SJinCA

Hello all! I'm hoping for some advice regarding the proof of relationship I plan to submit for my spouse's I-130 petition. For context, we've been legally married for just over a year now, we currently live together in spouse's home country (where our marriage took place) and plan to do so until they receive their visa. Here's what I'm currently planning on submitting as evidence: Copy of marriage certificate with certified English translation Evidence of living together: lease from Aug 2023-Jul 2024 and current lease, along with a sworn statement from our landlord that spouse and I live together at the property (I'm only including the latter because my spouse isn't listed on the lease, only me) Evidence of comingled finances: most recent CC statement which shows spouse as an authorized user Evidence of international travel together on several occasions, consisting of passport stamps, airline ticket stubs, and hotel reservations Collection of ~30 pictures of us together at various points in our relationship, including pictures documenting that we've both met each other's parents/family I was also planning to ask two of my close friends, both of whom have met spouse in-person and one of whom attended our wedding reception, to prepare a sworn statement that our relationship is genuine. However, I understand that these types of affidavits are generally considered among the weakest evidence. Given what we already have, do you think these would be unnecessary, or would it be beneficial to include them anyways? It certainly can't hurt to do so, right? I also know that many people submit chat logs with their spouse as evidence. My spouse and I text in a mix of English and their native language, and it would be tedious to not only collect the necessary screenshots, but to then translate them, let alone pay a third party to do so and provide a certified translation. Would this help our application, or do you think the evidence listed above (with or without statements from friends) would get the job done?

Thank you for the advice! And apologies for the hijacking.

Kind of unrelated to the topic at hand, apologies for changing the subject, but could I ask you to elaborate on "keeping your I-130 petition in stasis indefinitely"? Is there no set period within which you have to submit your immigrant visa application after your I-130 petition is approved? My spouse and I are currently living abroad and are unsure of when exactly we will relocate to the U.S. I haven't filed our I-130 yet for this reason, on the assumption that we would need to be ready to relocate ~2 years from when we file. Do you mean that we could take some time before proceeding with the NVC stage once the I-130 is approved?

Hello all, I'm getting ready to submit our I-130 petition for my spouse. We're currently living together in their home country and intend to do so until they receive their CR/IR-1 visa. We've traveled internationally together several times both before and after we were legally married, so I'm planning to submit scans of our passport stamps as proof of our relationship. I just had a few questions in the hope someone might have some useful advice: In addition to our travel together, we've both traveled internationally separately, for work and leisure. Should I include scans of all passport stamps over the course of our relationship, including solo travel, or is this unnecessary? Should I just go ahead and scan our entire passports, or would this be excessive? I recently renewed my passport from abroad and still have my old passport, as my then-current visa was in my old passport. (I've since been issued a new visa in my current passport.) Some of the passport stamps I plan to submit, as well as previous visas demonstrating my continuous residence in spouse's home country, are in my old passport. I plan to submit scans of the bio pages for both passports, as well as the confirmation letter I received from the Consular Section when I received my new passport which includes both passport numbers. Will this be too confusing? Should I include a written statement explaining all this? Thank you for any advice you can offer!

My spouse and I currently live together in her home country (Uzbekistan). We plan to get her LPR via consular processing and live here together in the meantime. My spouse has never been to the U.S. before, I have some family obligations (a family reunion and a wedding) back home this summer, so I thought this would be a great opportunity for her to visit and meet my extended family. Given her nationality, she needs a visa, and I thought we had a compelling-enough story to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent (at least at this particular time). Apparently not. She just had her visa interview and was rejected due to a failure to demonstrate nonimmigrant intent. As soon as the consular officer learned her spouse is a USC, the interview was over. Apparently our documents from relatives showing we have a specific reason for a temporary visit, our documents from work showing that we both have permanent employment here, and visa from previous trips to Europe, weren't enough to satisfy them. How am I supposed to maintain my family ties while living abroad if that means choosing between visiting my family, or being with my wife? I had also put off filing her I-130 in the (mistaken) belief that it would harm her (apparently already doomed) application for a nonimmigrant visa. Visa waiver is not an option given her nationality. Are we basically just screwed in terms of being able to visit the U.S. together until her IR1 visa comes through? I'm just so frustrated right now and not sure what other options we have.