Who has been approved with minimal evidence of bonafide marriage?

[lanc3r30000 1]

I am filing right now and all we have are photos, communication, flight/hotel itineraries and gift exchanges. I just had a consultation with a lawyer and she said I need more evidence. So next step now is to add my spouse to my credit card account.

 

Has anyone been approved with even less than what I currently have? or if you did not get approved, what happened? How long did it take?

 

My spouse is from Thailand.

Edited Thursday at 06:51 PM by lanc3r30000

[Ontarkie 14,499]

You will not get the same advice for Canada, the Philippines, the UK and certainly not the MENA countries. 

A lot will be determine on what country your spouse is from? 

[lanc3r30000 1]

3 minutes ago, Ontarkie said:

You will not get the same advice for Canada, the Philippines, the UK and certainly not the MENA countries. 

A lot will be determine on what country your spouse is from? 

 

Oh right. I just edited my post. She's from Thailand though.

Edited Thursday at 06:52 PM by lanc3r30000

[Ontarkie 14,499]

4 minutes ago, lanc3r30000 said:

 

Oh right. I just edited my post. She's from Thailand though.

Now member's who are experience with Thailand will be able to give you the proper advice. 

 

You can also pop over to the regional forum to see what other member's has shared there. 

[pushbrk 13,121]

I disagree with your lawyer, but you hired them.  I suggest you ask the lawyer the questions you're asking here.  That's why they were hired.  If you don't trust the lawyer, fire them.

[lanc3r30000 1]

40 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

I disagree with your lawyer, but you hired them.  I suggest you ask the lawyer the questions you're asking here.  That's why they were hired.  If you don't trust the lawyer, fire them.

 

It was just a consultation so she's not the one doing all the paperwork.

 

It is definitely reassuring to hear you say that though. I'm planning to just file with just what we have.

[OldUser 7,568]

There's never downside to providing as much relevant evidence as possible. At the same time, you cannot provide what you don't have.

 

What you have seem sufficient for an overseas case.

 

[spicynujac 41]

It's very country specific, as countries which are more prone to fraud get more scrutiny, but assuming Thailand and the Philippines have similar processes, I wouldn't worry at all if I were you.  We have not yet passed our interview in PH, but from everything I've seen, records of prior trips, photos of meeting in person, and boarding passes for multiple visits should be sufficient.  However, adding a name to a bank account is not very substantial proof. 

 

If you are truly concerned, think of it from a contrarian view--would it be difficult for someone perpetrating fraud to provide this type of evidence?

Making an overseas flight and taking photos together --> Time intensive and expensive

Making a 5 minute phone call and having a call center agent type a name into an account field --> Almost no effort.  Not to mention it can be undone with another 5 minute phone call at any point in the future.

Which paints a more convincing picture of a bona fide marriage to you?  

[S2N 9]

4 hours ago, spicynujac said:

It's very country specific, as countries which are more prone to fraud get more scrutiny, but assuming Thailand and the Philippines have similar processes, I wouldn't worry at all if I were you.  We have not yet passed our interview in PH, but from everything I've seen, records of prior trips, photos of meeting in person, and boarding passes for multiple visits should be sufficient.  However, adding a name to a bank account is not very substantial proof. 

 

If you are truly concerned, think of it from a contrarian view--would it be difficult for someone perpetrating fraud to provide this type of evidence?

Making an overseas flight and taking photos together --> Time intensive and expensive

Making a 5 minute phone call and having a call center agent type a name into an account field --> Almost no effort.  Not to mention it can be undone with another 5 minute phone call at any point in the future.

Which paints a more convincing picture of a bona fide marriage to you?  

The financial evidence is more convincing if you have it and is viewed by USCIS (and just about every other federal agency) as the primary indicator that you have ties to someone in a foreign country. See the SF-86 if you want an example outside the immigration context; foreign financial questions are EVER vs. last 7 years on that.
 

And it makes sense. I have friends I’ve visited all over the world and country. None of them are on my bank account and none of them are in my will or beneficiaries on my retirement accounts. My husband is on one of my credit cards and in my will and my retirement accounts beneficiary. Thats for reasons unrelated to immigration.

 

Most of us who are doing IR-1/CR-1 from the U.S. with a spouse overseas aren’t going to have a ton of that evidence, which is fine. The government understands it and doesn’t ask the impossible or for people to go out of the way to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, But if people do have financial evidence it is absolutely a positive thing to upload.

 

All that to say — OP should be fine with evidence of time spent together and if that’s all they have there’s no reason to worry. But there are also normal financial planning things that you do together as a married couple that they can do now that might further bolster the package.

Edited Friday at 10:07 PM by S2N