Should I include Receipts?

[IheartAsia 9]

Hello Wiser ones.

I have a good many receipts to include in the petition. I have boarding passes, shopping receipts, credit card transactions. Is more the merrier or is less more? For ex. just include the boarding passes an leave it at that. I was planning on scanning my receipts an everything all nice an neat so it would only be a page or two. 

 

Also, I was reading a post about whether or not to include money transfers. It was mixed views on whether or not to add. In my mind it is proof of ongoing relationship an shows that she is not likely to be a public charge. It is not going to come off like she is taking advantage of me the way I will present it. 

Thanks for any wisdom bestowed upon me.

[KimchiLumpia 315]

IMO, you don't need to include wire transfer receipts in your I-129F petition.  Your affidavit of support I-134 and supporting evidence (tax transcripts, W2's, employer letter, bank statement, etc) will be enough.

Your passport stamps dates should match your airlines boarding passes, hotel stay receipts.  Adding photos of you and your fiance together during your visits with recognizable city landmarks in the background is what my fiance and I did.  We provided 4 photos and 4 different bus/boarding passes.

We had no RFE's.


 

[KimchiLumpia 315]

Also, feel free to update your timeline and profile.   By adding your foreign fiance's country, other VJ members can give you country specific advice.

Good luck on your visa journey!

 

[JE57 239]

The answer depends in large part on what country you are dealing with... Some much more difficult than others...  No matter what if you are so called front loading your application which is a good plan what you are trying to show is proof of a real relationship not proof of financial capacity.   So my advise would be put this together as a story with the receipts, chat logs money receipts etc as support for the story of your relationship...  Scaning it is fine and in fact we kept the original receipts and boarding passes and only submitted the scanned copies.  Have your future spouse bring the originals to the interview..   Money receipts if included should be related to the relationship with an explanation of what the money was for and how you and your future wife came to the decision that the money was needed and discussion about how it was used.   We put ours together as a booklet complete with an index page that showed what could be found on each numbered page.  For us this was extreme overkill but we enjoyed the process of putting together our relationship history and it left us with a nice momento when we were approved.  Best of luck to you.   If you don't have red flags and are not with a difficult consulate it won't make much difference.

[IheartAsia 9]

Thanks, I will do that. It is PH, embassy btw. I thought I was in the PH forum, but now I can see that I am not. 

[geowrian 22,338]

Manila is a fairly simple embassy, so you should be fine. Front loading isn't necessary, but whether or not to do so is up to you. I did not (I go with "less is more").

 

For the I-129F, they are looking at whether or not you have met within the past 2 years. Anything beyond that won't be considered. They don't issue RFEs or denials for relationship proof at that stage. However, all documents will be sent to the embassy so the CO may see them beforehand.

 

Wire transfers and other payments are not proof of a relationship nor does it alter the risk of becoming a public charge. The I-134 will cover your ability to provide financial support. Anybody (in a relationship or not) can send money to others. In PH specifically, there's a lot of people who scam foreigners to send money, so it doesn't help your case by providing them IMHO.

 

The boarding passes and such are good evidence. Receipts that show where you were can help as well. I don't think you need to go overboard, but providing more than the bare minimum is a good idea. Personally, I only sent 1 set of boarding passes for a flight together, 2 x sets of JR passes (different trips), 1 set of Angkor passes, 1 page of my passport showing relevant stamps, and a photo of us together in Japan. That was accepted just fine. My advice is to look at from the perspective of the adjudicating officer who knows nothing about you - could they say there was any reasonable way that you two were not in the same spot at the same time? When the answer is "no", you're good to go.

 

If you choose to front load with relationship evidence, that's fine too. It just won't be considered yet.