submitting more evidences via RFE as soon as possible but if you need the entire period they are given you to collect evidence then let that be - better more than less (as I kept saying, sorry LOL).

Just remember that sometimes your circumstances may work against you (some people just are unable to have a different lifestyle) but USCIS can't dictate how your life should be in order to pass the test. All they want is the evidence to satisfy them and us Conditional GC holders and US citizen spouses will just have to work to get there.

Good luck!

HI everyone,

I'm am worried about the language of the letter I received in the RFE because although they list very general items (and some specific comments about some of the items we sent), we don't really have much more evidence to submit for the RFE. I'm really worried and wonder if we should get a lawyer.

The letter mentions: documentation submitted is insufficient because it does not cover the whole time period, documentations should reflect the names of both permanent resident and Us citizen spouse. "making difficult to determine if the marriage was entered to evade immigration law!!!"

We submitted originally:

Our credit cards and debit cards showing both of our names (He is an authorized user of my card because he had no credit and I didn't even know that joint credit cards existed). The RFE asks for credit card statements showing BOTH of our names, authorized users are not considered a joint users.

Our Driver's License showing same addresss (probably slightly suspicious as I had just renewed my driver's license recently because it was due, and they took the old license away from when I renewed)

His auto insurance listing me as a non driver (but his martial status on there is married!). RFE asks for auto insurance ? I guess we can add my name on there instead to give for the RFE(I rarely drive so we didn't bother plus we were trying to save money which apparently was the wrong thought to have in our decisions).

My graduation pictures with him and my mom plus the transportation tickets flying him there. I graduated in 2011 and the tickets reflect 2011.

Statements from 2011 and 2012 from our joint banking account. RFE asked for more statements, but the bank account was opened in 2011, so no 2010 statements.

My 2012 Federal Tax return. RFE asked for 2010-2012 tax returns + w2's unless we are submitting tax transcripts. So I think I will request for those when the IRS is back up and running again.

RFE asks for additionally other than those mentioned above:

-Proof of children (childless)

-Proof of rental leases/morgage agreements showing joint tenancy at a common residence

(We live with my mom, again to save money as he was taking classes at school so we would be down to one income. Do we just show a rental agreement between us and her? We don't have evidence spanning the length of living arrangement).

-Proof of life insurance (none), health insurance (I had refused health insurance at my first job in 2011 and got insurance in 2012 but the company portion for spouses for health insurance was astromonical and again decided not to add him due to finances, by the time we decided to add him, I got fired from my job)., rental insurance (we live with my mom?), vehicle insurance (We can add my name to the insurance that he recently renewed but that's all we can do). Utitlies (all in my mother's name).

Also is it important to send in information for the RFE? My deadline is in December but the contents of the letter make it sounds like better if I submit it as soon as possible.

What I planned on sending back is not very much:

IRS Transcripts from 2010-2012 (I jointly filed when we could, I think the only time I didn't was 2010 because he didn't have a SS# and I had do my taxes, filed married but separately then.)

A letter explaining my living situation with my mother signed by all of us, which would also explain utitlies

new auto insurance listing me as a possible driver

Credit card statements from our authorized user credits (there's no reason to make a joint acccount credit card since it didn't span the time period of the marriage) I can send an article stating joint credit accounts are not that common? I really no idea these existed, plus his credit was non existant so he couldn't build any credit.

We pretty much keep to ourselves(I'm surprised I'm married sometimes), i can have my family members write affvadits but what good would that do? What else can I do to show evidence of the length of marriage to present date? To clarify the situation, I was in school from 2010-2011 (We were apart for about a year =( but it was a great scholarship opportunity that I couldn't pass up and also didn't want to uproot him from familiar asian things completely since Nc is devoid of asians.). From 2011 on ward we lived together in joyful bliss until we hit the hurdle that was this RFE.

I pretty much been working off of Visajourney suggestions but I was so relieved he was here, I never really followed up and made sure I took steps to keep evidence for the eventual 751.

What does everyone think? I should I ask an advice from a lawyer at this point? I know there's still a Stokes interview possibly (he still doesnt' speak english that well poor guy, but that's why he's taking ESL classes). I am just freaking out right now.

[Navyk 78]

HI everyone,

I'm am worried about the language of the letter I received in the RFE because although they list very general items (and some specific comments about some of the items we sent), we don't really have much more evidence to submit for the RFE. I'm really worried and wonder if we should get a lawyer.

The letter mentions: documentation submitted is insufficient because it does not cover the whole time period, documentations should reflect the names of both permanent resident and Us citizen spouse. "making difficult to determine if the marriage was entered to evade immigration law!!!"

We submitted originally:

Our credit cards and debit cards showing both of our names (He is an authorized user of my card because he had no credit and I didn't even know that joint credit cards existed). The RFE asks for credit card statements showing BOTH of our names, authorized users are not considered a joint users.

Our Driver's License showing same addresss (probably slightly suspicious as I had just renewed my driver's license recently because it was due, and they took the old license away from when I renewed)

His auto insurance listing me as a non driver (but his martial status on there is married!). RFE asks for auto insurance ? I guess we can add my name on there instead to give for the RFE(I rarely drive so we didn't bother plus we were trying to save money which apparently was the wrong thought to have in our decisions).

My graduation pictures with him and my mom plus the transportation tickets flying him there. I graduated in 2011 and the tickets reflect 2011.

Statements from 2011 and 2012 from our joint banking account. RFE asked for more statements, but the bank account was opened in 2011, so no 2010 statements.

My 2012 Federal Tax return. RFE asked for 2010-2012 tax returns + w2's unless we are submitting tax transcripts. So I think I will request for those when the IRS is back up and running again.

RFE asks for additionally other than those mentioned above:

-Proof of children (childless)

-Proof of rental leases/morgage agreements showing joint tenancy at a common residence

(We live with my mom, again to save money as he was taking classes at school so we would be down to one income. Do we just show a rental agreement between us and her? We don't have evidence spanning the length of living arrangement).

-Proof of life insurance (none), health insurance (I had refused health insurance at my first job in 2011 and got insurance in 2012 but the company portion for spouses for health insurance was astromonical and again decided not to add him due to finances, by the time we decided to add him, I got fired from my job)., rental insurance (we live with my mom?), vehicle insurance (We can add my name to the insurance that he recently renewed but that's all we can do). Utitlies (all in my mother's name).

Also is it important to send in information for the RFE? My deadline is in December but the contents of the letter make it sounds like better if I submit it as soon as possible.

What I planned on sending back is not very much:

IRS Transcripts from 2010-2012 (I jointly filed when we could, I think the only time I didn't was 2010 because he didn't have a SS# and I had do my taxes, filed married but separately then.)

A letter explaining my living situation with my mother signed by all of us, which would also explain utitlies

new auto insurance listing me as a possible driver

Credit card statements from our authorized user credits (there's no reason to make a joint acccount credit card since it didn't span the time period of the marriage) I can send an article stating joint credit accounts are not that common? I really no idea these existed, plus his credit was non existant so he couldn't build any credit.

We pretty much keep to ourselves(I'm surprised I'm married sometimes), i can have my family members write affvadits but what good would that do? What else can I do to show evidence of the length of marriage to present date? To clarify the situation, I was in school from 2010-2011 (We were apart for about a year =( but it was a great scholarship opportunity that I couldn't pass up and also didn't want to uproot him from familiar asian things completely since Nc is devoid of asians.). From 2011 on ward we lived together in joyful bliss until we hit the hurdle that was this RFE.

I pretty much been working off of Visajourney suggestions but I was so relieved he was here, I never really followed up and made sure I took steps to keep evidence for the eventual 751.

What does everyone think? I should I ask an advice from a lawyer at this point? I know there's still a Stokes interview possibly (he still doesnt' speak english that well poor guy, but that's why he's taking ESL classes). I am just freaking out right now.

1. Remember to have a covering letter that explains. Use this to explain the reasons for filing married but single.

2. Get a letter from your parents that you both are living with them. The letter should provide the full details of your parents. Yes, this also explains the utilities.

3. Get 2 - 4 affidavits from neighbors or family friends or relatives (parents can do) and remember to provide their full details in the first paragraph.

4. send some pictures (around 10) covering the full period and include itineraries, if any.

5. Include any other evidence that popups even if it looks insignificant and attach.

If they are not satisfied, they will call you for an interview which should be fine but just prepare yourselves to know each other stuff and you should be fine.

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

Update:

Got transferred to the local office despite sending more information.

-sent tax transcripts for 2010-2012

-statements from our joint checking accounts spanning 2010-2012

-explanation of why we do not have a joint credit card account (but we are authorized users on each other cards)

-dealership papers about our new car (bought in october 2013) which includes both our names

-financial loan for car which includes both our names

-car insurance with both our names

-My 401k rollover instructions to IRA with my spouse signature in order to transfer

-my IRA which designates him as my beneficiary

-explanation about why not utility bills as we live with my mother (and a statement to that effect we live with her)

We both really hate taking pictures so we pretty much stopped after he came successfully came to america forgetting that we still had ROC to go through. The only pictures we supplied to the first time were my graduation pictures where I provided the airplane tickets that I paid for.

We don't have any children either. I think it's either my refusal to get a joint credit card (I really didn't know these existed and I didn't want to bother with one this late in the game) and that I was in NC for the first 5 months of 2011 and he was in Chicago.

*sigh* Well at least I'm unemployed now so they can do the interview whenever. Do I need a lawyer or translator to come with me? Are these necessary? Or is it not necessary but better to have? Debating whether or not to spend the money at this point being that finances are much tighter now.

[mouna44 1]

do you mind asking you when you have responded to your rfe? i have responded to minde december 2 now 4 weeks no response at all. did schedule for an interview? or just told you that you are transfered to local office? your answers is much appereciated?

[victorian221b 12]

You should be fine at this point. I personally won't do anything more until an interview has been officially requested. But continue to collect evidences just in case. Good luck!

Update:

Got transferred to the local office despite sending more information.

-sent tax transcripts for 2010-2012

-statements from our joint checking accounts spanning 2010-2012

-explanation of why we do not have a joint credit card account (but we are authorized users on each other cards)

-dealership papers about our new car (bought in october 2013) which includes both our names

-financial loan for car which includes both our names

-car insurance with both our names

-My 401k rollover instructions to IRA with my spouse signature in order to transfer

-my IRA which designates him as my beneficiary

-explanation about why not utility bills as we live with my mother (and a statement to that effect we live with her)

We both really hate taking pictures so we pretty much stopped after he came successfully came to america forgetting that we still had ROC to go through. The only pictures we supplied to the first time were my graduation pictures where I provided the airplane tickets that I paid for.

We don't have any children either. I think it's either my refusal to get a joint credit card (I really didn't know these existed and I didn't want to bother with one this late in the game) and that I was in NC for the first 5 months of 2011 and he was in Chicago.

*sigh* Well at least I'm unemployed now so they can do the interview whenever. Do I need a lawyer or translator to come with me? Are these necessary? Or is it not necessary but better to have? Debating whether or not to spend the money at this point being that finances are much tighter now.

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

do you mind asking you when you have responded to your rfe? i have responded to minde december 2 now 4 weeks no response at all. did schedule for an interview? or just told you that you are transfered to local office? your answers is much appereciated?

Hi, I replied to my RFE around December 11th I think. I just got a response now about the transfer to the local office. I think you should be getting your letter soon if the timelines are the same. Or maybe it's taking so long is because they just ordered production of the green card versus sending you for interview.

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

For another update, we got our interview scheduled for late January. However the fine print of you must bring a translator with you if necessary. If my husband english is pretty basic, should we bring a lawyer that can also translate? I don't have any friends that can translate, so if we pay for a translator or a lawyer this is going to be expensive. However the lawyer has the added benefit.

I don't have anything to add since the last time submitted RFE information. I'm really worried now......*sigh*

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

So update as today was our interview:

We got there around 9, and waited until 9:40 for our beeper number to be called.

She had us take an oath, asked us for our ids (I panicked because I thought I left my id at home but thank god I had it. She needed it as proof of identity and proof of address). She then proceeded to ask my husband questions off the first page of the application. What is your name, where do you live, what is your birthdate, did you get married December 16 2010?

At this question she looked at me, and I paused because I was confused whether he or I was supposed to answer the questions, I nodded and then she circled that entry. Later on, I would see, I mistyped on the form 2011 instead of 2010.

She continued to ask my husband questions, have you ever been out of the country, have you ever been arrested, are you in deportation procceedings, do you work? where do you work? How long have you worked there?

She asked me:

What's your name?

What was your birthdate?

Where do you live?

Do you live with your parents? I said yes, I live with mom and amended to say we live with my mom.

Do you work? (I said currently no as I am unemployed but previously I worked at two different companies)

She then asked for any materials that we bought to the interview. She took:

- Car insurance (but not the papers where we bought our car since she had a copy already) I did make a copy of the car insurance for her in that same packet so not sure what happened there

- Interest Statement from our bank from 2011

-Checking statements that I mailed last time in our RFE plus some new ones that I printed off since the last time, plus a copy of our most recent balance

-Photos, we had only a couple but she did ask me when did I graduate in that photo and who was the other person (my mom). Surprisingly she looked at photos that were taken before our marriage and she said these were taken while you guys were dating? and we said yes.

-IRS Tax transcript (even though I already sent those to her). She also took w2s that I found at home, only mine from 2012/2011, his I could find from 2011 but she made copies.

-Vanguard statement for my IRA, she ignored my 401k transfer paperwork which had to have my spouse sign (although i did send that last time but she didn't want it)

-she checked all our credit cards were in our name and numbers. One set was not matching (our debit cards) which I'm not sure why our bank issued two separate debit card numbers for the same bank account, but I never noticed.

She did not take

-marriage certificate

-Power of attorney (even though I had a witness sign it and everything) It wasn't notarized because there's no place for it in the Illinois form. My husband didn't have a copy signed though because he can't read English and that's probably not good idea when the form explictly states that you need to understand the following legal language. In Illinois, you don't need to file this as long as you sign, but she didn't take it.

Afterwards she said she was contact us if she needs more information in a few weeks, over the phone or in the mail. If there is an approval, that would be in the mail.

I have a feeling we didn't do very well, but she was very nice. The whole process probably took 20 minutes. I have a feeling I'm going to need to resubmit paperwork at the very least. I surprised they didn't RFE me for the mistyped marriage date. I thought I doublechecked everything but clearly not. Now I see why we were chosen since even the attorney that I wanted to hire thought it was unneccessary and just recommended that we go alone. She also had flags and tags in the stack of paper we had given her thus far.

She didn't seem winky winky at the approval message but it also felt like she hadn't made a final decision yet either. Hopefully we pass with this otherwise I'm sure the next time we get called in it will be a stokes interview.

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

In the case status it still says initial review, but we only have 2 months left (08/02/2014) until the 1 year conditional residency applies. We were also hoping to go on vacation but with such a long delay, I don't think that will happen. My husband is going to submit his paperwork for citizenship but I'm worried about the long delay. At least if they want us in for an interview, just tell us. I anxiously look at my mail each day and hear nothing. I already contacted them once and it seems ominious that they wrote:

We are processing your request. We regret to say that we are unable to provide you a timeframe for processing this request.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

[huckerman26 3]

Apply for citezenship

[moekaroit 1]

In the case status it still says initial review, but we only have 2 months left (08/02/2014) until the 1 year conditional residency applies. We were also hoping to go on vacation but with such a long delay, I don't think that will happen. My husband is going to submit his paperwork for citizenship but I'm worried about the long delay. At least if they want us in for an interview, just tell us. I anxiously look at my mail each day and hear nothing. I already contacted them once and it seems ominious that they wrote:

We are processing your request. We regret to say that we are unable to provide you a timeframe for processing this request.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

hello

if you dont mind can you please update us on where is the case now? I have 90% similar case to yourz, same exact things, with few months of separation because of school issues and etc... I do have good amount of proof but it doesnt cover the entire period of marriage, can you please let me know where are you now?

[Jia you LuckyStar 0]

hello

if you dont mind can you please update us on where is the case now? I have 90% similar case to yourz, same exact things, with few months of separation because of school issues and etc... I do have good amount of proof but it doesnt cover the entire period of marriage, can you please let me know where are you now?

We still have not heard from Immigration but my husband went ahead and applied for citizenship and was sworn in last week. From application to the ceremony was about 4 months, so I highly recommend that route if you are still waiting on the green card interview results. If he did not apply for citizenship, we would need to get another 6 month(not a year, bah) stamp in January 2015.

[moekaroit 1]

So can you apply for citizinship if you still have a green card application going on?

And can you get it while that applicTion is pending?

So your husband vot sworn in that means he got accepted for the naturlization and the green card application is not neccessery anymore if it grts denied?

We still have not heard from Immigration but my husband went ahead and applied for citizenship and was sworn in last week. From application to the ceremony was about 4 months, so I highly recommend that route if you are still waiting on the green card interview results. If he did not apply for citizenship, we would need to get another 6 month(not a year, bah) stamp in January 2015.

Edited December 15, 2014 by moekaroit