Small Rant, advice welcomed. I751 ROC

[lcfreshful 8]

Hey guys. We filed back in 2020 of January and finally got some kind of response back this far into 2021. They hit us with an RFE despite the evidence we gave. Apparently according to the Officer that got his hands on our case; the Lease of our apartment 'did not appear as if there was intent to renew(Dude really?) and does not cover the entirety of our marriage'. Crazy thing is; we waited to put her name on the lease until we could change her last name to mine. SS dept didn't give us an update until middle of the year in 2018 (We got married in 2017). Not to mention that We had no choice but to wait until the Lease was about to renew before I could add another person to it. We even explained this to an officer during our AOS interview in Charleston back in 2018 and he understood completely.

So the furthest back we have is 2019.   

And because our joint bank accounts only consisted of transfers (I.E. my Wife and I, transfer money into that account to save up to buy a house together) they didn't consider it enough evidence to prove commingling of our finances. That felt like a slap to the face, considering we submitted our recent IRS tax returns signifying that we were indeed filing Jointly.  

Right now We're gathering 

• Photocopies of our Driver's Licenses that have our matching address on it.
• Copies of our renter's insurance that has both of our names on it. 
• Having our Life insurance policy mailed to us so we can send them copies.
• A copy of her name put on the Electric bill. Sadly, from the look of the picture sent to me by the agent, they had her listed as 'C/O' but her name is highlighted and states "Handling Business" next to it. 
• and a couple of friends agreed to write Affidavits for us. 

Any other suggestions? I honestly feel like our case just fell into one of the Officers who just didn't have their coffee that morning or something. 

Thanks in advance.   

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

Why didn't you included all of that already in the original submission? That's good stuff. 

How about living wills and Power of Attorney for each other? Are ya listed as each others emergency contacts at your jobs ? Do y'all share a telephone plan? How about car insurance? Shared car titles? 

 

Add the explanation for the lease to your cover letter when you reply.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Letspaintcookies

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

Health insurance info, 401k beneficiary info, power of attorney, mail addressed to both, travel evidence -boarding passes, hotel bookings, passport stamps-, shared memberships.

[lcfreshful 8]

1 minute ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Why didn't you included all of that already in the original submission? That's good stuff. 

How about living wills and Power of Attorney for each other? Are ya listed as each others emergency contacts at your jobs ? Do y'all share a telephone plan? How about car insurance? Shared car titles? 

To answer your first question, is because originally, we didn't even have all that stuff yet. We literally decided to get our life insurance and stuff together in 2019 since she was able to get a job and we were both working together. 

We have a cell phone plan, but her name is not in it; Just her number. 

Not the car insurance yet. I should have mentioned that her License is actually a Permit, she takes her road test in a few days. Hopefully she passes.  No shared car title, and I didn't know about Power of Attorney.

[lcfreshful 8]

5 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Health insurance info, 401k beneficiary info, power of attorney, mail addressed to both, travel evidence -boarding passes, hotel bookings, passport stamps-, shared memberships.

Crazy thing is, they already have the information about her being apart of my company health insurance. Like I said, the guy who took hold of this case just really was going through something and decided to take it out on me or something. 

[lcfreshful 8]

8 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Add the explanation for the lease to your cover letter when you reply.

That's a good idea, bud. Thanks! 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

2 minutes ago, lcfreshful said:

Crazy thing is, they already have the information about her being apart of my company health insurance. Like I said, the guy who took hold of this case just really was going through something and decided to take it out on me or something. 

Send everything you already sent. Sometimes they lose documents.

The more, the better.

[lcfreshful 8]

11 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Send everything you already sent. Sometimes they lose documents.

The more, the better.

I was a little hesitant about that since they squabbled about NOT sending prior evidence, but I'll have to resend the Lease agreements with a cover letter explaining things anyway. 

 

Thanks, boss.

[Sukie 1,463]

Yes, you need to explain the whole thing about the lease and why you have done it that way.

 

Also, you need to explain HOW you do your money.  You each have individual accounts, I assume, and you both put money into a joint account for savings, but how do you pay your bills?  How do you pay your rent?  Does one of you pay the rent and the other pay the utilities?  The joint bank account statement you sent doesn't explain that.  So...spell it out for them - who pays for what and from where? 

 

Lots of couples do not co-mingle finances.  Your only omission was that you did not explain it clearly.  You'll be ok - just really spell it out in your response to the RFE.  If you need to - put in a few statements from your individual accounts showing where the money for rent/utilities/insurance comes from.

 

Best of luck.

 

Sukie in NY

[lcfreshful 8]

Just now, Sukie said:

Yes, you need to explain the whole thing about the lease and why you have done it that way.

 

Also, you need to explain HOW you do your money.  You each have individual accounts, I assume, and you both put money into a joint account for savings, but how do you pay your bills?  How do you pay your rent?  Does one of you pay the rent and the other pay the utilities?  The joint bank account statement you sent doesn't explain that.  So...spell it out for them - who pays for what and from where? 

 

Lots of couples do not co-mingle finances.  Your only omission was that you did not explain it clearly.  You'll be ok - just really spell it out in your response to the RFE.  If you need to - put in a few statements from your individual accounts showing where the money for rent/utilities/insurance comes from.

 

Best of luck.

 

Sukie in NY

I haven't really thought of it that way. Thanks for opening my eyes to such a revelation. I guess I was too frustrated to look at it from that perspective.

 

I usually pay everything, but I put her in charge of the money. We may have separate accounts, but she has full access to my account and vice versa; all we have to do is ask each other. Not like we don't trust one another, it just makes things easier. I'll try to explain that too.

[Sukie 1,463]

5 minutes ago, Sukie said:

Yes, you need to explain the whole thing about the lease and why you have done it that way.

 

Also, you need to explain HOW you do your money.  You each have individual accounts, I assume, and you both put money into a joint account for savings, but how do you pay your bills?  How do you pay your rent?  Does one of you pay the rent and the other pay the utilities?  The joint bank account statement you sent doesn't explain that.  So...spell it out for them - who pays for what and from where? 

 

Lots of couples do not co-mingle finances.  Your only omission was that you did not explain it clearly.  You'll be ok - just really spell it out in your response to the RFE.  If you need to - put in a few statements from your individual accounts showing where the money for rent/utilities/insurance comes from.

 

Best of luck.

 

Sukie in NY

You may have just given us a HUGE piece of the puzzle.  When you say your spouse "has access" to your accounts - do you mean internet access (like she knows your ID and password and can look?) or that she, indeed, is a signatory on the account - even though she doesn't use it?  If you each are signatories on each others' accounts, then they are joint accounts in the eyes of the bank - and in the eyes of USCIS.  If you are NOT signatories on each others' accounts, then a statement from you about how you each "have access"  (and, explain what kind of access) to each others' accounts would be helpful.

 

Still, it is not REQUIRED that you have joint accounts.  The explanation of how you do your money should be good enough.  You are almost there!

 

Sukie in NY

[lcfreshful 8]

20 minutes ago, Sukie said:

You may have just given us a HUGE piece of the puzzle.  When you say your spouse "has access" to your accounts - do you mean internet access (like she knows your ID and password and can look?) or that she, indeed, is a signatory on the account - even though she doesn't use it?  If you each are signatories on each others' accounts, then they are joint accounts in the eyes of the bank - and in the eyes of USCIS.  If you are NOT signatories on each others' accounts, then a statement from you about how you each "have access"  (and, explain what kind of access) to each others' accounts would be helpful.

 

Still, it is not REQUIRED that you have joint accounts.  The explanation of how you do your money should be good enough.  You are almost there!

 

Sukie in NY

Ohhhh Okay. 

 

I mean, yes; my wife and I literally have each other's passwords and IDs to log in if we need to and/or we simply just show our accounts to each other when asked, or to help figure things out. 

 

I'll definitely include that explanation in the cover letter. 

 

Thank you so much for the insight! 

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

9 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Send everything you already sent. Sometimes they lose documents.

The more, the better.

I would do this, too. If you only sent partial statements of bank accounts, etc. I would send every page this time. You just drew the most thorough person in the office. It happens.

[jan22 3,056]

You said you're just now getting some of the material you plan to send.  I am assuming that means it will be dated after 2019.  Since you mentioned the officer questioned why your evidence did not cover the entire period of your marriage, in addition to the new material, I would really focus on the 2017 to 2019 period, explaining the lease, the finances, etc., as others have said.  But I would also do my best to find something concrete that you could submit from that period.  

 

For example, during these years:

• Did she get a birthday card or letter in the mail that she kept (with the envelope showing your address)? 
• Did she take a class or anything that she had to register for that she might have a copy of that shows your address? 
• How about an Amazon account where she ordered something in her name that was shipped to your address? 
• Any family or friend that she sent a card or letter to that they might have saved (again, along with the envelope) that you could get from them in time to include in the RFE response?
• Any e-mail or chat room message she might have sent to somebody giving them her new address that she might still have in a "Sent" folder or access to a copy of? 
• Or one discussing her new apartment/house and what she was doing to settle into your shared space (redecorating, how your emptied clost space for her -- any little thing that shows you were together from the start).

 

By "your" address, I mean your shared address, of course.  

 

Good luck!  I'm sure it will all work out for you.

Edited October 6, 2021 by jan22

[Rocio0010 5,579]

11 hours ago, lcfreshful said:

Ohhhh Okay. 

 

I mean, yes; my wife and I literally have each other's passwords and IDs to log in if we need to and/or we simply just show our accounts to each other when asked, or to help figure things out. 

 

I'll definitely include that explanation in the cover letter. 

 

Thank you so much for the insight! 

Alternatively, you could make it more official by going to the bank and adding her as an authorized user. My husband and I have a joint account, but we are also authorized users in our individual accounts. 
 

So, to summarize, here’s a list of what you could send:

- a copy of the lease, with the letter explaining the lease situation.

- joint utility bills.

- joint bank account statements.

- if bills are on different names, you could still send them because they show proof of shared residence.

- Joint memberships, if you have any (Sams Club, PF, etc)

- If you have ever listed her as an emergency contact, be my guest and include that too.

- Joint Health insurance, IRAs.

- hopefully she’ll pass the driving test. If so, she’s going to get a temporary permit. You can add her to the insurance with that, it’s very simple and quick and she should be listed in the insurance right after you call them.

Good luck!