i-129f: Confused about cover letter examples re: Part 2, Q.54

[Eniok 0]

I'm confused about Part 2, Question 54 in relation to the instructions & various cover letter examples.
_________
Part 2, Question 54: "Have you and your fiancé(e) met in person during the two
years immediately before filing this petition?
If you answered "Yes" to Item Number 53., describe the
circumstances of your in-person meeting in Item Number 54.
Attach evidence to demonstrate that you were in each other's
physical presence during the required two year period."

The instructions: "Submit evidence that you and your fiancé(e) met in person during the 2-year period
immediately before you filed this petition. Evidence of this meeting may include, but is not limited to, a
written statement from you and/or your fiancé(e) stating the circumstances of your meeting, a copy of airline
tickets, passport pages, or other evidence."
_________

To me, the instructions are just reiterating what the I129F form already asks for, but giving examples to aid you. I would take on board what the instructions say and apply it to a supplement of Question 54.

What confuses me is how a lot of guides online separate the two. All cover letter examples I've seen separate evidence of in-person meeting from the supplement/answer to Question 54.
Some of these guides must be outdated & maybe the I129F form didn't used to ask for evidence directly. But some of the guides are recent.

Question 54 asks for evidence anyway, so why would I include it in a later section, basically repeating myself?
I haven't found anyone else online confused about this (but maybe I haven't looked hard enough).
I just want to be sure that it's okay to ignore the guides basically, and merge the evidence section to the answer of Q.54.

Can anyone confirm that this is alright? Is there any insight you can give?

Side note: There wouldn't be enough space in the answer box of Q.54 or in Part 8. Additional Information, so I'll neatly lay everything out on separate paper & make sure it's clear that it's a continuation of Q54.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Eniok

[Eniok 0]

Cover letter examples:

[Wuozopo 4,291]

1 hour ago, Eniok said:

I haven't found anyone else online confused about this (but maybe I haven't looked hard enough).
I just want to be sure that it's okay to ignore the guides basically, and merge the evidence section to the answer of Q.54.

Can anyone confirm that this is alright? Is there any insight you can give?

The fact that you are questioning this shows you are thinking about the logic of it all. Some people just copy a guide, never considering the logic; never reading the USCIS instructions. Use your logic to craft your own.
 

My experienced opinion after going from K1 petition to US citizenship—

USCIS doesn’t even require a cover letter,c so you won’t be hurt whether it’s in the right or wrong order. It is just something the contractors opening the mail deal with as they assemble a file in the order USCIS wants to see it. I actually believe that nobody who counts reads your cover letter. I truly suspect it is thrown away by the contractors and never reaches the eyes of USCIS adjudicators.
 

Yes, as newbies we did a petition cover letter but it was our own logical design and order. Later down the road, we submitted  Removing Conditions and Naturalisation packets with no cover letter. Everything went just fine with never a RFE whether we had a cover letter or none. Do your thing and don’t dwell on the cover letter. You’ve got this!

[Mike E 11,732]

I don’t have a cover letter in my I-129F. Didn’t see the point.  

[Eniok 0]

35 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

The fact that you are questioning this shows you are thinking about the logic of it all. Some people just copy a guide, never considering the logic; never reading the USCIS instructions. Use your logic to craft your own.
 

My experienced opinion after going from K1 petition to US citizenship—

USCIS doesn’t even require a cover letter,c so you won’t be hurt whether it’s in the right or wrong order. It is just something the contractors opening the mail deal with as they assemble a file in the order USCIS wants to see it. I actually believe that nobody who counts reads your cover letter. I truly suspect it is thrown away by the contractors and never reaches the eyes of USCIS adjudicators.
 

Yes, as newbies we did a petition cover letter but it was our own logical design and order. Later down the road, we submitted  Removing Conditions and Naturalisation packets with no cover letter. Everything went just fine with never a RFE whether we had a cover letter or none. Do your thing and don’t dwell on the cover letter. You’ve got this!

Thank you! I agree with you but I don't think I explained myself well in the OP. 

I don't care about the cover letter itself, I just meant that example cover letters give me a good idea of what should be included besides the I129F, & how to organise everything.  I know some of it may be optional, but what I'm talking about (evidence of in-person meeting) is not.

 

& What I'm confused about is how online guides/cover letters have separated the evidence from Q.54, which doesn't make sense to me.

I was wondering whether I was missing something or if I've just been getting confused by outdated information.

 

After thinking about it more, the evidence is most likely only meant to be accompanied with the Q.54 supplement, and not repeated later, regardless of what online guides say.

[Wuozopo 4,291]

58 minutes ago, Eniok said:

After thinking about it more, the evidence is most likely only meant to be accompanied with the Q.54 supplement, and not repeated later, regardless of what online guides say.

I think I am following you now.  My thoughts are the I-129F is a form to fill out and evidence is not part of the form. You wouldn’t insert your passport photocopy somewhere mid form to follow declaring you are a US citizen. Or insert your photo somewhere after Part 4 to prove your eye and hair color.
 

 I would let the form be just the 13 pages without thinking evidence is part of it. All evidence supports the form in some way.  Stack all the evidence behind it in any order you choose because the contractors that open the mail will reassemble it.

My submission would have pages with a large bold header “Evidence of Meeting in Person” and the various pieces of evidence photocopied on the pages with that header.. We went to extra lengths to point out what we were showing them by writing in red Sharpie in space at the bottom “Harry’s boarding pass and baggage claim to London  dated 02/02/2022”.  “Sally’s ATM receipt showing a transaction in Harry’s town dated 12/12/2021”. “ Receipts from Best Buy showing Harry and Sally both made purchases at the same store and same time on 12/15/2021”  “Passport stamps showing Harry and Sally each entered Croatia on 9/19/2021”. Yes my fiancé wrote bold red notes on the photocopied evidence pages.