Questions about utility bills as evidence

[helena17 2]

Hi everybody ! My husband and I have most of utility bills in separate names. For example electricity is in his name and internet is in my name. Should we still send them? As proof of same address? And there is one bill that has both our names on it. How many should we send? Past couple of months? I read some people send bills for the whole two years of marriage.  Thank you ! 

[GBOS 198]

@helena17

 

I have the company put both names on the mailing address (which they can do, or you may be able to even do that yourself if you have access to an online account).

 

Most utility companies (electric, water, cable, home phone) do not have a capability to create a joint account for the purpose of liability, but they can mail the bill to whoever and wherever you want them to.  The mailing address doesn’t matter because a person on the hook is still the one with SSN on the book with them.

 

For my I-751 filing, I sent them my utility bill (electricity and cable) 5 months a year (or once a quarter, plus January, so I did Jan, Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec) to cover the entire period because the two things they want to see are:

 

1. Joint responsibility

2. Period covered is the the entire time of marriage up until the date of filing.

 

Don’t be too concerned with the early date of your marriage (first 6 months from the date of marriage, I would say), many people take time to put thing jointly, but definitely at least two years, you should have something you can show.

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

59 minutes ago, helena17 said:

Hi everybody ! My husband and I have most of utility bills in separate names. For example electricity is in his name and internet is in my name. Should we still send them? As proof of same address? And there is one bill that has both our names on it. How many should we send? Past couple of months? I read some people send bills for the whole two years of marriage.  Thank you ! 

As close to the two years of marriage if you have. USCIS wants to see co-mingling of lives from the get-go, not just something recent. If you have 2 yrs worth, I'd send two years worth. 

[helena17 2]

Thank you for responses, but did anybody send bills that had only their or their spouses name on them ? Or will it make it worse ? 

[GBOS 198]

1 hour ago, helena17 said:

Thank you for responses, but did anybody send bills that had only their or their spouses name on them ? Or will it make it worse ? 

I am sure people have and you can type up a letter of explanation with them, if it makes you feel more comfortable.  It makes up “co-mingling” (in my view) that you have one bill (say electric) in your name, and another bill (say water) in your spouse’s name.  That is easy to logically link, as long as they are for the same address.

 

It is the totality of evidence (supposedly) that will make or break your case.  During the process, you may draw a short straw and get a non-sense officer who will request for more evidence, and believe me you wouldn’t be the first one.

 

Submit as many evidence as you can, and make sure they cover at least 2 years, particularly financial-related items.

[AstroCanada 206]

6 hours ago, helena17 said:

Thank you for responses, but did anybody send bills that had only their or their spouses name on them ? Or will it make it worse ? 

I think even if your utility bills only have one name on each they demonstrate two things:

• Proof of address.  You each have bills sent to the same address.
• Commingling of finances.  Less so, but you're each paying for part of the living expenses at the address.