Putting together I-130 package

[jg121783 3,915]

I have been working on my wife and step son's I-130 petitions over the last month or so. I will be ready to mail them in in a few weeks as soon as my wife gets our marriage certificate.I have a few questions before the packages are finished and ready to mail out. My wife's petition is almost completed except for a letter I will type up describing our relationship and the marriage certificate. Most of the questions I have will be related to my step son's petition. The only thing I am wondering about my wife's petition is do I have enough evidence of a bona fide relationship.Here is what I have:

- 15 8.5 x 11 photo paper pages with 8 images per page including pictures from two trips I took to visit my wife and our wedding and reception.

- About 20 pages of photocopies of money transfer reciepts.

- 3 signed and notarized affidavits from family members of my wife stating their knowlege of our relationship.

- I will be typing a short letter describing how we met and how our relationship developed.

Will all of this stuff be adequate? I did not include Skype chat logs as many do because my wife and I don't chat on skype very often.

Anyways that should be it for my wife's petition. Now on to my step son's petition. The first question I have is should I include a copy of the marriage certificate in his petition too? Should I send both applications in the same envelope maybe with a letter requesting that they are processed together? For evidence of a relationship with my step son is it adequate if I send a few pages of pictures with me and him together? I am sure I will have more questions but that is it for now.

[JFH 12,190]

Regarding your wife's petition, I would take out the affidavits and replace them with evidence of an ongoing relationship. Currently you have photos from two trips and a wedding. How do you communicate on a day-to-day basis? Send phone records, emails, or whatever it is you use. USCIS is not interested in what your friends think (and of course they are going to say you make a very good couple), they want evidence that the two of you are in an ongoing relationship. They want material evidence, not the opinions of your friends. Affidavits are the least valuable of the kinds of evidence you can provide.

[Sonja83 0]

Regarding your wife's petition, I would take out the affidavits and replace them with evidence of an ongoing relationship. Currently you have photos from two trips and a wedding. How do you communicate on a day-to-day basis? Send phone records, emails, or whatever it is you use. USCIS is not interested in what your friends think (and of course they are going to say you make a very good couple), they want evidence that the two of you are in an ongoing relationship. They want material evidence, not the opinions of your friends. Affidavits are the least valuable of the kinds of evidence you can provide.

JFH i have a question. I came across few of your comments where you say that the affidavits have no values and that people should not even bother to send them. Has somebody from USCIS told you this? Or is it your opinion? But if the affidavits have no value at all and USICS won´t even bother to look at them, then why is it named right there as an example of the proofs in the instruction for I130? In the part “What documents do you need to prove family relationship” under letter I.

Moreover in the instruction there is no mention about pictures, chats, emails, phone calls, air tickets etc. at all. I guess these would belong under letter E “Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital relationship”

Plus I saw some people got approved even if they have sent only affidavits.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-130instr.pdf

So if people do not have any proofs as joint ownership, joint tenancy of common residence, co-mingling of financial resources etc. then I believe people should add the affidavits along with other proofs. I agree people should send as much proofs as possible.

[NikLR 13,227]

Regarding affidavits:

A) we know people lie, the USCIS isnt stupid and also knows this

B)http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/220440-i-751-evidence/

C) keep them but have other and better evidence if possible

[NikLR 13,227]

D) evidence can be very country specific. Ive seen Canadian and UK couples without even an RFE for just a marriage certificate, and Chinese and Nigerian couples RFEd for everything but the kitchen sink. You do what's appropriate for your petition

Edited March 31, 2016 by NLR

[jg121783 3,915]

Regarding your wife's petition, I would take out the affidavits and replace them with evidence of an ongoing relationship. Currently you have photos from two trips and a wedding. How do you communicate on a day-to-day basis? Send phone records, emails, or whatever it is you use. USCIS is not interested in what your friends think (and of course they are going to say you make a very good couple), they want evidence that the two of you are in an ongoing relationship. They want material evidence, not the opinions of your friends. Affidavits are the least valuable of the kinds of evidence you can provide.

First of all for my affidavits I based them off a sample affidavit posted here on visa journey (the one on the bottom of the page). I kept the affidavits as fact based as possible. For example my wife's brother in law signed one of the affidavits. He let me stay at his house both times I visited my wife and he was the best man in our wedding so I listed those facts in the affidavit along with a simple statement saying basically he believed the relationship between my wife and me is legitimate. I typed up similar affidavits for a few more of my wife's relatives also. Anyways the affidavits are just one part of what I will be sending and are meant to help create a picture of our relationship and not stand by themselves.

As far as phone/chat records go that is a little difficult because we don't chat much online and when we do it is mostly on Skype which only goes back 90 days with it's records. Other than that we normally just talk on video Skype or on the phone. Unfortunately my cell phone that I use to call my wife is prepaid so getting call records might be difficult. One thing I do have though is about 20 pages of money transfer reciept photocopies showing basically that I have been paying all of my wife's living expenses since I had her quit her job last year (long story but basically many people in the Philippines who have a job are over worked and way underpaid).

So right now what I have to work with is reciepts, photographs and the affidavits. I am going to try to get a print out of my call records but the company I have my phone service through has basically no customer service so I am not holding my breath on that. Any other suggestions anyone has are welcome. I am still looking for answers regarding my step son's petition so if anyone could help me out I would appreciate it.

[NikLR 13,227]

You used to be able to go online and get 6+months of skype history?

Stepson needs a copy of marriage certificate too. No relationship evidence is needed.

Check the I-130 instructions for anything else.

I would still send affidavits, just to shore up your file.

Edited April 4, 2016 by NLR