What Evidence of a Bonafide Marriage did you provide for a CR1 application?

[NikLR 13,227]

9 minutes ago, JFH said:

I don't think anyone in London has ever been asked to show any photos, or anything else during the interview. London is a much easier embassy than most. 

I-130 normally requires something. 

~~moved to process and procedures from progress reports ~~

[scarlett262004 280]

I called my HR department about adding my spouse to my health insurance but they said I’m unable to without a SSN for him. But I was able to add him as a beneficiary for my retirement plan. 

[lovtrish 4]

My husband is also British and I did not submit not one letter or submitted not one photograph. I submitted bare minimum since we are newly wed and he got his visa two months ago. They are not going to read 15+ letters, they don't have time for that. Send what you have, marriage certificate, airline tickets, passport stamp. 

[Keith & Arileidi 437]

1 hour ago, scarlett262004 said:

I called my HR department about adding my spouse to my health insurance but they said I’m unable to without a SSN for him. But I was able to add him as a beneficiary for my retirement plan. 

My insurance plan will allow me to add my wife,  I have 1 year to get a ITIN(?) Or SS number for her. In the meantime I have to pay all of the medical bills up front and I'll be reimbursed once I give them the info. 

[Lee & Lei 42]

8 minutes ago, Keith & Arileidi said:

My insurance plan will allow me to add my wife,  I have 1 year to get a ITIN(?) Or SS number for her. In the meantime I have to pay all of the medical bills up front and I'll be reimbursed once I give them the info. 

This is what mine did too. 

 

I was fortunate that the timing allowed me to apply for and receive her ITIN, so then I added that and all is good. 

 

FYI, an ITIN (Individual Tax ID Number) is an IRS-issued number for people to claim their foreign spouses on their taxes. It allows you to file as married-filing-jointly and receive those tax benefits. It is used in lieu of a SSN, until you get a SSN. It is a pain in the butt to get because it requires either a certified-true photocopy of the alien's passport or the passport itself, and you have to paper file for the year you are applying. We were able to get the Philippine Embassy to stamp & sign a photocopy as "certified true" of my wife's passport, and the IRS accepted that. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Lee & Lei

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, scarlett262004 said:

I called my HR department about adding my spouse to my health insurance but they said I’m unable to without a SSN for him. But I was able to add him as a beneficiary for my retirement plan. 

So did mine.  However, I reminded them that marriage or birth = open enrollment period, here's the marriage doc, within 30 days like it's supposed to be, and newborns don't have social security numbers either. 

 

So I pointed out that makes me feel like maybe there's some prejudice going on up there?  Some other kind of problem?  What decides who needs a SS number at enrollment or not?  Funny sounding name?  Photo?  Because I sure don't see a law about that anywhere and I don't consider it any different from adding a newborn baby to the family and I sure don't want to be treated any different than any other employee who just got married if you know what I mean. 

 

They discovered suddenly right there on the phone call that yeah they could enroll her and please send over the SS number when the card arrives.  It was a good thing to have available when the support affidavit was reviewed.

[Ryan H 3,812]

~~~Similar topics merged.~~~

[MKB 29]

Financial Commingling:

1. Tax returns: As per the IRS, spouse of USC is treated as a resident for tax filing. So, we got IT IN number and filed as married filing jointly.

 

2. Money transfer (to our joint bank account) - we submitted multiple transfer notices showing transfer and joint account.

 

Relationship:

1. Phone calls record: we submitted phone bills showing details that prove continuous communication which we believed is simple and strong proof of relationship.

 

2. Photos - a lot of photos! Wedding, honeymoon, visits...etc. we organized them in tables and captioned them with title/event, date, location, and identified others in the photos, such as parents, grandparents, siblings ...etc.

 

3. Gifts! Yup.. we shared gifts receipts that we got each other, a lot of them. We noticed that we can use this because it shows on the online receipt who paid and to whom the gift is delivered. 

 

We love to surprise each other with gifts and we never thought that we will use that one day! lol

 

On a side note, I encourage everyone here to do that to add more fun and happiness to their marriage. It can be as simple as Starbucks gift card with a nice message like: "sorry you have a bad day, here is a cup of coffee to cheer you up!"

 

 

[Keith & Arileidi 437]

1 hour ago, Lee & Lei said:

This is what mine did too. 

 

I was fortunate that the timing allowed me to apply for and receive her ITIN, so then I added that and all is good. 

 

FYI, an ITIN (Individual Tax ID Number) is an IRS-issued number for people to claim their foreign spouses on their taxes. It allows you to file as married-filing-jointly and receive those tax benefits. It is used in lieu of a SSN, until you get a SSN. It is a pain in the butt to get because it requires either a certified-true photocopy of the alien's passport or the passport itself, and you have to paper file for the year you are applying. We were able to get the Philippine Embassy to stamp & sign a photocopy as "certified true" of my wife's passport, and the IRS accepted that. 

Thank you so much for the heads up. 

I will make sure I get my wife's passport during my Christmas break visit. 

[bobjennyhitched 99]

On 07/12/2017 at 4:04 PM, Kastrs said:

For most recently married couples, the evidence will be the similar/same as what they would provide if they had been applying for a K1 with the addition of the documentation showing you are married

so trips to see each other, chat logs, call logs ect

Thank you. I'm worrying about the "joint finances" as we are newly weds and residences in our own countries. We met through working and travel so have travelled with work a lot plus holidays and visiting each other.

[bobjennyhitched 99]

3 hours ago, lovtrish said:

My husband is also British and I did not submit not one letter or submitted not one photograph. I submitted bare minimum since we are newly wed and he got his visa two months ago. They are not going to read 15+ letters, they don't have time for that. Send what you have, marriage certificate, airline tickets, passport stamp. 

Thank you! I have all our flights, train tickets, hotel bookings everything plus marriage certificates photos etc..

[bobjennyhitched 99]

On 07/12/2017 at 3:57 PM, Boiler said:

Most CR1's will not have much. Life Insurance, Medical Insurance?

Looking to add him as beneficiary to my pension. I've asked him to look at adding me to the health insurance 

[bobjennyhitched 99]

On 07/12/2017 at 4:02 PM, R&OC said:

We added the following documents to our package:

 

1. Financial co-mingling (we didn't have that much as we had just married a few weeks before and we both own property -hence no tenants or rental agreements):

1. Shared bank account - Name of the bank
2. Credit Card Account : Authorized user
3. Utility bill in our name

2. Relationship:

1. Selected messages Facebook and emails while deployed
2. Timeline of our trips with selected pictures (see point 3.) and boarding passes (point 4.) 
3. Pictures of us from each trip we had (some of us alone, some with kids, some with other family members)
4. Boarding passes, itineraries, copies of passport pages to support above visual evidence
5. Wedding pictures and engagement pictures
6. Well-wishes from our family (cards and messages) regarding our engagement and wedding
7. Two affidavits regarding our relationship from family members

 

If you have evidence regarding the financial co-mingling, then focus on that. Based on the feedback of the VJ community, this seems to be the focus.

 

Hope this helps.

How did you get a joint bank account if you were citizens in each others countries? Thank you

[bobjennyhitched 99]

9 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

Not in international marriages across international boundaries is isn't. 

 

It is next to impossible to co-mingle assets until the spouse gets a SS number. 

 

The focus is on whether or not you are legally married and were legally eligible to be married after which the co-mingling is scrutinized at the ROC stage.

 

 

 

We have a letter from the UK government saying that they investigate and believe it not to be a sham marriage, is this good to include?x

[Nitas_man 3,100]

18 minutes ago, jennywhite421 said:

We have a letter from the UK government saying that they investigate and believe it not to be a sham marriage, is this good to include?x

Nothing you attach hurts you but if you fail to attach what they ask for it will delay you.