I (U.S. citizen) filed a concurrent green card application for my wife in September 2024, after we got married in July 2024.
Supporting Documents Submitted as Proof of Marriage:
• Joint health insurance (from my employer)
• Joint auto insurance
• Photos with friends/family/events from past years (we met in 2017) and from our wedding (small ceremony)
• Photos of us celebrating our first home (taken at the title/lender’s office, with a caption that said “our first home”)
• My life insurance policy (employer-provided) listing my wife as beneficiary
• My wife’s Social Security card with her updated last name
• My wife’s driver’s license with her updated last name
• Joint tax return for 2023 (we haven’t filed 2024 yet)
• My wife pays for household utilities (electricity, gas, internet)
• Marriage certificate
Context:
• We have been together since 2017 but only moved in together after I purchased a home in August 2022.
• I am the sole owner of the house/mortgage.
• We don’t technically have a joint bank account because my wife has been unemployed since around the time we got married.
Interview Experience:
At today’s interview, the immigration officer did not ask any general questions about our relationship. Instead, she immediately asked:
Officer: “Who owns the mortgage on the home?”
Me: “I do.”
Officer: “Then why do you have pictures of both of you celebrating and calling it ‘our first home’?”
This question caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. The simple reason is that I make enough to afford the home on my own, so I didn’t add a joint owner (and we weren’t married at the time).
The officer focused entirely on the house and ignored most of our other evidence. She asked:
• Whether my wife was included in the deed or a will as a beneficiary of the house.
• Whether we had a joint bank account (I told her we have a joint HSA, but she didn’t seem interested).
• She said that things like a house, joint mortgage, and joint bank account are “significant” evidence, while things like utility bills can be easily made up since I own the house.
At the end of the interview, she did not make a decision or issue an RFE (Request for Evidence). Instead, she told us that we have four days to upload additional evidence online before she makes a final decision.
Questions:
1. What additional evidence can we provide?
2. Would adding my wife as a co-owner on my car title help? I went to City Hall today and updated the title to add her as a co-owner, but now I’m worried it might look like we did this just for the interview.
3. Should I add her to the house deed or create a will listing her as the beneficiary? I’m willing to do this, but I’m concerned about timing and whether it would raise a red flag.
4. I recently added my wife as an authorized user on my credit card and am working with the bank to obtain a statement showing this. Would this be useful evidence?
I’m feeling really confused about what to do next. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
