Necessity of Affidavits?

[Zachris 5]

Are affidavits now necessary for the Removal of Conditions application? The old form (obsolete in Feb 2016) made it seem optional. The new form instructions imply that affidavits are expected, but does not actually state that they are required.

I do not have a lot of close friends, so I would rather not include affidavits that may require the person to "testify before an immigration officer" because that would be asking a lot of a casual friend.

So, are they now necessary or not?

[Alaska2012 462]

Not necessary at all. They are actually pretty weak as evidence anyway...

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

I used affidavits for my CR 1 / Had to / I needed them from family who could not attend the marriage celebration / USCIS asked for them / my affidavits were accetped

Purpose of an affidavit is to act as the testimony so the person does not have to testify

af·fi·da·vit

ˌafəˈdāvit/

noun

Law

noun: affidavit; plural noun: affidavits

a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court.

[Cheezees 1,514]

Affidavits are considered weak/secondary evidence as mentioned. If you have a lot of other strong evidence of financial co-mingling, joint residency, and joint liability, I would not bother with them. I submitted none for my ROC.

[Cheezees 1,514]

Not according to USCIS. (What a nuisance if they actually went through with it!)

As per the I-751 instructions:

"Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by at least two people who have known both of you since your conditional residence was granted and have personal knowledge of your marriage and relationship. (Such persons may be required to testify before an immigration officer as to the information contained in the affidavit.)"

I used affidavits for my CR 1 / Had to / I needed them from family who could not attend the marriage celebration / USCIS asked for them / my affidavits were accetped

Purpose of an affidavit is to act as the testimony so the person does not have to testify

af·fi·da·vit

ˌafəˈdāvit/

noun

Law

noun: affidavit; plural noun: affidavits

a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court.

[Darnell 8,479]

for a RoC casefile,

[my opinion]

affadavits MAY BE useful

if and only if

you two are lacking in the evidence of 2 years of financial co-mingling.

if this is the case for you two, think hard about generating letters of attestation (instead) as to why you two were unable to generate the evidence of financial co-mingling.

[oceanborn 33]

Just to second all the good advice listed here - not necessary if primary evidence is sufficient. I didn't send any for my RoC and was approved without interview

[Zachris 5]

Thanks for all the answers, but much of this seems to be based upon the old instructions (officially out of date in Feb 2016). For example, the quote from the instructions given by Cheezess is from the old instructions. The current instructions read:

Evidence of the Relationship
Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriage upon which you were granted conditional status was entered
in “good faith” and was not for the purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents
as you can to establish this fact, to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to
the present date, and to demonstrate any circumstances surrounding the end of the relationship, if it has ended. The
documents should include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
1. Birth certificates of children born during the time of this marriage, if any;
2. Lease or mortgage contracts showing joint occupancy and/or ownership of your communal residence;
3. Financial records showing joint ownership of assets and joint responsibility for liabilities, such as joint savings and
checking accounts with transaction history, complete joint Federal and State tax returns, insurance policies that show
the other spouse as the beneficiary, joint utility bills, or joint installment or other loans. If applicable, submit copies
of military Leave and Earnings Statements showing receipt of Basic Allowance for Quarters (BAQ) with family
members and/or Form DD-1172 for military family member identification cards;
4. Other documents that you consider relevant to establish that your marriage was not entered for the purpose of evading
U.S. immigration laws; and

5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by at least two people who have known both of you since your conditional residence
was granted and have personal knowledge of your marriage and relationship. (Such persons may be required to
testify before an immigration officer as to the information contained in the affidavit.) The original affidavit must be
submitted and also contain the following information regarding the person making the affidavit: his or her full name
and address; date and place of birth; relationship to you or your spouse, if any; and full information and complete
details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge. Affidavits must be supported by other types of
evidence listed above.

Notice the parts in bold. The instructions read SHOULD INCLUDE but are not limited to . . . AFFIDAVITS.

Hence, the confusion is new. No dollar for Happy Chic on this one