I-485 Denied, What Options Do We Have - Denial Letter Provided

[Mychal 35]

Good Evening Everyone,

 

Received the dreaded Denied letter from the USCIS today. After doing a bit of research the next steps depend on the reasons for the denial.

I want to provide as much info about our case as possible to hopefully get a more certain response from anyone here.

 

- According to the letter, denial was declared because of "lack of bona fide marriage evidence." Redacted denial letter is attached to this post.

- I am a US citizen

- Wife and her son entered with K1 and K2 visas, respectively

- No interview for our I485 was requested or scheduled by the USCIS

- We received an RFE and responded within the time frame provided us

 

Some thoughts I had, that may not be important at all but I'm frustrated and just need to get it off my chest, is that in the research I've done people have provided less evidence than we did but still got approved, and all the evidence of a bona fide marriage I provided in our RFE I included because I saw other people say they included it in their own cases that got approved. It seems like a lot of it just boils down to the person in charge of your case. But maybe not. In the letter it comes off like most of the weight in evidence of marriage is the "co-mingling of finances." That seems very strange to me.

 

Anyways, my wife of nearly 1 year and stepson have less than 30 days (29 to be exact) now to leave the country.

Any help of what our next steps should be to keep them here is appreciated, and any bits of reassurance would be extremely helpful.

As anyone who sees this and has experienced it knows, its absolutely heart wrenching.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Boiler 45,434]

On the assumption the letter is accurate, file again to adjust with adequate evidence.

[W199 331]

Were you 2023 joint taxes that you submitted for you and your ex-wife? Or with your current wife?

[OldUser 6,585]

First of all: don't give up.

 

Your wife and stepson do not have to leave the US at this time.

 

A new, properly filed I-485 with supporting documentation will eventually get them green cards.

 

You have to be very heavy on evidence in the next filing. USCIS gave excellent tips on how to build a strong case.

 

Include each and every page of every statement from your joint bank accounts, utility bills showing both names. List your spouse as beneficiary on your retirement plans. Add her and stepson to your health insurance plan.

 

Annotate each photo with: "Date, location, occasion, names of people on the photo". Only include photos where you have not just wife and stepson, but your family, friends and colleagues together.

 

Financial comingling is the king of evidence, as you can see. Remember the saying to put the money where your mouth is? This is exactly the situation.

 

You have to build a stronger much stronger case to overcome any suspicion on USCIS end.

Edited October 12 by OldUser

[TBoneTX 45,223]

Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the "AOS from K Visas" Case Progress subforum.

[Family 3,988]

Do NOT re file another round of adjustments. Your wife and child do not have to leave the country. 

‘All will be fine, just roll up your sleeves , clear your head and take following steps:

 

1. Prepare TWO I-290 B , mark both motion to reconsider and motion to re open options on form and each must have its own copy of evidence you are sending…you also keep a copy

 

2. A simple Statement in Support of I-290 B listed in numbered format or bullet points the evidence of joint life you are enclosing with a short 1 or 2 line description.

 

USE their old RFE request as your template and list EACH of the items they had. …even if you do not currently have such .

Example they often list will/testament , you list and state you and wife do not currently have a Will or Living Trust , ( or redact and show one if you have it .

show ALL accounts ( credit , car loans, even if only in your name state account Addr reflects joint residence. Married couples do have separate accounts and assets, so no big deal

You will develop a ton of  evidence , which I know you have…‘some suggestions 

1. Complete bank statement. ( 4 from 2023 and 4 from this year) 

In description, point out a few house expense that may be automatically debited ( ex phone bill, insurance..)

 

2. Quarterly credit card statements ( show shared address) Photo of actual plastic card 

 

3. Pull your own credit report ( shows accounts and address ) and say wife has no credit history.  PS don’t fret about privacy 😂..they can see it anyway
 

4. Quarterly utility bills for each year ( phone bill , electric, internet..)

 

4. Car registration and insurance ( no problem if wife is not on auto or policy, just explain whose name is on it and how it gets paid from a joint or solo account.

 

5. Copy of last year and this years paystubs ( both of you ) 3 or 4

 

6. Get copy of child’s school registration showing parents/custodian names

 

7. Simple notarized affidavit from 

a. Family/Friend 

b. A neighbor ( if you know one) 

‘Just needs to say they know you as a married couple and give one example of an activity you did together ( a weekend dinner outing or ..)

 

8. Any health insurance ( or say you don’t have it) 

 

9. Costco, gym, AAA cards and odd marketing mail to either of you , it shows shared address 

 

10. You each can draft a Health Directive Power of Attorney ( google free template ) 

 

 

 

 

 

[Family 3,988]

3 hours ago, Mychal said:

Good Evening Everyone,

 

Received the dreaded Denied letter from the USCIS today. After doing a bit of research the next steps depend on the reasons for the denial.

I want to provide as much info about our case as possible to hopefully get a more certain response from anyone here.

 

- According to the letter, denial was declared because of "lack of bona fide marriage evidence." Redacted denial letter is attached to this post.

- I am a US citizen

- Wife and her son entered with K1 and K2 visas, respectively

- No interview for our I485 was requested or scheduled by the USCIS

- We received an RFE and responded within the time frame provided us

 

Some thoughts I had, that may not be important at all but I'm frustrated and just need to get it off my chest, is that in the research I've done people have provided less evidence than we did but still got approved, and all the evidence of a bona fide marriage I provided in our RFE I included because I saw other people say they included it in their own cases that got approved. It seems like a lot of it just boils down to the person in charge of your case. But maybe not. In the letter it comes off like most of the weight in evidence of marriage is the "co-mingling of finances." That seems very strange to me.

 

Anyways, my wife of nearly 1 year and stepson have less than 30 days (29 to be exact) now to leave the country.

Any help of what our next steps should be to keep them here is appreciated, and any bits of reassurance would be extremely helpful.

As anyone who sees this and has experienced it knows, its absolutely heart wrenching.

 

Thank you.

 

 

You redacted the USCIS address, so I can’t tell if it was generated by Field Office or a Service Center. 
 

It’s certainly a new protocol, to deny without scheduling an interview when it relates to bonafides. ..as opposed to deficient I-864 , civil docs or I-693 issues. 
 

 

[Mychal 35]

Thank you to everyone who has offered their suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

 

One thing I'm concerned with however is that, like on other posts I've read up on, there is conflicting direction on what to do. Some say to simply re-file the I485 and all accompanying forms and evidence, but others say to NOT do that (often in all caps) and to follow the path of the I-290B. I'm conflicted on which path my wife and I should pursue.

 

4 hours ago, W199 said:

Were you 2023 joint taxes that you submitted for you and your ex-wife? Or with your current wife?

In 2023 I filed joint with my current wife. She was not working, obviously, as she had just arrived mid November of 2023, so I only included my income. But I did file joint with her.

 

1 hour ago, Family said:

Do NOT re file another round of adjustments. Your wife and child do not have to leave the country. 

‘All will be fine, just roll up your sleeves , clear your head and take following steps:

Your list of directions and suggestions are more appreciated than you know. But would you be able to briefly explain why you suggest the I-290B instead of refiling another I-485?

[nastra30 2,284]

@MychalYour wife and kid don't need to depart.

If you ever get NTA come back here and we'll show you exactly how to make it moot. However, they certainly shouldn't be taking any vacations outside the US at all at this point until things are sorted out.

 

A couple of basic questions (My apologies if you've already addressed above)

-Did you marry within the 90 days after then fiancee arrived?

-Did you include a copy of the I-295F receipt to the I-485 submission?  

[Family 3,988]

1 hour ago, Mychal said:

Your list of directions and suggestions are more appreciated than you know. But would you be able to briefly explain why you suggest the I-290B instead of refiling another I-485?

The I-290 B gives you an opportunity to challenge the denial and marking both options , USCIS gets a chance to review your new evidence . They can quickly reverse the denial and approve based on new evidence or send it to the AAO . ..where you will,prevail as well.
 

In your case, you’ll get a quick approval, just put your mind to it and gather your evidence. 
 

Remember, you are DIY a legal process ( not just a bunch of forms)…so put your lawyer hat on and take the next right step …the remedy here is to challenge. 

 

Also feel free to have some fun and voice your frustration with the “ arbitrary and capricious denial  where the Service applies inconsistent standards in adjudicating interview waiver cases…with some getting the benefit of a NOID or an interview ..”
 

 Ask they review , approve or schedule an interview. 

 

 

 

[Family 3,988]

1 hour ago, nastra30 said:

A couple of basic questions (My apologies if you've already addressed above)

-Did you marry within the 90 days after then fiancee arrived?

-Did you include a copy of the I-295F receipt to the I-485 submission?  

Those are good questions, but they would have popped up at RFE if anything was amiss there. 

[W199 331]

11 hours ago, Mychal said:

Thank you to everyone who has offered their suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

 

One thing I'm concerned with however is that, like on other posts I've read up on, there is conflicting direction on what to do. Some say to simply re-file the I485 and all accompanying forms and evidence, but others say to NOT do that (often in all caps) and to follow the path of the I-290B. I'm conflicted on which path my wife and I should pursue.

 

In 2023 I filed joint with my current wife. She was not working, obviously, as she had just arrived mid November of 2023, so I only included my income. But I did file joint with her.

Usually the earliest the tax season opens for filing is January 29. But you filed your I-485 before then.  So how did you file joint taxes so early?  Also, most people, can't file until at least March until they get all their w-2's, 1099's from the banks and brokerages.  

 

Therefore, how is it possible that you filed 2023 taxes, prior to filing the I-485 in Jan 2024?

[W199 331]

9 hours ago, Family said:

 

Also feel free to have some fun and voice your frustration with the “ arbitrary and capricious denial  where the Service applies inconsistent standards in adjudicating interview waiver cases…with some getting the benefit of a NOID or an interview ..”
 

 

 

 

 

When I filed for my Wife's I-485, my tax return was for being unmarried since taxes are not due until April and it was too soon to submit joint taxes.  I provided no other evidence other than my passport to prove I'm a USA citizen, and the marriage certificate. 

 

USCIS knows you just got married days ago on a K-1 and they don't expect you to have joint bank accounts, or joint anything so fast.

 

Clearly this is not a case of applying different standards.   There must be some red flags, and they are seeking all this extra evidence now because of these red flags. The big question is what are these red flags.  I am guessing there is some facts or data here that we don't know and that the USCIS isn't so stupid to request a ton of married evidence when they know you just got married. They live and breath this and something about this case, which we don't know the details of, set of the alarm bells and red flags. Maybe they even felt some of the submitted documents were fake such as the joint tax returns filed before tax season even opens. I have no idea, but I am sure there are facts that we don't know and that USCIS is not telling you, and for which they need compelling evidence to overcome.  Maybe someone even reported them to USCIS...   

 

In anycase, I agree with others, the only way around this is to start collecting an abundance of overwheling and compelling evidence ... 

 

 

[Mychal 35]

10 hours ago, nastra30 said:

@MychalYour wife and kid don't need to depart.

If you ever get NTA come back here and we'll show you exactly how to make it moot. However, they certainly shouldn't be taking any vacations outside the US at all at this point until things are sorted out.

 

A couple of basic questions (My apologies if you've already addressed above)

-Did you marry within the 90 days after then fiancee arrived?

-Did you include a copy of the I-295F receipt to the I-485 submission?  

Yes, we were married less than 2 weeks after she and her son arrived in November 2023. Well within the 90 day time frame.

Do you mean the I-129F receipt? Google brings up the I-129F when I search "I-295F." If so then yes, we included a copy of the I-129F receipt with our initial filing of the I-485 back in January of this year.

 

9 hours ago, Family said:

Also feel free to have some fun and voice your frustration with the “ arbitrary and capricious denial  where the Service applies inconsistent standards in adjudicating interview waiver cases…with some getting the benefit of a NOID or an interview ..”

You putting that in quotes makes me think you have actually told them that before, haha.

Also, to address a comment you made previously, our denial was made by a Field Office Director from a city nearby. I don't know if that makes a difference but I thought I'd let you know.

 

One of the issues I'm still trying to wrap my head around in how to resolve the issue of our joint accounts being insufficient. We didn't add my wife as a joint bank account holder until a couple months ago is because she didn't even start working until a couple months ago, and we didn't see the point in adding her until she was actually going to start providing an income, since it was just me taking care of everything because I was the only one working. The USCIS obviously had a problem with this because they said that the dates of our joint accounts occurred after the RFE, which made our case look illegitimate (to them).

Is providing this last years bank statements, all 50 pages, supposed to resolve this even though there is nothing in there connecting my wife to the transactions? Or is it more about just showing that the account is linked to the address that we are living at as a couple?

[OldUser 6,585]

3 minutes ago, Mychal said:

Or is it more about just showing that the account is linked to the address that we are living at as a couple?

This is better than nothing. Showing she has access to bank account is at least something. Do you pay bills, rent out of this account? Does she work now and does she contribute anything to the joint account?