Evidence Documents

[Bjl73 12]

1 hour ago, AK_2014 said:

We sent the entire monthly statement for every third month, i.e. Mar/June/Sept/Dec or something like that. Still waiting on ROC, so we'll see how it turns out... but friends of ours a couple of years ago didn't include what seemed like extraneous pages from the statement, i.e. pages that didn't show anything about their account balance or usage, and they got an RFE with instructions to include all pages.

Ugh, Now I'm gonna have to go recopy all of those statements because I'm worried about getting an RFE! LOL! 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Send all of it. Don't risk an RFE or interview. We sent bank statements going back several years with highlights of specific transactions, but lacked a lease and other info. 

 

At the time it still seemed fine for me. It was still over 1lb of paperwork. I didn't even get an RFE, just an interview letter. Now my interview is May 10. 

 

Because of that, I am having to gather absolutely everything. Everything. Messages we sent when we first met online in 2008. Everything from his two visits to see me, pre-K1 till now, and front loading every last bit of it.

 

Don't even take the risk. If there's a chance it might be needed, send it. 

 

[Sukie 1,465]

4 hours ago, Lemon23 said:

@Cowfacedid you sent the whole year of 2015 and 2016 bank statement? I'm actually preparing now my application for I-751 and thinking to send 3 month worth of our joint account (Feb, March, April 2017) I have also reference letter from BOA like yours stating the current balance and opening date of our joint account, we use the joint account for utility bills, groceries and rental payment of our apartment.

Thanks in advance.

I sent one bank statement per quarter, plus the FIRST joint statement and the LAST joint statement prior to filing.  I also sent ALL pages of any statement I sent.  We had a ton of evidence, so that's why I only sent one statement per quarter.  They accepted it, and us!

 

Oh, and I didn't black out anything.

 

Sukie in NY

Edited April 25, 2017 by Sukie
Additional sentence

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

5 hours ago, Lemon23 said:

@Cowface thank you so much for the update, yeah i was thinking its too much that's why I decided to get a reference letter from BOA to support the 3 months worth of our joint bank statements that I printed but given your experienced, i might gonna get RFE as well if I will send 3 months worth only. I will print now our joint bank account statement from 2014 to present. I expect it will be more than 200 pages. LOL!

I printed out 20 months of bank statements at 4-5 pages each. It doubled our application and evidence package to around 200 pages. It maybe cost a little more to send but if it avoids an RFE, then it was worth it.

 

From what I have learned about the process. They take your package, scan all pages into an electronic file, and then don't really touch the physical pages after that. So they probably don't care if your file is 50 pages or 200 pages.

[Bjl73 12]

Thanks everyone. Great advice. I'm going back and recopying all the bank statements. I'm missing about seven months out of the last two years. Going to request those from the bank. They cost $6 each! This is such an expensive process but well worth it. We don't have a lease as we rent from family but I'm going to ask if they'll write one up for us. 

[SM84 6]

On 4/25/2017 at 1:45 PM, Cowface said:

When I first filed the application last year, I only attached 3 months of bank statements. Then I received RFE last week.

Yes, I would send all bank statement if I were you. I was worried that it would be too much but I guess the USCIS likes to search details of what we had spent for the past years.

@Cowface When you received the RFE did it state why 3 months of bank statements was not enough? Did it specify any other details like asking for a statements from a particular timeline? Could you help provide more details regarding this RFE? Thanks.

[Cowface 5]

12 hours ago, svb said:

@Cowface When you received the RFE did it state why 3 months of bank statements was not enough? Did it specify any other details like asking for a statements from a particular timeline? Could you help provide more details regarding this RFE? Thanks.

Yes. It said the documents I sent were not enough to prove our financial ownership together.

The RFE asked for the bank statements or anything to prove our financial co-ownership during our marriage life.

[bubblebubble 16]

33 minutes ago, Cowface said:

Yes. It said the documents I sent were not enough to prove our financial ownership together.

The RFE asked for the bank statements or anything to prove our financial co-ownership during our marriage life.

 

May I ask what you sent to them initially that got you the RFE?

 

My package I sent was really thin..I included our house warranty deed, homeowner and auto insurance statement, property tax statement, tax return transcript, 6 photos, and the latest bank statement (the account I used for I485 and back in 2013 for I129), I did not want to include too much..not seeing everyone with all these items it makes me worry.

[Bjl73 12]

Just got the 2014-2016 tax transcripts in mail yesterday so I think I'm good to go. I have two years worth of bank statements. That cost me $54! I also have:

•  I have insurance documents showing us as beneficiaries.
• Joint statements for utilities and car insurance.
• Titles to both cars.
• Affidavits from two people stating what a loving couple we are! :-)
• As well as an affidavit from our landlord since we don't have a lease.
• Copies of our driver's licence showing same address.  
• Joint loan statements
• and of course photos

Am I missing anything?

[Cowface 5]

19 hours ago, bubblebubble said:

May I ask what you sent to them initially that got you the RFE?

 

My package I sent was really thin..I included our house warranty deed, homeowner and auto insurance statement, property tax statement, tax return transcript, 6 photos, and the latest bank statement (the account I used for I485 and back in 2013 for I129), I did not want to include too much..not seeing everyone with all these items it makes me worry.

I included all the tax returns, a few bank statements, our auto insurance and rental insurance, lease agreement and photos.

Honestly, it is a case by case from what I'm experiencing. There is no set rule where they will send RFE. I've seen on this forum where some people did not even send their tax return but got the ROC approval.

[nyc-and-india 0]

2 hours ago, Bjl73 said:

Just got the 2014-2016 tax transcripts in mail yesterday so I think I'm good to go. I have two years worth of bank statements. That cost me $54! I also have:

•  I have insurance documents showing us as beneficiaries.
• Joint statements for utilities and car insurance.
• Titles to both cars.
• Affidavits from two people stating what a loving couple we are! :-)
• As well as an affidavit from our landlord since we don't have a lease.
• Copies of our driver's licence showing same address.  
• Joint loan statements
• and of course photos

Am I missing anything?

Do you have any documentation of joint travel? We sent in ticket receipts from every domestic and international trip we'd ever taken together by air, which at the time was 11 trips, even though our tickets were often purchased separately or reflected different travel dates (ie: we both visited my parents, but I stayed longer). And I didn't include car trips, since I didn't think there'd be much weight to having a hotel bill in just one of our names...

 

We also sent in substantial bills and receipts related our wedding itself. Not sure if it was much help, but there were a lot of them (rings, wedding attire, checks for the venue, copies of the purchase summaries from our gift registries, etc) and represented a pretty significant financial investment.

 

But we also skimped on the more traditional financial docs. I sent in two statements per year (for almost exactly 2 years of marriage, starting with the first available statement and the last) for two shared credit cards and two shared bank accounts. At the time of filing, we only had one IRS tax transcript available.

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

4 hours ago, Bjl73 said:

Just got the 2014-2016 tax transcripts in mail yesterday so I think I'm good to go. I have two years worth of bank statements. That cost me $54! I also have:

•  I have insurance documents showing us as beneficiaries.
• Joint statements for utilities and car insurance.
• Titles to both cars.
• Affidavits from two people stating what a loving couple we are! :-)
• As well as an affidavit from our landlord since we don't have a lease.
• Copies of our driver's licence showing same address.  
• Joint loan statements
• and of course photos

Am I missing anything?

 

Last will and testament and power of attorney - one for each of you, i.e. 4 documents. It takes time to research on the internet for templates specific for the state you live in. Then you have to tailor the template for you, print, ask for 2 witnesses, and then have all 4 people present before a notary public to have it notarized. Kind of a pain but the nice thing is that these documents will have dual purpose - immigration and real life.

[Bjl73 12]

Is last will and testament and power of attorney really necessary if you are married? Isn't your spouse your legal next of kin?

[Ruany 2]

Hello!! I am new member. My period for sending docs started on April,20 and expires on July, 20. I was ready to send them... I found this page and I noticed I was sending almost NOTHING!!! (My husband and I almost had a heart attack).

Fortunately I find your posts and now (I think we still have time, right??) I am preparing my load of documents. Thanks a lot for your help!!!

 

I have been reading about Bank Statements on your posts... Could I send the originals or do I need to send copies??

[Bjl73 12]

2 hours ago, Ruany said:

Hello!! I am new member. My period for sending docs started on April,20 and expires on July, 20. I was ready to send them... I found this page and I noticed I was sending almost NOTHING!!! (My husband and I almost had a heart attack).

Fortunately I find your posts and now (I think we still have time, right??) I am preparing my load of documents. Thanks a lot for your help!!!

 

I have been reading about Bank Statements on your posts... Could I send the originals or do I need to send copies??

I'd send copies.