Lost wedding pics

[Pig 5]

My husband and I got married several years ago with a small court wedding. He had the hard copy pictures with him in ghana (we didn't have them digitally). He moved and all his pictures went missing. Our I-130 should be approved shortly, but do you think we should include an explanation at the NVC stage as to why we don't have pics from our wedding, or just wait to see if they ask at the interview and explain it then?  We have lots of other pictures and evidence, and we will be having a big wedding reception this year and will bring those pics to the interview of course. Thanks for any advice you can give! 

Edited January 19, 2017 by Akua and Papa

[misshepburn 52]

2 hours ago, Akua and Papa said:

My husband and I got married several years ago with a small court wedding. He had the hard copy pictures with him in ghana (we didn't have them digitally). He moved and all his pictures went missing. Our I-130 should be approved shortly, but do you think we should include an explanation at the NVC stage as to why we don't have pics from our wedding, or just wait to see if they ask at the interview and explain it then?  We have lots of other pictures and evidence, and we will be having a big wedding reception this year and will bring those pics to the interview of course. Thanks for any advice you can give! 

Hey Akua and Papa --

 

My advice would be to not worry about the photos. They are not required by USCIS, but they do provide strong evidence that you are a couple and have real shared history. I would prep photos for the interview (or in case you get an RFE) -- include shots before you married, after you married, trips, etc. and especially include photos with family and friends. 

 

Personally I think it would be weird to send NVC photos - the AOS and IV packages are concerned with the sponsor's ability to support the beneficiary and to gather additional information about the immigrant (police records, etc.) Sending photos to prove the validity of your relationship when that was already established (and accepted by) USCIS is overkill to me. 

 

If you are still concerned try checking with other folks who have gone through the process in Ghana to see what their experiences were. Good luck!

 

[Myprincess 6]

Pictures are very important at any point in this immigration process, whether uscis, nvc or at the interview stage. The CO asked a specific question after glancing through an album I presented at the interview

 

[Myprincess 6]

I think what Akua and papa can do is to contact friends or family members who were there at the time of their marriage if they have some pictures of their marriage and use to support their case than wait for rfe

[Pig 5]

4 hours ago, misshepburn said:

Hey Akua and Papa --

 

My advice would be to not worry about the photos. They are not required by USCIS, but they do provide strong evidence that you are a couple and have real shared history. I would prep photos for the interview (or in case you get an RFE) -- include shots before you married, after you married, trips, etc. and especially include photos with family and friends. 

 

Personally I think it would be weird to send NVC photos - the AOS and IV packages are concerned with the sponsor's ability to support the beneficiary and to gather additional information about the immigrant (police records, etc.) Sending photos to prove the validity of your relationship when that was already established (and accepted by) USCIS is overkill to me. 

 

If you are still concerned try checking with other folks who have gone through the process in Ghana to see what their experiences were. Good luck!

 

Thank you, we have lots of photos before and after the wedding- trips, with family/friends, neighbors, etc. I've read here it's highly recommended  to add more evidence at NVC stage for ghana. 

[Pig 5]

3 hours ago, Myprincess said:

I think what Akua and papa can do is to contact friends or family members who were there at the time of their marriage if they have some pictures of their marriage and use to support their case than wait for rfe

Thank you. There are no photos, just hard copies that got lost. That's why I'm trying to think if there's something else we can do to make up for it. 

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[MrChamploo 45]

You will need photo's. The Ghana embassy is a tough one and you need every evidence you can get.

Even at the Netherlands embassy,which is a complete low fraud country. (Note the speed we had and less requirements) they wanted all kinds of pictures. They want more then staged one's as well. Not just wedding or staged family meetings.

[Pig 5]

24 minutes ago, MrChamploo said:

You will need photo's. The Ghana embassy is a tough one and you need every evidence you can get.

Even at the Netherlands embassy,which is a complete low fraud country. (Note the speed we had and less requirements) they wanted all kinds of pictures. They want more then staged one's as well. Not just wedding or staged family meetings.

I have lots of pictures, just not the wedding ones.  There's nothing I can do about getting those back.  My question is should I send an explanation during NVC or has anyone had this issue and how did you deal with it? Thank you! 

[MrChamploo 45]

1 minute ago, Akua and Papa said:

I have lots of pictures, just not the wedding ones.  There's nothing I can do about getting those back.  My question is should I send an explanation during NVC or has anyone had this issue and how did you deal with it? Thank you! 

 

You can try sending an explanation but they don't really take your word for anything. You really need to dig for some wedding pictures from friends and family. Not having wedding photos i think will come back and bite you in the butt.

[caliliving 606]

you are working with the HARDEST embassay.. do you think they are going to believe an explanation of what happened?? NO! - dont draw more attention to your mistake

try to get more proof.. spend more time together to overcome this mishap.  yes, it is going to be a huge point against you.  getting married and no pictures, how can you prove what happened and who was there? you are from a very very high fraud country so therefore you need to plan accordingly... 

i always suggest you go and read the ghana board and see what others from ghana did to successfully get a cr1. what someone did from canada, the uk, australia, fillipines to get a cr1 is NOT going to help your case!!!!

 

my interview was 5 mintues and the IO asked one question.. your interview is NOT going to be that way.  so if you were from canada i would say, pictures don't matter; your case is a whole other ballgame. 

Edited January 20, 2017 by caliliving

[caliliving 606]

moving forward take lots of photos.. not just of you and him, but of you and your friends/family all together.. make sure he has met and knows who everyone is in each photo.  it is more important to have people in the photos with you then just you and him! anyone can get pictures with a guy and say its there husband and go on a few trips, but friends and family its much harder to 'fake' 

if you go there for a holiday, spend it with friends and family and take LOTS OF PICTURES! 

when u say a small court wedding, was anyone else there? if so, find photos from someone else. how did they go missing? photos are saved on a phone and backed up to icloud/google... also if you have a photographer (or chapel photographer) find out who it was!  it is very hard to hear that pictures just vanished in this day and age.

 

[Pig 5]

7 hours ago, caliliving said:

moving forward take lots of photos.. not just of you and him, but of you and your friends/family all together.. make sure he has met and knows who everyone is in each photo.  it is more important to have people in the photos with you then just you and him! anyone can get pictures with a guy and say its there husband and go on a few trips, but friends and family its much harder to 'fake' 

if you go there for a holiday, spend it with friends and family and take LOTS OF PICTURES! 

when u say a small court wedding, was anyone else there? if so, find photos from someone else. how did they go missing? photos are saved on a phone and backed up to icloud/google... also if you have a photographer (or chapel photographer) find out who it was!  it is very hard to hear that pictures just vanished in this day and age.

 

Thanks...as stated before we have lots of pics with family and friends and trips we took. We got married 7 years ago, before everyone had smart phones. Back then we took pictures with a digital camera. However we had a photographer who took pictures and printed them out for us at the wedding.  It's been so long there's no way to get copies from the photographer. 

 

So its better just to wait until the interview to explain this? 

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

If it is lost then there's nothing you can do about it.

You can write the letter or you can ignore it until it comes up.

My parents never had wedding pictures (they married in the 80's tho) but my family is all here. Focus more on the other evidence you have not what you don't have. But go over your explanation for how those pictures all got lost.

What you said here might be good but you need to give a concise explanation that doesn't give room to speculation.

Good luck to you!