The actual assembly of the I-130/bonafide marriage

[kmg617 26]

Hi,

I am in the process of assembling our I-130 package. Do you think a binder is a good way to do this? I have all documents in clear sheet protectors, including photos, and putting them all in a binder. Good?

Also, the following is what I have to prove a bonafide marriage (we just got married 12/30/2012 and don't have anything joint to prove):

-about 100 photos documenting our relationship and photos from our wedding with captions and approx. dates of the photos

-2 affidavits that are notarized by my mother and my father

-email confirmations of all our flights back and forth to see each other from the last three years

-two "lovey" emails between the two of us

-photo copies of birthday cards

-photo copy of pages of a photo album my husband made me about 3 years with cute captions

Do you think this is enough?

Thanks!

[kmg617 26]

Forgot to mention that I am also including the wedding invitation and save-the-date in with the bonafide marriage

[Ms Hogan 295]

For your flights do you have boarding passes still? That is better than an email confirmation of a flight.

Can you open a joint checking account or something like that? You may not have mixed finances at this point but having an account together would show that you plan to. I actually included a copy of a check from our account.

Does the USC have insurance or anything that the beneficiary can be added to? That would also help.

Your history sounds strong though with 3 years' worth of stories to tell and photos together. For my particular case, we have only a couple pictures together as I'm the one usually taking pictures of him with my kids instead so I just included those.

[kmg617 26]

I have some boarding passes (however we never are able to get direct flights so the boarding passes will say NYC to Istabul for example or Ukraine to Tel Aviv rather than a direct flight). I can include what I still have.

I tried so hard to open up a joint account. No bank will let me because he is not here to physically sign for it. So, thus that is not a possibility. I am also still a student until the end of the year, so I am not really able to add him on any insurance I have.

[Ryan H 3,834]

I am in the process of assembling our I-130 package. Do you think a binder is a good way to do this? I have all documents in clear sheet protectors, including photos, and putting them all in a binder. Good?

Don't use a binder or clear sheet protectors (or staples for that matter). Once the file arrives at USCIS, it will be disassembled and then put back together according to the preference of the adjudicator. Additionally, files are also taken apart so they can be scanned.

Your evidence list looks good.

[jkelly07 120]

hi,kmg617.i thing you need some wedding pictures,and invitations,and a copy of your us passport to show your exit stamps and how many times trips,100 pictures is a lot. maybe 30, more e.mails is good.the clear sheet and album will only be wasted.when your package arrives it's taken apart,it's required to assemble uscis package to use acco fastners or heavy duty clips two hole punch on the top of the packet and tabs on the bottom to seperate items.clip the G-1145 to the front of your application package.

[dwheels76 5,475]

As stated before please no binders or protective covers. All your pictures should be on 8 X 11 paper for ease of scanning. Be sure to include all those Visa stamps in your passport to show visits. And document (I suggest a relationship timeline) duration of each visit. Face time is important to show.

Also do not forget your coverletter.

Also you need to add a whole lot more communications of an ongoing relationship. Phone logs, emails, Facebook, IM's, Skype. Something showing your regular communications.

[NikLR 13,232]

BTW just to add, it's better to print out several photos per page of 8 x 11.5 paper than use actual photos. The weight of 100 photos will be huge. Check and see if you really need 100 photos as well. If 50 are from your wedding day, do you really need 50 photos of the same day or can you just include ones that show you with close relations or friends? If you have 10 from one trip together would it not be better to include one or two?

Also it's fairly easy to add someone to car insurance for example. Keep checking banks, I was able to be added to my husband's when I wasn't physically in the US. They emailed me a signing sheet which I printed, signed, scanned and emailed back along with 2 pieces of government issue ID (my passport and drivers license as they're both photo ID.) Bank of America seems to be a bank that can be more willing than other banks to try.

Otherwise I think your evidence list is good.

[kmg617 26]

Thanks everyone! I cut down about half or more than half of the pictures. I taped them on 8.5x11 paper. It may be heavy but at this point I am just ready to get this packet out. I also printed out some excerpts of our Facebook conversations and Skype conversations. I'll add in some plane tickets, of what I still have. I also have a copy of my passport which shows the stamps from entry and exits. I'm now using binder clips and paperclips instead of staples.

In response to NikiR, I am a member of Bank of America, and they told me "no" to adding him to my account even though I suggested that idea. Banks are so inconsistent, and it is terribly irritating. However, I'm content with not having him on joint accounts or adding him to my insurance because we got married recent enough that I'm assuming it should be okay at this point. We also have a long history of proving our relationship prior to the marriage...3 years worth of pictures and documents. Plus we have a couple of affidavits from family members who attended the wedding.

Looking forward to getting this thing out this week and starting my VJ timeline!

[NikLR 13,232]

You should be okay for evidence with 3 years of stuff. Banks vary from branch to branch on what they will or won't try to do for you. I agree that they are generally inconsistent. My husband's bank was pretty cool with it but its USAA and if any bank is used to dealing with foreign spouses, it's that bank. Lol.

[Ms Hogan 295]

Do you have a scanner? I would actually scan those pages that have the photos on them and send the scanned copies. Keep the originals for yourself to bring to the interview later and also to keep the weight of your package down AND to make it easier on their end to manage.

[jkelly07 120]

like mshogan said,you can scan your pictures on copy paper you can fit about three pictures on one sheet and have room to put location the names, the dates, in color. this way you can keep the original pictures.