Questions on I-130 evidence

[Troy B 223]

Affidavits are a very poor source of information.     Time spent together is much more important for the i-130.

[James1223 1]

1 minute ago, pushbrk said:

Sometimes less is more.  Unless these "letters" describe the authors' intimate observations of how your relationship developed over time, they can actually make you look desperate.  Makes no difference really, as long as you have the real evidence already.  If it makes you happy to submit letters, do it.  But don't labor under the misconception it will actually help.

 

I wrote my previous comment before reading this one - I apologize. To respond to this, I understand that the letters may not actively help, but I still wish to submit the letters as long as it does not harm the application. I will submit the real evidence as well, as I know that that is more helpful.

 

I just wanted to know if the letters can be typed with hand-written signatures, and if a letter was in Chinese, if it could be self-translated, or if it needed an official translator. Thanks!

[pushbrk 12,883]

2 minutes ago, James1223 said:

I believe you in that the letter is not required. I am not arguing that it is required. But it is something that I can submit, so I don't see why not. Unless you know of applications that were tossed out because they submitted too much evidence?

Quantity is not the issue, unless you submit so much, they look at none of it, or the less effective parts of it.  Quality is the issue.  If you want them to see everything you submit, keep it brief and effective.  Submit too much and you'll never know what they saw and didn't see.  Note that USCIS and Consular Officers spend minutes, not hours reviewing the file.

[pushbrk 12,883]

4 minutes ago, James1223 said:

I just wanted to know if the letters can be typed with hand-written signatures, and if a letter was in Chinese, if it could be self-translated, or if it needed an official translator. Thanks!

Letters would need to be in English or Translated.  Yes, they can be typed and signed.  For China, USCIS and GUZ people are used to seeing Notarial Translations from the Gong Zheng Chu.  Another reason to skip the letters and focus on time together.  I know of somebody who submitted a self translated divorce decree.  It was rejected.  That works for many countries but not China.

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by pushbrk

[James1223 1]

 

2 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Letters would need to be in English or Translated.  Yes, they can be typed and signed.  For China, USCIS and GUZ people are used to seeing Notarial Translations from the Gong Zheng Chu.  Another reason to skip the letters and focus on time together.

Thanks! I definitely will focus on the primary evidence first. I appreciate your help  

[James1223 1]

25 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Quantity is not the issue, unless you submit so much, they look at none of it, or the less effective parts of it.  Quality is the issue.  If you want them to see everything you submit, keep it brief and effective.  Submit too much and you'll never know what they saw and didn't see.  Note that USCIS and Consular Officers spend minutes, not hours reviewing the file.

Sorry for bothering you again but wanted to hear your opinion on what you think of the quality of our material. I understand that you are not an officer, but it seems like you have a lot of experience in this, so I just want to know your thoughts.

 

For the primary evidence, we have taken a total of 4 trips. For those trips, we have the passport stamps, in addition we have the physical boarding passes for some (not all) of the trips. For the trips we do not have the boarding passes for, we have copies of the online itinerary that was sent by the airline company.

In addition, we have an account summary that details that he is an authorized user for my credit card.

Our relationship time is ~ 5 years, with recent marriage a few months ago. We will be attaching the marriage certificate. The marriage was done through the Zoom marriage with Utah due to COVID.

For pictures (which I understand is secondary and not as important), we have pictures of us two at the different locations with obvious landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Tiananmen Square, etc) in addition to pictures with family/friends.

We will also provide chatlogs/letters (which I understand is even less important).

For both, this is our first marriage and first time submitting an application like this.

 

Thank you for the help! Again, I understand that you are not an officer, but I am just interested in hearing your thoughts.

[pushbrk 12,883]

1 hour ago, James1223 said:

Sorry for bothering you again but wanted to hear your opinion on what you think of the quality of our material. I understand that you are not an officer, but it seems like you have a lot of experience in this, so I just want to know your thoughts.

 

For the primary evidence, we have taken a total of 4 trips. For those trips, we have the passport stamps, in addition we have the physical boarding passes for some (not all) of the trips. For the trips we do not have the boarding passes for, we have copies of the online itinerary that was sent by the airline company.

In addition, we have an account summary that details that he is an authorized user for my credit card.

Our relationship time is ~ 5 years, with recent marriage a few months ago. We will be attaching the marriage certificate. The marriage was done through the Zoom marriage with Utah due to COVID.

For pictures (which I understand is secondary and not as important), we have pictures of us two at the different locations with obvious landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Tiananmen Square, etc) in addition to pictures with family/friends.

We will also provide chatlogs/letters (which I understand is even less important).

For both, this is our first marriage and first time submitting an application like this.

 

Thank you for the help! Again, I understand that you are not an officer, but I am just interested in hearing your thoughts.

Looks good but do limit the "chat logs" to a few pages representing examples of how and how frequently your communicate.  You don't mention the length of the trips but 4 is plenty, no matter how short.

[James1223 1]

Thanks again for the help. I appreciate it!