Should I submit evidence from previous I-129F application?

[devusr 41]

We applied for I-129F in 2019 and got rejected early in 2020 because we didn't meet and they said I didn't qualify for the meeting exemption. In 2019, I sent shipped her a box of goodies (food, cosmetics, clothes), christmas cards and such. In 2020, I sent 2 more boxes of goodies, christmas cards, etc. During this time, I paid her rent, cell phone bills, medical bills for her parents as I also told her to quit her job in 2019.

 

In 2021 we finally met in Bahamas and got married. We're still in Bahamas and plan to leave around June or July and I will probably file around August. When I file, should I include my previous evidence such as the shipping receipt for goodie box and paying bills for this application?

 

[Crazy Cat 41,837]

I would file asap.  The queue is not getting any shorter.  Your best evidence is your marriage certificate and evidence of time actually spent together.  Sending money can be seen either in a positive light or a negative light. 

The sooner you file, the sooner your spouse will be able to join you in the US.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[SteveInBostonI130 3,434]

2 hours ago, devusr said:

We applied for I-129F in 2019 and got rejected early in 2020 because we didn't meet and they said I didn't qualify for the meeting exemption. In 2019, I sent shipped her a box of goodies (food, cosmetics, clothes), christmas cards and such. In 2020, I sent 2 more boxes of goodies, christmas cards, etc. During this time, I paid her rent, cell phone bills, medical bills for her parents as I also told her to quit her job in 2019.

 

In 2021 we finally met in Bahamas and got married. We're still in Bahamas and plan to leave around June or July and I will probably file around August. When I file, should I include my previous evidence such as the shipping receipt for goodie box and paying bills for this application?

 

 

Relationship evidence can be helpful, but not necessarily "sponsorship".  There are sugar daddy-sugar baby situations that are purely transactional in nature and are usually not seen in a good light.

 

Records of regular communication and physical time spent together is much better than gift receipts.

 

[JKLSemicolon 411]

If you have good evidence from the I-129F petition, it can be included again. You certainly wouldn't want to assume that the adjudicating officer for the I-130 would automatically look at evidence from a previous petition that you didn't submit with the current one.

 

That said, none of the things you mentioned would fall into what I would consider good evidence except maybe the Christmas cards.

 

In our case, we had a previous approved I-129F but eventually started over with the I-130. The evidence I submitted with the I-130 was mostly different than what I submitted with the I-129F because after we got married I was able to add my wife to bank accounts, credit cards, insurance, and retirement accounts, etc. - things that were not possible when we were engaged. I also had evidence (lease agreement, utility bills with both of our names, IDs with the same address, etc.) of time spent living together after the marriage.The only common evidence from both petitions were the photos, and for the I-130 I updated those since it was filed 2.5 years later.

 

In my case, for the I-129F I had also only focused on evidence of time spent together within the 2 years prior to filing the petition, but for the I-130 I included evidence of time spent together over the course of the entire relationship.

 

[devusr 41]

Great thanks.

 

One more question. Regarding affidavits of who knows about our relationship/marriage, Can I include the original affidavits from my I129F application from 2019? Or should I just get new affidavits from them? I guess they would write the same thing since it's about our relationship and nothing changed other than getting married so not sure if it makes sense.

Edited May 10, 2021 by devusr

[JKLSemicolon 411]

5 hours ago, devusr said:

Great thanks.

 

One more question. Regarding affidavits of who knows about our relationship/marriage, Can I include the original affidavits from my I129F application from 2019? Or should I just get new affidavits from them? I guess they would write the same thing since it's about our relationship and nothing changed other than getting married so not sure if it makes sense.

The advice that you will read time and time again on this forum is to not bother with affidavits and to focus on getting stronger evidence instead such as the things I mentioned earlier, plus documentation of time spent together in person (e.g. flight itineraries, boarding passes, passport stamps, hotel reservations with both your names, etc.). I did not submit affidavits myself because there were many other types of evidence available to provide, even if some of those pieces took me a couple of months to gather. My reasoning was that I would rather spend more time on the front end gathering good evidence in the hopes that once submitted, there would be no issues with the petition being approved as quickly as possible.

 

Having said that, if you decide that you are going to submit affidavits I would get new ones. You are trying to use them as evidence of a bona fide marriage, and for that reason it would be in your best interest for them to be prepared after you actually got married. Beyond that, affidavits from 2019 would look pretty "stale" to me - I think a good general rule would be to try to submit the most up to date versions of each piece of evidence that you can.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by JKLSemicolon

[pushbrk 12,877]

On 5/7/2021 at 9:20 PM, devusr said:

We applied for I-129F in 2019 and got rejected early in 2020 because we didn't meet and they said I didn't qualify for the meeting exemption. In 2019, I sent shipped her a box of goodies (food, cosmetics, clothes), christmas cards and such. In 2020, I sent 2 more boxes of goodies, christmas cards, etc. During this time, I paid her rent, cell phone bills, medical bills for her parents as I also told her to quit her job in 2019.

 

In 2021 we finally met in Bahamas and got married. We're still in Bahamas and plan to leave around June or July and I will probably file around August. When I file, should I include my previous evidence such as the shipping receipt for goodie box and paying bills for this application?

 

Evidence that you are her sugar daddy is not going to help you.  Leave it out, in favor of evidence of time spent together in person and examples of how and how frequently you communicate.

[devusr 41]

Question, for evidence of chat records.....since we're both living together in Bahamas from end of March to end of June, we don't really "chat" or call. We did chat and video call 24/7 before that and when we go back home, we will start chatting and video calling 24/7 again.

 

For the chat records, should I submit chat records 1 month before arriving at Bahamas (perhaps January to March 2021) and after we return from Bahamas (July 2021 until I file I-130)?