Please help....Evidence of a bonafide marriage in I-130

[rmarkwallace 7]

In a bona fide marriage, the couple start acting like a married couple. They live together, establish joint bank accounts, make each other the beneficiaries of life insurance policies and things like that. They might buy a house together or start a family together. They would also file a joint tax return. The community thinks of them as a couple and treats them as a couple. They might go to marriage counseling to build the marriage or go on church couple's retreats. No one thing establishes that it is a bona fide marriage, but the totality of the lifestyle. Do you drive each other's cars, for instance? Is the car insurance a family policy with the multi-car discount? If they are apart, there is daily contact, such as facebook postings (that can be printed out) My fiance's facebook postings and mine already show evidence of commingling of life styles even though she is still in the Philippines. I she asked me if she should send her son to the doctor and I I told her yes and put up the money, for instance. That shows a family decision. We have also talked about my adopting her son.

They sometimes are guided by the wedding itself. Was it a private ceremony with few attending or was it a social event? Religious weddings can be a good sign because religious marriages are harder to pull apart. If your spouse was just trying to get you a visa, he or she wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of a big wedding and a religious commitment.

If it is not a bona fide marriage, these things don't happen. They live separately, don't commingle accounts, don't start having children,etc. They don't go to marriage counseling or attend a lot of functions together. There isn't daily contact. Those are the sort of things that would raise suspicion.

Gwenstar had the right idea on documentation and Harpa has the right idea on coming in on a temporary visa. It's not a slam dunk denial.

Although when you get entry to the United States with one visa, you aren't supposed to try to change status, it happens all of the time. Two college students fall in love, one is a citizen and the other is on a student visa. A tourist visa might raise more questions, but it is simply life and not automatically grounds for denial. A person who came here on a work permit is just as likely to fall in love as a citizen.

[Ben10 2]

In a bona fide marriage, the couple start acting like a married couple. They live together, establish joint bank accounts, make each other the beneficiaries of life insurance policies and things like that. They might buy a house together or start a family together. They would also file a joint tax return. The community thinks of them as a couple and treats them as a couple. They might go to marriage counseling to build the marriage or go on church couple's retreats. No one thing establishes that it is a bona fide marriage, but the totality of the lifestyle. Do you drive each other's cars, for instance? Is the car insurance a family policy with the multi-car discount? If they are apart, there is daily contact, such as facebook postings (that can be printed out) My fiance's facebook postings and mine already show evidence of commingling of life styles even though she is still in the Philippines. I she asked me if she should send her son to the doctor and I I told her yes and put up the money, for instance. That shows a family decision. We have also talked about my adopting her son.

They sometimes are guided by the wedding itself. Was it a private ceremony with few attending or was it a social event? Religious weddings can be a good sign because religious marriages are harder to pull apart. If your spouse was just trying to get you a visa, he or she wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of a big wedding and a religious commitment.

If it is not a bona fide marriage, these things don't happen. They live separately, don't commingle accounts, don't start having children,etc. They don't go to marriage counseling or attend a lot of functions together. There isn't daily contact. Those are the sort of things that would raise suspicion.

Gwenstar had the right idea on documentation and Harpa has the right idea on coming in on a temporary visa. It's not a slam dunk denial.

Although when you get entry to the United States with one visa, you aren't supposed to try to change status, it happens all of the time. Two college students fall in love, one is a citizen and the other is on a student visa. A tourist visa might raise more questions, but it is simply life and not automatically grounds for denial. A person who came here on a work permit is just as likely to fall in love as a citizen.

Well said. I like that....

[Converts 9]

In a bona fide marriage, the couple start acting like a married couple. They live together, establish joint bank accounts, make each other the beneficiaries of life insurance policies and things like that. They might buy a house together or start a family together. They would also file a joint tax return. The community thinks of them as a couple and treats them as a couple. They might go to marriage counseling to build the marriage or go on church couple's retreats. No one thing establishes that it is a bona fide marriage, but the totality of the lifestyle. Do you drive each other's cars, for instance? Is the car insurance a family policy with the multi-car discount? If they are apart, there is daily contact, such as facebook postings (that can be printed out) My fiance's facebook postings and mine already show evidence of commingling of life styles even though she is still in the Philippines. I she asked me if she should send her son to the doctor and I I told her yes and put up the money, for instance. That shows a family decision. We have also talked about my adopting her son.

They sometimes are guided by the wedding itself. Was it a private ceremony with few attending or was it a social event? Religious weddings can be a good sign because religious marriages are harder to pull apart. If your spouse was just trying to get you a visa, he or she wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of a big wedding and a religious commitment.

If it is not a bona fide marriage, these things don't happen. They live separately, don't commingle accounts, don't start having children,etc. They don't go to marriage counseling or attend a lot of functions together. There isn't daily contact. Those are the sort of things that would raise suspicion.

Gwenstar had the right idea on documentation and Harpa has the right idea on coming in on a temporary visa. It's not a slam dunk denial.

Although when you get entry to the United States with one visa, you aren't supposed to try to change status, it happens all of the time. Two college students fall in love, one is a citizen and the other is on a student visa. A tourist visa might raise more questions, but it is simply life and not automatically grounds for denial. A person who came here on a work permit is just as likely to fall in love as a citizen.

While this is true, most IO will understand that newlyweds don't usually have joint account, joint insurance etc and let alone buying a new house right after the marriage.

During my interview, I was not under my spouse's insurance benefits and bank account. The IO understand that we were just married and didn't share a lot of things together yet.

What you described is probably apply in ROC stage. Even so, a lot of couples don't start having children, don't have joint bank account, and they still got approved during ROC.

To OP: Good luck!

[mountainking11 4]

My husband entered on a B1 visa, in October 2013. We married February 2014 and his I-130 and I-485 were approved in May 2014. When we submitted our applications we submitted a copy of our marriage license, 2 pictures from our wedding, a copy of a car that we jointly purchased, copies of telephone logs, emails between us, and an affidavit from a family member.

[Andreia 0]

Attach as many a pic of you toghter, and liable on the backing the pic and put it on chronological time. And place and date , don't need to bee specific date at the latest month.

And weather you guys have on booth names .

And good luck !

[Finn2 8]

Is all of this really necessary? I only submitted our marriage certificate and a copy of our joint tenancy agreement and had no RFE. The i-130 instructions say to submit 1 (or more ) types of evidence.

I'm sure more is always better than too little, but I'll bring all the other evidence to the interview.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Is all of this really necessary? I only submitted our marriage certificate and a copy of our joint tenancy agreement and had no RFE. The i-130 instructions say to submit 1 (or more ) types of evidence.

I'm sure more is always better than too little, but I'll bring all the other evidence to the interview.

Nope, this is not necessary. You did fine.

[mountainking11 4]

Is all of this really necessary? I only submitted our marriage certificate and a copy of our joint tenancy agreement and had no RFE. The i-130 instructions say to submit 1 (or more ) types of evidence.

I'm sure more is always better than too little, but I'll bring all the other evidence to the interview.

It is not necessary. I think it helps your case to have more than bare minimum evidence. I submitted our evidence on the premise that the immigration officer would review our file before we went in for the interview. I wanted the immigration officer to be leaning toward an approval prior to setting eyes on us. Perhaps I was paranoid because our case had some red flags. My husband and I did not date for a long time before we decided to marry, my husband entered on a visitor visa, and both of us were previously married.

Overall, the evidence is what makes the case.

[mountainking11 4]

Is all of this really necessary? I only submitted our marriage certificate and a copy of our joint tenancy agreement and had no RFE. The i-130 instructions say to submit 1 (or more ) types of evidence.

I'm sure more is always better than too little, but I'll bring all the other evidence to the interview.

It is not necessary. I think it helps your case to have more than bare minimum evidence. I submitted our evidence on the premise that the immigration officer would review our file before we went in for the interview. I wanted the immigration officer to be leaning toward an approval prior to setting eyes on us. Perhaps I was paranoid because our case had some red flags. My husband and I did not date for a long time before we decided to marry, my husband entered on a visitor visa, and both of us were previously married.

Overall, the evidence is what makes the case.

[braveheart97xxx 7]

Thank you so much for all your helpful information..... i am now preparing all documents and proof ...

One more question - We moved in our present house last december 2013(lease), I am thinking of asking my neighbor to sign an affidavit that they can attest that we have been living together here in this house since december 2013 until now as additional proof of a bonafide marriage-co habitation. Do you think it is a good idea ?

[aussie_jason 195]

No need for that, especially at the application stage. When it comes to the interview though I would be prepared with extra evidence as your timeline will likely look suspicious to the IO.

[mountainking11 4]

Thank you so much for all your helpful information..... i am now preparing all documents and proof ...

One more question - We moved in our present house last december 2013(lease), I am thinking of asking my neighbor to sign an affidavit that they can attest that we have been living together here in this house since december 2013 until now as additional proof of a bonafide marriage-co habitation. Do you think it is a good idea ?

When my husband and I married, I went to my landlord and had my husband added to the lease as an occupant. He could not be added as a lease holder because he was unemployed at the time. With our I-130 I sent a statement from the landlord which indicated the date that my husband was added to the lease.

[SM & EF 41]

There isn't one correct answer regarding what extra info to include. It really depends on your personality. From what I can tell reading posts here, there are two types of people in relationships like ours:

1. People like me - We obsess over the rules and timelines and compiling documentation...always asking "...but what if they want to see more?"

2. People like my husband - They are more relaxed...the relationship is real and the IO will recognize that.

So which one are you?

My only advice is to be yourself and enjoy it. I had lots of fun going through all the pictures and compiling Facebook posts and emails into one document and putting together a binder of official documents and scanning everything and...and...and. And while I was so relieved to hear that we were approved, I also miss that time. Fortunately it'll be time to file to remove the conditions on his greencard in about a year, so I have that to look forward to.

Best wishes from Ft Lauderdale!