Should evidence be US-centric?

[Sukie 1,460]

My spouse and I maintain homes both in the US and in her home country, Australia, as we have strong family ties to both countries. I have been a Permanent Resident of Australia longer than she has been a Permanent Resident of the US.

We have evidence in both countries - we own property together in Australia, but only I own the house in the US. We have cars and insurance in both countries. We have Australian wills and US wills, plus Australian medical insurance and US medical insurance. We have joint bank accounts and credit cards in both countries. We will have two years of Married, Filing Jointly in the US.

Question 1: Should I-751 evidence be US-centric? That is, should I just send in US-based evidence?

Question 2: Because I owned the house in the US since 2002, long before I met my spouse, should I preempt any questions about why only *I* own the house in the US with a cover letter?

Thanks for any advice.

Sukie in NY

[Cheezees 1,514]

1. I've never heard of it being an issue. I would submit everything you have, the more, the better.

2. It is not uncommon. Our house mortgage is in my name only and I still sent the joint deed as evidence of joint residence.

I don't think you'd have any issues. Good luck!

[Pete's Dragon 4]

1. Use evidence from both countries, but be certain your U.S. evidence is in there. My wife and I submitted our French family book with our I-751. This shows that our marriage is registered in France. The point of showing the foreign evidence is that if the couple has indicia of marriage in foreign country, then it reduces the likelihood that the marriage was not entered into in good faith. In other words, if you were trying to scam the system, then why bother acting like you are married in another country?

2. I would explain why only I owned the house in a letter to USCIS. It cannot hurt, might reduce the odds of an RFE, and might make the agent's job a little easier. And we all like it when our jobs are a little easier.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Pete's Dragon

[LoveMyTico 999]

I owned my house before I ever meet my husband. I just refinanced and I did the streamline . I asked about putting my husband on the mortgage but they told me we would have to do a regular mortgage. We would have to qualify with income and assets. Well, we wouldn't qualify with my husbands on the mortgage because he just entered this past January. He needs 2 year work history which he doesn't have yet plus his new credit rating won't help. So I refinanced alone to lower our payment. The same thing happened when I bought my new car. Honda finance told me his non existing credit rating would give me a higher finance rate, so I bought the car in my name only. We have one bank account together, health insurance together and the addresses on our drivers licenses. We are still working on taking pictures but its usually the two of us when we go out. Its hard to get pics together. And he works 12 hours a day/6 days a week. We are going on vacation at the end of July so we will have travel itinerary. I guess I'll look into getting a will together. I don't think it matters where your houses are, they just want to see co mingling of assets.

Edited July 7, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[Sukie 1,460]

I owned my house before I ever meet my husband. I just refinanced and I did the streamline . I asked about putting my husband on the mortgage but they told me we would have to do a regular mortgage. We would have to qualify with income and assets. Well, we wouldn't qualify with my husbands on the mortgage because he just entered this past January. He needs 2 year work history which he doesn't have yet plus his new credit rating won't help. So I refinanced alone to lower our payment. The same thing happened when I bought my new car. Honda finance told me his non existing credit rating would give me a higher finance rate, so I bought the car in my name only. We have one bank account together, health insurance together and the addresses on our drivers licenses. We are still working on taking pictures but its usually the two of us when we go out. Its hard to get pics together. And he works 12 hours a day/6 days a week. We are going on vacation at the end of July so we will have travel itinerary. I guess I'll look into getting a will together. I don't think it matters where your houses are, they just want to see co mingling of assets.

Hey L-Girl! How are things going with you?

So...will you write a cover letter about the house and the reason your guy isn't on the loan or the car? Will you do this so you don't get an RFE? That's really my big question - whether to try to "explain" the reason why I haven't added her to the deed.

Sukie in NY

[LoveMyTico 999]

Heyyyyyyyyy...well, Im wondering if its even worth it to mention the house and car. I would think they would understand that its expensive to add someone to a mortgage and it doesn't make sense to take a ridiculous interest rate on a car loan just to have the other person added. I don't know....I guess I need to wait and see what other evidence I can gather. Taxes are a biggy. I hate immigration. Grrrrrrrrr

[foreignrelations 1]

This may be a little off-topic, but evidence aside it's still a good idea to add your spouse's name to the title of the house. You can do this without adding her to the mortage/refinancing. I believe it costs a few hundred dollars, but the advantage is that if you pass away, she'll get the house automatically without having to go through the courts and pay probate fees on it.

[LoveMyTico 999]

My husband wants my kids to have the house so that's just a waste. We will eventually have a house in Costa Rica but for now.... I'm not adding him. Its a waste of Money.

[Sukie 1,460]

This may be a little off-topic, but evidence aside it's still a good idea to add your spouse's name to the title of the house. You can do this without adding her to the mortage/refinancing. I believe it costs a few hundred dollars, but the advantage is that if you pass away, she'll get the house automatically without having to go through the courts and pay probate fees on it.

Until your spouse is a US citizen, your spouse has to pass through a tax hurdle with regards to an estate. We were going to wait until she becomes a citizen, and just take care of the title then. I own my house free and clear - so there is no mortgage option. And, I've willed it to her anyway.

Given that we have to pay income tax in two countries, at this point it's in our best interest for her NOT to own real estate in the US.

We'll see.

Sukie in NY

[NikLR 13,227]

Sukie the wills help with the house issue, so i wouldn't worry about it. Submit everything that is joint or showing each other as beneficiaries, foreign or domestic.

[travelfairy 22]

I think you have plenty of evidence, just submit it all. If anything, bundle up US and Australian evidence separately so it's easier for them to review the US stuff first. If you've traveling been between US/Australia together, include the booking information. Doing the SYD/NYC (or BNE/MEL-NYC) flight repeatedly with the same person can only be love :-)