Are Screenshots Allowed?

[thinpea 32]

Hello all!

 

Me and my husband have been slaving away at preparing the I-130 package and I just realized I included a lot of screenshots throughout the document. For example, my husband lived in Canada with me for a year and had a Canadian bank account so we often sent "e-transfers" to eachother. I went through my bank account on the app and took screenshots of the transfers and included several on a page in word. The screenshots include the date, my checking account #, the transaction number, the amount sent/received, and the name of my husband. Is it ok to provide screenshots of this instead of an actual print each e-transfer statement (which I wouldn't even know how to access)? I put them on a page together because I didn't want there to be too many pages to go through because I included about 12 e transfers alone 

 

Also, we have sent money through paypal when he moved back to the US. Should I provide screenshots of the transfers between eachother that include the date, amount, and transaction ID? Or should I directly print the paypal transaction receipt and print it as its own page instead of including screenshots of a few of the receipts on a page in the word document? For this I also didn't want the officers to have to go through so many pages because if I print each receipt (which would be one page each), there would be about 20 pages of this as opposed to just 4 pages with several of the screenshot of the receipts on one page. The screenshots are just a screenshot of the receipt so it wouldn't look any different if i directly printed them. 

 

Also, when it comes to flights:

1. We have been visiting each other for 7 years now. I was able to find screenshots of past flight booking confirmations in my camera roll. Should i include these screenshots? Otherwise I don't have any proof of flights from when we visited eachother in the early years of our relationship because I don't have the boarding passes or email receipts to these flights 

 

2. For the more recent flights that I can find in my email, would it be okay to take a screenshot of the email and include it on a page in the word document? Or should I print it directly from my email?

[Rocio0010 5,579]

I take it that you’re Canadian?

Always try to send “original” documents instead of screenshots.

25 minutes ago, thinpea said:

. We have been visiting each other for 7 years now. I was able to find screenshots of past flight booking confirmations in my camera roll. Should i include these screenshots

In this case, yes, send screenshots.

 

26 minutes ago, thinpea said:

Or should I print it directly from my email?

Even better, more official would be logging in to the account where you made the reservations and download them straight from the company’s website

[Ontarkie 14,224]

~~Moved to IR1/CR1 P&P, from Progress Reports~~

[Adventine 3,196]

Screenshots are fine but even better would be to go to the desktop version of your bank's website and download a report of all your transactions. The reports will typically be in xls or csv formats and you can easily filter the data to remove the info you don't need.

 

It'll save space, paper, and looks much more polished. I'm sure PayPal has a similar service available.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Adventine

[thinpea 32]

49 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

I take it that you’re Canadian?

Always try to send “original” documents instead of screenshots.

In this case, yes, send screenshots.

 

Even better, more official would be logging in to the account where you made the reservations and download them straight from the company’s website

Thank you so much for your response! Yes I am Canadian. 

 

Also, I'm not sure you'll have the answer to this but I figured I'd ask; when visiting eachother, since I live so close to Detroit border and flights are cheaper from there, me and my husband normally flew into/out of Detroit and drove through the border. Since we do this, the flights don't indicate him coming to Canada (however, my flights show me flying from Detroit to his state so that's fine). Should include an explanation as to why this is in my application? 

9 minutes ago, Adventine said:

Screenshots are fine but even better would be to go to the desktop version of your bank's website and download a report of all your transactions. The reports will typically be in xls or csv formats and you can easily filter the data to remove the info you don't need.

 

It'll save space, paper, and looks much more polished. I'm sure PayPal has a similar service available.

Okay thank you very much! I'll look into doing this instead

[pushbrk 12,883]

2 hours ago, Rocio0010 said:

I take it that you’re Canadian?

Always try to send “original” documents instead of screenshots.

In this case, yes, send screenshots.

 

Even better, more official would be logging in to the account where you made the reservations and download them straight from the company’s website

WHOA.  You NEVER send "original documents".  A screen shot is the same as a photocopy.  What I would say in this case though is that money transfer is NOT commingling of assets.  Document your time together in Canada and leave it at that for the relationship evidence.  Passport stamps and/or boarding passes for the trips, and a few photos together over time.  Not a lot of relationship scrutiny coming from Canada.  In this case, less is more, and more makes you look desperate.

 

 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

1 hour ago, thinpea said:

and drove through the border

Mmm asking because I don’t know. Do they mark a document or something when you go through the border? If they do, I’ll make copies of these. If they don’t, I think your idea of a letter sounds solid. I’ll tag @mushroomspore to see if he, as a Canadian, can give you a more accurate answer.

[TBoneTX 45,291]

A post telling someone else how/how not to post has been removed.  Any further such posting behavior will draw administrative action.

 

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[thinpea 32]

On 3/12/2022 at 4:37 PM, Adventine said:

Screenshots are fine but even better would be to go to the desktop version of your bank's website and download a report of all your transactions. The reports will typically be in xls or csv formats and you can easily filter the data to remove the info you don't need.

 

It'll save space, paper, and looks much more polished. I'm sure PayPal has a similar service available.

Thank you! I figured it out and did that instead. It definitely does look better but it also looks like I could've easily faked it as opposed to the screenshots because you can tell they came from my bank app/paypal but I'll probably use them because it saves space!

[Adventine 3,196]

57 minutes ago, thinpea said:

Thank you! I figured it out and did that instead. It definitely does look better but it also looks like I could've easily faked it as opposed to the screenshots because you can tell they came from my bank app/paypal but I'll probably use them because it saves space!

 

Good that you found a way to save some space with your packet. And don't you worry, if the government suspects you faked the transactions, they can easily check with your bank and see everything's legit

[pushbrk 12,883]

2 hours ago, Adventine said:

 

Good that you found a way to save some space with your packet. And don't you worry, if the government suspects you faked the transactions, they can easily check with your bank and see everything's legit

Actually, no they cannot easily check with the bank.  This is a terrible way to deal with the problem exactly because manipulated evidence is NOT evidence.  Why would you need evidence from your bank anyway?

[Adventine 3,196]

@pushbrk How is it manipulated evidence if the data comes directly from the bank's website? I would imagine if the government suspects fraud, they can use transaction reference numbers or send an RFE to see the full bank statements with bank letterhead.

 

As for why one would need evidence from the bank, the I-130 instructions state applicants can submit "Documentation showing that you and your spouse have combined your financial resources." Am I missing something here or is evidence of fund transfers (going both ways according to OP's original post) not considered as this kind of documentation?

[pushbrk 12,883]

4 minutes ago, Adventine said:

@pushbrk How is it manipulated evidence if the data comes directly from the bank's website? I would imagine if the government suspects fraud, they can use transaction reference numbers or send an RFE to see the full bank statements with bank letterhead.

 

As for why one would need evidence from the bank, the I-130 instructions state applicants can submit "Documentation showing that you and your spouse have combined your financial resources." Am I missing something here or is evidence of fund transfers (going both ways according to OP's original post) not considered as this kind of documentation?

Copy, paste, and edit, IS "manipulation" of data.  What remains can be TRUE, but not "evidence".  There's a way to use the same information as "evidence", which is to paste a screen shot of the website data into Word or a PDF document before uploading.  

 

Money transfers are NOT evidence of commingling or combining of assets.  Money transfers can evidence SOMETHING (often hurting rather than helping) but not evidence of combining or commingling assets.  And,....AGAIN.... neither USCIS or Consular officers expect couples who have never lived together in the same country to have commingled their assets yet.  Efforts to contrive such evidence are NOT HELPFUL.

See anonymous quote in my signature, as it applies directly to this discussion.

[thinpea 32]

On 3/14/2022 at 9:22 PM, pushbrk said:

Money transfers are NOT evidence of commingling or combining of assets.  Money transfers can evidence SOMETHING (often hurting rather than helping) but not evidence of combining or commingling assets.  And,....AGAIN.... neither USCIS or Consular officers expect couples who have never lived together in the same country to have commingled their assets yet.  Efforts to contrive such evidence are NOT HELPFUL.
 

Why would it hurt to show that we have sent money to eachother throughout the years? Since we do not have a joint bank account I figured I would include the transfers because they show that we have helped eachother out with money in the past.

[pushbrk 12,883]

4 hours ago, thinpea said:

Why would it hurt to show that we have sent money to eachother throughout the years? Since we do not have a joint bank account I figured I would include the transfers because they show that we have helped eachother out with money in the past.

Being Canada, probably not going to either hurt or help, but still not necessary.