I-130 evidence when not living together

[petitioner2023 8]

Hi, 

 

We finally got married in Morocco after a long process. I'm getting ready to submit the I-130 and wanted to know what evidence to include if we're not living together. 

 

I have:

Marriage certificate translated to English

Boarding passes 

Passport pages showing stamps 

Plenty of pictures with my wife and her family, and pictures of small wedding ceremony 

Screenshots from WhatsApp 

My divorce final order 

US passport 

 

I've read on this board that statements from friends and family don't carry weight so not planning on including them. 

 

I file taxes as HoH and will continue to do so since I have my kids living with me. 

 

I wasn't sure about the co mingling of finances part of the evidence since we live in separate countries. 

[Vickys_Mom 231]

My employer offers me a 401(k), a Health Savings Account, and several different life insurances.  I put my wife on all of those and used them as evidence.

 

Corollary:  make sure your ex-wife was removed as beneficiary everywhere.  

 

Our cars have both names on the titles.  Our car insurance has both of our names on it.  I provided copies of those.

 

My wife was already in the U.S. on a student visa and had a Social Security number, so we added each other to all of the bank accounts.  I know some banks are going to hassle you about needing the SSN to add her.  I'd still do it as soon as possible.  And make it a "main" account that receives paychecks and pays bills...not one that you created just to throw some money in and say, see, joint account.  

 

Regards,
Vicky's Mom

[Daphne . 1,909]

USCIS understands that couples who live in different countries don’t have any co-mingled finances and such.

 

For consular cases, evidence of time spent together and continued communication are good evidence. Your evidence looks good. If possible, try to get as many visits in as possible.

 

Good luck! 

[Daphne . 1,909]

2 hours ago, Vickys_Mom said:

My employer offers me a 401(k), a Health Savings Account, and several different life insurances.  I put my wife on all of those and used them as evidence.

 

Corollary:  make sure your ex-wife was removed as beneficiary everywhere.  

 

Our cars have both names on the titles.  Our car insurance has both of our names on it.  I provided copies of those.

 

My wife was already in the U.S. on a student visa and had a Social Security number, so we added each other to all of the bank accounts.  I know some banks are going to hassle you about needing the SSN to add her.  I'd still do it as soon as possible.  And make it a "main" account that receives paychecks and pays bills...not one that you created just to throw some money in and say, see, joint account.  

 

Regards,
Vicky's Mom

OP is doing consular processing, it looks like your case was an adjustment of status? Different process, so different ‘rules’ for the evidence. 

[powerpuff 6,744]

*** Thread moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures ***

[Moda25 51]

You have enough. I only added our marriage certificate and a couple of pictures of us together and our wedding pictures and was approved. Some of these should be for when the beneficiary goes for the interview. The USCIS understands!

Edited August 14 by Moda25

[carmel34 3,646]

19 hours ago, petitioner2023 said:

We finally got married in Morocco after a long process. I'm getting ready to submit the I-130 and wanted to know what evidence to include if we're not living together.

For Morocco, evidence of time spent together in person is best.  You should submit the I-130 petition with what you listed, and then in the months while it is being processed, make as many trips to Morocco or a third country as you can so that you can be together in person more before the visa interview.  Save all documents as additional evidence (passport stamps, original boarding passes, hotel receipts, a few photos).  Upload this at the NVC stage.  Some couples going through the consulate in Morocco also upload evidence showing continuous communication (emails, text messages, phone/video calls, chat records).  Casablanca is known to scrutinize relationships very carefully because of high fraud levels.

Edited August 15 by carmel34