Lacking the usual evidence of genuineness of relationship that most applicants have. How can I get some?

[Aelius 7]

I'm Canadian, and for three years my American fiancée has lived in Buffalo and drives across the border to visit me every week. I received my NOA1 back in September and would like to make sure I have enough evidence proving the genuineness of our relationship once we get interviewed later this year.

 

The problem is, we don't have the usual sorts of evidence that most K1 applicants have. Here are some common examples of evidence that other K1 applicants use, and why I don't have them:

 

1. Visa stamps. Canada does not stamp American passports when they cross.
2. Phone call logs. We don't call each other (what year is it anyway?).
3. Mail deliveries. We don't mail each other stuff. She visits so often anyway that we just give each other stuff in person.
4. Flight bookings, boarding passes, etc. She drives.
5. Hotel bookings. She stays at my residence when she visits.
6. Pictures. We don't really go out and do anything. What would be the occasion for which we would take a picture? I suppose we could just take selfies in my home, but that's... odd.
7. Credit card or bank statements of our purchases at the same time and place. Again, we don't really go out and do anything. Besides, I usually just pay for anything (e.g., pizza delivery). If we suddenly started paying for things together now after three years, wouldn't that be suspicious?
8. Engagement ring purchase. I never got one (I was intending to just get a wedding ring when the time comes; engagement rings never made sense to me.) We sent our I-129F (along with a letter of intent to marry, of course) back in August. It's now February. I suppose we could buy rings now, but wouldn't that look even more suspicious than not having rings at all? ("It says here you bought rings in February, but your letter of intent to marry was from August. Why would you buy engagement rings so many months after your stated intention to marry?")
9. Chat logs. We do indeed have 91,000 messages sent between us on Discord. But does that matter? Anyone can manufacture chat logs, and she doesn't use her real name on the application we use (Discord).
10. Names on lease. This one has never made sense to me. The whole point of immigrating is so that we can live together. Obviously we don't currently live together; we're in different countries!

I'm fine with doing some new things to get some of this evidence, but it seems so... obvious... that I would just be doing it for the sake of the K1 instead of organically. Like, there's little evidence of these things for years, and then all the sudden a few months before the interview we start doing all this stuff together? I don't know... Am I wrong to be concerned about that? And is there any sort of evidence I haven't mentioned above that might be compelling?

 

Thanks!

[Boiler 45,525]

You are wrong to be concerned about that.

 

Pretty sure I had none of those.

 

More interestingly why are you going K1?

[Aelius 7]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

You are wrong to be concerned about that.

 

Pretty sure I had none of those.

 

More interestingly why are you going K1?

What evidence did you provide for your K1, if I may ask? Maybe it's something that I could use too!

 

And even if K1 wasn't the best choice in retrospect, it's already in the process and I'm not going to scrap it at this point just to go with CR1 or whatever, you know?

[Mike E 11,739]

To answer your question, I suggest you get out the house for an hour or two per visit and take pics in front of landmarks. Assuming you live east of and/or south of or in Hamilton, there is plenty of stuff to see.  

Edited February 19, 2022 by Mike E

[canadian_wife 1,822]

We didn’t have most of that either.  Montreal knows about the ease of travel to the US and the different rules we follow.  But I agree, time to start taking pictures, getting those receipts in the same place, a day trip to Niagara in the Lake and stay in a B&B.  If you want to win immigration points it’s is time to start playing their game.

 

good luck

[carmel34 3,633]

All you need is evidence of meeting at least once, in person, in the two years prior to filing the I-129F petition.  What did you submit with the petition to prove this?  Evidence of the relationship is not necessary for a K-1, but documentation to show that you met at least once before filing the petition is required.  Bona fide relationship evidence is only required for a spousal visa, (and for K-1s from high-fraud countries).  Good luck!

[RebeccaG 8]

I have the same issue while trying to bring my wife to the US, i visit her every two weeks in Mexico, and i think it would be kind of suspicious if i start doing different things after two years.  I hired an attorney and she just told me "i believe you but you have not enough evidence" but she started the process anyways and gave me no tips or advise on how to fix it. Well, then I decided to stop the process since I knew in advance it was going to be rejected, and started to gather some evidence.

I did some research i found out that selfies are not enough and they must be posted on social media to show family and friends we are a couple (we chose Facebook).  So i got creative and invited some friends to the house to eat pizza and take pictures with them, I visit her at her job with flowers and took pictures with her and her coworkers. I took pictures with us and my family inlaw while "just eating". The other pictures are selfies from restaurants and parks. i take a picture of us everytime i am there, even if we are not doing something special.

There's a small town near the city so we planned a trip and took selfies in the church and monuments. 

You are engaged, so you need pictures of the "engagement moment", even though you dont believe in engagement rings, please BUY ONE.

I used to pay tolls in cash, so I got an account fot tags and i planned to show the statement.

I used to pay everything in cash because of all the frauds in Mexico, but I started using my UScard in the other country everytime I visit my wife, i use it at restaurants, stores, flowershops... everywhere, at least once.

I also keep the receipts for gifts i buy for her.

I use American fuel, but i started to use my debit card in mexican gas stations to prove i was there, i just fill few gallons.

Basically I keep doing the same things, I just make sure there is a record of them. 

I planned to wait another 6 months to gather enough documents and hope everything goes well.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by RebeccaG

[Boiler 45,525]

9 hours ago, Aelius said:

What evidence did you provide for your K1, if I may ask? Maybe it's something that I could use too!

 

And even if K1 wasn't the best choice in retrospect, it's already in the process and I'm not going to scrap it at this point just to go with CR1 or whatever, you know?

I took a few photos.

[mytruelove18 608]

10 hours ago, Aelius said:

I'm Canadian, and for three years my American fiancée has lived in Buffalo and drives across the border to visit me every week. I received my NOA1 back in September and would like to make sure I have enough evidence proving the genuineness of our relationship once we get interviewed later this year.

 

The problem is, we don't have the usual sorts of evidence that most K1 applicants have. Here are some common examples of evidence that other K1 applicants use, and why I don't have them:

 

1. Visa stamps. Canada does not stamp American passports when they cross.
2. Phone call logs. We don't call each other (what year is it anyway?).
3. Mail deliveries. We don't mail each other stuff. She visits so often anyway that we just give each other stuff in person.
4. Flight bookings, boarding passes, etc. She drives.
5. Hotel bookings. She stays at my residence when she visits.
6. Pictures. We don't really go out and do anything. What would be the occasion for which we would take a picture? I suppose we could just take selfies in my home, but that's... odd.
7. Credit card or bank statements of our purchases at the same time and place. Again, we don't really go out and do anything. Besides, I usually just pay for anything (e.g., pizza delivery). If we suddenly started paying for things together now after three years, wouldn't that be suspicious?
8. Engagement ring purchase. I never got one (I was intending to just get a wedding ring when the time comes; engagement rings never made sense to me.) We sent our I-129F (along with a letter of intent to marry, of course) back in August. It's now February. I suppose we could buy rings now, but wouldn't that look even more suspicious than not having rings at all? ("It says here you bought rings in February, but your letter of intent to marry was from August. Why would you buy engagement rings so many months after your stated intention to marry?")
9. Chat logs. We do indeed have 91,000 messages sent between us on Discord. But does that matter? Anyone can manufacture chat logs, and she doesn't use her real name on the application we use (Discord).
10. Names on lease. This one has never made sense to me. The whole point of immigrating is so that we can live together. Obviously we don't currently live together; we're in different countries!

I'm fine with doing some new things to get some of this evidence, but it seems so... obvious... that I would just be doing it for the sake of the K1 instead of organically. Like, there's little evidence of these things for years, and then all the sudden a few months before the interview we start doing all this stuff together? I don't know... Am I wrong to be concerned about that? And is there any sort of evidence I haven't mentioned above that might be compelling?

 

Thanks!

If you are lucky and they dont deny you when they review the case for lack of evidence, You will get rfe asking for evidences.

what evidence did you send with your petition?

[African Zealot 1,455]

It seems you’re intent on doing it your way or organically/naturally as you call it. Sorry,mit doesn’t work that way. Immigration wants hard evidence so even if your lifestyle/relationship  doesn’t naturally generate those evidence they want, it’s time to start.

 

With immigration it’s their way (not your way) or the highway. They’re almost literally the judge, the jury and the executioner.

[Sarah&Facundo 595]

You don't need a ring or to take a picture of an "engagement moment." We didn't do any of that. We didn't send call logs. Like you, I stayed at my husband's house and we didn't really have receipts for restaurants or things we paid in cash and I (USC) didn't really pay for anything. I did have the passport stamps from constantly going to my husband's country though.

I believe you CAN get a stamp from Canada. When I was younger, I liked to "collect stamps" from different countries. I remember, there was a way to pull over at the border and go into a small office to get a stamp. I still have the stamp. Maybe this can be done in the next crossing. It only took a few extra minutes. 

I also went to the K1 interview with my husband (then-fiance) so I was clearly there and able to answer any questions. Actually, the officer probably interviewed me more than they did my husband. The three of us were just chatting. You could see we were genuine because I was sitting there and from the way we were talking to each other. So if you feel like you are short on evidence and if Montreal allows it (not sure if they do or not), I would go with your fiance.

Also yes, as mentioned above, take a few pictures together. I don't know if it really matters where, but if you have some famous landmark behind you, then that can only help. I think one of the pictures was of us when my husband came to the US to visit and we were by the Statue of Liberty. I submitted maybe five pictures total? And the officer chose one of the pictures of both of us with his family in his country and asked us about the picture or whatever we were doing that day. Can you take just a family/friends photo? 

[RebeccaG 8]

6 minutes ago, Sarah&Facundo said:

You don't need a ring or to take a picture of an "engagement moment." We didn't do any of that. We didn't send call logs. Like you, I stayed at my husband's house and we didn't really have receipts for restaurants or things we paid in cash and I (USC) didn't really pay for anything. I did have the passport stamps from constantly going to my husband's country though.

I believe you CAN get a stamp from Canada. When I was younger, I liked to "collect stamps" from different countries. I remember, there was a way to pull over at the border and go into a small office to get a stamp. I still have the stamp. Maybe this can be done in the next crossing. It only took a few extra minutes. 

I also went to the K1 interview with my husband (then-fiance) so I was clearly there and able to answer any questions. Actually, the officer probably interviewed me more than they did my husband. The three of us were just chatting. You could see we were genuine because I was sitting there and from the way we were talking to each other. So if you feel like you are short on evidence and if Montreal allows it (not sure if they do or not), I would go with your fiance.

Also yes, as mentioned above, take a few pictures together. I don't know if it really matters where, but if you have some famous landmark behind you, then that can only help. I think one of the pictures was of us when my husband came to the US to visit and we were by the Statue of Liberty. I submitted maybe five pictures total? And the officer chose one of the pictures of both of us with his family in his country and asked us about the picture or whatever we were doing that day. Can you take just a family/friends photo? 

The guy already sent "few" evidence like you and received the NOA1, he is worried because they do not have enough evidence, even the chatlogs are under a nickname. It is better to collect some evidence of his fiancee going to Canada right now in case they ask for more evidence. May be USCIS will not ask for anything like in your case and everything is going to be fine, but what's going to happen if they ask for it and they don't have it,? (you are right, a ring is not required but he needs at least the pictures with family and friends), and some proof of the trips to Canada.

[Sukie 1,461]

I know that I can fill out a form for Australian immigration to get my travel history in and out of the country.  I googled the question for the US and found this site:

 

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/history-search

 

It would surely show all border crossings...

 

Sukie in NY

[JonInCA 12]

I also wonder why the OP is doing a K1, since it will entail 9 or so months of not being able to work. 

 

As for the relationship evidence, it is useful to be clear about what is required when. For filing the I-129F, all that is required is evidence of having met in person in the past two years and having a statement of intent to marry within 90 days.

 

For the visa interview, you will need evidence of an ongoing relationship. In my case I had not visited my fiance since our one and only vacation together, so I downloaded our chat history from Facebook and grabbed one page of chat messages for each month since that vacation. My fiance's id on those logs was a made up name.

 

For the AOS, you should have evidence of commingling of assets, whether it is organic or not.

[WeekendPizzaiolo 47]

13 hours ago, Aelius said:

I'm Canadian, and for three years my American fiancée has lived in Buffalo and drives across the border to visit me every week. I received my NOA1 back in September and would like to make sure I have enough evidence proving the genuineness of our relationship once we get interviewed later this year.

 

The problem is, we don't have the usual sorts of evidence that most K1 applicants have. Here are some common examples of evidence that other K1 applicants use, and why I don't have them:

 

1. Visa stamps. Canada does not stamp American passports when they cross.
2. Phone call logs. We don't call each other (what year is it anyway?).
3. Mail deliveries. We don't mail each other stuff. She visits so often anyway that we just give each other stuff in person.
4. Flight bookings, boarding passes, etc. She drives.
5. Hotel bookings. She stays at my residence when she visits.
6. Pictures. We don't really go out and do anything. What would be the occasion for which we would take a picture? I suppose we could just take selfies in my home, but that's... odd.
7. Credit card or bank statements of our purchases at the same time and place. Again, we don't really go out and do anything. Besides, I usually just pay for anything (e.g., pizza delivery). If we suddenly started paying for things together now after three years, wouldn't that be suspicious?
8. Engagement ring purchase. I never got one (I was intending to just get a wedding ring when the time comes; engagement rings never made sense to me.) We sent our I-129F (along with a letter of intent to marry, of course) back in August. It's now February. I suppose we could buy rings now, but wouldn't that look even more suspicious than not having rings at all? ("It says here you bought rings in February, but your letter of intent to marry was from August. Why would you buy engagement rings so many months after your stated intention to marry?")
9. Chat logs. We do indeed have 91,000 messages sent between us on Discord. But does that matter? Anyone can manufacture chat logs, and she doesn't use her real name on the application we use (Discord).
10. Names on lease. This one has never made sense to me. The whole point of immigrating is so that we can live together. Obviously we don't currently live together; we're in different countries!

I'm fine with doing some new things to get some of this evidence, but it seems so... obvious... that I would just be doing it for the sake of the K1 instead of organically. Like, there's little evidence of these things for years, and then all the sudden a few months before the interview we start doing all this stuff together? I don't know... Am I wrong to be concerned about that? And is there any sort of evidence I haven't mentioned above that might be compelling?

 

Thanks!

There are no clear cut rules. Some people submit a lot. Others submit little. If the officer has doubts, more solid evidence may or may not ameliorate that doubt. If your letter of intent to marry says you visit every week, then you are making such a claim under penalty of perjury so that is actually evidence as well. If something about the relationship seems odd, e.g. two people from vastly different cultures, age groups, from two different parts of the world, etc. who maybe only visited each other once, then having scant evidence is going to look pretty bad. If you really visited each other with such regular frequency as you have stated in your post, my hunch is that will look pretty good that the relationship is real.

 

I imagine some people go overboard just to be overly cautious, but it's the luck of the draw whether the USCIS officer or consular officer will even review it. We only had (5) and (6) on your list but we also had:

• A. letters of support: from friends and close family on both sides writing about their first-hand experiences regarding our relationship. You don't have to address it to a particular person. To Whom It May Concern is fine. Have them sign it and photocopy their IDs to the bottom or notarize.
• B. trip log: as a Google spreadsheet showing the dates and duration of every trip together
• C. trip journal: describing broadly each phase of every trip. I hadn't seen any guide suggest this kind document, but we kept a journal anyway.
• D. letter of intent to marry: we had the standard sentence at the top but also genuine narratives about how our relationship evolved over time

As for (7), I don't think it will be suspicious at all that you start collecting evidence now that you realize it matters. Indeed, many people do not have the personality or culture to take lots of photos. It's something that many US citizen couples do not have to worry about. If you have a confirmation pages of those pizzas or bagel+coffee, that might be helpful to show that you were in Canada in roughly the same area of Canada every week. The fact that it is a bagel vs a museum entrance fee vs swanky hotel does not matter. It's just evidence that you were spending time together in the same place.

 

You can make up for your lack of evidence with a Letter of Intent to Marry that contains the standard sentence at the top followed by a page describing your relationship. I would start collecting a few photos per trip for (6).

 

IMO, you're overthinking (9) - by presenting any evidence, oral or written, one is claiming under penalty of perjury that it is an authentic document and the receiver screen name is your fiancé. Hypothetically, if one submits as evidence "I am a professional plumber" then one better be a plumber or one faces severe consequences for the rest of one's life. This is why Discord logs is fine. 60,000 discord chats is a lot - summarize it with number of calls broken down by month or week.

 

HTH