"The documents should cover, but not limited to, the following examples"

[James 2]

There are 1000's of us who have not included them in our removals packet and have not had them returned or received a RFE.....

Kez

And probably hundreds of thousands who have not included birth certificates, but there they are listed as examples of evidence that "should" be included . . . .

[Jasman0717 9]

The key word here is "should." Note it doesn't say "must." For example, birth certificates are listed as the first item, but how can you include them if you don't have kids (or "issue," as they say in the biz)?

Like all government agencies, USCIS has its own rules that it must follow. These instructions are directly derived from the Code of Federal Regulations -- 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(a)(5) to be exact -- and you'll note that in the regs it says that an I-751 "shall be accompanied by evidence that the marriage was not entered into for the purpose of evading the immigration laws of the United States," and that "uch evidence may include":

(i) Documentation showing joint ownership of property;

(ii) Lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence;

(iii) Documentation showing commingling of financial resources;

(iv) Birth certificates of children born to the marriage;

(v) Affidavits of third parties having knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship, or

(vi) Other documentation establishing that the marriage was not entered into in order to evade the immigration laws of the United States.

So while evidence is required, no one specific piece of the evidence listed is. But if you don't send close to everything you possibly could, you're likely to get an RFE. If we didn't have kids, we would have likely sent in affidavits because a lot of our financial resources are still in my name only (bank account, etc.).

And as I have bored people to tears with elsewhere, affidavits mean affidavits, not just a letter or even a notarized letter.

I have only just started gathering required documents and this discussion and this post has greatly helped

[James 2]

Congrat -- oh, never mind.

[Jasman0717 9]

My ex and her husband will be writing affidavits for us and my daughter will be notorizing them. Wonder if this will be a problem

[Permanent Ban 0]

My ex and her husband will be writing affidavits for us and my daughter will be notorizing them. Wonder if this will be a problem

I don't see why it would be. She's still a notary and therefore authorized to administer oaths/affirmations.

There are 1000's of us who have not included them in our removals packet and have not had them returned or received a RFE.....

Kez

I understand that, Kez.

I felt it important to ask as the actual language on the I-751 form governing this topic has changed, in what appears to be a material way.

[James 2]

My ex and her husband will be writing affidavits for us and my daughter will be notorizing them. Wonder if this will be a problem

No, as long as she does what the state requires her to do for a sworn affidavit, i.e., administering the oath and being present when the affiant signs the affidavit (along with the usual notarial certificate and seal requirements).

Far too many people here have misinterpreted the sworn affidavits requirement. (I mean, "example," heh heh.) A thousand clowns here have sworn up and down that they are just two letters or two "notarized" letters (the signature merely acknowledged by the notary). The notary has to administer an oath as well as be physically present during signature for it to be a sworn affidavit.

Here's an informative piece on mistakes made by notaries, which should be of interest to anyone who is going to submit the two sworn affidavits.