Getting ready to file ROC in February

[Danielle and Jake 24]

Hello all, long time no post! I apologize in advance if this isn't in the correct spot, as it's been a while.

 

My wife and I are nearing up on that time again during this whole process, and hoping to get any help, pointers, clarification, etc. that anyone has.

 

My wife came her on a K1 visa from Canada. We got married, filed the AOS, got her GC approval in May 2016. So that "90 day period" will begin in early February. During the AOS status, all we had to do was take her in for her Biometrics, as we did not have to attend an interview. We we'ren't even notified of a waive of interview, we were just approved 7 months after her Biometrics appointment.

 

Aside from filing the I-751 form, and the accompanying fees, is there anything else we should consider? Any additional forms? Do we need anything for the EAD aspect of her immigration status (I believe her "GC is her EAD", but I don't want to assume that it's automatically included).

 

What type of "evidence" are we required to submit? What else should we include in addition? We got married here in the US, and were proactive in getting multiple certified copies of our Marriage Certificate. I'm just kind of nervous because my wife and I don't really take many trips, and I see that as evidence in a lot of threads. We've taken some trips here and there, but outside of trip itineraries (in my name, not her's) from the site where we booked the hotels, we really just have random pictures of ourselves we've taken on our trips. Just not sure if that would be pointless to include. Would it help to have a letter from family member or friends (similar to what we submitted with the K-1 visa application - "intent to marry")?
 

• We have a lease to our home in both our names. In fact, we recently moved this past year (and did the online update for her GC accordingly), so we have multiple lease copies with both our names on it.
• We do have a shared account through our credit union, but not sure what documents I can have them provide me. Looking at online statements, it does list her as a joint owner. My only concern with that is within the last few months, she did open her account to have a little independence as well as start work on building a credit score of her own (because as an immigrant, she had no score).
• We also have the utility bill in both our names, but that can be a little trick to locate (Wisconsin Public Service), as it's paperless, and usually they just put her name in the bottom corner, but just looking now at our most recent bill, I'm just seeing my name on it.
• I do see both our names when I log into my renter's insurance, so would that be a good one to provide as well? Same thing when I log into our health insurance. Just don't know how helpful those documents are.

 

After filing, what do we do? Like is she allowed to travel back to Canada while this process is in limbo? I mean technically her GC will expire in May 2018, which so does her EAD, so I am a little concern with that aspect (though I'm guessing while the process is in motion, we're good).

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[sddude89 31]

Don't worry too much about not having done a lot of trips. It is not that important.

The most important evidence is financial commingling.

One important thing you are missing on your list is Tax Return transcripts  for the last two years (can be obtained at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript)

Copy of lease, yes.

It is ok that your spouse has an independent bank account, that is normal. Statements of the joint account will be fine, but make sure there are transactions in it (I assume that's the account you use to pay bills, rent, etc) so that should be fine.

Most utility bills have only one name on the top but then at the bottom both names will be listed. Just highlight that.

Renter's and health insurance records are good documents as well.

Did you attend work events together and are there are pictures that show the whole group? That is better photo evidence than a picture at a waterfall which could have been staged.

 

Letter/affidavits from friends don't have too much value, so don't waste too much time on those.

 

Once you file I-751 you will get an extension letter with which you will be fine to travel, work, etc.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by sddude89

[YecaCruz 382]

Hi we are in the same boat as you so I'll maybe see you in the ROC February filers thread?

In addition to the I751, we are going to send the G1145 e-notification of application acceptance to get the texts when stuff happens instead of waiting for the website to maybe update.

 

I made sure to save every monthly bill and statement from when we tied the knot. I also made sure to call them and have them add my husband's name. When they were kind of like "wellll", I added it was an imperative step for immigrations to demonstrate shared residence/responsibility blah blah and then they went ahead and added it.

 

Ideas:

a. Get a copy of the signature card of your joint account from your banker. Stress it's for immigration  Get every single bank statement from when your wife was added. If it's not available to you online, your banker will be able to print those for you (with perhaps a fee). The I751 instructions specify to send docs that span from the beginning of your marriage to present time. Make sure it's every page too. 

b. Is your wife listed as a beneficiary on any 401ks or any employee-sponsored insurances? Print out a page or have the company send an official letter that states this as of xx date until present.

c. Is your wife a co-signer or authorized user on any of your credit cards? My husband was added as a authorized user on my card, which helped his score (Capital One). Then he was able to apply for his own with me as an authorized user while he remained the primary name. 

d. Is she on your driver's insurance? even as a non-driver?

e. Is she on any of your car titles and/or car registration? (can easily be added)

f. Include those photos as well as others that span your marriage. It will show that you have travelled together etc. 

g. Both copies of driver's license/state ID card: shows shared residence in addition to your leases and various bills

h. Be sure to include the two years of tax filings. Even though I can technically send my stuff at the end of January i'm waiting until taxes are done to avoid a potential RFE 

i. Got any wills, power of attorney, medical power of attorney stuff? It's very strong evidence. We will be getting those. If not for immigrations but for life in general.

 

After that you wait lol: just like everything related to immigrations. You'll get an extension letter after your package is accepted that will help for employment and travel for one year. There's an option to get a stamp in your passport at the nearest office if the process takes longer than 1 year

 

[Danielle and Jake 24]

2 minutes ago, sddude89 said:

Don't worry too much about not having done a lot of trips. It is not that important.

The most important evidence is financial commingling.

One important thing you are missing on your list is Tax Return transcripts  for the last two years (can be obtained at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript)

Copy of lease, yes.

It is ok that your spouse has an independent bank account, that is normal. Statements of the joint account will be fine, but make sure there are transactions in it (I assume that's the account you use to pay bills, rent, etc) so that should be fine.

Most utility bills have only one name on the top but then at the bottom both names will be listed. Just highlight that.

Renter's and health insurance records are good documents as well.

Did you attend work events together and are there are pictures that show the whole group? That is better photo evidence than a picture at a waterfall which could have been staged.

 

Letter/affidavits from friends don't have too much value, so don't waste too much time on those.

 

Once you file I-751 you will get an extension letter with which you will be fine to travel, work, etc.

 

 

 

Thanks for the quick reply! After posting, I did realize I forgot to mention tax returns. We file through TurboTax, so not sure if there's a quick printout from that, or if it's better to use the link you provided.

 

The bank statements show transactions, and transfers with notes (I often put "Rent and Bills" in that), along with payments for our utilities (though the last couple months we've paid using her individual account).

 

As for pictures, unfortunately all we have are pretty much selfies. Like we went to Canada in the summer of 2016, and took a few there of ourselves by the Falls. I guess I'll need to make sure we get some pictures when we go back to my hometown for the holidays.

[GreatDane 366]

2 minutes ago, Danielle and Jake said:

 

Thanks for the quick reply! After posting, I did realize I forgot to mention tax returns. We file through TurboTax, so not sure if there's a quick printout from that, or if it's better to use the link you provided.

 

The bank statements show transactions, and transfers with notes (I often put "Rent and Bills" in that), along with payments for our utilities (though the last couple months we've paid using her individual account).

 

As for pictures, unfortunately all we have are pretty much selfies. Like we went to Canada in the summer of 2016, and took a few there of ourselves by the Falls. I guess I'll need to make sure we get some pictures when we go back to my hometown for the holidays.

If you can't find your TurboTax details, the IRS makes it really easy to login and get those details. If you switch companies year to year or do it yourself, you can always search the IRS for past year's returns!

 

If you want to include pictures, I included screen shots of pictures I uploaded to Facebook. That way it showed dates and even people liking, commenting, etc. 

 

When you file for I751, she'll receive a one year extension letter that works as her proof of residency. From there, she will need to get an I551 after the year expires. Unfortunately, I751 processing times are really, really long right now so I'd recommend you apply as soon as you're allowed to. CSC is around 18 months for ROCs.

[sddude89 31]

Just now, Danielle and Jake said:

 

Thanks for the quick reply! After posting, I did realize I forgot to mention tax returns. We file through TurboTax, so not sure if there's a quick printout from that, or if it's better to use the link you provided.

 

The bank statements show transactions, and transfers with notes (I often put "Rent and Bills" in that), along with payments for our utilities (though the last couple months we've paid using her individual account).

 

As for pictures, unfortunately all we have are pretty much selfies. Like we went to Canada in the summer of 2016, and took a few there of ourselves by the Falls. I guess I'll need to make sure we get some pictures when we go back to my hometown for the holidays.

Use the link for sure. USCIS prefers official Tax Return Transcripts. It is not unheard that USCIS sends an RFE requesting IRS transcripts because they did not like Tax Return copies originally submitted.

It can be a little bit finicky to get the downloadable version of tax transcripts but getting them by good old regular mail works fine too.

 

Make sure to take some good group pics with the family  You should definitely include those.

[Danielle and Jake 24]

2 minutes ago, YecaCruz said:

Hi we are in the same boat as you so I'll maybe see you in the ROC February filers thread?

In addition to the I751, we are going to send the G1145 e-notification of application acceptance to get the texts when stuff happens instead of waiting for the website to maybe update.

 

I made sure to save every monthly bill and statement from when we tied the knot. I also made sure to call them and have them add my husband's name. When they were kind of like "wellll", I added it was an imperative step for immigrations to demonstrate shared residence/responsibility blah blah and then they went ahead and added it.

 

Ideas:

a. Get a copy of the signature card of your joint account from your banker. Stress it's for immigration  Get every single bank statement from when your wife was added. If it's not available to you online, your banker will be able to print those for you (with perhaps a fee). The I751 instructions specify to send docs that span from the beginning of your marriage to present time. Make sure it's every page too. 

b. Is your wife listed as a beneficiary on any 401ks or any employee-sponsored insurances? Print out a page or have the company send an official letter that states this as of xx date until present.

c. Is your wife a co-signer or authorized user on any of your credit cards? My husband was added as a authorized user on my card, which helped his score (Capital One). Then he was able to apply for his own with me as an authorized user while he remained the primary name. 

d. Is she on your driver's insurance? even as a non-driver?

e. Is she on any of your car titles and/or car registration? (can easily be added)

f. Include those photos as well as others that span your marriage. It will show that you have travelled together etc. 

g. Both copies of driver's license/state ID card: shows shared residence in addition to your leases and various bills

h. Be sure to include the two years of tax filings. Even though I can technically send my stuff at the end of January i'm waiting until taxes are done to avoid a potential RFE 

i. Got any wills, power of attorney, medical power of attorney stuff? It's very strong evidence. We will be getting those. If not for immigrations but for life in general.

 

After that you wait lol: just like everything related to immigrations. You'll get an extension letter after your package is accepted that will help for employment and travel for one year. There's an option to get a stamp in your passport at the nearest office if the process takes longer than 1 year

 

 

That's a good idea about the G1145 form.

 

As for your ideas:

 

a. We use a credit union, so I'm not sure if they have anything like that. But all of our e-statements I can print do have her name in them. Not sure how far back I can go, I'll do every month I can.

b. She is listed as my beneficiary on my life insurance through my employer, but most of that information is shown on a screen in the HR system, nothing official like a form. Is a screen printout of that fine?

c. Unfortunately not.

d. She's not a driver, but is listed on my auto insurance (again, just the screen the company uses on their website) as a driver. She's under a "List only" section, but not on any of the documents I can request. Should I just print out that page?

e. She's not on any of those because she doesn't drive.

f. Most of those photos are just selfies of us.

g. My only concern with that is her ID card still has our old address. When you change your address, you're not required to get a new card, as you can just change it online. We moved a couple months before I re-newed mine, so it has the new address.

h. We do our taxes through TurboTax, do should we include the whole return? I plan on just getting the transcripts for the previous 2 years, including full return for this upcoming tax return.

i. Unfortunately none of that.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Just really nervous, even though for the K-1, and AOS, we've breezed through it without having to produce much "evidence".

[sddude89 31]

15 minutes ago, Danielle and Jake said:

 

That's a good idea about the G1145 form.

 

As for your ideas:

 

a. We use a credit union, so I'm not sure if they have anything like that. But all of our e-statements I can print do have her name in them. Not sure how far back I can go, I'll do every month I can.

b. She is listed as my beneficiary on my life insurance through my employer, but most of that information is shown on a screen in the HR system, nothing official like a form. Is a screen printout of that fine?

c. Unfortunately not.

d. She's not a driver, but is listed on my auto insurance (again, just the screen the company uses on their website) as a driver. She's under a "List only" section, but not on any of the documents I can request. Should I just print out that page?

e. She's not on any of those because she doesn't drive.

f. Most of those photos are just selfies of us.

g. My only concern with that is her ID card still has our old address. When you change your address, you're not required to get a new card, as you can just change it online. We moved a couple months before I re-newed mine, so it has the new address.

h. We do our taxes through TurboTax, do should we include the whole return? I plan on just getting the transcripts for the previous 2 years, including full return for this upcoming tax return.

i. Unfortunately none of that.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Just really nervous, even though for the K-1, and AOS, we've breezed through it without having to produce much "evidence".

You submit either IRS Transcripts or TurboTax printouts, not both as it may create confusion.

 

As you are filing I-751 in February,  I am not sure the IRS Transcripts for 2017 will be available already.

So, you probably want to submit:

-2017 Turbo Tax Printout

-2016 IRS Transcripts

-2015 IRS Transcripts

Don't print the whole TurboTax package that usually includes worksheets and other unnecessary stuff. Just print the tax return part (which I think is an option in the software).

[YecaCruz 382]

as long as your can present something from your account that shows you are both authorized signers/owners of the account. I think you mentioned your online docs demonstrate that. Print it! If in doubt Someone in your credit union will know if there is some kind of document. If not, someone can write one up stating "person a and person b have been joint owners (or whatever) from this date to this date" or something like that with fancy credit union paper. Don't let them say they can't! Stress it's for immigrations hehe!

 

For beneficiary stuff, it's the same for me. No official document. Print where it shows her as a beneficiary

 

I would print the auto insurance thing. 

 

Include some photos anyway. Between now and February, try to take some with family over the holidays. 

 

If you can, update her ID. It's for immigrations after all!

 

Good luck on this next step, I hope it goes well for you! Send some luck for us too!

[NikLR 13,232]

Just an FYI on the G-1145: that notification only applies to the acceptance of the ROC petition.  After that you have to sign up on the USCIS website with the receipt number from the biometrics letter to get updates. 

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

15 hours ago, Danielle and Jake said:

My only concern with that is within the last few months, she did open her account to have a little independence as well as start work on building a credit score of her own (because as an immigrant, she had no score).

 

Just an FYI:

The better way to do this is for her to open a secured credit card.  That should open the credit reporting file in her name and then if she is joint on any of your credit cards, it will increase her score at that point.

[Danielle and Jake 24]

21 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

as long as your can present something from your account that shows you are both authorized signers/owners of the account. I think you mentioned your online docs demonstrate that. Print it! If in doubt Someone in your credit union will know if there is some kind of document. If not, someone can write one up stating "person a and person b have been joint owners (or whatever) from this date to this date" or something like that with fancy credit union paper. Don't let them say they can't! Stress it's for immigrations hehe!

 

For beneficiary stuff, it's the same for me. No official document. Print where it shows her as a beneficiary

 

I would print the auto insurance thing. 

 

Include some photos anyway. Between now and February, try to take some with family over the holidays. 

 

If you can, update her ID. It's for immigrations after all!

 

Good luck on this next step, I hope it goes well for you! Send some luck for us too!

 

Will do, thanks!

 

I printed off 18 months of bank statements from our joint account, still got a few more to do. It's nearly an inch thick so far, so I guess we'll have a good volume of "evidence"/

 

As for the ID, I don't think it will be within time. I remember how much of a pain it was to get in the first place (we literally had to sit there and wait 30 minutes for someone to call the worker back, and if that didn't happen, then he'd call them... why not just call them right away?) I'm wondering if it'll be easier now that she has an ID card?

[Danielle and Jake 24]

21 hours ago, sddude89 said:

You submit either IRS Transcripts or TurboTax printouts, not both as it may create confusion.

 

As you are filing I-751 in February,  I am not sure the IRS Transcripts for 2017 will be available already.

So, you probably want to submit:

-2017 Turbo Tax Printout

-2016 IRS Transcripts

-2015 IRS Transcripts

Don't print the whole TurboTax package that usually includes worksheets and other unnecessary stuff. Just print the tax return part (which I think is an option in the software).

Thanks for the tips!

 

I requests the 2015, 2016 transcripts by mail, but I did figure out how to get them online. As noted before, it can get a little glitchy, but I found using Google Chrome worked pretty well.

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

41 minutes ago, cablewyres said:

 

I hope this would be enough. I was thinking of getting life insurance as well and make her my beneficiary. We aren't really at that stage in our marriage yet as we are still in our 20s. I know that this would be good for us but perhaps haven't really considered this yet, and we don't want to completely shift our lives just for the sake of immigration as we are happily married. Your confirmation and comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

Your evidence looks fine.  Just for life purposes consider even getting $20k term life insurance policies to cover funeral expenses, etc.  They can usually be obtained without a medical exam and are very affordable.

[cablewyres 38]

1 hour ago, N-o-l-a said:

 

Your evidence looks fine.  Just for life purposes consider even getting $20k term life insurance policies to cover funeral expenses, etc.  They can usually be obtained without a medical exam and are very affordable.

Thank you for your response. I'm planning on getting one next month