Joint bank account not used actively

[tony777 3]

I am preparing the I-751 petition for my wife and, after reading this forum, I realized that we haven't been using our joint bank account in a "fully commingled" fashion. The way we have it set up is that all her credit cards bills and occasonal debit transactions are paid from the joint account. My income goes to my individual bank account, and all the other bills are paid from that account. All her income goes to her individual account to pay off her student loans. I transfer enough funds to the joint account to cover her credit card bills.

 

So what should we include with the petition:

1. Include the joint account statements, highlight the transfers and include a note explaining how we use the account, or

2. Just include the statements without explanation, since the explanation is not very favorable

 

We do have plenty of other evidence of financial interdependence, most importantly our house is held in both our names, joint tax returns, health and auto insurance, beneficiary on retirement accounts, etc.

 

[Sukie 1,463]

Include the joint account statements, along with an explanation of how you do your finances.  Also, if you can add a reason for why you do it this way, that might be helpful.  Otherwise, it looks like you have lots of other good evidence.

 

Best of luck!

 

Sukie in NY

[beloved_dingo 1,979]

Personally, I would include a brief explanation of how you use your bank accounts with your packet. Since her individual account is not used for any marital debts/bills, I wouldn't include statements from her account at all as it doesn't really show anything useful to USCIS. However, I think it might be worth including statements from both the joint account and your individual account since marital debts/bills are paid from both. Especially if any of those debts/bills paid from these accounts are in both of your names.