Documents and Timing

[indiana_sweetie 120]

Next week is the earliest we can file my husband's ROC. His conditional GC expires April 30th. However, we are wondering about delaying. Please advise. Here are the details:

(1) We moved in September and are still living with relatives. We are on a list for an apartment, for April. That is the earliest date we could have a joint lease.

(2) As soon as we get my hubby's W2 I will file our joint 2014 taxes, but we don't have it yet, so I'm thinking the taxes will be done in mid-late February.

(3) I start working next month, meaning we will each have a pay stub with our current address.

(We also have co-mingled bank accounts, credit cards, car insurance, health insurance, bills in my name and bills in his name...all with the previous address and now the current address)

What are your thoughts? Delay filing? If so, how long? How long is "too late" to file. Thanks in advance.

Edited January 26, 2015 by indiana_sweetie

[indiana_sweetie 120]

I need to know, is it OK to file in April?

[TBoneTX 46,208]

Absolutely. I wouldn't wait until the LAST day of the filing period, but you're free to file anytime within the window.

Edited to add: The period between now and filing would be a great time to compose wills, medical powers of attorney, and similar documents -- these are outstandingly strong evidence. Some lawyers will do them comparatively cheaply; there are self-help sites like nolo.com and legalzoom.com; or, you can Web-search for templates of these documents that are valid for YOUR state of residence. (Disclaimer: Not a lawyer, here.) These documents are even more valuable in "life" than for ROC purposes, although they're great for both.

Edited again to add: Whatever documents you send, be sure that they cover the period of your marriage. I compiled our package perhaps differently than some have done. I had interior cover-sheets with "Fourth Quarter 2008," "First Quarter 2009," "Second Quarter 2009," etc. on them, with mini-indices on each to list the 2 to 5 items per quarter that I was including.

I figured that the USCIS reviewer would have two questions: "What is included here?" and "What period does it cover?" This method made the second answer obvious, without anyone's having to paw through to see whether the entire span of the marriage was actually dealt with. This system was nice for me, too, because it reassured me that I was indeed including something for each quarter throughout the marriage.

Of course, if the mailroom people were prepared to tear the package apart and arrange it in their standard fashion, it might have driven them nuts.

I'm so grateful for having followed advice here on VJ: to collect things important and trivial during the marriage, and throw them into a box. Sure enough, by ROC time, I had more than enough evidence to choose from, and indeed more than I ended up including.

This is far more than you asked about, but it's refreshing to see someone who's actually planning ahead.

Edited January 27, 2015 by TBoneTX

[indiana_sweetie 120]

Thanks TBone!

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

I thought a little bit about this because while we have more evidence than you (joint titles to cars, life insurance, boarding passes for 2 different trips, medical documents with both of our names on them) - we don't have any leases or joint house titles and we still haven't gotten one of the W2s and a 1099 to file for taxes yet.

I decided to just go ahead and file because by the time my taxes were in and a transcript available, we'd be looking at 50 days or so until conditional greencard expiration. If they need the 2014 taxes, they'll RFE us and we'll have them ready and a ton more stuff we've accumulated in the meantime.

It doesn't seem like ROC is being processed very quickly lately.

[indiana_sweetie 120]

I thought a little bit about this because while we have more evidence than you (joint titles to cars, life insurance, boarding passes for 2 different trips, medical documents with both of our names on them) - we don't have any leases or joint house titles and we still haven't gotten one of the W2s and a 1099 to file for taxes yet.

I decided to just go ahead and file because by the time my taxes were in and a transcript available, we'd be looking at 50 days or so until conditional greencard expiration. If they need the 2014 taxes, they'll RFE us and we'll have them ready and a ton more stuff we've accumulated in the meantime.

It doesn't seem like ROC is being processed very quickly lately.

That's true, I would need a transcript, not just our taxes. Thanks for the input.