I-485 - RFE, affidavits?

[Pardalis 3]

Hi! I've been in the states since last October, when I got married to my now-husband. We've spent a lot of time together, more-so in these corona times, but now my I-485 interview finally came and went, we got sent back home to wait on a Request for Evidence. I brought with me:

 

-Lease agreement for our current apartment, with both our names

-Recently opened checking account contract with our names. I couldn't open an account with his online bank, presumably because of his immigrant status, so we didn't have a joint account until a couple months ago when we joined a credit union.

-Photos.

-Insurance policies with both our names, both from his employer's benefits and from our own renter's and car insurance.

-My husband's employer's insurance info, where I'm listed as a beneficiary.

 

The bills are all handled thru our building so we don't have them to both names, his car hasn't needed a change that'd let me add my name to it, our joint-filed tax return hasn't come back from the IRS yet. We haven't travelled together or hosted lavish parties, we haven't gotten a mortgage or entered into a big debt agreement that we'd both be liable to. The general vibe I got from our interviewer was that we didn't have a lot of evidence to prove our marriage as bona-fide. This annoyed me because it felt like she was blaming us for not creating memories over the last year, because we're reserved people and because the pandemic has largely kept us home for the better part of it.

 

We looked at our documents again and are planning to add up-to-date statements from everything, plus a copy of the tax return we sent in (not stamped or anything, but it's all there), a few claims from our shared insurance, and paperwork for the debit cards attached to the checking account.

Since we have until the 15th of next month to mail the stuff in, we've considered getting a few 'new' things (opening credit cards, trying to get my name on his car paperwork in a new registration, etc) but I don't know if that might seem insincere and rushed to the interviewer. I'm also considering adding a little heartfelt letter explaining that the pandemic has made it pretty difficult for us to do anything that'd result in large debt (like taking out a mortgage) or that'd give us paper trails for shared activities (like travel or a vow-renewal party), but I don't know if that'd sound desperate. I'm just worried because of how final that "IF YOU DON'T MAIL THIS IN YOUR I485 WILL BE DENIED" wording seems.

 

They mention getting affidavits from acquaintances/friends/family, and I have a couple questions about them:

• Is there a recommended format besides the stuff in the instructions, to include name, address, and other personal data? Should it be short, long, formal, casual? Any good + recent examples?
• Do I need the affidavits to be notarized?
• Do I need to bundle a copy of ID from each affidavit submitter?
• Do I need originals with 'wet' signatures, mailed in by the submitters? (some are in another city, because we moved for his work, so I have to make time for mailing the stuff)

 

We're thinking of getting a few from coworkers and from his family members who have visited us. His father lives across the country and we wanted to visit him before corona hit, is it worth it to have him write that up? We talked a few times and he was very supportive throughout the whole process.

 

Any other examples of stuff you guys brought in that seemed useful would be great to hear about. Thank you so much for reading!

[Ontarkie 14,219]

~~Moved to AOS FAmily, form K1 Progress Reports- the OP is working on AOS'ing~~

[Limey 551]

14 hours ago, Pardalis said:

They mention getting affidavits from acquaintances/friends/family, and I have a couple questions about them:

• Is there a recommended format besides the stuff in the instructions, to include name, address, and other personal data? Should it be short, long, formal, casual? Any good + recent examples?
• Do I need the affidavits to be notarized?
• Do I need to bundle a copy of ID from each affidavit submitter?
• Do I need originals with 'wet' signatures, mailed in by the submitters? (some are in another city, because we moved for his work, so I have to make time for mailing the stuff)

I obtained 2 affidavits when doing the Removal of Conditions. We had a fair amount of other evidence (house ownership documents, insurance, car, bank accounts etc) but added the affidavits in any case.

 

They do not need to be notarized. They need to put their full name, address, date of birth and place of birth and sign it. Both of ours added their phone number in case USCIS wished to chat to them.

I drafted them for both people, but they then amended them to add in more information. So far example one was from a neighbor - he talked about how and when he first met us, that he regularly sees us and chats to us when we walk our dog, that we've been to their house for social occasions and they have been to ours, that he's met both of our parents when they've visited, etc etc. All things that point to his knowledge that our relationship is genuine.

 

I'm not sure how much they helped our case, as we had plenty of other evidence.