just married + living apart. bona fide marriage evidence?

[Charmss 4]

Hello,

 

 

I am asking for advice for more evidence for bona fide marriage.

We are living apart, we just did a private civil marriage last week and obtained marriage certificate, and we are planning on getting married after we move in together, etc. which would be in a few years.

Evidence that I have so far:

letter explaining why we live apart

call histories, photos since dating, flight tickets, authorized user credit cards.

 

BUT I don't have joint mortgage or rents (don't live together), joint tax filing (just got married), joint bank account (just got married, need marriage certificate for this), joint phone bill/internet bill (don't live together, parents still paying for it...so free...). I also read that "manufacturing evidence" is also a cause of RFE. so I don't want to make up something just for evidence. Are things I listed above ok? 

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Charmss

[EandH0904 1,184]

when people first get married, they do "normal" things like adding their spouse on their insurance, sometimes adding them to a joint bank account, adding them as beneficiary for life insurance, etc. 

I don't think it's "manufacturing evidence" as you could not have done those things prior to being married - so it's not creating something solely for the purpose of immigration, it's normal things you do. 

 

I changed my name, so I waited for my new SS card, my new driver's license etc before submitting our petition. 

 

If you had a private civil marriage last week for "marriage certificate purposes" - when you do you anticipate getting your marriage certificate? A lot of times you will need this (and a translation to English if it is not in English) prior to changing name, adding spouse to insurance, etc - I know you will need this before filing anything with USCIS. 

 

You shouldn't say we are "planning on getting married....." in a few years if you ARE married now. You should say something like "we will have a more formal ceremony" - using words like that could be confusing when applying for a spousal visa - it may not be clear whether or not you are actually married.  

[NikLR 13,232]

Why are you not living together yet? Is there an issue with doing things like adding each other to bank accounts or assigning the spouse as a beneficiary? 

[Marieke H 2,523]

The way you present your case here sure makes it look like this marriage was only for Greencard purposes. I am not saying it is, but saying that you will get married in a few years while you just got your marriage certificate doesn't look good. Not living together also doesn't look good, unless you have very good reasons for this (better than "we just want to wait a few years"). Make sure your explanation is very clear.

[MyJourney 276]

You could have a modest wedding reception, you can have shared cell phone bill/numbers, you can co-own a bank account, you can add each other's names on each other's rental leases, you can have insurances together.....there is plenty of stuff you can do, to show interdependence even though you are "living apart". Many couples live apart and they still share many of the things mentioned above. 

[Charmss 4]

hi, thanks for your advice in comments. i am a student, and i need a few years to graduate for my degree. My husband has a professional career that he cannot easily move from one place to another.

I already received marriage certificate. I am planning to file it within a few weeks. I hope it doesn't flag my case to USCIS by submitting it too early. Only thing I'm kind of thinking to get is a joint bank account, medical insurance under his plan, and maybe a void check with our name. changing names in rental property is not easy at this point unless we move out and start a new least at this point.

[EandH0904 1,184]

26 minutes ago, MariekeH said:

 Not living together also doesn't look good, unless you have very good reasons for this (better than "we just want to wait a few years"). Make sure your explanation is very clear.

Right. If you are still in the US and your spouse is in another country - this is a whole lot different than just waiting. 

[NikLR 13,232]

2 minutes ago, Charmss said:

hi, thanks for your advice in comments. i am a student, and i need a few years to graduate for my degree. My husband has a professional career that he cannot easily move from one place to another.

I already received marriage certificate. I am planning to file it within a few weeks. I hope it doesn't flag my case to USCIS by submitting it too early. Only thing I'm kind of thinking to get is a joint bank account, medical insurance under his plan, and maybe a void check with our name. changing names in rental property is not easy at this point unless we move out and start a new least at this point.

Why the rush to file the I-130 then if you already have an F1 visa?  Get everything together.  Hubs and I married in May and didnt file until October, and we lived in two different countries.  

[Charmss 4]

6 minutes ago, NikLR said:

Why the rush to file the I-130 then if you already have an F1 visa?  Get everything together.  Hubs and I married in May and didnt file until October, and we lived in two different countries.  

yeah...maybe i shouldn't rush until i get all documented,. I was preparing all documents and got sick to my stomach because it's almost 1/2" long documents, and I think one of the documents are expiring in july, 2018, and I'm doing it myself since my husband is so busy with work. I just wanted to get it over with  

[nyhd92 19]

I was in a very similar situation - living apart and married at courthouse. My interview lasted less than 15 minutes and was approved on the spot and got my GC a few days later. The IO didn't press. IDK, maybe we were just lucky, however, I strongly believe the IO just was able to tell right off the bat that we were a real couple. I would advise to be living together at the time, since that's safer and you may not meet an understanding IO like I did or at the minimum be able to prove that you intend to move in together in the very near future.  

 

One thing I noticed is she gave us back our telephone histories, text etc - she didn't seem very interested in that. The bulk of evidence she took was mostly financial - insurance (car, life insurance, heath insurance etc.), bank statement, taxes etc. She also took a letter from my spouse's parents and placed it at the top of the file. 

 

Also, you do not need a marriage certificate to open a joint bank account - just IDs for you both. Open it right away. 

 

Your case is so similar. I thought we were gonna get denied based on what lawyers had told us and what I read on the internet. 

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by nyhd92

[Charmss 4]

33 minutes ago, nyhd92 said:

I was in a very similar situation - living apart and married at courthouse. My interview lasted less than 15 minutes and was approved on the spot and got my GC a few days later. The IO didn't press. IDK, maybe we were just lucky, however, I strongly believe the IO just was able to tell right off the bat that we were a real couple. I would advise to be living together at the time, since that's safer and you may not meet an understanding IO like I did or at the minimum be able to prove that you intend to move in together in the very near future.  

 

One thing I noticed is she gave us back our telephone histories, text etc - she didn't seem very interested in that. The bulk of evidence she took was mostly financial - insurance (car, life insurance, heath insurance etc.), bank statement, taxes etc. She also took a letter from my spouse's parents and placed it at the top of the file. 

 

Also, you do not need a marriage certificate to open a joint bank account - just IDs for you both. Open it right away. 

 

Your case is so similar. I thought we were gonna get denied based on what lawyers had told us and what I read on the internet. 

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

We have to wait for another year for car insurance because we had a good deal under each other's parent's insurance shortly before both were married.

We don't have life insurance yet.

We just opened a joint bank account and made a small deposit. There is nothing much other than $300 deposit. Is it ok? (He makes enough, we didn't get a chance to make a joint account under mine or his). We haven't filed taxes, but my husband did a calculation, and we might just do married filing separately, because the state tax is such a mess if you're trying to file together.

 

I guess only thing i have is a joint account now, and maybe health insurance. would it be sufficient? Did you get a sworn letter from your husband's parent?

Edited June 4, 2018 by Charmss

[nyhd92 19]

2 hours ago, Charmss said:

Thanks for your advice.

 

We have to wait for another year for car insurance because we had a good deal under each other's parent's insurance shortly before both were married.

We don't have life insurance yet.

We just opened a joint bank account and made a small deposit. There is nothing much other than $300 deposit. Is it ok? (He makes enough, we didn't get a chance to make a joint account under mine or his). We haven't filed taxes, but my husband did a calculation, and we might just do married filing separately, because the state tax is such a mess if you're trying to file together.

 

I guess only thing i have is a joint account now, and maybe health insurance. would it be sufficient? Did you get a sworn letter from your husband's parent?

Yes, it was a well-written notarized letter. And the deposit shouldn't matter. What matters is that you are both sharing the account  and there is joint activity. Like purchases, both your salaries being deposited in the account etc. Just don't open the account to have it - ensure that you're both using it. 

 

I think you will need more than just the joint account and health insurance. When do you plan on filing? 

[Aziz loufi 0]

Looking for a bona fide or something real 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

15 hours ago, Aziz loufi said:

Looking for a bona fide or something real 

Looking for a bonafide or something real what?