RFE - Need some advice

[elm55 0]

Little background history I'm the USC and my husband is the CPR (he's Australian). We got married 6/06/2011 and we had a lawyer do all our immigration paperwork. My father did the I-864. We've been living with my parents since he entered the country (April 2011 - Current) and obviously we've been living with my parents since our marriage (06/06/2011 - current).

In Nov 2013 we sent in the i-751. The only things we sent with it was;

- My driver's license and his. Both have the same address.

- Copies of his green card, SSN, and passport.

- Our bank account and statements both in our name. We opened it on Jan 2013. Before then I was on my father's bank account, but he switched banks in Jan 2013 and we (my husband and I) decided to open our own.

- We sent 3 affidavits (all notarized). One from my father and two from our neighbors.

Nov 25, 2013: We recieved the Biometrics appoitment for Dec 16, 2013.
Match 2014: we received an I-797C (CASE TYPE: CRI89 Approved Removal of Conditions (I89)) saying that our case was being moved from the Vermont service center to the California one.
And yesterday (May 10th, 2014) we received the RFE.

EVIDENCE OF GOOD FAITH MARRIAGE
The conditional permanent resident (CPR) filed a Form I-751 with our office. The (CPR) provided some evidence of marital bona fides. However, the documentation was insufficient because

- The CPR submitted little evidence to support joint ownership of assets, responsibility for liabilities and communal residence.

To establish eligibility for removal of conditional status, it is requested that additional documentation be submitted. Documentations should reflect the names of both the CPR and the USC spouse. In addition, the documentation should cover the period of time from the date of the marriage to the present date.

Then it goes on to list the other general stuff, but they seem to really want assets. Assets and other things we don't have since we live with my parents. I know what we sent before is pretty bare and I understand why they're asking for more, but we honestly just don't have it. We're both unemployed (but looking) so we don't have any taxes to file together. My husband doesn't have health insurance, but I'm on my father's still. I do have a car, but the car is all in my father's name. He pays the taxes and insurance for it. He could gift the car to me and my husband so the title will be in our names, but I'm hesitant to do that because it will show we did it after the RFE came in.

Some other stuff we plan on sending in that we didn't send in the first time ;

-My husband has a lot of receipts from Amazon (dated 2011 - current) with the shipping/billing address at our current residence. A good portion of the stuff he's bought there was bought for me and my name is listed in the shipping info. Can these be used as proof as living together as a married couple?

-My father has claimed both as dependents on his 2012 and 2013 taxes.

-I have cards with the envelopes addressed to both of us from his family in Australia (Anniversary, holiday cards) and birthday cards that are addressed to us separately.

-Pictures of us with my parents. I don't have much extended family in SC. It's mostly just us and my parents. my father's side are all up in NY and my husband and I haven't visited them yet because we don't have the money to do it.


That's really all we got. I plan on getting letters again from friends attesting to our marriage. Which brings me to another question, should the cover letter I plan on typing for super formal/businesslike like how a lawyer would do it? Or is it okay if I just explain ourselves kind of like how I am doing now?

The first affidavit my father did didn't explain that he takes care of us financially which is why we don't have any bills, etc. I plan on getting him to include and explain that this time around. I also plan on getting my mother to write one too, which I probably should have done in the first place.

Also, are we guaranteed an interview if they still have any lingering doubts about our marriage or will they just flat out deny us if they still aren't satisfied?

That's about it. Sorry for the wall-o-text and sorry I don't have a timeline of our entire process (just joined today). Any advice is appreciated.

[Myopia 93]

I had sent in amazon shipping orders for myself and my husband on the intial application. Perhaps you could send in some that spans the time from when you were approved till now as that would show continuation.

I dont know anything about being claimed as dependants other than you have to a) be under 24 generally and b) you cant file your own tax return.

Do you have credit cards/debit cards/gym memberships etc?

[elm55 0]

I had sent in amazon shipping orders for myself and my husband on the intial application. Perhaps you could send in some that spans the time from when you were approved till now as that would show continuation.

I dont know anything about being claimed as dependants other than you have to a) be under 24 generally and b) you cant file your own tax return.

Do you have credit cards/debit cards/gym memberships etc?

We both have Amazon shipping receipts dating back from before we were married (but living together) and after we married and from stuff that we order even last week.

We were both under 24 when my father claimed us as a dependents in 2012 and 2013.

We don't have any credit cards, but we do have a bank account (debit card) together. I sent in our statements all from the time we opened the account to the most recent. I plan on sending them all again. We don't have any memberships anywhere though.

[NancyNguyen 1,658]

Amazon order receipts are not a primary bonafide evidience, adding them and pictures and postcards will help somehow. You will find these below needed:

1. Headletter explains why you didn't file tax together. And point out you are both dependents on your father's tax.

2. Car Insurance listed you two as insured driver.

3. A car title will be helpful, don't think ahead of USCIS, better than you have nothing.

Don't sweat much, you have 90 days to collect those, make a list and cross out those items you can collect. Good luck and be blessed.

[QueenComley 295]

"My husband has a lot of receipts from Amazon (dated 2011 - current) with the shipping/billing address at our current residence. A good portion of the stuff he's bought there was bought for me and my name is listed in the shipping info. Can these be used as proof as living together as a married couple?"

I asked my attorney about Amazon Receipts when we were preparing for our AOS interview. He said not to waste our time bringing them, as it would not be deemed as primary evidence. I don't know if that would apply for ROC, but I would imagine so.

Primary evidence for financial ties would be joint banks account statements and joint credit card statements... this is primary evidence.

Edited May 12, 2014 by QueenComley

[elm55 0]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Anyone know if an interview is guaranteed if they're still not satisfied with the evidence we plan to send in?

[efc 1]

we had same problem. got RFE last July so sent letters from parents and friends and pictures and plane tickets etc.

had interview last week, she said we are good? it was weird. the only thing missing was 2012 tax return but all others were there. You will probably get an interview. But they didn't ask us many questions at all, like I said, weird! Also I got 2 biometrics requests. It was almost like they lost some of our stuff. We don't have a mortgage together as hubby already had it years before we met and we don't want to pay the fees. But bank accounts, insurances, etc everything else is joint. So, they seemed satisfied at our interview...

Good luck!

[elm55 0]

Alright, here with an update post. My husband was approved! He's now a PR of the US. Didn't even have to do an interview.

Here's a list of stuff we sent in originally, before we got the RFE

-Both our driver's licenses
-Both our SSN

-Bank Statements
-Letters of support from friends

And after we got the RFE we sent in all this:

-A cover letter written by me explaining our situation

-Car title and registration that is in both our names

-Every bank statement we had since the account was open (2012-present)

-My father's 2012 and 2013 tax transcripts that listed both my husband and I as dependents.
-A letter from my father explaining our situation (and just for people wondering, he didn't get it notarized)

-Some more letters from friends

-Six pictures of my husband and I with family

-lots greeting cards from family members here in the USA and from family in Australia

And that was it. We mailed it off on July 2, 2014 and he was approved on July 14, 2014 (we got the letter today though). I'm really surprised how fast it was. And I was sure we were going to have to do an interview, but thankfully we didn't.

So other people who are in similar situation as we are (lack of joint utility bills, house ownership/mortgage, no tax transcripts, etc) don't freak out too much. Like others have said, every case is unique so it's treated case by case.

So happy we don't have to worry about this anymore, yay!

[keysjangle 145]

I'm working on my RFE packet now... I see a lot of people printing off YEARS of bank statements.

I have a selection of them, pretty much every 4 months, and then one for each of the last 4 months.

I'm thinking now, I should add the first one my name appeared on when we created the joint account.

Did you guys feel it was necessary to send every month's statement, or was it just out of caution?

I also have all of our tax returns/paperwork + transcripts + from 2010 to 2013 where we either filed MFJ or MFS then amended to MFJ once I got my SSN.

Printing out the statement before I was added and then the first statement I appeared on right now....

[elm55 0]

I'm working on my RFE packet now... I see a lot of people printing off YEARS of bank statements.

I have a selection of them, pretty much every 4 months, and then one for each of the last 4 months.

I'm thinking now, I should add the first one my name appeared on when we created the joint account.

Did you guys feel it was necessary to send every month's statement, or was it just out of caution?

I also have all of our tax returns/paperwork + transcripts + from 2010 to 2013 where we either filed MFJ or MFS then amended to MFJ once I got my SSN.

Printing out the statement before I was added and then the first statement I appeared on right now....

Sorry for replying so late. We sent in bank statements from Dec 2012 to June 2014 along with a copy of when we opened the account together (had the date stating when we opened) since for some reason our bank doesn't keep statements from years back. I felt it was necessary in our case to send in all of them because we were really lacking in financial evidence of our marriage. It seems like the go to method when getting the dreaded RFE is to send in a lot of stuff than to send too little. I worry a lot so sending in almost 2 years worth of bank statements was for my peace of mind more than anything else. I've read else where that some people just send in 3 from each year from the time they opened an account together to present.