ROC Evidence - Need Advise

[Angelica48 121]

Hello all.

 

My ROC window opens on April 7, 2020.  I am starting to gather evidence and drafting a cover letter.  Here's a list of the evidence we are thinking of submitting for ROC.

 

1. Copy of Marriage Certificate, just in case USCIS lost our copy.
2. Copies of current, expired and voided DLs & IDs showing same address (current & previous residence)
3. 2017, 2018 & 2019 (pending filing) Tax Return Transcripts from the IRS (married filing jointly)
4. Bank statements from our joint checking account
5. Monthly joint gas bill (only 1 under both of our names)
6. Car Titles under both of our names
7. Hubby's health insurance statements showing me as his beneficiary
8. Current and previous automobile, home & life insurance policies showing both of us as principal insured
9. My Employer's Emergency Contact form showing hubby as my emergency contact
10. My 401k statement showing hubby as the designated beneficiary
11. Travel Details to the Philippines and boarding passes (only one travel history where hubby & i went together)
12. Various photos together with family and friends

 

Question for item #5, hubby and I only have 1 joint utility bill .  All other bills are under his name.  Cause I am not included on the mortgage, as some utility companies require that the individual must be on the mortgage to be a joint account holder. I pay some bills using my personal Credit Card, and the rest using our joint checking account.  We do not have a joint credit card account. Is it sufficient  evidence to just submit copies of the one and only joint utility bill? Or can we submit all other bills under his name and our current address and include payment/transaction history showing I/we are responsible for paying them? 

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

[Moe428 129]

It sounds like you guys live in a house owned and not a rental. If so, are both your names on the deed?

[Angelica48 121]

Just now, Moe428 said:

It sounds like you guys live in a house owned and not a rental. If so, are both your names on the deed?

No, i am not included on the mortgage.  When we bought our current home back in 2018, I did not have an established credit score and was not employed for at least 2 years. Only hubby had passed those requirements, hence only his name is on the mortgage.  But the monthly payments come out of our joint checking account.

[Moe428 129]

5 minutes ago, Angelica48 said:

No, i am not included on the mortgage.  When we bought our current home back in 2018, I did not have an established credit score and was not employed for at least 2 years. Only hubby had passed those requirements, hence only his name is on the mortgage.  But the monthly payments come out of our joint checking account.

But is your name on the deed?  You can be not on the mortgage but can be on the deed.

[cd37 229]

15 minutes ago, Angelica48 said:

Hello all.

 

My ROC window opens on April 7, 2020.  I am starting to gather evidence and drafting a cover letter.  Here's a list of the evidence we are thinking of submitting for ROC.

 

1. Copy of Marriage Certificate, just in case USCIS lost our copy.
2. Copies of current, expired and voided DLs & IDs showing same address (current & previous residence)
3. 2017, 2018 & 2019 (pending filing) Tax Return Transcripts from the IRS (married filing jointly)
4. Bank statements from our joint checking account
5. Monthly joint gas bill (only 1 under both of our names)
6. Car Titles under both of our names
7. Hubby's health insurance statements showing me as his beneficiary
8. Current and previous automobile, home & life insurance policies showing both of us as principal insured
9. My Employer's Emergency Contact form showing hubby as my emergency contact
10. My 401k statement showing hubby as the designated beneficiary
11. Travel Details to the Philippines and boarding passes (only one travel history where hubby & i went together)
12. Various photos together with family and friends

 

Question for item #5, hubby and I only have 1 joint utility bill .  All other bills are under his name.  Cause I am not included on the mortgage, as some utility companies require that the individual must be on the mortgage to be a joint account holder. I pay some bills using my personal Credit Card, and the rest using our joint checking account.  We do not have a joint credit card account. Is it sufficient  evidence to just submit copies of the one and only joint utility bill? Or can we submit all other bills under his name and our current address and include payment/transaction history showing I/we are responsible for paying them? 

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

Your list looks fine. If for some reason you are not listed somehwere, for example utility bills, explain that in your cover letter. My spouse is not in utility bill because utility company only allows one name on the bill but spouse can be authorized user on the account. I explained that in cover letter. Good luck.

[Angelica48 121]

5 minutes ago, Moe428 said:

But is your name on the deed?  You can be not on the mortgage but can be on the deed.

Looked at the deed, my name is not on the deed of trust but it's on the sale deed as grantor.

 

4 minutes ago, cd37 said:

Your list looks fine. If for some reason you are not listed somehwere, for example utility bills, explain that in your cover letter. My spouse is not in utility bill because utility company only allows one name on the bill but spouse can be authorized user on the account. I explained that in cover letter. Good luck.

Thanks for that.  I'm a bit worried our evidence is not sufficient. I will include explanations on my cover letter.

[Moe428 129]

2 minutes ago, Angelica48 said:

Looked at the deed, my name is not on the deed of trust but it's on the sale deed as grantor.

 

Thanks for that.  I'm a bit worried our evidence is not sufficient. I will include explanations on my cover letter.

I'll let other members chime in on whether not having the name on deed is important or not.  Some suggest its important and others disagree.  It certainly would help a lot, but I believe there's a cost to add someone to the deed.

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

You have great supporting evidence. Don’t stress it. Someone earlier wanted to know if they only submitted their child’s birth certificate would they receive an RFE. You are good. Don’t file too early.

[cd37 229]

4 minutes ago, Angelica48 said:

Looked at the deed, my name is not on the deed of trust but it's on the sale deed as grantor.

 

Thanks for that.  I'm a bit worried our evidence is not sufficient. I will include explanations on my cover letter.

You will never have enough evidences for USCIS, just use your common sense. You cant create evidences to show it to uscis, just like utility bill in my case. 

[Angelica48 121]

2 minutes ago, Moe428 said:

I'll let other members chime in on whether not having the name on deed is important or not.  Some suggest its important and others disagree.  It certainly would help a lot, but I believe there's a cost to add someone to the deed.

We just re-financed the mortgage last year so I am still not included on the deed. But thanks for your help.  

 

2 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

You have great supporting evidence. Don’t stress it. Someone earlier wanted to know if they only submitted their child’s birth certificate would they receive an RFE. You are good. Don’t file too early.

Thanks for that.   I won't file early, we still have to file our taxes for 2019.

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

1 minute ago, Angelica48 said:

We just re-financed the mortgage last year so I am still not included on the deed. But thanks for your help.  

 

Thanks for that.   I won't file early, we still have to file our taxes for 2019.

My husband and I lived with my parents- no joint bills etc and we breezed through ROC. Granted we had plenty other evidence.

[Angelica48 121]

4 minutes ago, cd37 said:

You will never have enough evidences for USCIS, just use your common sense. You cant create evidences to show it to uscis, just like utility bill in my case. 

True.  That's why I am saving all those bills from 1-2 years ago right now, in addition to what we have.

 

2 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

My husband and I lived with my parents- no joint bills etc and we breezed through ROC. Granted we had plenty other evidence.

Nice.  👍 

[carmel34 3,605]

I added my husband to the deed on our house for $40 with the county office.  The mortgage is in my name only.  We also did a will, living will, and power of attorney.  You could do those online with Legalzoom or something similar for very little cost.  Good luck!

[Mike E 11,739]

17 hours ago, Angelica48 said:

 

Question for item #5, hubby and I only have 1 joint utility bill .  All other bills are under his name.  Cause I am not included on the mortgage, as some utility companies require that the individual must be on the mortgage to be a joint account holder. I pay some bills using my personal Credit Card, and the rest using our joint checking account.  We do not have a joint credit card account. Is it sufficient  evidence to just submit copies of the one and only joint utility bill? Or can we submit all other bills under his name and our current address and include payment/transaction history showing I/we are responsible for paying them? 

If there are bills you are paying on your personal credit card that are recurring, I would move them to autopay from a joint checking account if possible.  

[wbeem 568]

Hi OP, 

We did our ROC successfully without any issues or RFE's. Everything is in my husband's name and it's never been a big enough deal for us to change it. The only time we talked about changing things was when we were applying for ROC when we had the same concerns as you did. 

My name was not on the mortgage (we have refinanced since approval of our ROC and I am now on the deed, but wasn't when we went through the i751 process).  

I don't think it's a big deal if you have other evidence.  We provided joint filing tax returns, evidence of joint bank account with both our incomes going in there, proof of us both getting official mail to the same address, proof of having each other as beneficiaries on our policies, copy of our medical insurance where the whole family is on one policy ... 

Not a word was said about bills and mortgages. 

As an aside, I'm not sure what your state laws are, but in Florida spouses automatically have homestead rights to the primary residence, whether named or not on the title deed.  I am not on the loan, but I'm on the mortgage and title deed now. However, as stated, I was not at the time and it really made no difference to my legal rights so as far as my husband and I were concerned, I was protected.  Perhaps a little research on how it works in your state would be a good idea because at least if you get asked, it shows that you looked into it. If it's not necessary legally, they aren't likely to insist upon it.  

Until last year, to add me to the mortgage would have cost us a percentage of the resale value of the house plus fees and it worked out to a cool $4000. Even though we looked into it, it wasn't worth the cost when I already had protection through the state's homestead laws.  

 

Good luck. I don't see anything for you to worry about