CR-1 Initial Petition Package Contents...

[Cilian7 1]

My wife and I are getting ready to send our CR-1 petition out. She is a Canadian citizen and I am a US citizen, so I completed it on our behalf. Before I send I just want to run the details of the contents by you all and get some feedback on if anything we're planning on sending shouldn't be included, or if we should add something we hadn't considered. Here are the contents, all feedback is appreciated...

- Binder with cover sheet

- Cover letter

- Official Documents:

Form G-325A (wife)

Form G-325A (me)

Form I-130

Form G-1145

Certified Copy of Marriage License

Certified Copy of Name Change Certificate (me - changed my last name in 2008)

Copy of Confirmation Letter for SSN Application from SSA (me)

Petition for Name Change (me)

Copy of Naturalizatoin Approval Letter (me - changed my first name at time of US citizenship in 2003)

Original Certificate of Naturalizaton for US Citizenship (me)

Passport-style photos (wife)

Passport-style photos (me)

Copy of Passport (me)

- Supporting Evidence:

38 email conversations (strewn throughout our year of time spent talking)

21 chat conversations (strewn throughout our year of time spent talking)

Email flight itinerary receipts for 4 trips

Copies of boarding pass stubs from my trips there

Copies of receipts from all trips (a couple dozen)

Copy of Wedding Order of Service

7 affidavits from family and friends who know us both

27 photos from 3 trips

Am I missing anything? Or should anything be excluded?

We have many more email and chat conversations that we can send if they request additional evidence, however most of our correspondence occurred over Skype and FaceTime (over 800 hours of conversation), for which we do not have reproducible evidence. In addition, we spend some 35 days together over the course of 4 trips.

A few questions...

1. Is there an appropriate way to reference the 800+ hours we spent talking on Skype/FaceTime? Is that something they will care about, and will it help to mention it?
2. Will they want to know how we met (online through a singles service)?
3. Do the affidavits from friends and family have to be notarized by an attorney? Some are, most are not.
4. Our official forms (I-130, G-325A's) have a lot of spots we did not fill out as they were not applicable. Should we go back and write "N/A" in all of the blank spots? If so, can that be handwritten in place on a document with otherwise typed answers (we typed out our answers through the PDF then printed)?
5. For the photos, do they need to be annotated? Do receipts also need to be annotated for context?
6. The naturalization certificate that I am submitting is the original (a fancy document, I didn't get an additional certified copy at the time). Am I ok to send the original in? Can I otherwise make a copy on a standard copy machine and send it? Will they keep all original evidence or will I receive it back at the end?
7. Do I need to make a copy of every page of my passport, even if it has not been stamped?
8. Would it make sense to submit the "Confirmation Letter for SSN Application from SSA" or should I leave that out?

Thank you for your time and help!

[Ryan H 3,812]

My answers in bold and red:

My wife and I are getting ready to send our CR-1 petition out. She is a Canadian citizen and I am a US citizen, so I completed it on our behalf. Before I send I just want to run the details of the contents by you all and get some feedback on if anything we're planning on sending shouldn't be included, or if we should add something we hadn't considered. Here are the contents, all feedback is appreciated...

- Binder with cover sheet

- Cover letter

- Official Documents:

Form G-325A (wife)

Form G-325A (me)

Form I-130

Form G-1145

Certified Copy of Marriage License You need to include a photocopy of your marriage certificate, not license

Certified Copy of Name Change Certificate (me - changed my last name in 2008) Only need photocopy

Copy of Confirmation Letter for SSN Application from SSA (me)

Petition for Name Change (me)

Copy of Naturalizatoin Approval Letter (me - changed my first name at time of US citizenship in 2003)

Original Certificate of Naturalizaton for US Citizenship (me) Only need photocopy

Passport-style photos (wife)

Passport-style photos (me)

Copy of Passport (me) Not needed if including copy of Naturalization certificate

- Supporting Evidence:

38 email conversations (strewn throughout our year of time spent talking)

21 chat conversations (strewn throughout our year of time spent talking)

Email flight itinerary receipts for 4 trips

Copies of boarding pass stubs from my trips there

Copies of receipts from all trips (a couple dozen)

Copy of Wedding Order of Service

7 affidavits from family and friends who know us both

27 photos from 3 trips

Am I missing anything? Or should anything be excluded?

We have many more email and chat conversations that we can send if they request additional evidence, however most of our correspondence occurred over Skype and FaceTime (over 800 hours of conversation), for which we do not have reproducible evidence. In addition, we spend some 35 days together over the course of 4 trips.

A few questions...

1. Is there an appropriate way to reference the 800+ hours we spent talking on Skype/FaceTime? Is that something they will care about, and will it help to mention it? If you can't document it, then don't bother mentioning it.
2. Will they want to know how we met (online through a singles service)? It's up to you whether or not you wish to mention that.
3. Do the affidavits from friends and family have to be notarized by an attorney? Some are, most are not. No, the affidavits do not need to be notarized by anyone. Furthermore, such affidavits carry little to zero weight to begin with.
4. Our official forms (I-130, G-325A's) have a lot of spots we did not fill out as they were not applicable. Should we go back and write "N/A" in all of the blank spots? If so, can that be handwritten in place on a document with otherwise typed answers (we typed out our answers through the PDF then printed)? "N/A" can be handwritten in if need be.
5. For the photos, do they need to be annotated? Do receipts also need to be annotated for context? For the pictures, it's best to say who is in them, when, they were taken, where they were taken, etc. For the receipts, maybe put a coversheet in front of the copies saying what they are.
6. The naturalization certificate that I am submitting is the original (a fancy document, I didn't get an additional certified copy at the time). Am I ok to send the original in? Can I otherwise make a copy on a standard copy machine and send it? Will they keep all original evidence or will I receive it back at the end? NO, DO NOT SEND THE ORIGINAL, make a photocopy of your naturalization certificate and send the photocopy. USCIS only needs PHOTOCOPIES of documents.
7. Do I need to make a copy of every page of my passport, even if it has not been stamped? See above (what I wrote next to "Copy of Passport (me)". However, if you choose to use your passport to establish your US Citizenship, then yes, you must copy every page along with the front and back cover.
8. Would it make sense to submit the "Confirmation Letter for SSN Application from SSA" or should I leave that out? Leave this out, it's irrelevant to your relationship.

Thank you for your time and help!

Edited September 24, 2013 by Ryan H

[Cilian7 1]

Ryan, thanks for the response.

On the marriage certificate, the certified copy I have states both that it is a license and a certificate (on the front it reads "Record of Marriage" and gives a license number, and on the back it reads "The foregoing instrument is a full, true and correct copy of the original marriage certificate recording by this Office."). I assume this will be fine?

Are you sure the Certificate of Naturalization can only be a copy? Is this considered "Supporting Evidence", as stated on the following page ("Supporting Evidence that you submit may be photocopies.")...

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

...on the same page, regarding the passport, under the "Assembling the I-130 Package: Checklist" section it seems to state in #4 and #5 that you must have both. Is that correct? And if I include a passport does it have to be every page even if there are no stamps on interior pages?

For the receipts, a coversheet with numbers corresponding to the receipt copies explaining what they are?

Thanks again!

[Ryan H 3,812]

On the marriage certificate, the certified copy I have states both that it is a license and a certificate (on the front it reads "Record of Marriage" and gives a license number, and on the back it reads "The foregoing instrument is a full, true and correct copy of the original marriage certificate recording by this Office."). I assume this will be fine?

Submit a PHOTOCOPY of this document, it will be fine.

Are you sure the Certificate of Naturalization can only be a copy?

YES

...on the same page, regarding the passport, under the "Assembling the I-130 Package: Checklist" section it seems to state in #4 and #5 that you must have both. Is that correct? And if I include a passport does it have to be every page even if there are no stamps on interior pages?

You don't need both, just one or the other. I already addressed what you need to do if you choose to use your passport in my previous reply.

For the receipts, a coversheet with numbers corresponding to the receipt copies explaining what they are?

Yes