PROOF OF A BONAFIDE MARRIAGE FOR CR1

[jhonster 23]

Hello all. I had a question. Just got a request for evidence (RFE) of a bona fide marriage. This was after I had requested that our case be expedited due to the Typhoon in the Philippines. The request said....

"A review of Form I130 indicated that you that you seek to classify the beneficiary as your spouse. Please submit evidence to establish that the marriage between you and the beneficiary is bona fide. This evidence may consist of, but is not limited to, the following:

1.) Documentation showing joint ownership of property;

2.) A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence;

3.) Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources;

4.) Birth Certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you and the beneficiary;

5.) Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship. If you choose submit affidavits, then they must be sworn to or affirmed under penalty of perjury by two persons who were living at the time of the event, and who have personal knowledge of the event that you are trying to prove. The affidavit should contain the following information regarding the person making the affidavit: his or her full name, address, date and place of birth, relationship to you, if any; full information concerning the event; and complete details concerning how he or she acquired knowledge of the event. The persons making the affidavits need not be citizen of the United States. Affidavits should be supported by documentary evidence such at that listed above; and

6.) Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing martial relationship."

Considering I have an ample amount of other information to prove our bona fide marriage, should I waste my time getting signed affidavits? How much weight to they give the affidavits anyway?

So. If the affidavits carry a lot of weight....My 1st question is about how to create the "sworn affidavits" and what is required. Considering that my wife is living in Manila with her daughter....do I need to get some kind of notary to certify what her mother, best friend and sister will write for us? My mother will also write an affidavit as well to what she can attest to...but she was not in Manila for our wedding.

2.) If a notary is required, what is the criteria of the notary so that USCIS will consider it satisfactory? A judge? A lawyer or law firm? Manila City Hall? U.S. Embassy notary?

3.) Do you think the affidavits should be typed out and worded by me for the people to sign? Or should they be written in handwriting by the people telling our story?

4.) Should I send only original copies of the notarized affidavits? Or will a copy of a notarized document good enough?

5.) I was just in Manila during Thanksgiving this year and we opened a joint account at PNB bank, but they will not give me a copy what I signed saying that those documents are considered internal documents. But I did take pictures of the account ID card which has our names hand written onto them. Would those suffice as financial co-mingling? Or do I need to request a "bank certification" from PNB bank...which again, will cause the return time of documents to be delayed.

6.) I have my hotel receipts of when I 1st visited the Manila back on Thanksgiving of 2012 where we got engaged along with pictures, videos, etc of where I proposed to her. Her whole family was there. We all went to Star City after that (the whole family) and stayed there till the park closed. Should I include those pictures? And maybe upload the videos to Youtube and send the link to the agent so they can look at the videos online?

7.) I have the condo rental agreement for one month when I stayed in Manila for the whole month of March 2013. We got married March 20th of 2013 at Manila City Hall by a Judge. Again, I have receipts for everything along with many many pictures, video, NSO stamped Marriage license (which USCIS already has) etc.

8.) I have pictures, receipts and videos of the reception at ilang-ilang restaurant in Chinatown where we had our reception.

9.) I have pictures and videos of a day we all spent at the beach in Cavite.

10.) I have pictures, receipts and videos of our Honeymoon in Puerto Galera.

11.) I have receipts of all the Western Union & Xoom money orders I've sent her since we 1st started communicating since Aug of 2012.

12.) I have a lease agreement for a house in which I relocated the whole family to (from Tondo to Bacoor) where her immediate family now resides. This agreement (pawn house) is in another squatters area like Tondo was, and is for 2 years.

13.) So.....with all this evidence, and the fact they gave me this yellow document to put on top of our file when I get all this stuff together....

Thanks in advance to anybody that can help or has already been through this. It seems silly that they would ask for all this now when they usually ask for this stuff in the interview.

[casualsurfer 25]

I agonized over this as well. The only two items I could come up with are:

1) Her joint bank account with me here (PIA to get since she came in via B1)

2) Her credit card (joint user) - again PIA since most banks/card issuer require SS, which she doesn't have, but eventually I was able to get one for her to use.

Good luck with yours, I'm not sure if what I provided is enough. We are also going to have wedding photos done professionally in Taiwan, and I have a collection of photos of her and I over the years.

[lonelywithouthim1 36]

I included the addition of my husband as a sole beneficiary to the 401K and life insurance. I was also able to add him to my credit cards I made photo copies of both cards (mine & his). Those were the only things I can do without him ever been in the US. Good Luck

[casualsurfer 25]

I included the addition of my husband as a sole beneficiary to the 401K and life insurance. I was also able to add him to my credit cards I made photo copies of both cards (mine & his). Those were the only things I can do without him ever been in the US. Good Luck

Question: How do you do that without a social security number? My company's 401K & beneficiary requires that my wife have a social security number (obviously so they can tax the ####### out of my dead body).

[danrb 5]

This question worries me. I sent with my application all the things you ask about and now have to wait wondering if some civil servant will make a judgement call, because we don't have joint property, common tenancy, etc. For a person living in the US with a spouse living in the Philippines this is difficult. The proof of marriage they ask for in the application is a much taller bar than that or a fiance visa, where the only requirement is proof you met.

So one option is to lay your case out to your congressman and ask them to clarify what makes sense, they will file a request for information with USCIS and put them in a box to define clearly what in your situation will qualify. Your congressman has people working for them that do this. I've done something similar and it's amazing how fast the old INS would respond to a congressional inquiry. They treat you with kid gloves.

Good Luck!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[elsy & mark 17]

I included the addition of my husband as a sole beneficiary to the 401K and life insurance. I was also able to add him to my credit cards I made photo copies of both cards (mine & his). Those were the only things I can do without him ever been in the US. Good Luck

Question: How do you do that without a social security number? My company's 401K & beneficiary requires that my wife have a social security number (obviously so they can tax the ####### out of my dead body).

Can my husband add me as the beneficiary for his life insurance though I have never been to the U.S. Is it still possible? Looks like this is a really good proof for a bonafide marriage which we didnt realise earlier.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Can my husband add me as the beneficiary for his life insurance though I have never been to the U.S. Is it still possible? Looks like this is a really good proof for a bonafide marriage which we didnt realise earlier.

Yes, if the insurer will allow it.

[elsy & mark 17]

okay..thanks.a fellow vj member just advised me that unless i have a social security number they cant do it.i guess its better to ask my husband to check with the insurer directly.

[dirk_diggler 107]

what did you send when you initially sent your i-130?

Hello all. I had a question. Just got a request for evidence (RFE) of a bona fide marriage. This was after I had requested that our case be expedited due to the Typhoon in the Philippines. The request said....

"A review of Form I130 indicated that you that you seek to classify the beneficiary as your spouse. Please submit evidence to establish that the marriage between you and the beneficiary is bona fide. This evidence may consist of, but is not limited to, the following:

1.) Documentation showing joint ownership of property;

2.) A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence;

3.) Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources;

4.) Birth Certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you and the beneficiary;

5.) Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship. If you choose submit affidavits, then they must be sworn to or affirmed under penalty of perjury by two persons who were living at the time of the event, and who have personal knowledge of the event that you are trying to prove. The affidavit should contain the following information regarding the person making the affidavit: his or her full name, address, date and place of birth, relationship to you, if any; full information concerning the event; and complete details concerning how he or she acquired knowledge of the event. The persons making the affidavits need not be citizen of the United States. Affidavits should be supported by documentary evidence such at that listed above; and

6.) Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing martial relationship."

Considering I have an ample amount of other information to prove our bona fide marriage, should I waste my time getting signed affidavits? How much weight to they give the affidavits anyway?

So. If the affidavits carry a lot of weight....My 1st question is about how to create the "sworn affidavits" and what is required. Considering that my wife is living in Manila with her daughter....do I need to get some kind of notary to certify what her mother, best friend and sister will write for us? My mother will also write an affidavit as well to what she can attest to...but she was not in Manila for our wedding.

2.) If a notary is required, what is the criteria of the notary so that USCIS will consider it satisfactory? A judge? A lawyer or law firm? Manila City Hall? U.S. Embassy notary?

3.) Do you think the affidavits should be typed out and worded by me for the people to sign? Or should they be written in handwriting by the people telling our story?

4.) Should I send only original copies of the notarized affidavits? Or will a copy of a notarized document good enough?

5.) I was just in Manila during Thanksgiving this year and we opened a joint account at PNB bank, but they will not give me a copy what I signed saying that those documents are considered internal documents. But I did take pictures of the account ID card which has our names hand written onto them. Would those suffice as financial co-mingling? Or do I need to request a "bank certification" from PNB bank...which again, will cause the return time of documents to be delayed.

6.) I have my hotel receipts of when I 1st visited the Manila back on Thanksgiving of 2012 where we got engaged along with pictures, videos, etc of where I proposed to her. Her whole family was there. We all went to Star City after that (the whole family) and stayed there till the park closed. Should I include those pictures? And maybe upload the videos to Youtube and send the link to the agent so they can look at the videos online?

7.) I have the condo rental agreement for one month when I stayed in Manila for the whole month of March 2013. We got married March 20th of 2013 at Manila City Hall by a Judge. Again, I have receipts for everything along with many many pictures, video, NSO stamped Marriage license (which USCIS already has) etc.

8.) I have pictures, receipts and videos of the reception at ilang-ilang restaurant in Chinatown where we had our reception.

9.) I have pictures and videos of a day we all spent at the beach in Cavite.

10.) I have pictures, receipts and videos of our Honeymoon in Puerto Galera.

11.) I have receipts of all the Western Union & Xoom money orders I've sent her since we 1st started communicating since Aug of 2012.

12.) I have a lease agreement for a house in which I relocated the whole family to (from Tondo to Bacoor) where her immediate family now resides. This agreement (pawn house) is in another squatters area like Tondo was, and is for 2 years.

13.) So.....with all this evidence, and the fact they gave me this yellow document to put on top of our file when I get all this stuff together....

Thanks in advance to anybody that can help or has already been through this. It seems silly that they would ask for all this now when they usually ask for this stuff in the interview.

[NikLR 13,227]

Affidavits carry very little weight.

take a look at this list on this wiki and send photocopies of whatever you have that proves you and your wife have a genuine on-going relationship:

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/EZGuideSpouse

That is what bona fide marriage means... not that you were married, but rather that you have the ongoing relatinship that a married couple would have beyond the fact you do not live together. The month long lease for instance is a good start, the western union money orders are a good idea, any emails, cards, letters, skype conversations, texts, facebook chats, can all help you here.

[jhonster 23]

This question worries me. I sent with my application all the things you ask about and now have to wait wondering if some civil servant will make a judgement call, because we don't have joint property, common tenancy, etc. For a person living in the US with a spouse living in the Philippines this is difficult. The proof of marriage they ask for in the application is a much taller bar than that or a fiance visa, where the only requirement is proof you met.

So one option is to lay your case out to your congressman and ask them to clarify what makes sense, they will file a request for information with USCIS and put them in a box to define clearly what in your situation will qualify. Your congressman has people working for them that do this. I've done something similar and it's amazing how fast the old INS would respond to a congressional inquiry. They treat you with kid gloves.

Good Luck!

I already filed a case with my congressman. He & his office is a waste of skin (Brad Sherman). I got the case expedited because they're in the Philippines. I just had my wife get one of the affidavits notarized in the Philippines. I have two more to write for her sister & mother & she will get those notarized as well. I'm not even sure if I need these to be notarized. Because it doesn't ask for that. But I figure better safe than sorry. My mom is also writing one too.

She is on my insurance as well as her daughter. I did this without having a social security #. I just had to call the HMO company & they took care of it. I need to get a copy of the policy & the health insurance cards. I never received those yet. I forgot about those. Those would be good evidence as well.

I'm uploading videos onto youtube, printing pictures & making copies of anything I can find that shows an ongoing relationship showing massive amounts of support for her & her family.

Hopefully this will all work.

But I can't help to think, why they just wouldn't ask for all this stuff on the interview? Seems redundant.

[danrb 5]

Overwhelm them with material. Having done this before. My ex for her interview walked in with two binders of chats, letters, phone bills, etc. They didn't ask any questions and didn't even look through them.

If I were today asked for evidence, I'd provide our chat logs. Right now that would work out to about 4,000 pages of chat.