So worried just Married, not living together, no money!! (merged)

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

14 hours ago, Tommy john said:

I just married and received my official marriage certificate .. I don't have any evidence of bonafide marriage .. just knew my wife 3 month ago !

 

i have the certificate and wedding ceremony photos and couple of our pics together !

 

What USCIS expect from us as proof or evidence !!!

 

No joint bills or joint account yet !

 

 

Any help please ?? I'll fill after few days !

Evidence of bona fide marriage refers to your intentions when entering the marriage. In other words, the evidence can start since the date you met and decided to start dating. You can show anything that indicates when you met, receipts for movies, gifts, trips. 

 

People who meet on Monday, marry on Tuesday and file for Adjustment of status on Wednesday tend to get more scrutiny. Aren't you living together? How about phone location records. You gotta have something, right? To be clear, be comfortable with the concept that you may very well be scrutinized more. 

 

Make sure to read the I-130 instructions. Refer to page 3/12 and page 7/12. The instructions are not the I-130 form itself. It's a separate document.

 

Why the rush? My husband and I met 06-2016, Married 08-2017 and waited until 03-2018 to file for adjustment of status with a boatload of evidence. The package weighed 13 lbs. 

Edited December 8, 2018 by USC4SPOUSE

[Tommy john 9]

Guys , This is my first marriage !

 

i didn’t marry before , The other thread I was asking for my friend not me .

[Tommy john 9]

8 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

Evidence of bona fide marriage refers to your intentions when entering the marriage. In other words, the evidence can start since the date you met and decided to start dating. You can show anything that indicates when you met, receipts for movies, gifts, trips. 

 

People who meet on Monday, marry on Tuesday and file for Adjustment of status on Wednesday tend to get more scrutiny. Aren't you living together? How about phone location records. You gotta have something, right? To be clear, be comfortable with the concept that you may very well be scrutinized more. 

 

Make sure to read the I-130 instructions. Refer to page 3/12 and page 7/12. The instructions are not the I-130 form itself. It's a separate document.

 

 

I have phone call records , massages , wedding pics with all her family and friends - hotels booking recepient , trip ticket as she live 3 hours far from me  

 

what else I have to prepare ?

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

Just now, Tommy john said:

I have phone call records , massages , wedding pics with all her family and friends - hotels booking recepient , trip ticket as she live 3 hours far from me  

 

what else I have to prepare ?

The level of evidence that you have right now is what someone submits for a fiancee visa. You will need more. Just look at your case and evidence with very cynical eyes and ASK YOURSELF as if you were an Immigration Services Officer - Does it seem like these two people are truly married and building a life together? OR have they just been posing for pictures together over the last 3 months in different locations?

 

Think about that for a moment or longer. Let it seep in... Don't fight it.

 

[Tommy john 9]

6 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

The level of evidence that you have right now is what someone submits for a fiancee visa. You will need more. Just look at your case and evidence with very cynical eyes and ASK YOURSELF as if you were an Immigration Services Officer - Does it seem like these two people are truly married and building a life together? OR have they just been posing for pictures together over the last 3 months in different locations?

 

Think about that for a moment or longer. Let it seep in... Don't fight it.

 

So what’s your advice ?

 

we will do three joint bank accounts tomorrow 

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

Just now, Tommy john said:

So what’s your advice ?

 

we will do three joint bank accounts tomorrow 

I think you need to educate yourself on the process. Read the VJ guides, read lists of evidence that others have submitted and how they have arranged their evidence. Times are changing fast. If you click through my posts, you will find the Table of Contents I submitted, which lists all the evidence. 

[Tommy john 9]

19 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

I think you need to educate yourself on the process. Read the VJ guides, read lists of evidence that others have submitted and how they have arranged their evidence. Times are changing fast. If you click through my posts, you will find the Table of Contents I submitted, which lists all the evidence. 

I’m so sorry I couldn’t locate your post , Can you post the link for me please ?

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

Here you go. This is our Table of Contents.

[geowrian 22,337]

Is it really that hard to say "my friend" instead of "me"/"I"/"my"? 🤷‍♂️ It creates confusion by not doing so.

 

Just having joint accounts isn't evidence of a bona fide marriage. Joint accounts actually used together do help show commingling of finances. Whether this is 1 or more than one doesn't matter. Other ways to show commingling of finances are through insurance, beneficiaries on policies and accounts, etc. A good case has a mixture of several different types of evidences.

[bakphx1 789]

I think if you just met and got married and have no proof of a bona fide marriage you are in for a difficult time.  I don’t know why people rush into something so life changing without researching anything.

 

If your spouse is from a high fraud country, you may be working on this for enough years that you’ll at least have a chance to develop a relationship.  Everything you stated (got married in three months, have nothing to show as evidence) sounds like a green card marriage to be perfectly honest.  I would probably look at making trips, keeping chats and opening any accounts you have together and wait a little while before filling.  

 

 

[DrEllaNJ 288]

@USC4SPOUSE how many pages was your dossier, like 400? For AOS? That's going WAY OVERBOARD. Which officer wants to wade through 40 pages of activity log just showing you and spouse locked and unlocked the door????????

 

Tommy John just got married to a person he met a few months ago. so of course he's not going to have a 400-page dossier to send - but it isn't necessary either.

 

@Tommy john You can either wait a few months (since I believe your status won't expire for a while - but you can't travel outside of the US until you get your AP), or you can send in what  you have now - and continue to collect evidence which will certainly be asked for at your interview. Also, at this stage, there is no 'let's send everything we have to avoid interview' - EVERY AOS petitioner is going to be interviewed, unless maybe you came here on a K1 visa.

 

Here's what I sent, a month after I got married in May 2016. My J1 visa was expiring so I had to be quick to send everything in. We had been dating for 2.5 years though before getting married. I was interviewed in October 2016, brought in our new joint lease and a personal doc from our wedding, and got approved for 2yr GC. I just sent in a 200-page dossier to remove conditions, with loads more credit card / bank statements /evidence of co-habitation etc. But this was the list for the I-130 petition:

 

1.      Payment in the form of personal check #    for $[verify fee], made payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

2.      Form I-130 – Petition for Alien Relative

3.      Copy of United States birth certificate for petitioner, Name USC

4.      Copy of marriage certificate

5.      Passport style photo of petitioner, Name USC, and beneficiary, Name S, with receipt showing date taken

6.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by petitioner, Name*

7.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by beneficiary, Name S *

8.      Copy of (Name foreign country) birth certificate for beneficiary, Name S

9.      Evidence of a bona-fide marriage:

a.      Bank statements** for Name Bank and Name Bank 2 showing joint account

b.      Credit Card statement showing joint Account

c.       Auto insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

d.      Jewelry insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

e.       Copy of Wedding Invitation

f.       Copy of Wedding Ceremony liturgy

g.      Selection of photographs exhibiting relationship

* note: form G325A is no longer required. Verify the current list of documents on the uscis.gov website

** when I say bank statementS, that means 1 statement for each account, since we added each other to our accounts after the wedding, and we had only been married for 3 weeks when we submitted the application. Same for Credit Card statement - that was 1 statement. It was a big purchase though - our bed  

 

Note that there is no lease or anything - because we moved a few months after the wedding so we never bothered to add my name to the lease at the old place. After we moved, we made sure to get a lease with both our names (and since we bought a house, with both our names on the deed) and I got electric/gas in my name while my spouse paid the cable/phone bills (since they didn't allow 2 names on the bills).

 

Just start gathering documents from now on - I put everything I thought may be relevant in a big box and sorted it out before submitting the ROC application. Take additional stuff to the interview - good proof, like bank statements showing purchases by both from a joint bank account etc.

 

Most importantly, work on your marriage and be happy. Congrats!

Edited December 8, 2018 by DrEllaNJ

[Tommy john 9]

39 minutes ago, DrEllaNJ said:

@USC4SPOUSE how many pages was your dossier, like 400? For AOS? That's going WAY OVERBOARD. Which officer wants to wade through 40 pages of activity log just showing you and spouse locked and unlocked the door????????

 

Tommy John just got married to a person he met a few months ago. so of course he's not going to have a 400-page dossier to send - but it isn't necessary either.

 

@Tommy john You can either wait a few months (since I believe your status won't expire for a while - but you can't travel outside of the US until you get your AP), or you can send in what  you have now - and continue to collect evidence which will certainly be asked for at your interview. Also, at this stage, there is no 'let's send everything we have to avoid interview' - EVERY AOS petitioner is going to be interviewed, unless maybe you came here on a K1 visa.

 

Here's what I sent, a month after I got married in May 2016. My J1 visa was expiring so I had to be quick to send everything in. We had been dating for 2.5 years though before getting married. I was interviewed in October 2016, brought in our new joint lease and a personal doc from our wedding, and got approved for 2yr GC. I just sent in a 200-page dossier to remove conditions, with loads more credit card / bank statements /evidence of co-habitation etc. But this was the list for the I-130 petition:

 

1.      Payment in the form of personal check #    for $[verify fee], made payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

2.      Form I-130 – Petition for Alien Relative

3.      Copy of United States birth certificate for petitioner, Name USC

4.      Copy of marriage certificate

5.      Passport style photo of petitioner, Name USC, and beneficiary, Name S, with receipt showing date taken

6.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by petitioner, Name*

7.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by beneficiary, Name S *

8.      Copy of (Name foreign country) birth certificate for beneficiary, Name S

9.      Evidence of a bona-fide marriage:

a.      Bank statements** for Name Bank and Name Bank 2 showing joint account

b.      Credit Card statement showing joint Account

c.       Auto insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

d.      Jewelry insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

e.       Copy of Wedding Invitation

f.       Copy of Wedding Ceremony liturgy

g.      Selection of photographs exhibiting relationship

* note: form G325A is no longer required. Verify the current list of documents on the uscis.gov website

** when I say bank statementS, that means 1 statement for each account, since we added each other to our accounts after the wedding, and we had only been married for 3 weeks when we submitted the application. Same for Credit Card statement - that was 1 statement. It was a big purchase though - our bed  

 

Note that there is no lease or anything - because we moved a few months after the wedding so we never bothered to add my name to the lease at the old place. After we moved, we made sure to get a lease with both our names (and since we bought a house, with both our names on the deed) and I got electric/gas in my name while my spouse paid the cable/phone bills (since they didn't allow 2 names on the bills).

 

Just start gathering documents from now on - I put everything I thought may be relevant in a big box and sorted it out before submitting the ROC application. Take additional stuff to the interview - good proof, like bank statements showing purchases by both from a joint bank account etc.

 

Most importantly, work on your marriage and be happy. Congrats!

Thank you so much , My visa will expire in June !!

[Apple Bee 272]

2 hours ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

Evidence of bona fide marriage refers to your intentions when entering the marriage. In other words, the evidence can start since the date you met and decided to start dating. You can show anything that indicates when you met, receipts for movies, gifts, trips. 

 

People who meet on Monday, marry on Tuesday and file for Adjustment of status on Wednesday tend to get more scrutiny. Aren't you living together? How about phone location records. You gotta have something, right? To be clear, be comfortable with the concept that you may very well be scrutinized more. 

 

Make sure to read the I-130 instructions. Refer to page 3/12 and page 7/12. The instructions are not the I-130 form itself. It's a separate document.

 

Why the rush? My husband and I met 06-2016, Married 08-2017 and waited until 03-2018 to file for adjustment of status with a boatload of evidence. The package weighed 13 lbs. 

No offense but why do people always ask "Why the rush?" After the person has already gotten married? The deed is done. Should the couple get divorced and wait longer to remarry to satisfy others qualifications? Just because you did something a certain way doesn't mean other have to follow the same guideline. Just saying.

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

54 minutes ago, Apple Bee said:

No offense but why do people always ask "Why the rush?" After the person has already gotten married? The deed is done. Should the couple get divorced and wait longer to remarry to satisfy others qualifications? Just because you did something a certain way doesn't mean other have to follow the same guideline. Just saying.

You misunderstood what I meant. You could ask, though - USC4SPOUSE, what did you mean by what's the rush? 

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

1 hour ago, DrEllaNJ said:

@USC4SPOUSE how many pages was your dossier, like 400? For AOS? That's going WAY OVERBOARD. Which officer wants to wade through 40 pages of activity log just showing you and spouse locked and unlocked the door????????

 

Tommy John just got married to a person he met a few months ago. so of course he's not going to have a 400-page dossier to send - but it isn't necessary either.

 

@Tommy john You can either wait a few months (since I believe your status won't expire for a while - but you can't travel outside of the US until you get your AP), or you can send in what  you have now - and continue to collect evidence which will certainly be asked for at your interview. Also, at this stage, there is no 'let's send everything we have to avoid interview' - EVERY AOS petitioner is going to be interviewed, unless maybe you came here on a K1 visa.

 

Here's what I sent, a month after I got married in May 2016. My J1 visa was expiring so I had to be quick to send everything in. We had been dating for 2.5 years though before getting married. I was interviewed in October 2016, brought in our new joint lease and a personal doc from our wedding, and got approved for 2yr GC. I just sent in a 200-page dossier to remove conditions, with loads more credit card / bank statements /evidence of co-habitation etc. But this was the list for the I-130 petition:

 

1.      Payment in the form of personal check #    for $[verify fee], made payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

2.      Form I-130 – Petition for Alien Relative

3.      Copy of United States birth certificate for petitioner, Name USC

4.      Copy of marriage certificate

5.      Passport style photo of petitioner, Name USC, and beneficiary, Name S, with receipt showing date taken

6.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by petitioner, Name*

7.      Form G-325A – Biographic Information: Filled out and signed by beneficiary, Name S *

8.      Copy of (Name foreign country) birth certificate for beneficiary, Name S

9.      Evidence of a bona-fide marriage:

a.      Bank statements** for Name Bank and Name Bank 2 showing joint account

b.      Credit Card statement showing joint Account

c.       Auto insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

d.      Jewelry insurance with both petitioner and beneficiary listed

e.       Copy of Wedding Invitation

f.       Copy of Wedding Ceremony liturgy

g.      Selection of photographs exhibiting relationship

* note: form G325A is no longer required. Verify the current list of documents on the uscis.gov website

** when I say bank statementS, that means 1 statement for each account, since we added each other to our accounts after the wedding, and we had only been married for 3 weeks when we submitted the application. Same for Credit Card statement - that was 1 statement. It was a big purchase though - our bed  

 

Note that there is no lease or anything - because we moved a few months after the wedding so we never bothered to add my name to the lease at the old place. After we moved, we made sure to get a lease with both our names (and since we bought a house, with both our names on the deed) and I got electric/gas in my name while my spouse paid the cable/phone bills (since they didn't allow 2 names on the bills).

 

Just start gathering documents from now on - I put everything I thought may be relevant in a big box and sorted it out before submitting the ROC application. Take additional stuff to the interview - good proof, like bank statements showing purchases by both from a joint bank account etc.

 

Most importantly, work on your marriage and be happy. Congrats!

You did it your way. OP asked to see it. So I posted it. We did it our way and that is OK! 😁

Same sex marriage is ilegal in my husband's country, and punishable by prison time from 2 years to 20 years OR caning - the act of hitting someone with a cane until you are satisfied they learned the lesson. You could say that we went overboard and that it was not necessary. HOWEVER, given our circumstances we felt we needed to send ALL sorts of evidence and from all angles. We have nothing to hide AND living in Malaysia is not an option for us. So that is what we did. All approaches are valid. What is important is that you do YOU. Live and let live.