Proof of having met in person w/in the last 2 yrs

[pushbrk 12,880]

Photos are not the most important aspect of your petition. This is what USCIS says about evidence, taken from a common RFE (request for evidence) they send to people who have provided insufficient evidence of meeting w/in 2 years. Photos alone prove that you've met, but don't prove when. They are secondary evidence that help strengthen primary evidence, but on their own, don't cut it:

Submit evidence of meeting the meneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petiition. The primary evidence may include airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), copies of passport pages taht show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the USCIS to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary within the two years. The secondary evidence may be film dated photographs of the petitioner and the beneficiary together. The following DOES NOT constitue evidenceof meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards.

But on the flip-side of that....the passport stamp alone does not prove that the petitioner and beneficiary met either. You have to look at your evidence and consider that the adjudicator does not know you from adam.....then ask yourself this: If a complete stranger looks at what I'm presenting, will they clearly see and know that I've met my fiancee w/in the last two years? If you cannot immediately answer YES to that question, then you need more evidence.

I would not submit passport stamps alone....submit your boarding passes, flight itinerary, train tickets, try gathering some receipts, perhaps if you withdrew money from an ATM while visiting, you can submit proof of that you were in that town. If you purchased anything w/ a credi card, you can submit the CC statement. These are all secondary evidence....but in conjunction w/ the passport stamp (primary evidence) they can be used as proof.

I too would encourage the petitioner in this case to submit any and all actual evidence of the trip, including how the trip was paid for, any receipts for purchases during the trip. There is not need to submit any evidence of anything that happened more than two years ago. It cannot help and can give the wrong impression.

If you don't have receipts, can they be requested from the airline or credit card company, or hotel etc.

[TimsDaisy 0]

Photos are not the most important aspect of your petition. This is what USCIS says about evidence, taken from a common RFE (request for evidence) they send to people who have provided insufficient evidence of meeting w/in 2 years. Photos alone prove that you've met, but don't prove when. They are secondary evidence that help strengthen primary evidence, but on their own, don't cut it:

Submit evidence of meeting the meneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petiition. The primary evidence may include airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), copies of passport pages taht show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the USCIS to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary within the two years. The secondary evidence may be film dated photographs of the petitioner and the beneficiary together. The following DOES NOT constitue evidenceof meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards.

But on the flip-side of that....the passport stamp alone does not prove that the petitioner and beneficiary met either. You have to look at your evidence and consider that the adjudicator does not know you from adam.....then ask yourself this: If a complete stranger looks at what I'm presenting, will they clearly see and know that I've met my fiancee w/in the last two years? If you cannot immediately answer YES to that question, then you need more evidence.

I would not submit passport stamps alone....submit your boarding passes, flight itinerary, train tickets, try gathering some receipts, perhaps if you withdrew money from an ATM while visiting, you can submit proof of that you were in that town. If you purchased anything w/ a credi card, you can submit the CC statement. These are all secondary evidence....but in conjunction w/ the passport stamp (primary evidence) they can be used as proof.

Yes, but if the OP has none, then there are none. If another trip is in the budget, I still wouldn't necessarily advise spending that much to collect evidence.

Nothing is for certain. But it's best if people don't get too wrapped up in any one piece of evidence as being the magic key to approval.

[Minya's wife 24]

Photos are not the most important aspect of your petition. This is what USCIS says about evidence, taken from a common RFE (request for evidence) they send to people who have provided insufficient evidence of meeting w/in 2 years. Photos alone prove that you've met, but don't prove when. They are secondary evidence that help strengthen primary evidence, but on their own, don't cut it:

Submit evidence of meeting the meneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petiition. The primary evidence may include airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), copies of passport pages taht show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the USCIS to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary within the two years. The secondary evidence may be film dated photographs of the petitioner and the beneficiary together. The following DOES NOT constitue evidenceof meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards.

But on the flip-side of that....the passport stamp alone does not prove that the petitioner and beneficiary met either. You have to look at your evidence and consider that the adjudicator does not know you from adam.....then ask yourself this: If a complete stranger looks at what I'm presenting, will they clearly see and know that I've met my fiancee w/in the last two years? If you cannot immediately answer YES to that question, then you need more evidence.

I would not submit passport stamps alone....submit your boarding passes, flight itinerary, train tickets, try gathering some receipts, perhaps if you withdrew money from an ATM while visiting, you can submit proof of that you were in that town. If you purchased anything w/ a credi card, you can submit the CC statement. These are all secondary evidence....but in conjunction w/ the passport stamp (primary evidence) they can be used as proof.

Yes, but if the OP has none, then there are none. If another trip is in the budget, I still wouldn't necessarily advise spending that much to collect evidence.

Nothing is for certain. But it's best if people don't get too wrapped up in any one piece of evidence as being the magic key to approval.

I think I got confused w/ the thread. In this thread the OP asked how many photos to submit....but there was another thread where the OP was saying they only had passport stamps to prove visit in the country of the beneficiary.

I was merely stating, that perhaps looking a bit deeper, and thinking outside the box they may be able to come up w/ further evidence of their meeting. I know initially a lot of people do not think to keep boarding passes, or ticket itineraries...but if they need to produce it, you can be inventive and come up what is necessary. I remember a member here receiving and RFE to prove the "met w/in the two years requirement" and thought they would not have anything more than what was first submitted....but upon 'brainstorming' he/she was able to print out the e-mail from Travelocity showing purchase of the ticket....found some receipts for then they exchanged money, and I don't remember much else. The point is....that the chances of getting an RFE are greatly reduced if you can submit more than just one piece of evidence. There has to be some supporting evidence that goes towards proving that these two have met during the allotted past two years.

If you are petitioning for your fiance to be issued a visa (because you love each other you can't be separated anymore) and all you can produce to prove that you've met is a stamp in your passport, it just does not look so good. IMHO

[SWA2 1]

I know it says include 2 to 5 pictures? How many did you guys include and how about the emails did you also include that? and how many did you include?

I sent one photo and no emails. Along with the one photo I sent a photo copy of the page on my passport showing the entry and exit days from the country, copies of my airline boarding passes, dated hotel receipt, and a copy of the flight itinerary I received from my travel agent. All you need to do is prove you met once in the last 2 years, not show an ongoing relationship. The emails would be more important to show an ongoing relationship and you won't need those until the time of the interview.

Enough? Must be. I received no RFE's and the petition was forwarded to NVC and then on to the embassy. My fiancee passed her visa interview yesterday.

[MM_MS 0]

CORRECTION - THIS is what an actual RFE (May 2007) says regarding meeting in person within the previous two years:

The petitioner and the beneficiary must have met in person between - insert date - and - insert date -. Submit evidence of meeting the beneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petition. The primary evidence may include copies of passport pages that show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the Service to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary with the two years. The secondary evidence may be airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), ATM and credit card transactions, flight itinerary on airline/travel agency letterhead, etc. NOTE: Secondary evidence is used to support any primary evidence that has been submitted. The following DOES NOT constitute evidence of meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards.

Petitioner may also submit bank statements and/or credit card statements and receipts showing that a withdrawal/purchase was made in - insert country -. Please ensure that any documentation that is submitted has the petitioner's name, location, and the full date (month, day, and year).

* Areas in bold above are in bold in the RFE instructions.

Photos are not the most important aspect of your petition. This is what USCIS says about evidence, taken from a common RFE (request for evidence) they send to people who have provided insufficient evidence of meeting w/in 2 years. Photos alone prove that you've met, but don't prove when. They are secondary evidence that help strengthen primary evidence, but on their own, don't cut it:

Submit evidence of meeting the meneficiary in person within the two-year period preceding the filing of the petiition. The primary evidence may include airline ticket stubs and receipts (that indicate month, day, and year), copies of passport pages taht show the identification page and admission stamps, military order(s), letter from Commanding Officer, or any evidence that will help the USCIS to determine that the petitioner has met the beneficiary within the two years. The secondary evidence may be film dated photographs of the petitioner and the beneficiary together. The following DOES NOT constitue evidenceof meeting: disc, videos, emails, letters, phone bills, and greeting cards.

But on the flip-side of that....the passport stamp alone does not prove that the petitioner and beneficiary met either. You have to look at your evidence and consider that the adjudicator does not know you from adam.....then ask yourself this: If a complete stranger looks at what I'm presenting, will they clearly see and know that I've met my fiancee w/in the last two years? If you cannot immediately answer YES to that question, then you need more evidence.

I would not submit passport stamps alone....submit your boarding passes, flight itinerary, train tickets, try gathering some receipts, perhaps if you withdrew money from an ATM while visiting, you can submit proof of that you were in that town. If you purchased anything w/ a credi card, you can submit the CC statement. These are all secondary evidence....but in conjunction w/ the passport stamp (primary evidence) they can be used as proof.

Yes, but if the OP has none, then there are none. If another trip is in the budget, I still wouldn't necessarily advise spending that much to collect evidence.

Nothing is for certain. But it's best if people don't get too wrapped up in any one piece of evidence as being the magic key to approval.

[Rings 10]

I was stupid when I first started so I did not send a photo at all with the I-130, but I only sent one photo with the I-129F

However I did have sworn affidavits from all sorts of people and I had every one of them notarized. We got those from both sides of the family. We also each made a one page description of our story and signed it and then we included all travel documents, but that was basically it.

The more that you can offer them the better in my opinionfor peace of mind really because when I did get smart (after I filed) I completely fretting and was sweating and totally hacked off at myself for not making sure that I had sent more. In an effor to feel better about the petitions, I would have liked to have submitted more than I need to avoid worry (I think I gave myself an ulcer )

Anyway we didn't have problems in the end and that was a relief, but still ... lol

[logitech 0]

thanks for all the help.

Well in our case,his parents stay in india so we wont have the hotel receipts as he stayed with them

However,he can get his e-ticket,the credit card by which he paid for the ticket ,may be the proof that he got some traveller cheques and th epassport stamp which shows he entered india and lef india after 3 weeks..

This is pretty much it...Will this all be sufficient??

[Minya's wife 24]

thanks for all the help.

Well in our case,his parents stay in india so we wont have the hotel receipts as he stayed with them

However,he can get his e-ticket,the credit card by which he paid for the ticket ,may be the proof that he got some traveller cheques and th epassport stamp which shows he entered india and lef india after 3 weeks..

This is pretty much it...Will this all be sufficient??

Sounds like you've got some additional evidence...good for you!

Entry/exit stamp is the primary evidence...the e-ticket and credit card statement, along w/ the traveller cheque purchase are the secondary evidence. That is something.

As far as sufficient? ....You won't know until you submit your petition and it gets adjudicated. If this is all you have, this is all you have!

Good luck!

-P