Interview: binders, yay or nay?

[Verrou 1,962]

9 minutes ago, Cranberry_anon said:

We honest to god could be twins. This sounds so much like me. 

 

One question: what filled up a majority of 500 pages? I'm also going a tiny bit overkill but in my case it's proof of relationship evidence.

19 months has passed between the day i filed to the day of the interview. so from thin evidence to big stack (it's adjustment of status and i was at that time in removal proceeding)

[apnzz 242]

I'd advise against having that much specifically for k1s. The list of required documents you need isn't that long and proof of relationship doesn't need to be excessive, perhaps just a few up to date pictures or recent travel documents at the most - they already see everything you included in your original i-129f, they don't need your life story. Having too much will just complicate the process of trying to hand docs over fast when they ask for them. 

 

Adjustment of status is a different situation, so for k1 the requirements and evidence aren't the same.

Edited October 23 by apnzz

[Edward and Jaycel 165]

52 minutes ago, Cranberry_anon said:

We honest to god could be twins. This sounds so much like me. 

 

One question: what filled up a majority of 500 pages? I'm also going a tiny bit overkill but in my case it's proof of relationship evidence.

 

I know this was asked of someone else.... I'll tell you ours too. Jaycel had a total of about 330 pages in her accordion filer, 160 pages of which were proof of continuing relationship. We went heavy on everything too because we have a large age gap between us and that sometimes gets flagged as possible fraud so we went with the axiom, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it". 😆

[DELTAFOXTROT 48]

When I did mine, USCIS was using ACCO Binders, So I matched them.

[OldUser 6,659]

1 hour ago, apnzz said:

I'd advise against having that much specifically for k1s. The list of required documents you need isn't that long and proof of relationship doesn't need to be excessive, perhaps just a few up to date pictures or recent travel documents at the most - they already see everything you included in your original i-129f, they don't need your life story. Having too much will just complicate the process of trying to hand docs over fast when they ask for them. 

 

Adjustment of status is a different situation, so for k1 the requirements and evidence aren't the same.

There's no such thing as too much evidence when it comes to immigration.

[Edward and Jaycel 165]

2 hours ago, apnzz said:

I'd advise against having that much specifically for k1s. The list of required documents you need isn't that long and proof of relationship doesn't need to be excessive, perhaps just a few up to date pictures or recent travel documents at the most - they already see everything you included in your original i-129f, they don't need your life story. Having too much will just complicate the process of trying to hand docs over fast when they ask for them. 

 

Adjustment of status is a different situation, so for k1 the requirements and evidence aren't the same.

 

I understand the thought process here and AOS does need more, however, almost a year had passed between our I-129F filing date and the date of Jaycel's interview. That plus the age gap complication, we erred on the side of "the kitchen sink" method because after all that time, the last thing we wanted to run into was a 221g from a Visa Officer who didn't get his/her cup of coffee that morning and decided to be a stickler and ask for everything. Besides, in the Philippines, at the CFO/CGP session Jaycel went to, the counselor asked for and looked through every page of our proof of continuing relationship. I believe it's what got her out of the 1 on 1 session in about 10 minutes. To each their own, but when it comes to anything immigration related we will always overwhelm them with evidence at every step of the way when evidence is requested/required. The key is keeping it organized. If you do that, the volume of documents shouldn't matter much. Just my two cents 🙂

[Cranberry_anon 6]

14 hours ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

 when it comes to anything immigration related we will always overwhelm them with evidence at every step of the way when evidence is requested/required. The key is keeping it organized. If you do that, the volume of documents shouldn't matter much. Just my two cents 

I'm inclined to follow this thought process too. I'm very often told to keep my evidence minimal (this is partially because we're a straight foward case and I'm from Ireland), but I have so much available that I feel like I'd be holding myself back by not bringing everything I have. Ireland is generally successful but I too am worried about being assigned to someone having a bad morning and deciding that today is the day to be a stickler 

[SL2024 65]

I would say whichever one is easiest for you to organise your documents

[Pase2323 9]

I would probably put everything in a binder but with plastic bags so I don’t have to punch holes into the documents  hope this helps 

[OldUser 6,659]

2 hours ago, Pase2323 said:

I would probably put everything in a binder but with plastic bags so I don’t have to punch holes into the documents  hope this helps 

Many would argue this approach slows down everything tramendously... It takes time to take documents of sheet protectors / plastic bags. Plus the noise it produces flipping the pages, taking it out etc can annoy the officer (remember we're all humans).

 

Of course there is no right or wrong answer here, we all have our opinions, but I concur with @powerpuff @Nous Eb et al. Accordion wins in my view. It was recommended by my lawyer and it was handy during the interview. Being able to quickly navigate and take out several items at once was an advantage over flipping plastic and taking it out under pressure. At least in my experience.

 

 

Edited October 25 by OldUser