I-751 evidence

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I had the great opportunity to have dinner with a director of the VSC Saturday evening. A sit turns out his wife is Russian, came here on a K-1 and is now an aquaintance of Alla. So we had some great conversation. Our next step will be the I-751 and he has worked in his career as an IO who conducted AOS and lifting of conditions interviews and gave me lots of good information on evidence. Here are some things he likes to see and others which are "useless" in his words

Good stuff

Joint bank accounts, joint tax returns, joint ownership of property, cars. Joint leases. Joint insurance. Named as beneficiaries on life insurance and medical insurance. Joint credit cards. Any other joining of financial interests (the theory is that if one is willing to risk your property and money the relationship is more likely valid) Government documents showing common address, drivers lisence, etc. Photos are good, kind of expected, but NOT primary evidence.

Children?

Yes and no. If you just had a child together and the man is nothing more than a sperm donor...no. IF you have children, whether "together" or with a blended family and there is evidence that BOTH participate in the child's development and education, and care that is great! I told him I am listed on all of our son's school papers as parent, I am an emergency contact and I sign all the permission slips, etc. He is covered by my medical insurance. All good stuff. A birth certificate in itself ("Look we have a kid") does not prove a legitmate relationship. It is especially important that the school (an objective 3rd party) recognizes both people as "parents" and accepts this. Medical records for the child showing both people as parents. same reasoning. If a doctor will recognize and treat a child based on their knowledge of both being parents, that is pretty darn good evidence.

Useless or not so useful stuff

Magazine subscriptions together (WHAT??? "Yes, you would be surprised how many couples present a Sports Illustrated subscription as proof") Utilities, cards and letters from relatives, emails, chats etc. Theory? all of these can be easily faked and in themselves prove nothing. Utilities do not verify information before adding someone to an account and hey, it's the electric bill, you are going to pay the electric bill anyway. There is no financial risk involved, no commitment as in joint ownership. Affidavits from friends or family do not have a lot of weight. None of these things are BAD and in conjunction with other evidence are fine, but not enough to prove anything themselves.

This is probably not news to a lot of people, but it was good to hear it from the "horse's mouth" anyway.

Incidentally, I mentioned that we never had a question at any of our interviews and never were asked for any evidence and he said "Sometimes we can just tell. Whatever you did, whatever your body language or how you acted, the IO was immediately convinced you were legitimate" I cannot say what that was, unfortunately.

Another question I asked, actually Alla did since she did not change her name

Does it matter if the woman changes her name?: NO, not at all.

About citizenship (Alla also asked)

Can I be a dual citizen? Answer..."The United States does not recognize other citizenships. You are a US citizen or you are not a US citizen. Once you become a US citizen the United States does not consider you anything else. We will not take your passport from Ukraine and we will not tell Ukraine you are now a citizen of the US. If you want to keep your Ukraine passport and renew it in Ukraine when you are visiting, it is none of our concern"

So the US has no policy and does not recognize any such thing as "dual citizenship" per se, but has no prohibitions from a person being a citizen of another country also, for the US you will always be considered a US citizen

Can I use a Ukraine passport to enter Ukraine and a US passport to enter the US? Yes, no problem.

What about stamps in the passport from the US or Ukraine?: The officers at the POE will ask where you have been, they rarely will look through all your exit stamps and really don't care. They are admitting you to the US, they really don't care if the country you LEFT stamped your passport, the US does not stamp passports on exit.

I ask this because Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship and I do want to keep my Ukraine passport for ease of travel to Russia, etc, and also if we ever decided to return, we have property there, I could easily work, etc. I do not want to do anything wrong and get in trouble here. The US does not care about Ukrainian law regarding citizenship, that's between you and Ukraine, but WE won't tell. Unless there is some order from a court or something, we don't give out that information.

[mozplay 28]

Thanks for taking the time to record bits of your conversation and the advice you were given here. I would love to see this pinned for those still debating what is and is not worthwhile evidence.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Thanks for taking the time to record bits of your conversation and the advice you were given here. I would love to see this pinned for those still debating what is and is not worthwhile evidence.

He turns out to be a great guy and gave me lots of good info, including about the delays in K-1s!!! One of our neighbors is a supervisor in the department that adjudicates petitions but she never tells me good stuff! This gentleman was very open and free in his talking, and I am sure nothing he told me is national secrets. He is "higher ranking" and probably more secure in knowing what he can say.

So I will be posting some other info, he gave me his direct line to get answers and I am trying to get him to do an interview for VJ. He will be checking out the site. And YES he knows I say bad things about USCIS especially the "misinformation line" and he agrees! But he did give me some insight on WHY they are so hard to get an answer from.

[candelari 0]

Thank you so much! I wish I had known before... I already have his father's name along with his aunts name as an emergency contact etc... I tought my husband would be dealing with me if there were any major emergency. I am filing next month (I-751)so I don't know how much effect and evidence I can make into this. I will try and see.... I can prove the fact my marriage is legimate but I don't want to delay the process for some overseen details...

I have so far;

lease agreement(s)-both our names and my son's name

Tax return(s)

car insurance

health insurance (family coverage from my company)

Checking and saving accounts

pictures

will have affirdavits

[venusfire503 54]

I also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wonder if the papers I sent from my children to my husband (handmade birthday cards, for example - with plenty of "I love you"s) would help show their relationship with him. I half joke that if we get picked for an interview, all I need to do is take one of them with me - especially the youngest, who likes to crawl up onto his shoulders, sit there, and pick at his hair (or sit on his lap and pick at his hair - he's got long, thick, curly hair). I did send pictures of him with them, as well as ones of all five of us.

It never occurred to me to send copies of the kids' school contact cards with him listed, but I think I sent copies of medical bills with his name (as guarantor, with them listed as the patient) on them.

venusfire

[Dakine 26]

" also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wouldn't say that's for sure. The guy may be the boss but I doubt if all of his IOs go by what he thinks.

I still go by "The more ammo the better"

Edited September 28, 2009 by Haole

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

" also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wouldn't say that's for sure. The guy may be the boss but I doubt if all of his IOs go by what he thinks.

I still go by "The more ammo the better"

I may add he has been at this for 27 years and worked in several local offices. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. He never said these kinds of things were BAD or not acceptable, I hope I was clear enough on that. He said they are not soild evidence. In conjunction with other things, I agree, the more the better.

I asked about children more for my own interest as we have two that I consider "ours" and will not consider them otherwise and I am very involved with their lives now, the father is AWOL and has been for many years, Many legitimate couples do not have children at all, so this kind of evidence is not always available for everyone and they get approved without issue.

He said what he always looked for was evidence of commitment, mostly financial, that two people had mingled their financial lives. The theory is if the marriage is a scam, you aren't going to risk your savings or let someone run up your credit cards and "do a runner". Seems reasonable to me. He also said that he, personally, had never asked what he called "stupid questions" like "what color is her toothbrush". His reason? "Hell, I don't know the color of MY wife's toothbrush!" However they DID ask people, separately, to draw diagrams of their apartment or houseand things more detailed that married people SHOULD know.

Likewise with children. If the marriage is fraudulent, what woman is going to involve the guy in a child's life? Whether she is the immigrant or the USC. It is a commitment to family life together that is hard to dispute. Letters, cards affidavits from family? Fine, but how easy would it be to fake those? Again, all is a body of evidence. He never suggested taking anything off the table.

He mentioned, in fact, that not everyone goes by what he thinks, but I think his input is invaluable. Of ocurse there are IOs all over the country and he cannot tell you what each one thinks or considers. I will have some other comments under the K-1 forum specifically about what other IOs and adjudicators do and how to avoid some problems and RFEs.

Edited September 28, 2009 by Gary and Alla

[candelari 0]

" also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wouldn't say that's for sure. The guy may be the boss but I doubt if all of his IOs go by what he thinks.

I still go by "The more ammo the better"

I may add he has been at this for 27 years and worked in several local offices. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. He never said these kinds of things were BAD or not acceptable, I hope I was clear enough on that. He said they are not soild evidence. In conjunction with other things, I agree, the more the better.

I asked about children more for my own interest as we have two that I consider "ours" and will not consider them otherwise and I am very involved with their lives now, the father is AWOL and has been for many years, Many legitimate couples do not have children at all, so this kind of evidence is not always available for everyone and they get approved without issue.

He said what he always looked for was evidence of commitment, mostly financial, that two people had mingled their financial lives. The theory is if the marriage is a scam, you aren't going to risk your savings or let someone run up your credit cards and "do a runner". Seems reasonable to me. He also said that he, personally, had never asked what he called "stupid questions" like "what color is her toothbrush". His reason? "Hell, I don't know the color of MY wife's toothbrush!" However they DID ask people, separately, to draw diagrams of their apartment or houseand things more detailed that married people SHOULD know.

Likewise with children. If the marriage is fraudulent, what woman is going to involve the guy in a child's life? Whether she is the immigrant or the USC. It is a commitment to family life together that is hard to dispute. Letters, cards affidavits from family? Fine, but how easy would it be to fake those? Again, all is a body of evidence. He never suggested taking anything off the table.

He mentioned, in fact, that not everyone goes by what he thinks, but I think his input is invaluable. Of ocurse there are IOs all over the country and he cannot tell you what each one thinks or considers. I will have some other comments under the K-1 forum specifically about what other IOs and adjudicators do and how to avoid some problems and RFEs.

I completely agree on this. When we got the interview my son wasn't listed in the lease. the IO immediately noticed that and asked us why. I didn't bring my son back from my country 'till everything got approved and I settled down. He is was born in the U.S so he doesn't need to get involved with immigration at all. Our explanation was satisfactory enough so she approved our case. She asked very simple but hard to answer if you are not couple questions.

I should have involved more of my husband's and my kid's name together but when you are happly married you really don't worry about proving anything much besides what you recieved as a suggested evidence list from IO. I was more worried about my husband's financial situation (he filed for bankruptcy a year before we got married so opening a joint bank account or leasing an apartment was nighmare) than showing family evidence. We still don't have any joint credit card account or anything relates to credit history but the rest should be good enough. Worse case they can come and do investigation to find out we are telling (or living) the truth.

I agree why a women let involve the perfect stranger into her kids' life unless the marriage is legimate and he is the husband ... That makes complete sense....

thanks for the tips!

[Dakine 26]

" also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wouldn't say that's for sure. The guy may be the boss but I doubt if all of his IOs go by what he thinks.

I still go by "The more ammo the better"

I may add he has been at this for 27 years and worked in several local offices. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. He never said these kinds of things were BAD or not acceptable, I hope I was clear enough on that. He said they are not soild evidence. In conjunction with other things, I agree, the more the better.

I asked about children more for my own interest as we have two that I consider "ours" and will not consider them otherwise and I am very involved with their lives now, the father is AWOL and has been for many years, Many legitimate couples do not have children at all, so this kind of evidence is not always available for everyone and they get approved without issue.

He said what he always looked for was evidence of commitment, mostly financial, that two people had mingled their financial lives. The theory is if the marriage is a scam, you aren't going to risk your savings or let someone run up your credit cards and "do a runner". Seems reasonable to me. He also said that he, personally, had never asked what he called "stupid questions" like "what color is her toothbrush". His reason? "Hell, I don't know the color of MY wife's toothbrush!" However they DID ask people, separately, to draw diagrams of their apartment or houseand things more detailed that married people SHOULD know.

Likewise with children. If the marriage is fraudulent, what woman is going to involve the guy in a child's life? Whether she is the immigrant or the USC. It is a commitment to family life together that is hard to dispute. Letters, cards affidavits from family? Fine, but how easy would it be to fake those? Again, all is a body of evidence. He never suggested taking anything off the table.

He mentioned, in fact, that not everyone goes by what he thinks, but I think his input is invaluable. Of ocurse there are IOs all over the country and he cannot tell you what each one thinks or considers. I will have some other comments under the K-1 forum specifically about what other IOs and adjudicators do and how to avoid some problems and RFEs.

Excellent point about submitting a childs school records showing both parents involvement.

[zqt3344 21]

Gary:

Thanks for sharing your info.

It still makes little or no sense as to why we have to submit this information again for the second time and go and get another biometric done! Seriously. Think about it, if it was a scam or a fraud and they were doing their job right the first time then why do we all have to do it all again in 2 years, typical waste of time and money and once again the federal government agency trying to justify it's existence by creating more busy paperwork and procedures that are more for show and do damn little to stop immigration fraud, just a waste of taxpayer money. AND we have to submit an inordinate amount of this ####### again for a 3rd time and pay another ridiculous fee again and go do another biometric again for citizenship. Bunch of jackoffs in the federal government if you ask me. For example I asked a USCIS worker 2 yrs ago that I knew "Why do we have to get a biometric done everytime if you already have it all the first time" Well I was told because of the background Interpol, FBI, NSA, or state police security check has to be done with new picture and fingerprints due to FBI requiring it if it is more than 15 months old. Which I then pointed out, ok so you say but then it is going to be less than 12 months when we apply for US citizenship next year! So why do we have to do it a 3rd time for biometrics, well I got a deer in the headlights look and no real reason, just that is the way the agency is type stuff.

As for the Ukraine dual citizenship stuff, I could have told you that, USA does not care and neither does Ukraine(they have no clue anyway and neither does the USA). There is really no such thing as dual citizenship other than the fact that most countries just recognize their own passports like you said, and I would highly recommend that your wife keep her Ukrainian citizenship or passports(local and international) and renew them, will make life much easier for her if she has property or apartments or parents inheritance or property in her maiden Ukrainian name, cause that is all they are going to look at in Ukraine, speaking from experience. If you have citizenship in Ukraine, that is a first, never heard of American going and getting that, but sounds interesting if you did.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Gary:

Thanks for sharing your info.

It still makes little or no sense as to why we have to submit this information again for the second time and go and get another biometric done! Seriously. Think about it, if it was a scam or a fraud and they were doing their job right the first time then why do we all have to do it all again in 2 years, typical waste of time and money and once again the federal government agency trying to justify it's existence by creating more busy paperwork and procedures that are more for show and do damn little to stop immigration fraud, just a waste of taxpayer money. AND we have to submit an inordinate amount of this ####### again for a 3rd time and pay another ridiculous fee again and go do another biometric again for citizenship. Bunch of jackoffs in the federal government if you ask me. For example I asked a USCIS worker 2 yrs ago that I knew "Why do we have to get a biometric done everytime if you already have it all the first time" Well I was told because of the background Interpol, FBI, NSA, or state police security check has to be done with new picture and fingerprints due to FBI requiring it if it is more than 15 months old. Which I then pointed out, ok so you say but then it is going to be less than 12 months when we apply for US citizenship next year! So why do we have to do it a 3rd time for biometrics, well I got a deer in the headlights look and no real reason, just that is the way the agency is type stuff.

As for the Ukraine dual citizenship stuff, I could have told you that, USA does not care and neither does Ukraine(they have no clue anyway and neither does the USA). There is really no such thing as dual citizenship other than the fact that most countries just recognize their own passports like you said, and I would highly recommend that your wife keep her Ukrainian citizenship or passports(local and international) and renew them, will make life much easier for her if she has property or apartments or parents inheritance or property in her maiden Ukrainian name, cause that is all they are going to look at in Ukraine, speaking from experience. If you have citizenship in Ukraine, that is a first, never heard of American going and getting that, but sounds interesting if you did.

as was explained to me from a neighbor that also works at VSC (Not this guy) they need the biometrics as a check and balance that it is the same person that came along two years ago. ???? I think they just like to collect photos like my mother.

Actually Ukraine DOES care. They passed a law earlier this year (or late last year) forbidding dual citizenship. This is because Russia has been issuing pasports to Ukrainians (and more notably to Georgians) who are listed as ethnic Russians, like Alla. Ukraine does not want to wake up and find out the citizens of Donetsk & Kharkov Oblast are Russian citizens and have Russia invade in order "to protect their citizens" as they did in Georgia last summer. It is political ####### for tat to be sure, but it is now the law. It is true Ukraine would have no way of knowing if you never told them.

Alla wants to keep her Ukraine passport, for one thing we will get whacked by taxes if they find out we own property and are not residents. For now we added her mother to the apartment "deed", just to cover our @ss. And she never did change her name anyway, it is still her maiden name as the day she was born. I am not a Ukrainian citizen, I am not even sure what the procedure for that is or if you even can. Not something that concerns me.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Gary:

Thanks for sharing your info.

It still makes little or no sense as to why we have to submit this information again for the second time and go and get another biometric done! Seriously. Think about it, if it was a scam or a fraud and they were doing their job right the first time then why do we all have to do it all again in 2 years, typical waste of time and money and once again the federal government agency trying to justify it's existence by creating more busy paperwork and procedures that are more for show and do damn little to stop immigration fraud, just a waste of taxpayer money. AND we have to submit an inordinate amount of this ####### again for a 3rd time and pay another ridiculous fee again and go do another biometric again for citizenship. Bunch of jackoffs in the federal government if you ask me. For example I asked a USCIS worker 2 yrs ago that I knew "Why do we have to get a biometric done everytime if you already have it all the first time" Well I was told because of the background Interpol, FBI, NSA, or state police security check has to be done with new picture and fingerprints due to FBI requiring it if it is more than 15 months old. Which I then pointed out, ok so you say but then it is going to be less than 12 months when we apply for US citizenship next year! So why do we have to do it a 3rd time for biometrics, well I got a deer in the headlights look and no real reason, just that is the way the agency is type stuff.

As for the Ukraine dual citizenship stuff, I could have told you that, USA does not care and neither does Ukraine(they have no clue anyway and neither does the USA). There is really no such thing as dual citizenship other than the fact that most countries just recognize their own passports like you said, and I would highly recommend that your wife keep her Ukrainian citizenship or passports(local and international) and renew them, will make life much easier for her if she has property or apartments or parents inheritance or property in her maiden Ukrainian name, cause that is all they are going to look at in Ukraine, speaking from experience. If you have citizenship in Ukraine, that is a first, never heard of American going and getting that, but sounds interesting if you did.

OK, I understand the confusion. It was ALLA that asked the questions about her Ukrainian passport, not me. I wrote in "first person" as Alla had asked the questions. Sorry. I am merely a US citizen and nothing else.

[jairoshott 0]

car insurance

heatlh insurance

tax return 2008

federal ,state and city return

dental

gym membership

copy of the green card

both sides

pictures

videos of marriage

credic card joint together

life insurance

pict to bahamas together card of the hotel room whe we spend the night in miami 2 steakers

saying her name and my name taking the same flight

friends affidavits thats the only i have can i b ok whit this evidence

I had the great opportunity to have dinner with a director of the VSC Saturday evening. A sit turns out his wife is Russian, came here on a K-1 and is now an aquaintance of Alla. So we had some great conversation. Our next step will be the I-751 and he has worked in his career as an IO who conducted AOS and lifting of conditions interviews and gave me lots of good information on evidence. Here are some things he likes to see and others which are "useless" in his words

Good stuff

Joint bank accounts, joint tax returns, joint ownership of property, cars. Joint leases. Joint insurance. Named as beneficiaries on life insurance and medical insurance. Joint credit cards. Any other joining of financial interests (the theory is that if one is willing to risk your property and money the relationship is more likely valid) Government documents showing common address, drivers lisence, etc. Photos are good, kind of expected, but NOT primary evidence.

Children?

Yes and no. If you just had a child together and the man is nothing more than a sperm donor...no. IF you have children, whether "together" or with a blended family and there is evidence that BOTH participate in the child's development and education, and care that is great! I told him I am listed on all of our son's school papers as parent, I am an emergency contact and I sign all the permission slips, etc. He is covered by my medical insurance. All good stuff. A birth certificate in itself ("Look we have a kid") does not prove a legitmate relationship. It is especially important that the school (an objective 3rd party) recognizes both people as "parents" and accepts this. Medical records for the child showing both people as parents. same reasoning. If a doctor will recognize and treat a child based on their knowledge of both being parents, that is pretty darn good evidence.

Useless or not so useful stuff

Magazine subscriptions together (WHAT??? "Yes, you would be surprised how many couples present a Sports Illustrated subscription as proof") Utilities, cards and letters from relatives, emails, chats etc. Theory? all of these can be easily faked and in themselves prove nothing. Utilities do not verify information before adding someone to an account and hey, it's the electric bill, you are going to pay the electric bill anyway. There is no financial risk involved, no commitment as in joint ownership. Affidavits from friends or family do not have a lot of weight. None of these things are BAD and in conjunction with other evidence are fine, but not enough to prove anything themselves.

This is probably not news to a lot of people, but it was good to hear it from the "horse's mouth" anyway.

Incidentally, I mentioned that we never had a question at any of our interviews and never were asked for any evidence and he said "Sometimes we can just tell. Whatever you did, whatever your body language or how you acted, the IO was immediately convinced you were legitimate" I cannot say what that was, unfortunately.

Another question I asked, actually Alla did since she did not change her name

Does it matter if the woman changes her name?: NO, not at all.

About citizenship (Alla also asked)

Can I be a dual citizen? Answer..."The United States does not recognize other citizenships. You are a US citizen or you are not a US citizen. Once you become a US citizen the United States does not consider you anything else. We will not take your passport from Ukraine and we will not tell Ukraine you are now a citizen of the US. If you want to keep your Ukraine passport and renew it in Ukraine when you are visiting, it is none of our concern"

So the US has no policy and does not recognize any such thing as "dual citizenship" per se, but has no prohibitions from a person being a citizen of another country also, for the US you will always be considered a US citizen

Can I use a Ukraine passport to enter Ukraine and a US passport to enter the US? Yes, no problem.

What about stamps in the passport from the US or Ukraine?: The officers at the POE will ask where you have been, they rarely will look through all your exit stamps and really don't care. They are admitting you to the US, they really don't care if the country you LEFT stamped your passport, the US does not stamp passports on exit.

I ask this because Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship and I do want to keep my Ukraine passport for ease of travel to Russia, etc, and also if we ever decided to return, we have property there, I could easily work, etc. I do not want to do anything wrong and get in trouble here. The US does not care about Ukrainian law regarding citizenship, that's between you and Ukraine, but WE won't tell. Unless there is some order from a court or something, we don't give out that information.

[jairoshott 0]

i have a question this is the list i have to proof my marriage was in goog faith

1-car insurance

2. Copy of Green Card, front and back

3. Tax returns 2008

4-pictures of marriage

5 pictures vacations

6 dental insurance

7 credic card

8 mail to the same addrees her and i

9 deeds both names

10 life insurance

11 and affidavits from friends notarized

12 tickets for the the trip we did

13 membership in the gym

14 health insurance

15 videos wedding

thats the only i have and wait for the divorse decree

do you think everything is okay thank you for your advice,ahh

i need a example of my own affidavit can somebody can help me o bring me advice how write a letter

" also vote for pinning this! I wish I had known before sending my packet. One thing I kept hearing about was sending utilities and other things addressed to both of us. It was time consuming to dig all that stuff up out of the basement, and it turns out it was unnecessary!

I wouldn't say that's for sure. The guy may be the boss but I doubt if all of his IOs go by what he thinks.

I still go by "The more ammo the better"

I may add he has been at this for 27 years and worked in several local offices. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. He never said these kinds of things were BAD or not acceptable, I hope I was clear enough on that. He said they are not soild evidence. In conjunction with other things, I agree, the more the better.

I asked about children more for my own interest as we have two that I consider "ours" and will not consider them otherwise and I am very involved with their lives now, the father is AWOL and has been for many years, Many legitimate couples do not have children at all, so this kind of evidence is not always available for everyone and they get approved without issue.

He said what he always looked for was evidence of commitment, mostly financial, that two people had mingled their financial lives. The theory is if the marriage is a scam, you aren't going to risk your savings or let someone run up your credit cards and "do a runner". Seems reasonable to me. He also said that he, personally, had never asked what he called "stupid questions" like "what color is her toothbrush". His reason? "Hell, I don't know the color of MY wife's toothbrush!" However they DID ask people, separately, to draw diagrams of their apartment or houseand things more detailed that married people SHOULD know.

Likewise with children. If the marriage is fraudulent, what woman is going to involve the guy in a child's life? Whether she is the immigrant or the USC. It is a commitment to family life together that is hard to dispute. Letters, cards affidavits from family? Fine, but how easy would it be to fake those? Again, all is a body of evidence. He never suggested taking anything off the table.

He mentioned, in fact, that not everyone goes by what he thinks, but I think his input is invaluable. Of ocurse there are IOs all over the country and he cannot tell you what each one thinks or considers. I will have some other comments under the K-1 forum specifically about what other IOs and adjudicators do and how to avoid some problems and RFEs.

[Hazah 0]

On the first submission we sent the following...

-Joint savings and checking accounts

-Joint life and health insurances

-Utility bill in her name

-Joint auto deed, registration, and insurance

-Joint itinerary of flight to Ukraine

-Joint tax returns

And we STILL got an REF! I called USCIS and after somehow getting to speak to a live officer rather than CS person, he told me that there is no set list of items that the adjudicators are looking for. Each one could in theory have a different opinion on what really proves a good faith marriage. For instance, one person might want to see joint credit cards, but the other person might want to see joint ownership of a house. There was a long list of items on the REF that we could submit, but nothing stating what they specifically wanted to see in the 2nd submission that we left out of the 1st submission. Also he said that if we don't submit something on that generic list then we should state why we don't have it.

So this time we sent the following...

-Joint savings and checking accounts for 3 years

-Joint life, health, and homeowners insurances

-Several utility bills in her name and mine for 2 years

-Joint auto deed, registration, and insurance

-Joint itinerary of flight to Ukraine

-Joint tax returns for 2 years

-Joint ownership deed of the house

-Ultrasounds, statements from the OB, parenting class schedules with both our names, and signed family medical leave records for our child due in July

-Joint credit cards

So we're crossing our fingers now and hoping that the next adjudicator is having a good day. The whole issue with proving "good faith" is bogus. Faith is intangible and any physical document can be faked.