What do you think got my RFE approved?

[Reikan 14]

I was asked for an RFE on my K1 application for not providing evidence of the two year meeting requirement. I suppose a personal statement and photos were not enough. Looking back and reading more, this is obvious now. But since we met in the US during the start of COVID, I did not have hotel receipts, tickets, boarding passes, or really anything with both of our names on it (so I thought). We lived together briefly but did not share any utilities, rental agreements, or anything official.

 

I guess I assumed they would have just known she lived in America at the time we met and that was ok.

 

Well obviously I was wrong. I was mildly panicked when I received the RFE. I started trying to think what would count as evidence of our meeting. We saw each other all the time! You never think you have to prove to government agency you know someone at the time. Since the petition was filed I have visited my fiancée in her country but evidence after filing the I-129F is not applicable.

 

So here is what I submitted for the RFE:

 

• A revised personal statement that included how we did not stay or travel anywhere due to COVID-19
• Her original visa (J1) and passport stamp showing entry into the US
• Her arrival stamp back in Thailand
• 5 instances of our credit card statements matching up at various merchants on the same day (Amazing and lucky being together over a year and only had 5 instances of these matching up! Usually we just took turns buying stuff.)
• Credit card statement of fiancée showing her address as my address for the last few months of our relationship where we lived together
• Copy of my lease showing that I do indeed live at the address on her credit card statement
• Chat log records from dating app we met in indicating a location we were going for our first date
  • Our phone tracking logs showing us going to chat log specified location at specified time

 

I think it was the credit statement and possibly the original visa/entry stamp. I cannot imagine it was the dating app/GPS logs but I was throwing everything and the kitchen sink in there to see what stuck.

 

Anyway I got my NOA2 just the other day and whew was that a big relief! So I'm just tossing this out there in case anyone else has a similar situation.

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

I would have never thought they would approve with such evidence as it sounds pretty weak. But congratulations on the approval of the petition and good luck on the next step. 

[Reikan 14]

11 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

I would have never thought they would approve with such evidence as it sounds pretty weak. But congratulations on the approval of the petition and good luck on the next step. 

Yeah when I said mildly panicked, I was majorly panicked. Pretty sure I got arthritis swiping down in the USCIS app checking for updates so frequently. I thought it was weak too. I was researching the appeal process, talking about what to do if we need to refile and wait through the grueling USCIS process again. Absolutely elated for NOA2. Thanks for the good wishes.

[powerpuff 6,747]

Congratulations! That’s great news. 

[Mike E 11,742]

To answer your question, it likely wasn’t a single thing but the combination of things.  
 

It is a myth  that circumstantial evidence carries no weight in legal matters. While a single prince direct evidence is more valuable than a single piece of circumstantial evidence, a larger body of circumstantial evidence carries weight.    

[Limey 551]

On 1/21/2022 at 4:25 PM, Reikan said:

 

• A revised personal statement that included how we did not stay or travel anywhere due to COVID-19
• Her original visa (J1) and passport stamp showing entry into the US
• Her arrival stamp back in Thailand
• 5 instances of our credit card statements matching up at various merchants on the same day (Amazing and lucky being together over a year and only had 5 instances of these matching up! Usually we just took turns buying stuff.)
• Credit card statement of fiancée showing her address as my address for the last few months of our relationship where we lived together
• Copy of my lease showing that I do indeed live at the address on her credit card statement
• Chat log records from dating app we met in indicating a location we were going for our first date
  • Our phone tracking logs showing us going to chat log specified location at specified time

 

Anyone of these is relevant evidence (with perhaps the exception of the chat logs) but its the combination that has true value. Once married and applying for ROC we had a joint account for household expenses but mainly used our individual accounts and took turns to buy groceries, pay our bar bill etc. We submitted statements from our individual accounts but noted that they showed us frequenting the same restaurants, grocery stores and being out of state in the same place at the same time. That's all good evidence especially when combined with the other types of evidence we had.

I see people on here obsessing over how many pages of chat logs to send, or their love story about how they met, when they really don't prove much at all (if you're chatting online, you're likely not together in person). Documents with the same address are good, but if one was committing a fraud it would not be difficult to register someone at your address who wasn't actually living with you. Credit card statements matching up are a much better proof of a real and genuine in person relationship.

Congratulations on the NOA2.