Online I-130: Bona Fide Marriage file size limits

[DK999 14]

I have read many threads on what to submit as evidence of a bona fide marriage. A common suggestion was photos, which we have hundreds of. The question is, how do I upload these pictures when the file limit is 6mb? One professional wedding photo alone is more than that. And I was hoping to upload dozens of pictures at least. Any suggestions on this?

 

Also, if some of you would be kind enough to review what I plan on submitting, besides the photos, I would really appreciate it:

-Marriage certificate

-Registration forms for the apartment we lived in together in China (every foreigner has to do one separately, so there is no single registration form with both our names on it). Speaking of which, how do I explain this to USCIS?

-Passport stamps from travel together (to go along with photos from said travel). I don't have original boarding passes. Is this a problem?

-My Russian registration form showing I'm registered at her apartment + her proof of ownership of said apartment 

-Affidavits from my family (is this overkill?)

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance!

[SteveInBostonI130 3,454]

10 minutes ago, DK999 said:

I have read many threads on what to submit as evidence of a bona fide marriage. A common suggestion was photos, which we have hundreds of. The question is, how do I upload these pictures when the file limit is 6mb? One professional wedding photo alone is more than that. And I was hoping to upload dozens of pictures at least. Any suggestions on this?

 

Also, if some of you would be kind enough to review what I plan on submitting, besides the photos, I would really appreciate it:

-Marriage certificate

-Registration forms for the apartment we lived in together in China (every foreigner has to do one separately, so there is no single registration form with both our names on it). Speaking of which, how do I explain this to USCIS?

-Passport stamps from travel together (to go along with photos from said travel). I don't have original boarding passes. Is this a problem?

-My Russian registration form showing I'm registered at her apartment + her proof of ownership of said apartment 

-Affidavits from my family (is this overkill?)

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Scan the photos or get the digital copies, add them to a word document to add titles and/or description, and print as PDF.  Upload the PDF.  We put 4 photos per page with this method.  

 

Your list looks fine.  I would add any financial documents where it shows you both on a joint account.  This is helpful but not crucial. 

 

I would leave off the affidavits.  They are the weakest forms of evidence.

[mam521 2,062]

I used powerpoint and put 2-4 photos per page and created an optimized pdf.  You don't need all of your photos, but a selection throughout the time you've been together.  

 

Don't add tons more than what is required.  

[Chancy 6,241]

20 minutes ago, DK999 said:

how do I upload these pictures when the file limit is 6mb?

 

I put 4 pictures to a page using a document editor.  Then I used the editor's export to PDF feature, which includes an option to compress JPEGs.  I tried different compression levels until I found the maximum that didn't have noticeable reduction to image quality.  I was able to compress file size to 30% of the original.

 

If your evidence file is still bigger than the size limit after compression, just break it up into multiple files.  I named ours something like "bonafide_evidence_part1", "bonafide_evidence_part2", etc.

 

[Troy B 223]

35 minutes ago, DK999 said:

I have read many threads on what to submit as evidence of a bona fide marriage. A common suggestion was photos, which we have hundreds of. 

 

As mentioned above, you will want to pare down the photos.  Thinking 20 max.

[hunny&me 274]

1 hour ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 

Scan the photos or get the digital copies, add them to a word document to add titles and/or description, and print as PDF.  Upload the PDF.  We put 4 photos per page with this method.  

 

In addition, when you paste them to word document, add dates, and who are you with... essentially description.  Then create to PDF/s. My evidence is about 40 pages, so I cut the pdfs to sections and named them accordingly Evidence_01_page_1to10.pdf
Evidence_02_page_10to15.pdf
Evidence_03_page_16to25.pdf

Something like that... So, for mine, i have 5 pdfs, coz the pictures are really big to save... plus I still have FB chats, mailings, etc.. - it is a like a story book - before and during marriage.

If you have health insurance together, I included mine as another evidence.

[DK999 14]

This is all very helpful. Thank you everyone. 

[Redro 4,611]

7 hours ago, hunny&me said:

In addition, when you paste them to word document, add dates, and who are you with... essentially description.  Then create to PDF/s. My evidence is about 40 pages, so I cut the pdfs to sections and named them accordingly Evidence_01_page_1to10.pdf
Evidence_02_page_10to15.pdf
Evidence_03_page_16to25.pdf

Something like that... So, for mine, i have 5 pdfs, coz the pictures are really big to save... plus I still have FB chats, mailings, etc.. - it is a like a story book - before and during marriage.

If you have health insurance together, I included mine as another evidence.

Ah~ This is what we did. Was worried it would be strange, but happy to see someone with an approved petition do something similar. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

Taxes, boarding passes, hotel reservations, etc.