RFE after 9 months of Vermont doing nothing

[3rd 84]

I'm actually surprised at your RFE. We barely had any evidence to send of our co-mingled finances but my husband was unemployed when we filed so we had a joint sponsor. Even so we only sent in our welcome letter from BoA of our joint account (plus our pictures and such). All our co-sponsor files were wage statements for 2014, 6 months of pay stubs and the most recent tax return (2014).

Like I said, we barely had anything in the original AOS packet, but then we knew we'd automatically get called for an interview anyway as we adjusted from the VWP. It just seems like you had plenty evidence (if not more than most people send) so I'm wondering whether they may have misplaced some of what you sent in. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot and it strikes me that as long as you get all of what you had previously plus some affidavits and anything else you may have accumulated since you'll be more than fine. You're not from a high risk country so I'm shocked they're giving you such a hard time!

[cdneh 3,112]

I'm actually surprised at your RFE. We barely had any evidence to send of our co-mingled finances but my husband was unemployed when we filed so we had a joint sponsor. Even so we only sent in our welcome letter from BoA of our joint account (plus our pictures and such). All our co-sponsor files were wage statements for 2014, 6 months of pay stubs and the most recent tax return (2014).

Like I said, we barely had anything in the original AOS packet, but then we knew we'd automatically get called for an interview anyway as we adjusted from the VWP. It just seems like you had plenty evidence (if not more than most people send) so I'm wondering whether they may have misplaced some of what you sent in. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot and it strikes me that as long as you get all of what you had previously plus some affidavits and anything else you may have accumulated since you'll be more than fine. You're not from a high risk country so I'm shocked they're giving you such a hard time!

You were AOS-ing. He is not. ROC is a different kettle of fish.

[3rd 84]

You were AOS-ing. He is not. ROC is a different kettle of fish.

Oh, my bad. I had a head-slap moment as I only noted the AOS status and didn't note the forum. Must drink more coffee and not look through the forums when jet lagged!

[Penny Pincher 11]

6 months of joint statements but we couldn't send previous ones as we had moved bank.

We have 3 joint bank accounts since we got married (1 is closed)

-If its closed, just to the bank and ask for your copy of bank statements even it was already closed. We did ours that way.

The way we sent our Joint accounts for RFE were:

1) The day we opened the Joint account (2013)

2) December of that year you opened (2013)

3) January 2014 & 2015 - December 2014 & 2015

4) January 2016 to Current statement

- That will cover the entire period of time of you showing Bonafide Relationship.

And for pictures, we only sent 2 lol. I think pictures won't matter.

We just received the Approval today. Good luck

[Penny Pincher 11]

I'm not sure if I follow "..filling was post a break in and a lot of paper work was missing". Most of the documentation you would need to provide, would be available online (and from third-party: bank, township office, insurance company etc.).

I would not advise to send more bank statements. USCIS, I am sure is smart to understand that you have joint account. I had only included 3-4 in my package. Anyways, just make sure that you include them over the time-span that you are trying to cover, if you have just sent the consecutive statements and have not covered the period under consideration.

If your wife has mortgage, utility bills etc., it shows that she is solely managing the household. Can you get your name added to various utility services? Subsequently, print the evidence.

Taxes - included tax transcripts.

Children - if you have any, include any 529 Plan statements.

Life Insurance - do you have one listing other spouse as beneficiary?

Auto Insurance - include for the duration of the period. The policy documents lists drivers and carries addresses.

Auto Loans - are they jointly held? Are you also the borrower or just your wife? Submit statements from the auto loan lender. You have to show co-mingling of finances and not just one spouse managing the household.

Deed/Property - include yourself on the documents and submit the evidence.

You have to make USCIS comfortable that it is not two people living in household, rather, it is a married couple living (managing assets and liabilities) in the household.

Good luck!!

these are good points to include in your RFE mail especially in the deed/property documents.

If you can include any mail stating that you lived with your spouse since day 1 you came in the USA and highlight it. I did that to my RFE too

[tina17 3]

Hi, like the OP, we also just received an RFE on our I-751 petition from the Vermont office after 9 months of waiting. They said that we did not submit enough documentation to represent a joint and bona fide relationship.

Can someone provide some more detailed information on exactly how to proceed to create affidavits of support. Sample letters? Links to the topic? Any information that you may have would be appreciated.

Do the affidavits require two witnesses signatures plus the signature of the person who wrote the letter? Do they all have to be present at the same time to sign? Also do we need a notary seal on the documents... as there seems to be some difference of opinion on this point?

Also, we were told in the RFE that we provided only partial copies of our joint state and federal tax returns with no proof of submission. How do we provide satisfactory proof of submission as requested?

Edited March 24, 2016 by tina17

[squareleg 69]

Tina - please review my post/reply ahead of yours.

Affidavits are secondary piece of evidence and in my opinion do not carry any weight. But you can round off your package by including these once you have other sufficient evidence to respond to RFE. Since, they are asking for evidence, affidavits are weak form of evidence. If you were to submit, ask you family/friends to write one for you and sign. They do not need witnesses.

"Also, we were told in the RFE that we provided only partial copies of our joint state and federal tax returns with no proof of submission. How do we provide satisfactory proof of submission as requested?"

- include tax transcripts

Also, instead of creating an documentation, I suggest, relying on third-party documentation that you can access and provide.

Hope this helps.

[tina17 3]

Tina - please review my post/reply ahead of yours.

Affidavits are secondary piece of evidence and in my opinion do not carry any weight. But you can round off your package by including these once you have other sufficient evidence to respond to RFE. Since, they are asking for evidence, affidavits are weak form of evidence. If you were to submit, ask you family/friends to write one for you and sign. They do not need witnesses.

"Also, we were told in the RFE that we provided only partial copies of our joint state and federal tax returns with no proof of submission. How do we provide satisfactory proof of submission as requested?"

- include tax transcripts

Also, instead of creating an documentation, I suggest, relying on third-party documentation that you can access and provide.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your reply, we will look into getting tax transcripts.