Supporting documents to show proof of real marriage (joint apartment lease)

[elvenshadow 19]

So, we are just finishing up translating our apartment lease. It has both of our names on it and we have lived here together for nearly 2 years. The actual lease is quite long but only the first 3 pages actually have information that has anything to do with us specifically. After those 3 pages, it is just a bunch of lists of clauses, articles, and contract jargon. I figured it was unnecessary to translate the entire book because none of the rest of that stuff is relevant to our case but on one of the pages we translated, it says that the lease can be renewed beyond a certain period of time and to reference Article 3, which is not on the pages we translated or copied. Obviously the article itself is not relevant to our application, but is USCIS going to consider the document incomplete? Is there a chance that they will not allow it as legit evidence or even worse, give us an RFE? We want to send our application within the next few days but having to translate several pages of legal jargon seems like a big waste of time.

So, how strict are they with this kind of thing? Do you think we are OK just sending translations and scans of the relevant pages?

[Boggy1974 124]

This is really 50/50. It may depend on how strict the adjudicator is. I would not translate the whole *book* and contract jargons as you say. I will do only the 3 relevant pages plus the referenced page.

Why I would not translate entire lease? Because it is just one other document you need to proof a bona fide marriage. If you have others to support it then you will be ok.

Remember, it's better to pull pieces of good supporting evidenctiary documents from the instruction list to make your I-130 petition look whole. In other words, you need pieces of good tangible evidence to paint a complete picture of your marriage. Good luck!

Edited April 14, 2014 by Boggy1974

[elvenshadow 19]

Well, aside from the apartment lease, we of course have our marriage certificate. We also have joint bank account information from a US bank (there are no joint bank accounts in Japan) as well as 16 pictures showing our relationship in different locations over a span of 7 years. I also asked a friend to write an affidavit but we might just save that for the next step of the application. Do you think this is enough? Even if they don’t consider the apartment lease solid enough as proof, they won’t give me an RFE since it is technically optional, right?

Edited April 14, 2014 by elvenshadow

[elvenshadow 19]

Oh, and I have one more question. Should I type at the bottom of each page of the translation like “translation of joint apartment lease, page x of x” ?

Do I need to include anything else like the names of the beneficiary and petitioner or a signature and date or something?

Also, for the certification statement saying I am qualified to translate, do I need one sheet for each separate page or each separate document or just one statement to cover the whole application packet?

Thank you.

[elvenshadow 19]

Another question.

The apartment lease has 3 pages that are photo copies of the original and 1 translation page for each. How should I package them? Should I staple the 3 pages of the copy of the original together and then staple the 3 pages of the translation together separately or should I staple all 6 together or should I just paper clip all 6 together?