Letters from family and friends

[livinginlove 62]

Has anyone included notarized letters from family and friends in their “proof of relationship” evidence for the interview stage? I have plenty of photos, texts, phone records and visits. But I’ve had friends offer and I’m wondering if anyone else has done this. Or if you think it’s worth it.

[Greenbaum 12,259]

Depends on the Embassy and how difficult they are in approving K-1's. If it's not asked for in the P3 it's not a normal item to include. Have you found others who are interviewing at the same embassy that may have history? To find those just select your flag in your profile on the left column and scroll down the page till you see others. There is a link also on that page for others from your embassy.

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

6 minutes ago, livinginlove said:

Has anyone included notarized letters from family and friends in their “proof of relationship” evidence for the interview stage? I have plenty of photos, texts, phone records and visits. But I’ve had friends offer and I’m wondering if anyone else has done this. Or if you think it’s worth it.

I've only heard of a few couples that actually have done this.  As mentioned before, it all depends on the difficulty of the embassy.  Sound slike you have sufficient amount of other evidence, but do what your heart desires. 

[MelOe 187]

We have. We included letters from the parents of both of us and a few friends stating that they knew the two of us together, were very happy to hear of our engagement etc. I don't know that this was necessary, but it doesn't seem to have hurt our case yet either at least.

That being said, if we had known visajourney at the time we probably wouldn't have bothered gathering all those letters since the general consensus here seems to be that they are unnecessary except for a few specific embassies. I don't know if your embassy is a difficult one, so as has been said, you might want to check with people from the specific subforum.

[Dataunavailable 82]

I did this time, we've already been denied in Cambodia for what they deemed "not adequately displaying intent to marry", basically a 221g that the relationship wasn't legitimate. So we refiled and this time I've included letters from co workers, friends, parents that all talk about how they are aware of our relationship and intent to marry. My mother is even ordained and she included her documents for that as she has offered to officiate our wedding. 

 

Will any of it help, not sure. My dad has wrote a letter and since passed away, so I'm not positive if that will make a difference. Since everyone included their phone numbers to call if necessary.  I'll be bringing a copy of the death certificate as a precaution. 

 

It's easy for people to say it isn't necessary, when they already have their significant others here, or went through an Embasy that isn't that difficult. So it depends where you're going through. 

 

I'm going through Cambodia, an Embasy that approves around 20-25 K1s a month vs somewhere like Manilla that approves around 300. 

[LaBeach 29]

On 10/28/2019 at 11:06 AM, livinginlove said:

Has anyone included notarized letters from family and friends in their “proof of relationship” evidence for the interview stage? I have plenty of photos, texts, phone records and visits. But I’ve had friends offer and I’m wondering if anyone else has done this. Or if you think it’s worth it.

it is helpful for Cuban SO

[debbiedoo 2,339]

Depends on your consulate and what kind of relationship evidence you have.

 

I sent no affidavits of any kind for the k1 or later when we changed methods and filed the i 130/AOS and had our subsequent interview. But we also had plenty of other evidence for both petition types. typically affidavits are the least desired type of relationship evidence and carry very little weight.

[livinginlove 62]

On 11/15/2019 at 9:52 AM, LaBeach said:

it is helpful for Cuban SO

Thank you!

On 11/15/2019 at 10:38 AM, debbiedoo said:

Depends on your consulate and what kind of relationship evidence you have.

 

I sent no affidavits of any kind for the k1 or later when we changed methods and filed the i 130/AOS and had our subsequent interview. But we also had plenty of other evidence for both petition types. typically affidavits are the least desired type of relationship evidence and carry very little weight.

Thank you!

[LaBeach 29]

On 11/15/2019 at 11:38 AM, debbiedoo said:

Depends on your consulate and what kind of relationship evidence you have.

 

I sent no affidavits of any kind for the k1 or later when we changed methods and filed the i 130/AOS and had our subsequent interview. But we also had plenty of other evidence for both petition types. typically affidavits are the least desired type of relationship evidence and carry very little weight.

"typically affidavits are the least desired type of relationship evidence and carry very little weight"

 

That is simply not true for a number of reasons. The USCIS specifically lists affidavits as among the type of evidence they would like to see, almost my entire family are immigrants so I have filed many applications personally as well as assisted others with their applications and affidavits carry weight, regardless of the foregoing, the embassy in Guyana routinely asks for them for Cuban nationals, as did the embassy in Havana before it closed. 

[jaysaldi 213]

54 minutes ago, LaBeach said:

"typically affidavits are the least desired type of relationship evidence and carry very little weight"

 

That is simply not true for a number of reasons. The USCIS specifically lists affidavits as among the type of evidence they would like to see, almost my entire family are immigrants so I have filed many applications personally as well as assisted others with their applications and affidavits carry weight, regardless of the foregoing, the embassy in Guyana routinely asks for them for Cuban nationals, as did the embassy in Havana before it closed. 

I don't know if any ex-consular officers but I've seen them post on reddit about types of evidence that carry little weight. Affidavits can be easily faked or people will lie or people will just file whatever their friends/family ask them to file. I'd have to believe that affidavits from other people saying "Take my word for it, Mr. Consular Officer, this is a genuine couple" are going to carry little weight. 

 

If an applicant has only met his fiancee in person once, and the consulate has a problem with that, it's not going to matter much that the applicant's friends/family members say "But he talks about her all the time and I see him on his phone a lot texting her." 

 

Boarding passes, hotel receipts, photos in identifiable places, photos taken at different times, leases with both parties' names on it, that's what they really want to see, if you have it. 

 

What you definitely don't want are affidavits from the beneficiary's family members suggesting that they are really gung ho about her marrying the American.

Edited November 16, 2019 by jaysaldi

[Boiler 45,516]

Happy to provide an affidavit for a modest fee.

[jaysaldi 213]

On 10/28/2019 at 10:12 AM, Dataunavailable said:

I did this time, we've already been denied in Cambodia for what they deemed "not adequately displaying intent to marry", basically a 221g that the relationship wasn't legitimate. So we refiled and this time I've included letters from co workers, friends, parents that all talk about how they are aware of our relationship and intent to marry. My mother is even ordained and she included her documents for that as she has offered to officiate our wedding. 

 

Will any of it help, not sure. My dad has wrote a letter and since passed away, so I'm not positive if that will make a difference. Since everyone included their phone numbers to call if necessary.  I'll be bringing a copy of the death certificate as a precaution. 

 

It's easy for people to say it isn't necessary, when they already have their significant others here, or went through an Embasy that isn't that difficult. So it depends where you're going through. 

 

I'm going through Cambodia, an Embasy that approves around 20-25 K1s a month vs somewhere like Manilla that approves around 300. 

Hi, I remember your case. I think submitting a bunch of affidavits from people who have never met her and never seen the two of you together will not help you.   They are not in any position to help the consular officer determine if your relationship is genuine. The fatal flaw in your case was that you were set up by her (scheming?) aunts in your hometown and flew to Cambodia to meet her once and had an engagement party on your first meeting.  

 

You need to meet her again and spend face time together to overcome the suspicions about the relationship moving too fast and about your fiancee's motivation being reunification with her family.  Affidavits from her family members advocating for you or affidavits from your friends saying "I've never met this woman but I know she's in love with him" aren't going to move the needle it all. 

[Boiler 45,516]

Ahh, I think my price has gone up.

10 minutes ago, jaysaldi said:

Hi, I remember your case. I think submitting a bunch of affidavits from people who have never met her and never seen the two of you together will not help you.   They are not in any position to help the consular officer determine if your relationship is genuine. The fatal flaw in your case was that you were set up by her (scheming?) aunts in your hometown and flew to Cambodia to meet her once and had an engagement party on your first meeting.  

 

You need to meet her again and spend face time together to overcome the suspicions about the relationship moving too fast and about your fiancee's motivation being reunification with her family.  Affidavits from her family members advocating for you or affidavits from your friends saying "I've never met this woman but I know she's in love with him" aren't going to move the needle it all. 

 

[LaBeach 29]

1 hour ago, jaysaldi said:

I don't know if any ex-consular officers but I've seen them post on reddit about types of evidence that carry little weight. Affidavits can be easily faked or people will lie or people will just file whatever their friends/family ask them to file. I'd have to believe that affidavits from other people saying "Take my word for it, Mr. Consular Officer, this is a genuine couple" are going to carry little weight. 

 

If an applicant has only met his fiancee in person once, and the consulate has a problem with that, it's not going to matter much that the applicant's friends/family members say "But he talks about her all the time and I see him on his phone a lot texting her." 

 

Boarding passes, hotel receipts, photos in identifiable places, photos taken at different times, leases with both parties' names on it, that's what they really want to see, if you have it. 

 

What you definitely don't want are affidavits from the beneficiary's family members suggesting that they are really gung ho about her marrying the American.

 

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Happy to provide an affidavit for a modest fee.

 

58 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Ahh, I think my price has gone up.

 

Jaysaldi, you stated your opinion in your initial response as if it was a fact. Anyone can create a reddit profile claiming to be whoever they want so that carries no weight.  You have now written a bunch of assumptions as a way of supporting/defending your position. The OP did not enter any of those facts, they merely asked about affidavits. To be clear, I am not asking you to change your opinion of the value of any piece of evidence but you should state when something is your opinion and not facts. The fact that you spend unlimited time on the site answering a bunch of post to achieve your "Diamond Member" or "Supreme Member" or whatever arbitrary designation this site creates, doesn't make you or any other similarly situated members experts but some people using the site may be mislead by these statuses so it important that you are upfront when you state an opinion. Further, most of the "experts" on here are only familiar with the countries their SO emigrated from but continue to  respond to specific countries with general information.

 

BTW, an affidavit is a sworn statement and I can't speak for the integrity or veracity of people I don't know but they would be rather foolish to provide the government with a sworn statement they knew to be false as that is a crime. 

 

The frequent fliers on here are all so defensive when anyone challenges your positions or opinions. None of you are immigration officers, lawyers or experts so relax, it is ok to be wrong. You all have a great night, feel free to  continue the debate among yourselves, my point is sufficiently made.

[jaysaldi 213]

3 hours ago, LaBeach said:

 

 

 

 

The frequent fliers on here are all so defensive when anyone challenges your positions or opinions. None of you are immigration officers, lawyers or experts so relax, it is ok to be wrong. You all have a great night, feel free to  continue the debate among yourselves, my point is sufficiently made.

Some of us are immigration officers, lawyers, or experts. You stated that affidavits carry weight.   You didn't say "but this is just my opinion" either. Another poster and I have suggested that affidavits don't carry much weight and they are weak evidence.  That's not a personal attack against you.

 

The OP can read all the comments and act accordingly. That's what the site is for.