A little help - RFE at Interview

[hixsy 26]

Hoping for a little bit of advice and assistance from this lovely community regarding our situation.

We had our Interview yesterday and although it was a little weird, everything seemed to be in order apart from needing more evidence of our relationship. The lady interviewing us said that she could split us and ask questions, but it would be pointless as she believed the validity of our marriage, we would just need more documentation for our records before she could approve us.

She seemed very focused on my husband (USC) being an 100% disabled military veteran and returned to that point a few times. Although he satisfies the criteria of having an income of 125% above the poverty line, it felt like she wanted to see evidence that he would adequately look after me (she questioned him a lot and hardly asked me anything) Due to the nature of his disability we are a very self-contained relationship with limited outside social interactions. Even the IO admitted we may need to be a little creative with the additional evidence.

So, this is the evidence we took to interview:

• Photos documenting our relationship
• Letters of support from my family
• Cards from my family
• Chat correspondence between the two of us
• Couple of bills in my name

The additional evidence we are looking at getting is below:

• Added to joint account and savings account
• Added to household utility bills
• Living will
• Written statement from husband explaining his condition in relation to the marriage (she seemed to indicate to us to do this one)
• Engagement and wedding ring receipts
• State ID (hopefully picking that up today)

We're hopeful that would be enough to satisfy the criteria of evidence they are asking for, but I was wondering if anyone else had any other viable suggestions?

Just for reference, these are the things we are currently unable to do (unless anyone can give some helpful pointers):

• We never applied for an EAD for me as we didn't think it would be needed (hindsight is a wonderful thing) so sadly no SSN
• Despite pestering the letting agent to add me to the lease and them floundering around with a response of they don't know how to process me, they have now turned round and said they won't add me to the lease based on my immigration status and that they won't even give us a letter stating that. They even went as far to say they are not happy with me living here anymore. It may be the case we have to move out although we were loathe to do so due to the extra expense and stress (especially as we were looking at buying once my status is sorted) So that's another separate bundle we will need to unravel
• Husband is very much against credit cards (he doesn't even have one himself) so doesn't wish to obtain those
• As his income is from the VA, it's not taxable so he's not required to file tax returns so there is nothing joint there on that front
• He's tried repeatedly to add me to the VA claim as that also covers us both for medical, but have been met with repeated brick walls
• I don't drive, so not sure if he would be able to add me on to auto registration/insurance
• No children and not a possibility either
• He only has a pay-as-you-go phone and I don't have a phone at all (with no wish to either) so no contract on that front to be added to
• As we are self-contained and minimalist, we don't have any friends that could write up an affidavit of support

At the moment my husband is wanting to instruct an attorney, just to help alleviate the stress a little, but I figured in the mean time the wealth of experience here could help us get on track with a few ideas.

So any evidence suggestions would be greatly appreciated Thanks for taking the time to read this as I appreciate it is quite lengthy.

[Darnell 8,478]

I say apply for ead card now [fee waived when showing receipt notices on i-485] then once you have receipt on ead, walk in to uscis office, citing emergency need with the security guards.

Then with ead in hand, go to ssa office, apply for ssn. Then go back next day and get the number.

With a ssn, you two can generate loads of stuff.

Its either that, or you generate about 11 letters of attestation covering each thing you cannot obtain due to no ssn.

[hixsy 26]

I say apply for ead card now [fee waived when showing receipt notices on i-485] then once you have receipt on ead, walk in to uscis office, citing emergency need with the security guards.

Then with ead in hand, go to ssa office, apply for ssn. Then go back next day and get the number.

With a ssn, you two can generate loads of stuff.

Its either that, or you generate about 11 letters of attestation covering each thing you cannot obtain due to no ssn.

Thanks Darnell, that's awesome advice as we didn't realize we could do that.

We have been given 90 days to respond to the RFE, so it sounds like the EAD is a viable option for us with the process you have stated.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

I hope you will be prepared for an emergency if you have no cc and therefore aren't on the credit radar.

Having no credit history is a hardship unless you live in a cabin in the woods and off the grid somewhere.
Get the EAD and SSN ! You never know what the future holds and you need to think about being less dependent on your husband.

Why not get a joint one and if you do not like debt then use it very minimal and pay it off each month.

Ask the car insurance about adding you, get the car title in both names, get life insurance leaving each other as beneficiary.

Sometimes we have to do what we don't like to do in order to comply with the system.

[hixsy 26]

I hope you will be prepared for an emergency if you have no cc and therefore aren't on the credit radar.

Having no credit history is a hardship unless you live in a cabin in the woods and off the grid somewhere.

Get the EAD and SSN ! You never know what the future holds and you need to think about being less dependent on your husband.

Why not get a joint one and if you do not like debt then use it very minimal and pay it off each month.

Ask the car insurance about adding you, get the car title in both names, get life insurance leaving each other as beneficiary.

Sometimes we have to do what we don't like to do in order to comply with the system.

We are covered in an emergency without having a credit card so that's not an issue (although husband is tempted by the idea of a cabin in the woods)

Future wise, I'm actually a qualified accountant so once everything is sorted the intention is for me to go back to school to update my qualification with the relevant ethics and codes of practice for the US and then I have a few book-keeping contracts waiting for me that I can work on in a self-employed capacity. We have also talked about me working part-time. The IO seemed very supportive of this when we were talking to her about it.

It's not that we don't like/want to do these things, but have just been met with genuine barriers. Hopefully will be able to make some progress today with the bank so that's a positive start.