How to prove bona fide marriage?

[cjsm19 3]

How does one prove a bona fide marriage when the foreign spouse is still living overseas? I’m just wondering what kind of evidence we will be able to provide when we will not be living together at the time we get the spousal visa process going. Does printing out text messages help out? I’ve heard that you really shouldn’t overload them with paperwork. Can we just select a few messages per day or week, screenshot them, and then print them out? Or are they going to want to see all of our messages? Also, what other paperwork can we show them to prove our relationship is legitimate? Thanks in advance!

[SorrowL 138]

Proving bona fide marriage can be done with:

 

photos of your wedding

photos of any trips, or activities done together

copies of travel itineraries

Passport stamps 

copies from social media posts including you two and family if possible

written statements signed in affidavit form from family on both sides confirming your relationship

excerpts of text conversations

any joint bank accounts or insurances

any evidence of cohabitation

future plans in the US together. 
 

I’d say a small photo album, maybe 10-20 pictures with date and description, and 3-5 pieces of evidence from each other source, like 3-5 social media post copies, 3-5 affidavits in support of your relationship, 3-5 travel itineraries. Etc etc. 

 

Depending on country, more evidence is better. 

Edited February 5, 2020 by SorrowL

[pushbrk 13,172]

3 hours ago, SorrowL said:

Proving bona fide marriage can be done with:

 

photos of your wedding

photos of any trips, or activities done together

copies of travel itineraries

Passport stamps 

copies from social media posts including you two and family if possible

written statements signed in affidavit form from family on both sides confirming your relationship

excerpts of text conversations

any joint bank accounts or insurances

any evidence of cohabitation

future plans in the US together. 
 

I’d say a small photo album, maybe 10-20 pictures with date and description, and 3-5 pieces of evidence from each other source, like 3-5 social media post copies, 3-5 affidavits in support of your relationship, 3-5 travel itineraries. Etc etc. 

 

Depending on country, more evidence is better. 

Good list except don't submit photos in "albums".  Just print up to nine per page on full sheets of plain white paper.

[Quarknase 1,072]

Hello,

We received an RFE for this topic - I am German and went exactly with the above list suggested by @SorrowL. We did not submit text messages and affidavits with the initial submission. We spent over 3 months together abroad last year (spread over 3 trips, one of them 2 months long) so I anticipated it would be fine.

My husband is from the Middle East and my German mind was probably too naiv. As RFE response we'll submit

- Personal affidavit of me, the petitioner, describing our relationship from when we met until now, including the path of decision making to settle in the US, and our plans for the future.

- Affidavits of his parents and siblings, who live on the same property as us (when I'm there with him).

- Affidavit of my friend who has met my husband twice.

- Chat logs (approx. 60 pages) with snippets from each week since we met

- Passport pages for both of us showing entry- and exit stamps from visits, and travel together

- Boarding passes of said trips

- Hotel receipt from one trip (the others were cash payments, and we mostly stay at his family house)

- Photos of traveling together, and with family and friends (18 pages, average 6 images per page)

- Personal statement why we only had court wedding, not traditional celebration yet

- Travel itineraries booked by me for my husband when he traveled alone (he didn't have a credit card), along with authorization for him to travel on an itinerary paid with my card

- Letter from bank showing him as authorized user for my credit card

- Statement showing him as beneficiary for my employer based life insurance

- some social media posts from us, and from friends with us in the picture

 

This might be an overload, but the RFE was pretty scary after we thought to have submitted enough proof with the initial application. @JeanneAdil what are your thoughts on this?

 

I'm wondering how to submit all this - the RFE letter came with a small letter size envelope for the response  Are they accepting packages mailed as RFE response?

 

I hope this list helps. I do believe it really depends on the country of the beneficiary if overloading is needed, or not.

 

11 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Good list except don't submit photos in "albums".  Just print up to nine per page on full sheets of plain white paper.

Good point. Do you believe black and white printout will do, or are color copies preferred?

[pushbrk 13,172]

Just now, Quarknase said:

 

 

Good point. Do you believe black and white printout will do, or are color copies preferred?

Color would be MY preference but as long as the people are recognizable, it doesn't really matter.

[cjsm19 3]

3 hours ago, SorrowL said:

Proving bona fide marriage can be done with:

 

photos of your wedding

photos of any trips, or activities done together

copies of travel itineraries

Passport stamps 

copies from social media posts including you two and family if possible

written statements signed in affidavit form from family on both sides confirming your relationship

excerpts of text conversations

any joint bank accounts or insurances

any evidence of cohabitation

future plans in the US together. 
 

I’d say a small photo album, maybe 10-20 pictures with date and description, and 3-5 pieces of evidence from each other source, like 3-5 social media post copies, 3-5 affidavits in support of your relationship, 3-5 travel itineraries. Etc etc. 

 

Depending on country, more evidence is better. 

Thank you for your response! What if both spouses have had limited ability to travel back and forth? We are both students, and our schedules haven’t allowed us to meet as often as we would like. I am asking this for future reference, as we will be marrying abroad in September. Before that, we will be spending three months traveling together. Might that be enough to gather all of the evidence we need? 

[SorrowL 138]

31 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

Thank you for your response! What if both spouses have had limited ability to travel back and forth? We are both students, and our schedules haven’t allowed us to meet as often as we would like. I am asking this for future reference, as we will be marrying abroad in September. Before that, we will be spending three months traveling together. Might that be enough to gather all of the evidence we need? 

All that you can provide now helps too. Even the limited times help. Any documentation or “proof” that you both care for each other and have trust in each other. 

[cjsm19 3]

16 minutes ago, SorrowL said:

All that you can provide now helps too. Even the limited times help. Any documentation or “proof” that you both care for each other and have trust in each other. 

Thank you!

[pushbrk 13,172]

51 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

Thank you for your response! What if both spouses have had limited ability to travel back and forth? We are both students, and our schedules haven’t allowed us to meet as often as we would like. I am asking this for future reference, as we will be marrying abroad in September. Before that, we will be spending three months traveling together. Might that be enough to gather all of the evidence we need? 

Three months together is a lot more than most members here have.  Sounds like you'll have plenty of evidence of time spent together.  That's the strongest evidence.

[RPC 67]

I'd never thought too much about proof of a bona fide marriage until I read this post. I've the following, would this be sufficient?

 

Tenancy agreements (we've lived together for 4 years)

Joint bank accounts (in Ireland)

Life Insurance policies

 

I could always print pictures I guess, however, passport stamps and text/messages are limited as we've lived together for so long. 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by RPC

[SorrowL 138]

12 minutes ago, RPC said:

I'd never thought too much about proof of a bona fide marriage until I read this post. I've the following, would this be sufficient?

 

Tenancy agreements (we've lived together for 4 years)

Joint bank accounts (in Ireland)

Life Insurance policies

 

I could always print pictures I guess, however, passport stamps and text/messages are limited as we've lived together for so long. 

 

 

That all looks fine to me. Add some recent and past photos, proof of those things you described, and it shouldn’t be an issue.