What proactive measures should one take to have a strong I-751 filing?

[Thenaturalstate 9]

Although We are ~18 months away to be eligible for I-751 filing. What proactive things we should do to have a strong removal of conditions case? Other than, Joint taxes, utilities, rental agreement, Auto & health insurance what other things are often overlooked? 

 

Our initial I-485 package was bleak just enough to get the application started. We scrambled for 2 weeks before the interview to gather all the docs, which was arduous and anxiety inducing. We want to run a slow marathon and start putting evidences together over the next two years. Any tips advice is highly appreciated. 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Thenaturalstate

[Crazy Cat 41,851]

Joint bank account statements showing normal household expenses being shared by both.  Plan ahead to collect document showing both at the same address.  

[SoCal2021 201]

Joint credit card- We used Citi Visa (Costco).  They show separate charges for each card holder (and therefore shows both of our names in the statement).  

Advance Health Directive

Work 401K/other benefits Beneficiary designation (if applicable)

Joint auto title and or joint auto lease

Joint safe deposit box at the bank (if applicable) 

Joint memberships (Amazon, AAA and Costco)

 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

anything financial or legal showing both names and usage or ownership/responsibility.

 

bank accounts

credit accounts

taxes

loans

insurances

ownership of property

legal docs (wills,power of attorney, etc)

travel/vacations/events

 

if you make copies monthly and keep organized as you go along, sending it off when its time will be easy. more or less, thats what I did.

Edited October 29, 2021 by debbiedoo

[SuznAaron 121]

We are filing Dec 1. We are including tax transcripts, tax statements for house and cars, quarterly bank statements, quarterly bills (showing both names), copies of credit cards with same account, copies of driver licenses and concealed carry permits showing same address, deed to the house, car title, copies of insurance for personal, cars and house, papers showing each as the beneficiary for each other's insurance, copies of trips taken together showing flights and reservations plus pictures, copies of doggie day care receipts, a few other assorted pictures showing our life together and I am sure I am leaving a few things out. Plus of course all your required info to send.

We started gathering and put everything in a file right after we got married. Keep updating your file so that when it comes time to send your exhibits you have all you need and just have to organize it. Don't skimp on this!

[Sukie 1,460]

Since you are 18 months away, your main goal is to have a central place to house all the documents you MIGHT want to send.  Whether it is a shoebox, or a neatly organized expanding folder, set yourself up NOW in an organized manner.  If you get a holiday card addressed to both of you, then save it.  Save every financial statement.  Be disciplined enough, should you do most of your financial life online, to set up a Dropbox or Google or Apple cloud account and save all those statements online so you can upload or print them later.

 

Read Visa Journey and see what people have sent in (the posts above are very good) and SAVE things now.

 

Remember - your documents need to tell a complete story.  They need to show that you live together, you mingle your financial lives, you "do life" (vacation, play) together, and you think of the future together.  The way you organize your documents when you send in your packet needs to "prove" that without having to write a book about it.

 

Avoid the two week scramble at all costs.  That is mind-blowing and full of heartache.

 

Best of luck to you.  Remember - think about what shows your life together as a couple - and SAVE it!

 

Sukie in NY

[Adventine 3,196]

I set up a monthly reminder to collect all the documents mentioned by other posters above. That way, I am constantly collecting documents and won't have to rush when filing time comes around.

[Lemonslice 4,841]

5 hours ago, Sukie said:

Since you are 18 months away, your main goal is to have a central place to house all the documents you MIGHT want to send.  Whether it is a shoebox, or a neatly organized expanding folder, set yourself up NOW in an organized manner.  If you get a holiday card addressed to both of you, then save it.  Save every financial statement.  Be disciplined enough, should you do most of your financial life online, to set up a Dropbox or Google or Apple cloud account and save all those statements online so you can upload or print them later.

 

Read Visa Journey and see what people have sent in (the posts above are very good) and SAVE things now.

 

Remember - your documents need to tell a complete story.  They need to show that you live together, you mingle your financial lives, you "do life" (vacation, play) together, and you think of the future together.  The way you organize your documents when you send in your packet needs to "prove" that without having to write a book about it.

 

Avoid the two week scramble at all costs.  That is mind-blowing and full of heartache.

 

Best of luck to you.  Remember - think about what shows your life together as a couple - and SAVE it!

 

Sukie in NY

Bolded part is the best tip.  Live your life, gather documents as you go.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

I am filing for ROC on January 29. As others have suggested, as soon as I got approved for AOS, I labeled an envelope “ROC” evidence and started proactively collecting evidence so that I don’t have to scramble last minute. In fact, I started assembling my package this week. 
We are sending joint leases (2018 to 2021), general warranty deed for our home, monthly mortgage statements, car insurance, renter’s insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, retirement plans, 2019 and 2020 IRS tax returns, State property tax receipts, visits to the dr stating spouse as an emergency contact, some photos, plane tickets, bank statements, utility bills, bank letters showing us as authorized users of each other’s account, home loan pre approval letter. I’m pretty sure I’m leaving stuff out. 

[da95826 387]

A strong ROC case is one where you live together with your spouse and commingle finances (Money) together throughout the whole marriage. All your accounts, mail , IDs should have a common address for both of you at the same time.

Open Joint accounts for utilities, phone, internet

 

File Joint Tax Returns each year (collect IRS tax transcripts to submit to USCIS)

 

Save your documents like W2 and 1099 they have your home address on them shows each spouse in combining money into your tax returns

 

Save any official documents from state and local agencies mailed to your home to each or both of you. (Joint State Tax Returns if your state has income taxes) Car registrations, driver's license, USCIS paperwork, Stimulus letters... 

 

Plan travel together and save ticket-boarding passes of your trips together

 

Collect photos of you together at family events together, travel together, vacation together 

 

If you have children together, birth records or adoption paperwork is strong evidence. 

 

Naming your spouse your life insurance or 401K/investment account beneficiary

[Scandi 4,166]

I did what Susie wrote about above, I collected absolutely everything that I thought could "be something", in the end I had a whole drawer full of evidence. Some better than others, of course. 

We made sure that I was added to everything that only had my husband's name when I moved here - checking accounts, savings accounts, insurances (car, health, dental etc), money markets, 401k, car title, his doctor's registry as his wife and emergency contact, the Costco membership and so on. And did the same with him of course (added him to my credit cards, 401k, etc). And we made a thing of taking photos of us whenever we went somewhere (baseball games, concerts and saved the tickets and so on). 

Far from everything made it into my ROC package in the end, but it was very nice to be able to choose between so much different evidence and not having to start collecting last minute. 

Another advice I would give is to start making copies early on. Not this early perhaps, as you don't know if the i-751 may become available for online filing when you're eligible to file (no reason to have a bunch of copies then). But a couple of months in advance, so you don't have to sit there with all the work right before it's time to file. Do a little this week, a little that week, a little the week after that and so on, helps a lot in the end.

[Daisy.Chain 317]

I second the financial and medical powers of attorney and will.

 

Other things we included that are less significant were things like library cards together showing the same address and regular use, gym memberships, sam's club memberships, copies of drivers licenses (which had matching addresses) as they expire - I had to take a picture of one since they sometimes keep those when you renew them. We had a document of membership from our church. Again, these are optional -some people don't included any of these smaller ones- and vary based on your lifestyle and how much supporting evidence you need for your stronger pieces.

[Daisy.Chain 317]

One thing we did asap was to get both of our names on the utility bills. If the company only allowed one, you can at least ask them to send it to "person A in care of person B" to get both names there.

[Stevephoto 230]

This is what we sent, I think 5 years ago (lost track of time!), and we had no problems:

 

Payment in the amount of (the amount of the fee at the time)
A—Front and Back of Joan’s 2-Year Green Card

B—Revised Condo Title Showing Stephen’s Marriage to Joan

C—Copies of Our Driver’s License/Learner’s Permit (showing same name and address) and American Express and Visa cards (Visa cards with the same number)

D—Stephen’s Last Will and Testament with Joan as main heir

E—Joan’s Life Insurance Policy with Stephen as beneficiary

F—Stephen’s Life Insurance Policy with Joan as beneficiary

G—Stephen’s annuity with Joan as beneficiary

H—2013 and 2014 Tax Transcripts showing Joint Married Filing; E-file signature page and copy of 2014 Federal Tax Return check in both names

I—Joint bank account statements spanning from September 2013 to present (samples—not every statement)

J—Joint investment statement (Started 2/2015)

K—Joint publishing contract with copy of our book cover

L—Insurance policy for Joan’s engagement ring in both our names

M—Copies of American Express bills (summary pages with both names)

N—Copies of cable bill with chat transcript with company explaining that Joan has been on the account since 2014, but her name appears on the bill only starting in February 2015

O—A few copies of the electric bill in both names (only starting in February 2015 for the same reason as the cable account)

P —Miscellaneous travel arrangements and /or boarding passes from 2013 to present

Q—Photos of us at home on O’ahu; traveling to different islands in Hawai’i; and two trips to New York to see mom

 

Good luck!

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

On 10/29/2021 at 8:37 AM, Thenaturalstate said:

Although We are ~18 months away to be eligible for I-751 filing. What proactive things we should do to have a strong removal of conditions case? Other than, Joint taxes, utilities, rental agreement, Auto & health insurance what other things are often overlooked? 

 

Our initial I-485 package was bleak just enough to get the application started. We scrambled for 2 weeks before the interview to gather all the docs, which was arduous and anxiety inducing. We want to run a slow marathon and start putting evidences together over the next two years. Any tips advice is highly appreciated. 

It's never too early to start. This one is a nice example of an all around solid filing. Scroll down to the second post. I used that example as a guide for our I-485 and I-751 filings. All the best to you.