Does "evidence of ongoing relationship" actually help?

[Nat&Amy 623]

Depends on the Embassy. When I interviewed for my K1 in Rio/Brazil, I had a folder with all kinds of evidence but the CO only looked at the evidence that had already been submitted on my petition. And by that, I mean bills that we had together, joint bank accounts, letter from wedding planner with details of the ceremony we had planned, etc.

 

Submitting good evidence of ongoing relationship at petition stage doesn't hurt your chances and might help you in the embassy stage, depending on your embassy. That being said, submitting 200 pages of chat logs, for instance, is clutter. Same with people submitting whole scrapbook albums. Pointless. It's all about being sensible and remembering that quality is more important than quantity.

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

16 hours ago, N0mad said:

One of the bullet points in K-1 guide mentions an optional step of providing proof of ongoing relationship (tickets of future trips, chat logs, etc.). In another post I've been reprimanded for trying to explain how my fiancee and I met (something other online sources recommend), being told that USCIS doesn't care for a love story, they just want 1-2 sentences with concrete dates showing evidence of having met once in the last 2 years. Reading other member's RFEs and official USCIS instructions I see absolutely nothing about proof of ongoing relationship. Some other posts even mention that it's just clutter that slows down processing of your application. Despite it actually being recommended in the VisaJourney guide (unlike a page of explanation/summary of how we met and summary of our trips together, which several members told me USCIS doesn't care about), I don't see any evidence of USCIS wanting this information. With the explanation of how we met, at least a case can be made that it's overly verbose answer to question 54 of I-129F. With proof of ongoing relationship, I see no way to tie it back to I-129F at all. So does this information help at all or is it just clutter? I also want to clarify that I have plenty of evidence to attach to our case, but if it just clutter that USCIS doesn't care about, I'd rather not add it.

Only evidence that is required is the initial application, providing proof that you and your fiance physically spent time together, this includes plane tickets, hotel receipts, pictures together, passport with stamps, etc.  I'm sure you've heard this whole speal before, sorry if I'm repetitive.  When I went with my fiance to her K-1 interview, I brought a binder full of "proof of ongoing relationship" items.  I visited her 3 times in Brazil before going to her interview, so I had an abundance of plane tickets, hotel receipts, lots of pics together, plane and tour itineries, anything with our names together on documents, and the interviewer didn't ask to see anything.  So is it really required? no.  I do recommend bringing more proof of relationships items to the interview, because you never know the mood of the immigration officer.  "Better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it."

[SalishSea 17,834]

7 hours ago, Nat&Amy said:

And by that, I mean bills that we had together, joint bank accounts, letter from wedding planner with details of the ceremony we had planned, etc.

All of which, most K-1 couples will not have.

[Nat&Amy 623]

9 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

All of which, most K-1 couples will not have.

What each couple is able to gather as evidence will depend on their circumstances and choices. My now wife and I chose to live together in a third country before jumping head first into a marriage, and I know I was not the only K1 applicant that did so.

 

Whether that is representative of the majority or minority of K1 applicants is not the point and was never my claim to begin with.

[Pitaya 2,577]

Often at the visa interview, I would suspect that the CO may review the secondary evidence. But more likely, whether the petitioner is at the interview or not, the COs have been trained to interview people and watch their body language, demeanor, and eye movements. They have banks of questions that they can use to help them determine if the relationship is real and ongoing, or just a fraud show. The COs impression of the interviewee and the responses given by the interviewee to the COs questions very likely has a large impact on their decision, and is not dependent on a bunch of paper that is relatively easy to fabricate.

 

YMMV. 

[Vet13 0]

Hello, do we need to be more accurate about the “explanation of meeting”? My fiancee writes it very on point. He didnt even put how we first meet but rather how we physically met. Please help. Thank you.

[payxibka 10,045]

5 hours ago, Vet13 said:

Hello, do we need to be more accurate about the “explanation of meeting”? My fiancee writes it very on point. He didnt even put how we first meet but rather how we physically met. Please help. Thank you.

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