RFE - not enough evidence going back to our wedding date.

[zyzzx 2]

Hi all -

I'm hoping for some insight - my husband and I were married in the UK Feb 2012. He was in the middle of doing his masters degree in the UK when we married, so he continued to live in the UK while we filed for his CR-1, he did his interview in London, and was able to arrive in the US with his masters degree & a green card, ready to work. I'm based in the US & travel for work, and was in the UK several times in 2012 so I was able to spend time with him there.

All was not smooth though - it took 15 MONTHS from our wedding day to his interview at the London Consulate. We filed the I-130 the day after our wedding and received our NOA2 on June 1, 2012. However, his interview date was not until April 2013. We had a very straight forward case, but knowing nothing about the immigration process at the time, it seemed the right thing to do to use an immigration lawyer. We hired a VERY reputable lawyer, but man, he seriously dropped the ball with us. I wish I'd discovered VJ sooner. Now I'm concerned the delays he caused are going to bite us in the butt.

After we received our NOA2, our lawyer told us he was waiting for the packet from the NVC with instructions, and would send us the DS-230 & I-864 to sign, after he received it. We still hadn't received anything by the end of September, and I kept asking for it, thinking surely it couldn't take that long to come. Finally in October 2012, we got the DS-230 & I-864 from him. We reviewed them, signed, overnighted back and was told they were sent to the NVC immediately upon reception. Five weeks later, we still had no receipt from the NVC or interview date. While I'd been chasing him for the forms, I discovered Visa Journey through a friend. From reading numerous posts here & looking at timelines and guides, I suspected something was not right & found out how to call the NVC to check our status using our case number. In January 2013 the NVC told me it had never received our DS-230 & I-864. At this point, I put my foot down with our lawyer - told him we were going to re-do the DS-230 & I-864 and he needed to "re-send" both. I also insisted he provide physical proof this time of both being sent, & their delivery. Lo and behold, 7 days after the package was truly sent, we got confirmation it was received, and 5 weeks after that, we received an interview date in April. Interview was quick & easy, CR-1 approved. My husband arrived in the US summer 2012 and got his green card & SS number no problem.

Fast forward to Feb of this year and we filed for ROC from his CR-1 with the California Service Center. As evidence I sent our 2013-2014 joint tax returns, joint lease on our apt, joint bank account statements, photos of family vacations (with both our families) boarding passes & items from vacations as well as a couple affidavits. We received our receipt notice a couple weeks later, then the extension letter & my husband had his biometrics appointment in April. In July we got an RFE saying we didn't provide enough info going all the way back to our wedding in 2012, and they wanted to see more co-mingling of assets & proof of a bona fide marriage. Part of this was our fault, we misunderstood what was needed and only sent evidence in going back to the date my husband was approved for his CR-1 in 2013.

Since the original ROC application, my husband got a new job with the state and has great benefits, so I have a whole new stack of paperwork that I'm named beneficiary on. (medical, dental, life ins) His employer uses an outside company for verification of spousal eligibility for coverage, so I have the verification paperwork from them that I'm indeed his legal spouse, which bodes well :-) We've added his name to one of our utility bills and mine is on the others so we can show we both live here, and I took out a life insurance policy and named him beneficiary. So I've got all that new evidence, but it's very recent.

The big problem is that 15 month gap between our wedding date and when he got the CR-1. We did file a joint US tax return for 2012, but because my husband was not actually in the US (due to him being a student for the first part, and then him being stuck in the UK waiting due to the stupid delay with our application) he had no income, so the only W-2 forms in 2012 were mine. Aside from the 2012 tax returns, I've got some wedding photos, photos with friends at our wedding dinner, email correspondence with my travel agent about needing to go the the UK for Christmas 2012 since he wasn't going to make it here..etc. I have a few photos of us during the rest of 2012, but not many. We don't really have any travel itineraries or hotel bills from that time, since usually he was coming to stay in my work hotel, and only my name was on the invoice because it was booked through work. I do have all my work itineraries from that time, along with an affidavit from a co-worker who has spent time with both of us before & after we were married, describing our work travel situation and confirming my husband & I spending time together as much as possible during the times I was working in the UK.

Other than that, until fall 2013 we have no co-mingling of assets, no joint lease, etc, since we couldn't open a joint account til he got here, couldn't get insurance, didn't have an apartment etc.

So... my questions:

1) with the new evidence I have (new benefits letters, new life insurance policy, bills, joint bank account statements since original AOS package sent etc) and the 2012 tax returns and few photos / emails from 2012, should that be enough?

2) in my cover letter, should I explain why there is such a big gap between our wedding date & date of CR-1 approval & entry into the US. I feel a little weird writing a letter more or less blaming our lawyer. It's true, but I don't know how good that will look to the USCIS?

3) I've got a bunch of christmas cards, invitations, thank you cards, etc. via snail mail addressed jointly to me & my husband at our current address. I was thinking it can't hurt to include those as well, since I'm trying to basically overwhelm the USCIS with any and all evidence I can find (!) - is it ok to make color copies of the envelopes & cards, or should I send the originals? I'm reluctant to let go of the originals since they are sentimental - but it's more important to me to make sure I provide as much stuff as possible, so if I have to part with the originals, I will.

I know this is a long post but wanted to explain our situation thoroughly - I appreciate any insight, advice or sharing of similar experiences. I'm preparing to send the RFE package on Monday so I'm having a bit of last minute stress at the moment, wanting to make sure there's nothing I'm missing, or should add..

Edited September 19, 2015 by zyzzx

[Sukie 1,465]

The best way to handle this is to directly address the RFE - and that is to cover that 15 months between your marriage and your first Green Card.

Write a letter, explaining where you both were and why. Tell the story about the lawyer - there are SO many bad stories about lawyers - you'll just be another one.

Dig up anything and everything you can for the 15 months - and reference each piece of info to your written letter.

Make copies. Do not send originals of precious sentimental things - you might never see them again.

Primarily focus on those early months. I don't think it will hurt to add additional current data at the end of your package, but you really need to give them exactly what they want - and they are interested in those early months.

Best of luck!

Sukie in NY

[Pitaya 2,577]

Agree with Sukie. During our recent successful resolution and conclusion of our ROC ordeal, we also got an RFE wanting "marriage bonafides from the inception of the marriage." Our initial ROC petition package weighed in at around six pounds, the response that we mailed to CSC weighed in around 4 pounds. In our RFE response (including a 5 page cover/descriptive dialogue letter) we included everything 'cept the kitchen sink! Our ROC petition was approved a week later.

There seems to some USCIS bureaucratic notion, that the more "window dressing" of a marriage people submit equals a real marriage. What a bunch of poppy-#######!! But hey, it was just our family's lives that has been in limbo for the last couple of years, and, in particular, the last nine months of this ROC farce. In the RFE letter, we concluded with our wishes to either be approved, schedule an interview, or deny our petition (and then we will see you in court!), but to get on with it!

Wishing your family the best of luck on your immigration journey.

Addendum: It would seem that my comment ran afoul of the site's profanity filters. The "hash marked" word intended is the first definition in Merriam-Websters online dictionary for that word, "the adult male of the domestic chicken (gallus gallus)." http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary :rofl:

Edited September 19, 2015 by Pitaya

[zyzzx 2]

thanks so much for your responses - this helps a lot with some direction to make our package more coherent. There were some other items the RFE covered, but those are no problem - they just wanted more bank statements, W-2's attached to the tax returns (which we didn't provide the first time) and copies of additional insurance policies, etc which aren't a problem.

In regards to the 15 month gap, I think the bulk of the evidence is going to be emails - not just between my husband and I, but also between me and travel agents, etc making travel plans to see him. There are hundreds! I will be certain to outline this in the cover letter (which I'm sure will be every bit as long as yours, Pitaya!)

I do have all my email exchanges with our lawyer, including the one in January 2013 where I take him to task for the delays, and his response. I'm uncertain if I should include these to support my story re: the 15 month gap. having dealt with an RFE, would you include these emails as part of the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach? It will have all of his information on them and I am just concerned about opening a whole other can of worms...

and I agree Pitaya - it's just so frustrating that they want so much "window dressing!" There's a part of me that wishes they'd just call us in for an interview so they could see that we're really married!