Evidence recommended to submit with I-751

[JFox762 18]

We only have 80 days left to submit the I-751. We may be able to get some signed, and notorized Affidavits from friends from our church that verify we are a real couple. 
My wife and I also just had a baby, I'm not sure if we'll be able to get the Birth Certificate in time. But we're looking into it. I am sure the bills from the Hospital list both our names. 

My wife is a member of a Christian Healthshare Ministry which has helped us with healthcare costs (Basically a sort of non-profit health insurance plan). I pay for it, but she is the only beneficiary. I get my healthcare through my employer (Cheaper, but doesn't cover as much. Wife's plan is actually better for the money, so we kept her on CHM... especially since they  are great with covering pregnancies.)

Wife has her own Bank account, which is linked to my other accounts. Both of our names are on my wife's account (This is a new account created mostly just for her personal spending and direct deposit) 

We have travel receipts from before Covid19, where my sister flew us out to NJ to come visit and to have a Stateside 2nd Wedding celebration. We have photos from this. 

We filed Jointly in 2019, and 2018. 


So all in all for documents we can gather

-Vacation Receipts + Photos
-Hospital bill for birth of our son, with both our names.
-Christian Healthshare Ministry bills charged to me, with her as beneficiary.
-One or maybe Two Joint bank accounts.
-May be able to get Birth Certificate for our son (might still be too early, not sure)
-Affidavits of Genuine Relationship from fellow church goers. 

Does this sound sufficient?

[Orangesapples 1,954]

I don't see any evidence for living together. Do you have a lease, mortgage, utility bills? IDs with the same address? Do you have joint credit cards? Car insurance? Life insurance (through work maybe)? Are you each other's beneficiaries on retirement plans? 

 

How did you handle your finances before your wife opened her new account? They will want to see evidence of financial comingling prior to the account being open if it's a new account. 

 

I wouldn't worry about having separate health insurance. It's not uncommon at all and often makes more financial sense if both spouses work. 

 

Only use affidavits if you have no other good evidence. I think the rest of your list is good but you definitely need some evidence for living together. 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Orangesapples

[JFox762 18]

1 hour ago, Orangesapples said:

I don't see any evidence for living together. Do you have a lease, mortgage, utility bills? IDs with the same address? Do you have joint credit cards? Car insurance? Life insurance (through work maybe)? Are you each other's beneficiaries on retirement plans? 

 

How did you handle your finances before your wife opened her new account? They will want to see evidence of financial comingling prior to the account being open if it's a new account. 

 

I wouldn't worry about having separate health insurance. It's not uncommon at all and often makes more financial sense if both spouses work. 

 

Only use affidavits if you have no other good evidence. I think the rest of your list is good but you definitely need some evidence for living together. 

Well... the bills are addressed to both our addresses. But the only bill that would have her name and my name is the Healthcare plan... 
My wife also has a State ID, (no driver's license yet), with our home address here. 

We don't have a mortgage. I owned my house before I ever met my wife. I have a home equity loan on the house, and nothing else... but that loan was granted before my wife and I started dating. Utility bills? Again, all of them are in my name. 
I'm still working on getting Life Insurance for us. 

We *MIGHT* be able to get paycheck stubs from work that have our address on them. 

[Bob in Boston 765]

3 hours ago, JFox762 said:

I owned my house before I ever met my wife.

You can do a quitclaim deed and put her name on the house. I didn't do a refinance as I have a great rate and cost to much money. I also put her on the cable and electric bills. After I put her on the deed taxes and water bill are also in joint names.

[Orangesapples 1,954]

6 hours ago, JFox762 said:

Well... the bills are addressed to both our addresses. But the only bill that would have her name and my name is the Healthcare plan... 
My wife also has a State ID, (no driver's license yet), with our home address here. 

We don't have a mortgage. I owned my house before I ever met my wife. I have a home equity loan on the house, and nothing else... but that loan was granted before my wife and I started dating. Utility bills? Again, all of them are in my name. 
I'm still working on getting Life Insurance for us. 

We *MIGHT* be able to get paycheck stubs from work that have our address on them. 

You should include a cover letter explaining that and if possible, maybe add her to the deed and include as much evidence of living together as possible. It might have helped to switch some of the utilities in your wife's name, you could still try doing that. Definitely include her state ID in your evidence. 

[Tella&T 183]

May help you to look at this link?

 

[Sukie 1,464]

I didn't see joint tax returns mentioned...

 

You need SOMETHING to prove you live at the same address.  Your driver's license and your spouse's DL or State ID are the best, as well as job documentation addressed to each of you at the same address.

 

Definitely explain that you owned the house before you were in a relationship with her.  We had to do this, too.  We had no problems.  Many utilities will only allow one name on a bill - USCIS is used to that.  We used our cell phone bill, which had each of our names associated with our distinct cell phone numbers.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

Sukie in NY

[JFox762 18]

16 minutes ago, Sukie said:

I didn't see joint tax returns mentioned...

 

You need SOMETHING to prove you live at the same address.  Your driver's license and your spouse's DL or State ID are the best, as well as job documentation addressed to each of you at the same address.

 

Definitely explain that you owned the house before you were in a relationship with her.  We had to do this, too.  We had no problems.  Many utilities will only allow one name on a bill - USCIS is used to that.  We used our cell phone bill, which had each of our names associated with our distinct cell phone numbers.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

Sukie in NY

Ooops... we have tax Transcripts. I'm pretty sure I have a copy of the 1040 we submitted. 

 

 

[JFox762 18]

2 hours ago, Orangesapples said:

You should include a cover letter explaining that and if possible, maybe add her to the deed and include as much evidence of living together as possible. It might have helped to switch some of the utilities in your wife's name, you could still try doing that. Definitely include her state ID in your evidence. 

Isn't it a little late to be doing things like that? Even if I had her name added to the Utilities, it would take at least a month or so before she started receiving bills in her name. 

[JFox762 18]

30 minutes ago, Sukie said:

I didn't see joint tax returns mentioned...

 

You need SOMETHING to prove you live at the same address.  Your driver's license and your spouse's DL or State ID are the best, as well as job documentation addressed to each of you at the same address.

 

Definitely explain that you owned the house before you were in a relationship with her.  We had to do this, too.  We had no problems.  Many utilities will only allow one name on a bill - USCIS is used to that.  We used our cell phone bill, which had each of our names associated with our distinct cell phone numbers.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

Sukie in NY

I also wanted to add that my wife's plan is actually bundled together with a female friend from Church. Previously, my wife had Straight Talk, as it was cheaper than adding her to my Verizon account... and would mess with the "Grandfathering" of my Verizon Data plan. They never sent any bills to our house, and I don't think they even had our address... as it was a prepaid phone. 

A friend from church told her she could add her to her plan with T-Mobile, get Unlimited Minutes, more Data, and even Free Netflix. Kind of an odd arrangement, but at the time we were trying to reduce every little bit of spending we could. 

So my wife does not have any recurring bills that arrive at our house.

We do, however, have a ton of Bills from Sonora Quest Labs/Labcorp, the Maternity Clinic, which show her address as being the same as mine. 

We also have a ton of photos from our vacation to NJ, entertaining friends at our home (before COVID), and photos from a trip to Flagstaff, AZ.

[Orangesapples 1,954]

31 minutes ago, JFox762 said:

Isn't it a little late to be doing things like that? Even if I had her name added to the Utilities, it would take at least a month or so before she started receiving bills in her name. 

It might be late for the current application but you may get an RFE down the road or have an interview, so it's better to start now and have them handy in case you need them than not start at all. I see your wife came on a spousal visa, so there is a high likelihood you'll have an interview. I know things get overwhelming with a new baby but find some time to get these things done. 

[Villanelle 4,122]

I didnt click the link posted so Im not sure if this was covered in it or not- but for ROC you want to show 4 things- 1) living together, 2) shared financial responsibilities  3) shared life experiences and 4) planned for the future together.  Now everyones situation is different but you want to try to send a package that covers all 4 of those things. Some evidence can cover more then one 'category'. For example tax transcripts (or if you send the return which means the 1040 + all supporting W2s/ other tax forms used)- that shows both shared address and finances. People also get caught up thinking comingling finances means you have to have a joint bank account. It does not. It means you have to show the money you have (earned by either person or in some cases only earned by one) is benefiting BOTH of you. If you pay all the bills in your name from your account thats fine. Tell them that. You pay the electricity and you both use said electricity. For those who are lacking the traditional things you find looking through posts that list out evidences its important to send a affidavit/letter of explanation letting them know how things are- who pays for what, what services you get for free or are included in your rent. Try to round out your package so that each of the 4 things listed has a few things that can be used as evidence for it. 

[Elisap1987 1]

create a table of contents and submit everything you have. im sure you and your spouse have plenty of documentation with the same address. I think we get overwhelemed with the little things, state that yall did have a child but currently are in the process of getting birth certificate submit photos of the birth, like SUBMIT EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  the worst that can happen is they will request an interview. i think a nice organzied table of contents with bills, any finanical documents, letters, affidavits... just submit what you have. 

[JFox762 18]

You would think having a child together would be pretty decent evidence of a bonafide relationship on its own

[Nitas_man 3,100]

22 hours ago, JFox762 said:

We only have 80 days left to submit the I-751. We may be able to get some signed, and notorized Affidavits from friends from our church that verify we are a real couple. 
My wife and I also just had a baby, I'm not sure if we'll be able to get the Birth Certificate in time. But we're looking into it. I am sure the bills from the Hospital list both our names. 

My wife is a member of a Christian Healthshare Ministry which has helped us with healthcare costs (Basically a sort of non-profit health insurance plan). I pay for it, but she is the only beneficiary. I get my healthcare through my employer (Cheaper, but doesn't cover as much. Wife's plan is actually better for the money, so we kept her on CHM... especially since they  are great with covering pregnancies.)

Wife has her own Bank account, which is linked to my other accounts. Both of our names are on my wife's account (This is a new account created mostly just for her personal spending and direct deposit) 

We have travel receipts from before Covid19, where my sister flew us out to NJ to come visit and to have a Stateside 2nd Wedding celebration. We have photos from this. 

We filed Jointly in 2019, and 2018. 


So all in all for documents we can gather

-Vacation Receipts + Photos
-Hospital bill for birth of our son, with both our names.
-Christian Healthshare Ministry bills charged to me, with her as beneficiary.
-One or maybe Two Joint bank accounts.
-May be able to get Birth Certificate for our son (might still be too early, not sure)
-Affidavits of Genuine Relationship from fellow church goers. 

Does this sound sufficient?

It sounds thin.  They want to know you live together and share assets.  Affidavits are thin evidence.
 

You dont have joint car insurance? You dont share a home? (lease or mortgage)?  Health insurance you explained.  Life insurance beneficiary statement?  Retirement beneficiary?  Anything billed to her at your address to match things to you at the address?  Maybe her car/your car registration?  You need to bulk up if the above is all you have.

Even a joint cell account is good, I’ve used that.

Joint credit card?

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Nitas_man