N-400 Support Documents - Is it really straightforward or is it like ROC?

[hellostranger57 18]

Hi All, 

 

We are getting ready to file N-400 for myself in June and we wanted to get a head start. I was going through the N-400 guides here and the required support documents seem SO much simpler than AOS/ROS stage? Since it states 'or' on the requirements, does that mean I can just submit our tax return transcripts for the past 3 years and we should be good? Or do we have to be overkill again and literally send every bank statements for each month for the past 3 years resulting to a really thick and heavy application package? Plus more proof such as leases, insurance info, Costco membership, etc. 

 

What support documents did you guys submit? Please advise. 

 

Thank you!

 

4. Documents referring to you and your spouse:

	Tax returns, bank accounts, leases, mortgages, or birth certificates of children, or
	Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-certified copies of the income tax forms that you both filed for the past three years, or
	An IRS tax return transcript for the last three years.

Edited May 18, 2017 by hellostranger57

[Joe&LuMa 77]

Hi , hope It will help you :

 

https://www.uscis.gov/n-400

[charmander 692]

You could check my timeline what I submitted. Because of that "or" clause just the 3 years of tax transcripts suffices the evidence requirement and a lot of people followed that path successfully. However, I recommend sending little more than that just in case. Don't overkill it but just include few more different types of evidences. Let the officer review your evidences ahead of time and hopefully he/she won't question further the bona-fideness of your marriage at the interview.

[candybabe 46]

3 hours ago, hellostranger57 said:

Hi All, 

 

We are getting ready to file N-400 for myself in June and we wanted to get a head start. I was going through the N-400 guides here and the required support documents seem SO much simpler than AOS/ROS stage? Since it states 'or' on the requirements, does that mean I can just submit our tax return transcripts for the past 3 years and we should be good? Or do we have to be overkill again and literally send every bank statements for each month for the past 3 years resulting to a really thick and heavy application package? Plus more proof such as leases, insurance info, Costco membership, etc. 

 

What support documents did you guys submit? Please advise. 

 

Thank you!

 

4. Documents referring to you and your spouse:

	Tax returns, bank accounts, leases, mortgages, or birth certificates of children, or
	Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-certified copies of the income tax forms that you both filed for the past three years, or
	An IRS tax return transcript for the last three years.

When you apply based on the 3 year rule your burden of proof is to show that you and the spouse have been in a bona fide marriage for the past 3 years.

So yes - if you do apply based on the 3 year rule, you have to build a similar package to the ROC with evidence of financial joint responsibilities ( taxes, bank, 401K, health insurance, same residence etc) and joint social life.

 

Applying at 3 year is considered a privilege as you are saving 2 years and as such the review is much more thorough than if you just apply at 5 years based on residency - also expect questioning on the marriage, similar to AOS / ROC.

 

at the 5 yr  is when the package gets very simple, basically copy of greencard, N-400 form, copy of any divorce document / marriage certificate and tax transcripts....because of that a lot of folks, myself included have waited past the 5 year mark ....

[hellostranger57 18]

Hi All! Follow up question since I'm preparing my N-400 packet currently. Should I include bank and credit card statements for every month for the past 3 years? Or should I just print out one statement every quarter for the past 3 years? Or something to lessen the volume of our package. What would be ideal?

 

Thank you!

[hellostranger57 18]

Anyone? 

[lovelyalex 99]

On 6/3/2017 at 2:21 AM, hellostranger57 said:

Hi All! Follow up question since I'm preparing my N-400 packet currently. Should I include bank and credit card statements for every month for the past 3 years? Or should I just print out one statement every quarter for the past 3 years? Or something to lessen the volume of our package. What would be ideal?

 

Thank you!

I think you're over thinking it for the application packet.  Take a look at the instructions PDF on the USCIS, page 10 - 11 talks about what you should send in the packet VS what to bring to an interview.  I don't think you need to submit any bank or credit card statements based on their instructions.  I can't comment on the other details as I don't know the specifics to your application and circumstances.

 

[kpeck 22]

I actually just posted my husband's interview experience (he passed! waiting on Oath Ceremony letter), but wanted to comment. 

 

To show joint financials, we submitted with N-400 application: 

• Copies of tax returns for last 3 years (married, filing jointly)
• An "Account Balance Summary" from Chase Bank that just shows my husband and I are on the same joint account
• Copies of our benefits summary pages showing him on my health insurance as a dependent and him as a beneficiary for life insurance. We had copies of all of these (hard copies and then scanned and saved on our computer) from all of the past applications we had to submit, so it was easy to do this. We just included a more recent print-out of our latest health benefits to show they were still active. 
• Copy of Car Title showing we both own the car 

We didn't have any issues with not submitting more than the above.

 

For the I-751, Lifting of Conditions, we submitted pages and pages of credit card statements, bank statements, etc. showing joint financials, but I didn't include it for N-400....

 

Obviously, if you have any doubts or you've had any issues, always submit more than less!