Ready to file I-130 online and would like some help to check our submission :)

[SimonB86 0]

Hello,

 

We have been gathering the documents for our online I-130 application and would like to have some feedback to check if we have missed anything. For your information I am a British Citizen (Beneficiary) and my wife, a US Citizen, and I both live together in Canada. The documents we propose to submit online are as follows: 

 

1. I-130 

2. I-130A

3. Cover letter written by the petitioner (using a template found in the guide) (is this needed as its online?)

4. Scanned version of every page of the current passport of US citizen (she doesn’t have a birth certificate as she was born in Vietnam and has citizenship due to her parents)

4. Marriage certificate (Photocopied certified copy) 

5. Affidavits written by each of us (But not notarized as I understood it is not necessary) - also using the templates found in the guides

6. Third party affidavit letters of support (1 from the petitioners sister, 1 from the petitioners friend who was at the wedding, 1 from the beneficiary's mother and 1 from the beneficiary's best friend) also not notarized but using the templates found in the guide

7. 2 passport photos for each of us – photocopied labelled 

8. Joint income, and housing, tax returns for 2017, 2018, 2019 when we lived in France (translated into English using a certified translator) (Should we combine the translations and originals into the same file?)

9. A lease agreement from Canada with the petitioner named as an occupant with a letter from the property management company stating she lived there for the past 18 months 

10. Hydro bills for the past 18 months with both of us named (do we need to include all 18 or are a few recent examples enough? And should we combine them into the same file?)

11. Joint credit card bills for the last 8 months (same question as above, submit all 8 and in the same file?) 

12. Receipts from a variety of trips we have taken together over the past 6 years including screen shots of iPhone boarding passes 

13. Photos of us from the trips we listed in the above section with annotations

 

Then, as we are filing online do the documents need to filed in any particular order or with any kind of specific title to make them easier to review? also if the files are too big can i split them into two separate files and label them part 1 and part 2? 

 

Any advice and answers to my questions would be much appreciated!

 

Thank you

[Timona 4,207]

56 minutes ago, SimonB86 said:

Hello,

 

We have been gathering the documents for our online I-130 application and would like to have some feedback to check if we have missed anything. For your information I am a British Citizen (Beneficiary) and my wife, a US Citizen, and I both live together in Canada. The documents we propose to submit online are as follows: 

 

1. I-130 

2. I-130A

3. Cover letter written by the petitioner (using a template found in the guide) (is this needed as its online?) No

4. Scanned version of every page of the current passport of US citizen (she doesn’t have a birth certificate as she was born in Vietnam and has citizenship due to her parents) You only need Bio page

4. Marriage certificate (Photocopied certified copy) 

5. Affidavits written by each of us (But not notarized as I understood it is not necessary) - also using the templates found in the guides Useless. You only resort to this if you do not have evidence. 

6. Third party affidavit letters of support (1 from the petitioners sister, 1 from the petitioners friend who was at the wedding, 1 from the beneficiary's mother and 1 from the beneficiary's best friend) also not notarized but using the templates found in the guide Useless. You only resort to this if you do not have evidence. 

7. 2 passport photos for each of us – photocopied labelled 

8. Joint income, and housing, tax returns for 2017, 2018, 2019 when we lived in France (translated into English using a certified translator) (Should we combine the translations and originals into the same file?).I do not think these are needed at this stage

9. A lease agreement from Canada with the petitioner named as an occupant with a letter from the property management company stating she lived there for the past 18 months 

10. Hydro bills for the past 18 months with both of us named (do we need to include all 18 or are a few recent examples enough? And should we combine them into the same file?) Quarterly will suffice

11. Joint credit card bills for the last 8 months (same question as above, submit all 8 and in the same file?) Quarterly will suffice, or since you only have 8, submit one every 2 months for a total of 4. 

12. Receipts from a variety of trips we have taken together over the past 6 years including screen shots of iPhone boarding passes 

13. Photos of us from the trips we listed in the above section with annotations

 

Then, as we are filing online do the documents need to filed in any particular order or with any kind of specific title to make them easier to review? also if the files are too big can I split them into two separate files and label them part 1 and part 2? You only need the important stuff. Lease agreements have like 50 pages. Only 5 pages out of the 50 are relevant. I stripped mine to 3 pages that showed what was important. USCIS never had a problem with it. I did the same for mortgage. It had like 200 pages. I reduced it to less than 10. IO does not want to read about pest control and early termination fess etc. 

 

Any advice and answers to my questions would be much appreciated!

 

Thank you

 

[Chancy 6,241]

1. I-130 -- PDF file not needed.  The answers to the web form itself will be converted into the I-130 PDF file as "Case Snapshot" after clicking "Submit" on the web form.  Before submitting the form, preview the case snapshot to check for errors, then make the necessary changes to the corresponding tabs on the web form.

 

3. Cover letter written by the petitioner (is this needed as its online?) -- Not needed

4. Scanned version of every page of the current passport of US citizen -- Only passport bio page is required.  Scan of other pages not needed unless the page contains stamps from trips taken together

5. Affidavits written by each of us -- Not needed

6. Third party affidavit letters of support -- Not recommended, as you already have plenty of stronger evidence

7. 2 passport photos for each of us -- Beneficiary's passport photos not needed if not currently in the US

10. Hydro bills for the past 18 months with both of us named -- Include just a few, eg. month 1, 9, 18

11. Joint credit card bills for the last 8 months -- Include just a few, eg. month 1, 4, 8

 

Should we combine the translations and originals into the same file? -- Yes

 

do the documents need to filed in any particular order -- No, but the required documents must be uploaded in the correct sections on the web form, ie. sections for marriage certificate, proof of citizenship, passport photos.  The I-130A PDF file and all bona fide relationship evidence should be uploaded as additional evidence.

 

with any kind of specific title to make them easier to review? -- Up to you.  Best to make the file names descriptive.

 

should we combine them into the same file? -- You may.  Just remember to keep the file under the size limit.

if the files are too big can i split them into two separate files and label them part 1 and part 2? -- Yes