Questions about evidence of bona fide marriage

[YoungRL 4]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here and I know you all probably see a lot of repeat threads; I did some searching but I didn't turn up anything that was terribly relevant to my situation.

I am an American currently living in the US and my boyfriend is English and living in the UK. We've been together for almost 6 years (known each other more than 10!) and while we are not yet engaged, we've always known we want to get married, and we intend to live in the US.

For a variety of reasons, we think that it would be best to go with the CR-1, rather than the K-1. We are thinking that at some point when we are ready, he will come over on a visit, we will be married in a civil ceremony, and at the end of the visit he will return home. We would then start the visa process.

However, we would like to hold an actual ceremony at a later date (after a traditional proposal with a ring, at some point) complete with an exchange of wedding rings, guests present, etc. At this point I would change my name, we would combine finances, and basically we'd do all the ordinary things that people do when they get married. Essentially, we'd like to get him over here and and enjoy the whole engagement and wedding thing on our own terms, preserving the magic as much as we can without being encumbered by the immigration requirements and process and everything that comes with tying up loose ends in his home country and making a transatlantic move.

For evidence of bona fide marriage we would submit things like affidavits, correspondence between ourselves and our family members, travel documents, and photos of us together and with each other's family members. At this point we'd most likely we'd have evidence of a living arrangement for when he comes over, and we'd include everything relating to the civil ceremony, of course. (We would dress nicely, my sister would attend as our witness, we'd take photos--it would be formal and we'd take it seriously, but it would be without all the typical trappings so that we can save that for the "real deal" later on.)

Does this evidence seem like it would be enough? Has anyone done a bare-bones legal ceremony to go through the immigration process and have a celebratory ceremony down the road? Should we make these intentions known during the process, or should we stick to explanations of practicality (saying that we didn't want anything fussy, that we preferred to wait to combine finances, etc.)?

I appreciate any and all advice you folks can give me!

Edited May 17, 2015 by YoungRL

[j&ana 363]

you have plenty of evidence. you really do not need to include your intention of a celebratory wedding. As long as you are legally married that all that matters

Also if you do not have living arrangements together that is ok to. They understand that most married couples from different countries will not be living together

the other evidence is really good. I will not include affidavits you can if you want to but I do not think they are needed with the evidence you have. I did not include any affidavits

Also do not get to carry away with submitting evidence. I am sure knowing each other for ten years you will have a lot of evidence.

Passport stamps, some pictures of both of you also with family and friends, boarding passes receipts of places you visit. Chat and text msg records that is all good evidence

Edited May 17, 2015 by j&ana

[K & V 33]

It looks like you have all of your bases covered. If you two did any Skype chats, I would include your call log transcripts as well.

My wife and I are in the same process. I am from the US, but we chose to have our wedding celebratory ceremony in her resident country (Italy).

[Ryan H 3,812]

Skip the affidavits, they carry little to zero weight in the overall evaluation of a file. You have plenty of other evidence of time spent together in-person. This is your strongest evidence.

[YoungRL 4]

you have plenty of evidence. you really do not need to include your intention of a celebratory wedding. As long as you are legally married that all that matters

Also if you do not have living arrangements together that is ok to. They understand that most married couples from different countries will not be living together

the other evidence is really good. I will not include affidavits you can if you want to but I do not think they are needed with the evidence you have. I did not include any affidavits

Also do not get to carry away with submitting evidence. I am sure knowing each other for ten years you will have a lot of evidence.

Passport stamps, some pictures of both of you also with family and friends, boarding passes receipts of places you visit. Chat and text msg records that is all good evidence

Yeah, we'll have a lot of evidence to wade through so we'd really only pick the best of it. Thank you, and congratulations, by the way--looks like you just received your visa!

Edited May 17, 2015 by YoungRL

[YoungRL 4]

It looks like you have all of your bases covered. If you two did any Skype chats, I would include your call log transcripts as well.

My wife and I are in the same process. I am from the US, but we chose to have our wedding celebratory ceremony in her resident country (Italy).

We do a lot of chatting through Facebook Messenger and typing to each other on Skype, so we definitely have more than enough content to use, there. Thanks for your response!

[YoungRL 4]

Skip the affidavits, they carry little to zero weight in the overall evaluation of a file. You have plenty of other evidence of time spent together in-person. This is your strongest evidence.

Thank you, I appreciate the helpful response!