AOS Prep - Didn't think ahead

[2far 185]

Hi all,

I've read the Guides and searched out some of the threads regarding AOS interview evidence. I'm starting to thing that some of the things we thought were logical at the time may actually bite us in the end. Please read through our evidence thus far, and I'd appreciate any feedback.

Backstory: Fiance arrived on a K1 in July 2013, married in August. AOS petition sent in September. EAD received in November, and he began working in January 2014. I have two adult children (18 and 19) living in our home and I am their sole parent.

Evidence we have gathered so far:

- Husband added to employee-based health insurance in August

- Joint checking account opened in August (This account is in both our names, but is soley used by my husband. Before he was working, I would transfer funds into the account for his use. Now his paychecks are deposited into this account. No bills have been paid from this account, as they all come from my primary checking account.)

- Added husband as an authorized user to one of my credit cards in February 2014 (Card arrived with his name and same card number as mine, but bill will only reflect my name)

- Wedding album

- Photos of my husband with my family

- Boarding passes for both of us for 4 trips (one for our wedding, one for a family function, and twice when he accompanied me on business trips)

- Husband's driving permit shows same address as my drivers license

Things I'm concerned about:

- Proof of living together: I purchased my home before he arrived. He has no credit, so adding him to the house would be a financial disaster.

- Proof of co-mingling: As stated above, we have a joint account, but it really functions as a seperate account for him.

- He is not listed as a beneficiary on my 401K or life insurance. My children are the only beneficiaries.

- He has not been added to any household bills because that just seems silly as my residence in this home was established before he moved here. And he only started working last month.

- He is not on my auto insurance, as he only has a permit for now. My auto insurance has been changed to reflect that I am married.

- Wedding was small. Just us, my children, and my friends (married couple) with thier children. We planned it this way becuase I did not think it was fair to have loads of family and friends at our wedding, when none of his family or friends could attend.

- We will file MFJ taxes for 2013, but it is doubtful they will be processed in enough time to have transcripts for the AOS interview.

So, here are things that I think we could do, but really it would only be for the sake of showing something to USCIS, and it might seem strange that it is happening right before the interview.

- Add him to some household bills, and have him pay a bill or two from the joint account now that he is starting to receive paychecks.

- Add him as a beneficiary to the 401K and life insurance (We have decided that my children should be the sole beneficiaries of these accounts, but we could add him for like 20%)

- We recently purchased a car in cash. The intent of the car is to be used by my son until he goes to college in 6 months, then it will be my husband's car. The car was purchased in my name alone. I could add him to the title.

Like I said before, it all made sense at the time, but looking at it now, it doesn't appear that we have strong evidence. Could you please offer any suggestions of steps we could take before the AOS interview? And also what should do we between AOS and ROC so we don't find ourselves in this same situation in a couple of years? Thank you in advance!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Any changes you make will really only be needed later for ROC, when more evidence of co-mingling and co-habitation will be required.

Use the joint account, copies of credit cards with separate names but same account number, copy of your DL and his permit to show same address, proof he is on your insurance, copy of the tax return for 2013 from filing jointly(no need to wait for transcript), proof of your trips together and your photos. That sounds like plenty of evidence for an AOS interview.

[Lynkali 163]

If you filed for AOS in September and haven't received an interview notice yet, then it's very likely you WON'T have an interview -- K-1 adjustments only require them about 50% of the time and you appear to be in the queue of "wait a long time then get approval" rather than "wait 3 months and get interview". That's not definitive and they COULD still send you an interview date, but it seems doubtful. Also, K-1 adjustments are not expected to have mountains of co-mingled evidence, since you've only been married a short time and haven't had time to establish many joint finances.

So as Jay-Kay said, most of what you're worried about will be required down the road a bit more, when you file for Removal of Conditions. Start doing some of those things now, so they'll be established by the time ROC rolls around, then you won't have any worries.

By comparison, we filed our AOS from K-1 in November, and we got our interview notice in January -- interview is next week February 27. I was planning ahead so we do have quite a bit of evidence to bring, but I actually truly doubt they'll ask or care about most of it. (I'm well prepared just in case, but realistically know it's probably not needed!)

Like you, my house is in my name -- it's actually in my trust and I cannot change the deed to include my husband without completely re-working my entire estate/trust, so it's staying in my name only. We have one joint checking but it's mostly MY activity because my husband isn't working yet, so also somewhat similar to yours. But we did draw up several important documents: a power of attorney document for each of us with the other as agent, a will for each of us, and a health care directive giving power to each other to make health care decisions. Those are, I believe, very significant and USCIS looks favorably on that kind of evidence. So those legal documents, in addition to several shared utility bills and other smaller evidences, should be more than enough for AOS, and almost enough for ROC, with the addition of 2 years joint taxes down the road.

[2far 185]

Thank you both for the reassurances. When I step back and think about it, it really just seems so silly. I guess USCIS has to base their decisions on something, but I feel like we have to jump through these hoops to artificially create documents to provide. Rant over.

Lynkali, unfortunately, we have one of the slower field offices. I'm pretty certain that we will be notified of an interview date in the next couple of weeks. Our status changed to "Interview and Testing" about 4 months ago, and I don't think the interview waiver cases get that update. Waiting on the AOS interview is easy peasy compared to the wait we had for the I-129F, so we're not really concerned about it. He's here, he's working, so we're happy. Great idea on the legal documents! Not only for USCIS evidence sake, but also for real life. I'll put some thought into the power of attorney and the health care directive as those make sense for our situation. Again, my will only includes my children as beneficiaries, and like the house, that's not likely to change. Good luck with your interview next week!