Cr1 & i130 questions :)

[Mrs Rogers 3]

Hi guys! I'm so happy to find this group! I am starting my Cr-1 journey very soon - my husband and I have been compiling evidence for the past month for the i130. Background - I'm Australian and Craig is a New Yorker. We've been married for three months. Originally, we were going to stay here but the career opportunities are better in the States for him Since we've lived together for just under a year, we are okay evidence wise - it's just putting it altogether that's proving to be a headache! I have a few questions I hope someone might be able to answer -

1. In what format did you present your evidence? I've been scanning everything and pasting it on word docs. How did you do it?

2. How many photos did you include? We have a lot of photos - should we give wedding photos a priority?

3. My husband and I have a shared bank account which shows all our spending - would you suggest we send statements from just the joint? Or our personal accounts as well?

4. Last, but not least, could any Australians give insight as to how long the process for a Cr1 would take?

Thank you all so much!! Sorry for the pesky questions! I haven't even started and I already wish this was over haha xx

[rutabaga 209]

1. We just scanned straight to PDF (and there's programs to merge PDF files so it was easy to compile the whole thing into one PDF file for archiving).

2. We didn't submit any photos with our I-130, but if we had, I'd have definitely concentrated on wedding photos as well as other kinds of photos with each others family and other important life events. No need to go overboard with the photos at this point IMHO (I took about 25 photos to my interview and that seemed about as many as the CO was willing to go through ).

3. The only sense to sending the account statements would be to demonstrate co-mingling of financial resources (so a definite yes on the joint account) and I'm not sure how the (separate) personal accounts would accomplish that.

Welcome to the forums and good luck with the process!

Edited April 14, 2016 by rutabaga

[Mrs Rogers 3]

1. We just scanned straight to PDF (and there's programs to merge PDF files so it was easy to compile the whole thing into one PDF file for archiving).

2. We didn't submit any photos with our I-130, but if we had, I'd have definitely concentrated on wedding photos as well as other kinds of photos with each others family and other important life events. No need to go overboard with the photos at this point IMHO (I took about 25 photos to my interview and that seemed about as many as the CO was willing to go through ).

3. The only sense to sending the account statements would be to demonstrate co-mingling of financial resources (so a definite yes on the joint account) and I'm not sure how the (separate) personal accounts would accomplish that.

Welcome to the forums and good luck with the process!

Thank you!!! I have been just pasting things into a word document - your way seems easier! I will figure this out! Thank you for the welcome! I will be hanging around for a while

[Thesmiths2016 117]

Welcome!! I'm an aussie based Kiwi, with my husband from Michigan. We just filed last month via the chicago lockbox which will also be what you'll be doing.
We submitted quite a lot of stuff, just so we made sure they had plenty of evidence. Like you, we put stuff together in documents.... here's a bit about what we sent. We also did a table of contents at the start. For photos I used a program called CollageIT (there's a free version) that puts your photos in collages and then you can save as a PDF.

Some submit much less than this and get through. Others seem to go into even more detail than we did and get denied. It's really case by case.

As for timeline ... the recommendation is to expect a one year turnarount time for the whole process, and then just be excited when it happens sooner... it depends what service centre they send you to.

Ok here's what we sent. I should mention ... I haven't gotten an approval yet, just went off what advice I got on this forum and on the wiki ... check that out if you haven't already.

SECTION 1: REQUIRED FORMS

SECTION 2: IDENTIFICATION

· Certified passport copies

· Passport size photos as requested

SECTION 3: PROOF OF MARRIAGE AUTHENTICITY

· Marriage certificate

· Wedding photos

· Baby ultrasound pictures, pregnancy announcement & letter from doctor

SECTION 4: PROOF OF LIVING TOGETHER & LENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP

· Copy of lease agreements held together

· Joint bank account letter

· Co-mingling of finances – joint bank account transactions for dinners, outings, etc.

· Rental receipts – printout of bank statement from joint account

· Evidence of relationship start date – facebook

· Evidence of early relationship – visits to each other doing long distance

· Temporary spousal visa for Australia (to show another government had accepted our relationship)

· Various photos of the two of us over the years as a couple

SECTION 5: EVIDENCE OF OTHER TRIPS TAKEN TOGETHER

[allyinchicago 8]

we did about 10 pictures, they stayed with the case and were in his file when he eventually had his interview. I included copies of the airline tickets/ passport copies showing when I entered and left.

[Mrs Rogers 3]

Welcome!! I'm an aussie based Kiwi, with my husband from Michigan. We just filed last month via the chicago lockbox which will also be what you'll be doing.

We submitted quite a lot of stuff, just so we made sure they had plenty of evidence. Like you, we put stuff together in documents.... here's a bit about what we sent. We also did a table of contents at the start. For photos I used a program called CollageIT (there's a free version) that puts your photos in collages and then you can save as a PDF.

Some submit much less than this and get through. Others seem to go into even more detail than we did and get denied. It's really case by case.

As for timeline ... the recommendation is to expect a one year turnarount time for the whole process, and then just be excited when it happens sooner... it depends what service centre they send you to.

Ok here's what we sent. I should mention ... I haven't gotten an approval yet, just went off what advice I got on this forum and on the wiki ... check that out if you haven't already.

SECTION 1: REQUIRED FORMS

SECTION 2: IDENTIFICATION

· Certified passport copies

· Passport size photos as requested

SECTION 3: PROOF OF MARRIAGE AUTHENTICITY

· Marriage certificate

· Wedding photos

· Baby ultrasound pictures, pregnancy announcement & letter from doctor

SECTION 4: PROOF OF LIVING TOGETHER & LENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP

· Copy of lease agreements held together

· Joint bank account letter

· Co-mingling of finances joint bank account transactions for dinners, outings, etc.

· Rental receipts printout of bank statement from joint account

· Evidence of relationship start date facebook

· Evidence of early relationship visits to each other doing long distance

· Temporary spousal visa for Australia (to show another government had accepted our relationship)

· Various photos of the two of us over the years as a couple

SECTION 5: EVIDENCE OF OTHER TRIPS TAKEN TOGETHER

Hi there!!! I was born in NZ but moved to Aus with my family when I was 5 Thank you so much for showing me what you provided in your I130! I have alot of evidence, as my husband and I initially thought we would stay in Aus. Career opportunities are better for him in US so we are starting this long journey to moving to NY My I130 has so many pages!!! Arghhh what a headache! How did you send your I130? As in - did you put everything in a folder? I am close to sending mine off Craig is still here for a few weeks before he leaves in May - Im just waiting for my name changes and then he will take the 130 with him and send from the US. I just want to send this package right now hahah Thank you again for your message!!! I will be following your journey and I hope its a speedy one for us both xxx

[Mrs Rogers 3]

we did about 10 pictures, they stayed with the case and were in his file when he eventually had his interview. I included copies of the airline tickets/ passport copies showing when I entered and left.

Thank you Ally! Great advice!! xx

[Thesmiths2016 117]

Hi there!!! I was born in NZ but moved to Aus with my family when I was 5 Thank you so much for showing me what you provided in your I130! I have alot of evidence, as my husband and I initially thought we would stay in Aus. Career opportunities are better for him in US so we are starting this long journey to moving to NY My I130 has so many pages!!! Arghhh what a headache! How did you send your I130? As in - did you put everything in a folder? I am close to sending mine off Craig is still here for a few weeks before he leaves in May - Im just waiting for my name changes and then he will take the 130 with him and send from the US. I just want to send this package right now hahah Thank you again for your message!!! I will be following your journey and I hope its a speedy one for us both xxx

We actually sent ours to my in laws in America first as we didn't have any cheques for my husbands American bank acct here, so we had to get them to add a cheque first and send it on. We posted it via auspost in an international post satchel (it's a white, lie, red one from memory) with tracking and it took about a week to get there. For just under $30. It depends on the weight of your package but it was for up to 3kgs I think. I kept the weight down by making my photo collages rather than printing photos and sticking them in. And I did them in 2x clear file folders. I put stuff together in sections and just hoping it's not annoying for the my to take it out of the sleeves! Haha. It's clearly marked with which have multiple pages etc, and in labelled sections though.

Feel free to email me and chat if u want :-)

[Mrs Rogers 3]

We actually sent ours to my in laws in America first as we didn't have any cheques for my husbands American bank acct here, so we had to get them to add a cheque first and send it on. We posted it via auspost in an international post satchel (it's a white, lie, red one from memory) with tracking and it took about a week to get there. For just under $30. It depends on the weight of your package but it was for up to 3kgs I think. I kept the weight down by making my photo collages rather than printing photos and sticking them in. And I did them in 2x clear file folders. I put stuff together in sections and just hoping it's not annoying for the my to take it out of the sleeves! Haha. It's clearly marked with which have multiple pages etc, and in labelled sections though.

Feel free to email me and chat if u want :-)

I will be taking you up on that offer! Thank you for all the help! I hope one day I will be able to repay the favour to someone else! Just doing finishing touches on my I130! I cant wait to send it!

[Ryan H 3,812]

~~Hijack post removed.~~

[Mrs Rogers 3]

~~Hijack post removed.~~

Hi Ryan!

What does this message mean?

Thank you!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Hi Ryan!

What does this message mean?

Thank you!

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