I-130 evidence of marriage and commingling/bank statements

[CM&KV 72]

Before my husband left the USA, I had added him to my bank account, and a year (2016) before he added me to his Bank of America account.  None of our bank statements lists what card number is using for each transaction, but when I log into the accounts website its lists them there. 

On BOA on all statements it lists his name (bad translation of his full name) with my name.

On my used to be just my account, on the bank statements it doesn't list both of our names, just only mine.

 

I do have a bank verification letter from both banks listing both of our names. We both have cards to each bank. I still have receipts from each other of us using both accounts while he was still here, and from when he is currently in Moscow(this is iffy, he thinks he might have thrown them out.)

 

I'm just wondering if I need to include the photo copies of the bank cards and receipts and try to show where each other card is being used etc. Or am I just over thinking this?? Or should I save these things for when we get him his 10 year green card?

 

For other evidence I'm using:

- Chat calls logs from Whatsapp, trying to find some chats between us. Skype is a pita, and I have gotten a new laptop and lost all our calls and talks at the start of the relationship.

- Hotel registrations while he was on his J1 trip (started dating), when we went out of state. (Possible chat logs about picking the hotel and anything with the trips)

- Hotel registration at where that we lived in for 6 months while he was on a B1 (we got married this visit) via his company sent him here. I was never added to the hotel registration that his sponsor was paying for on his J1 trip, since I had used to work at that hotel, and my old co-workers and boss still worked there, and didn't want to give his sponsor a reason to pull the sponsorship from him because of him dating someone from the USA, I heard some stories about this happening to people. Not sure if it was 100% legit.

- The paper work that shows we got him a cell phone plan using my name and him as an authorized user, and we used his bank card for it. (B1 trip)

- Photos of our wedding with a family member and one friend each. We had a super small wedding, but big enough for it to be legal in the state.

- Photos of trips (J1 & B1 trip) 

- Any invoices of gifts we bought each other since the start of the relationship.

- Invoice of our wedding rings

- Invoice of the pendant he used to ask me to marry him.

 

 

 

I would like to add him to more bills, but some companies won’t help etc. My apartment knows that we wont apply for him to live here till it gets closer to interview time. I have kept them updated on everything.

I'm still waiting on  my SSN Card to come in with my id to update my information with the company I work for, they only have my new last name and address, but I haven't updated contacts.

We plan on making a will at a later time, will be used for 10 year green card.

I would like to add his boarding passes from his past trips; he thinks I'm over it since his visas state where he has stay and why etc. I have yet to show him what others have sent him for the ten year card or from high Fraud countries. 

I don't own a car, and health insurance would cost too much (an extra 400 a month) to add him, and a waste of money since he won’t be able to use it. Didn't go with the market plan for 2018 since he won’t be able to use it while the process is taking 1year +. I will be getting him and I on one plan for 2019.

 

I have no clue if I'm just padding the petition or I'm in need of more things... I'm a bit paranoid about this since this is his 3rd marriage (his divorce finalized 4 months before we got married, but have dated each other for over 2.25ish years (They were split up before he came here on the J1 visa.), but the divorce rates in Russia are pretty high, so I'm trying to go above and beyond to show them what they need to not give him a hard time of marrying few times. Also this is my 2nd marriage.

 

 

[MrHanky 1,378]

You actually don't need to include any of the bank stuff, its not expected and I don't even know why they ask for it since they don't expect it, in most cases its not possible cause they want a SSN, I didn't include any co-mingling evidence and was approved with no problem, I don't most people don't have that as part of evidence.

 

some of your stuff is good, 

 

these things I would so carry no to little weight

- Any invoices of gifts we bought each other since the start of the relationship.

- Invoice of our wedding rings

- Invoice of the pendant he used to ask me to marry him.

[CM&KV 72]

With my now old personal bank, they were refusing to let him be added to my account, till the lady looked more into the requirements.... since he had an old SSN card from the J1 visa, and because he was being added on to a current members account, he was allowed to join thru me just with his foreign passport, but they said I did needed to have him there. We ended up using an address I was using as a mailing address during his time in the USA, since I was living at my mother's house and she ended up moving out of state a month after when he arrived to the states, and I was unable to get an apartment till his 5th month of him being here. 

 

I could leave out the invoices, when I joined VJ, I seriously thought him and I would go thru the K-1 process, hence why I somehow keep thinking I might be able to use these things, that carry no to little weight. etc.

[JFH 12,191]

I agree that you should not bother with receipts for gifts. All that proves is that you went shopping. There's nothing to prove that the gifts were for each other and, quite frankly, USCIS is not interested in pendants or other trinkets. 

 

I also wouldn't bother with the financial stuff unless you can get him named as beneficiary on your life insurance or in your will. The bank account stuff sounds too complex and vague for USCIS to pick through. They don't spend hours playing detective trying to figure out who paid for dinner on March 20 and who paid for gas on June 12. Remember the I-130 is a multiple purpose form used by people in a variety of circumstances. We have couples on here who've been living together for 20 years overseas who are filing - obviously the co-mingled financial stuff would be something that they would be expected to provide, not couples who've never lived together. Likewise there was once a poster who thought they would be denied as they didn't have children together (and birth certificates of children born to you is listed as an example of evidence) - this is something that wouldn't apply to many couples. The list provided by USCIS is not exhaustive and is just examples. 

 

You say he was here for 6 months on a B-1. I would refrain from referring to that as "living" here as a B-1 is a non-immigrant visa and immigration employees take a very dim view of people saying they were living here on a non-immigrant visa. So I would say he was "staying here". You must have a lot of evidence from that time together? It's more time together than many couples have. Photos of you two plus with your family, hotel paperwork, mail received addressed to the two of you (Christmas cards?). Evidence of time spent together is the gold medal of evidence for USCIS. The more you have of this, the stronger your case will be. 

 

I think we sent one photo from our wedding. We had the bare minimum - us, officiant and 2 witnesses. No flowers, cake, wedding dress, party, honeymoon. Just an 8-minute ceremony and then we went to Red Robin for cheeseburgers. Our rings cost $25 each. We were approved with no RFE or any problems. The size of the wedding is not important for this process so don't worry if you don't have many photos. 

[CM&KV 72]

What would you recommand for this question Page 8 Question 59 "if filling for your spouse, provide the last address at which you physclally lived together." etc etc I currently have the hotel that we stayed at for nearly 6 months listed.  And on his I-130A I have his address in his home country and the hotels his company sent him on listed for his Address history (page 1 question 4)

 

 

Sadly we have never had a christmas physcally together, the last christmas he was here in the USA was the christmas shortly after my dad died suddenly.

[CM&KV 72]

Unsure if his makes any different on the list of addresses, his trip(B1) back in 2014 was about 3 months, I have the address to that hotel. I also have the J1 (18month) listed, and the most recent one B1 5-6ish months listed. I read on someones reply on how to anwser these, I kindof felt like I had to list these addresses.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Haiti2USA 4]

10 hours ago, CM&KV said:

Before my husband left the USA, I had added him to my bank account, and a year (2016) before he added me to his Bank of America account.  None of our bank statements lists what card number is using for each transaction, but when I log into the accounts website its lists them there. 

On BOA on all statements it lists his name (bad translation of his full name) with my name.

On my used to be just my account, on the bank statements it doesn't list both of our names, just only mine.

 

I do have a bank verification letter from both banks listing both of our names. We both have cards to each bank. I still have receipts from each other of us using both accounts while he was still here, and from when he is currently in Moscow(this is iffy, he thinks he might have thrown them out.)

 

I'm just wondering if I need to include the photo copies of the bank cards and receipts and try to show where each other card is being used etc. Or am I just over thinking this?? Or should I save these things for when we get him his 10 year green card?

 

For other evidence I'm using:

- Chat calls logs from Whatsapp, trying to find some chats between us. Skype is a pita, and I have gotten a new laptop and lost all our calls and talks at the start of the relationship.

- Hotel registrations while he was on his J1 trip (started dating), when we went out of state. (Possible chat logs about picking the hotel and anything with the trips)

- Hotel registration at where that we lived in for 6 months while he was on a B1 (we got married this visit) via his company sent him here. I was never added to the hotel registration that his sponsor was paying for on his J1 trip, since I had used to work at that hotel, and my old co-workers and boss still worked there, and didn't want to give his sponsor a reason to pull the sponsorship from him because of him dating someone from the USA, I heard some stories about this happening to people. Not sure if it was 100% legit.

- The paper work that shows we got him a cell phone plan using my name and him as an authorized user, and we used his bank card for it. (B1 trip)

- Photos of our wedding with a family member and one friend each. We had a super small wedding, but big enough for it to be legal in the state.

- Photos of trips (J1 & B1 trip) 

- Any invoices of gifts we bought each other since the start of the relationship.

- Invoice of our wedding rings

- Invoice of the pendant he used to ask me to marry him.

 

 

 

I would like to add him to more bills, but some companies won’t help etc. My apartment knows that we wont apply for him to live here till it gets closer to interview time. I have kept them updated on everything.

I'm still waiting on  my SSN Card to come in with my id to update my information with the company I work for, they only have my new last name and address, but I haven't updated contacts.

We plan on making a will at a later time, will be used for 10 year green card.

I would like to add his boarding passes from his past trips; he thinks I'm over it since his visas state where he has stay and why etc. I have yet to show him what others have sent him for the ten year card or from high Fraud countries. 

I don't own a car, and health insurance would cost too much (an extra 400 a month) to add him, and a waste of money since he won’t be able to use it. Didn't go with the market plan for 2018 since he won’t be able to use it while the process is taking 1year +. I will be getting him and I on one plan for 2019.

 

I have no clue if I'm just padding the petition or I'm in need of more things... I'm a bit paranoid about this since this is his 3rd marriage (his divorce finalized 4 months before we got married, but have dated each other for over 2.25ish years (They were split up before he came here on the J1 visa.), but the divorce rates in Russia are pretty high, so I'm trying to go above and beyond to show them what they need to not give him a hard time of marrying few times. Also this is my 2nd marriage.

 

 

If you buy whole life insurance and put him as the receiver, this can carry weight too.

[Ryan H 3,834]

8 hours ago, CM&KV said:

What would you recommand for this question Page 8 Question 59 "if filling for your spouse, provide the last address at which you physclally lived together." etc etc I currently have the hotel that we stayed at for nearly 6 months listed.  And on his I-130A I have his address in his home country and the hotels his company sent him on listed for his Address history (page 1 question 4)

 

 

Sadly we have never had a christmas physcally together, the last christmas he was here in the USA was the christmas shortly after my dad died suddenly.

 

You haven't lived together at a shared address (visiting is not living together); therefore, you would write something like this, "We have not yet lived together."

 

The hotels is company sent him to are not addresses he would use on the I-130A; he still had the home address during that time.

[millefleur 5,047]

That's good that you included receipts for the wedding rings. I would include other receipts/invoices related to your wedding as well. That's really good that you included him on your bank account, you can add bank statements with both your names. Recent newlyweds are kind of expected to have tons of stuff related to their wedding, so it doesn't hurt to include a lot of receipts from your wedding related events. Adding each other as authorized users to credit cards also works, you can just include the letter/email from that plus copies of the cards.

[MrHanky 1,378]

46 minutes ago, millefleur said:

That's good that you included receipts for the wedding rings. I would include other receipts/invoices related to your wedding as well. That's really good that you included him on your bank account, you can add bank statements with both your names. Recent newlyweds are kind of expected to have tons of stuff related to their wedding, so it doesn't hurt to include a lot of receipts from your wedding related events. Adding each other as authorized users to credit cards also works, you can just include the letter/email from that plus copies of the cards.

As everyone else already noted, wedding ring receipts are not helpful, that shows no proof of a relationship or who you even gave it to.

But if there was an actual wedding and both names are on it, that's helpful

[SierraTenTango 37]

On 17.12.2017 at 1:09 PM, JFH said:

I agree that you should not bother with receipts for gifts. All that proves is that you went shopping. There's nothing to prove that the gifts were for each other and, quite frankly, USCIS is not interested in pendants or other trinkets. 

 

I also wouldn't bother with the financial stuff unless you can get him named as beneficiary on your life insurance or in your will. The bank account stuff sounds too complex and vague for USCIS to pick through. They don't spend hours playing detective trying to figure out who paid for dinner on March 20 and who paid for gas on June 12. Remember the I-130 is a multiple purpose form used by people in a variety of circumstances. We have couples on here who've been living together for 20 years overseas who are filing - obviously the co-mingled financial stuff would be something that they would be expected to provide, not couples who've never lived together. Likewise there was once a poster who thought they would be denied as they didn't have children together (and birth certificates of children born to you is listed as an example of evidence) - this is something that wouldn't apply to many couples. The list provided by USCIS is not exhaustive and is just examples. 

 

You say he was here for 6 months on a B-1. I would refrain from referring to that as "living" here as a B-1 is a non-immigrant visa and immigration employees take a very dim view of people saying they were living here on a non-immigrant visa. So I would say he was "staying here". You must have a lot of evidence from that time together? It's more time together than many couples have. Photos of you two plus with your family, hotel paperwork, mail received addressed to the two of you (Christmas cards?). Evidence of time spent together is the gold medal of evidence for USCIS. The more you have of this, the stronger your case will be. 

 

I think we sent one photo from our wedding. We had the bare minimum - us, officiant and 2 witnesses. No flowers, cake, wedding dress, party, honeymoon. Just an 8-minute ceremony and then we went to Red Robin for cheeseburgers. Our rings cost $25 each. We were approved with no RFE or any problems. The size of the wedding is not important for this process so don't worry if you don't have many photos. 

Thank you, this post actually calmed me down completely on the evidence part. Bless you.

[millefleur 5,047]

5 hours ago, MrHanky said:

As everyone else already noted, wedding ring receipts are not helpful, that shows no proof of a relationship or who you even gave it to.

But if there was an actual wedding and both names are on it, that's helpful

Oh, really? Well, I guess I wouldn't know. During DCF they took all wedding related evidence (even minor receipts). Guess it's not the same for applying the traditional way.

Edited December 18, 2017 by millefleur

[MrHanky 1,378]

10 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Oh, really? Well, I guess I wouldn't know. During DCF they took all wedding related evidence (even minor receipts). Guess it's not the same for applying the traditional way.

They'll take anything you send them, it just might not hold any weight.

 

Remember they need to be sure it's authentic, lots of people scamming the system.