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  • I-751 RFE - Bona Fide Marriage

    Hi everybody,

    I just received a letter from USCIS requesting more evidence about our good faith marriage. We have been married for 3,5 years now, live together but decided to have a separate economy (we both have individual accounts with Bank of America) and have a common credit card, that I use more than my husband. We are subleasing so we venmo our "landlord" the rent payment. what evidence would you suggest we provide in order to show that our marriage was entered in good faith?

    The letter focuses on three things and states that all evidence is welcome:
    1. Children - we do not have children yet and are not planning on having kids soon;
    2. Live together - because we are subleasing, we really dont have a proper lease, we have agreed on the terms verbally. We have lived in the same spot for three years. However, I have asked the lady we are subleasing from to provide us with a lease in both our names;
    3. Shared financials - My husband and I are firm believers in a separate economy and split common costs 50/50. The reason is that we have different views on money. I like to save and invest and my husband likes to spend his money. This works for us and we pay common expenses on our credit card such as wifi, phone, groceries, date nights etc.

    We both work and have insurance through our work, which is much cheaper than adding each other to the same insurance.

    My plan is to submit a declaration explaining any outstanding questions (I mean USCIS must understand that not all married people have the same common economy and we live in Los Angeles, CA so we definitely not buying a house together anytime soon), affidavits from neighbors, credit card transactions, more pictures, screenshots of us being each others beneficiaries on life insurance provided from work.

    Any advice on what else we can submit will be greatly appreciated.

    We already submitted:
    1. Pictures from the beginning to just before submitting the form;
    2. Travel tickets - we traveled to Sweden last year together and a bunch of other places;
    3. Tax returns;
    4. Joint checking account (that we decided not to use anymore since it didnt work for us and we used the credit card to pay for common expenses)
    5. Wedding invitations addressed to us both;
    6. Affidavits from friends and neighbors.


    Thank you so much!

  • #2
    A couple of easy things to add that I included would be a Will, POA for both medical and finance (Notarize all three and you can find templates easily online to use). Are you in any group chats texts with friends and family? I included a bunch of screen shots that included the date on the texts of chats with me and her family, her with mine, friends chats we are both in over a long period of time to show continuity. This looks even better if you can link them with pictures you submitted. eg planning a night out with friends via a screen shot of the text group then also submitting a photo from the night out. Or even better use your credit card itemized billing showing you are paying for it with your joint credit card! With the pictures did you write a simple sentence stating where and when and why. ie for me it was something like July 2018 wife visiting my family in UK etc. Have you signed up for inform delivery for the USPS. They send a daily email with a screen shot of the letters you are receiving that day with the date visible. This is another easy way to show that you are both residing in the same place.

    Hope this helps!

    Comment


    • #3
      I'm not understanding the "married but separate economy" nonsense. In fact, in California, you can pretend to account for things separately, but they are indeed community property (with small exception). When I see someone purporting to be married who attempts to firewall finances like that, I get the feeling they don't understand what marriage means.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by okccanary View Post
        A couple of easy things to add that I included would be a Will, POA for both medical and finance (Notarize all three and you can find templates easily online to use). Are you in any group chats texts with friends and family? I included a bunch of screen shots that included the date on the texts of chats with me and her family, her with mine, friends chats we are both in over a long period of time to show continuity. This looks even better if you can link them with pictures you submitted. eg planning a night out with friends via a screen shot of the text group then also submitting a photo from the night out. Or even better use your credit card itemized billing showing you are paying for it with your joint credit card! With the pictures did you write a simple sentence stating where and when and why. ie for me it was something like July 2018 wife visiting my family in UK etc. Have you signed up for inform delivery for the USPS. They send a daily email with a screen shot of the letters you are receiving that day with the date visible. This is another easy way to show that you are both residing in the same place.

        Hope this helps!
        Thank you, this helps very much! I didnt even think about group chats! And I do have inform delivery set up with USPS so will use that as well. Thank you very much!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by flyingron View Post
          I'm not understanding the "married but separate economy" nonsense. In fact, in California, you can pretend to account for things separately, but they are indeed community property (with small exception). When I see someone purporting to be married who attempts to firewall finances like that, I get the feeling they don't understand what marriage means.
          To each their own. I am aware of the community property rule in CA. However, in our marriage ("our" is key here) we have decided to keep it separate as we have very different views on finance and savings/investments (saves us unneccesary arguments as well, we're not here to change each other but to love each other despite the differences). We pay common bills together and then do whatever we want with what is left. We make the same amount so it works out well for us. But thank you kind stranger for your opinion on what goes in our marriage.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by flyingron View Post
            I'm not understanding the "married but separate economy" nonsense. In fact, in California, you can pretend to account for things separately, but they are indeed community property (with small exception). When I see someone purporting to be married who attempts to firewall finances like that, I get the feeling they don't understand what marriage means.
            No need to be so judgemental. They were asking for support and suggestions, not opinion about what constitutes marriage.

            Comment


            • #7
              It's not me being judgemental. CIS is the one who is making the determination. You can cry about how you view marriage differently, but a key yardstick of what they consider of bona fide marriage is, is true joint ownership and not extensive firewalling of separate assets.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by flyingron View Post
                It's not me being judgemental. CIS is the one who is making the determination. You can cry about how you view marriage differently, but a key yardstick of what they consider of bona fide marriage is, is true joint ownership and not extensive firewalling of separate assets.
                Just wanted to come in here and update. My i-751 was approved by USCIS this week and my new card is being sent to me. Guess USCIS was OK with the fact that my marriage didn't meet your standard of marriage

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by okccanary View Post
                  A couple of easy things to add that I included would be a Will, POA for both medical and finance (Notarize all three and you can find templates easily online to use). Are you in any group chats texts with friends and family? I included a bunch of screen shots that included the date on the texts of chats with me and her family, her with mine, friends chats we are both in over a long period of time to show continuity. This looks even better if you can link them with pictures you submitted. eg planning a night out with friends via a screen shot of the text group then also submitting a photo from the night out. Or even better use your credit card itemized billing showing you are paying for it with your joint credit card! With the pictures did you write a simple sentence stating where and when and why. ie for me it was something like July 2018 wife visiting my family in UK etc. Have you signed up for inform delivery for the USPS. They send a daily email with a screen shot of the letters you are receiving that day with the date visible. This is another easy way to show that you are both residing in the same place.

                  Hope this helps!
                  Thank you again, I took all your advice and sent everything you advised about. Took USCIS about two weeks to get back to me with the approval! Very excited to be done with this process!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by SweCA2019 View Post
                    Hi everybody,

                    I just received a letter from USCIS requesting more evidence about our good faith marriage. We have been married for 3,5 years now, live together but decided to have a separate economy (we both have individual accounts with Bank of America) and have a common credit card, that I use more than my husband. We are subleasing so we venmo our "landlord" the rent payment. what evidence would you suggest we provide in order to show that our marriage was entered in good faith?

                    The letter focuses on three things and states that all evidence is welcome:
                    1. Children - we do not have children yet and are not planning on having kids soon;
                    2. Live together - because we are subleasing, we really dont have a proper lease, we have agreed on the terms verbally. We have lived in the same spot for three years. However, I have asked the lady we are subleasing from to provide us with a lease in both our names;
                    3. Shared financials - My husband and I are firm believers in a separate economy and split common costs 50/50. The reason is that we have different views on money. I like to save and invest and my husband likes to spend his money. This works for us and we pay common expenses on our credit card such as wifi, phone, groceries, date nights etc.

                    We both work and have insurance through our work, which is much cheaper than adding each other to the same insurance.

                    My plan is to submit a declaration explaining any outstanding questions (I mean USCIS must understand that not all married people have the same common economy and we live in Los Angeles, CA so we definitely not buying a house together anytime soon), affidavits from neighbors, credit card transactions, more pictures, screenshots of us being each others beneficiaries on life insurance provided from work.

                    Any advice on what else we can submit will be greatly appreciated.

                    We already submitted:
                    1. Pictures from the beginning to just before submitting the form;
                    2. Travel tickets - we traveled to Sweden last year together and a bunch of other places;
                    3. Tax returns;
                    4. Joint checking account (that we decided not to use anymore since it didnt work for us and we used the credit card to pay for common expenses)
                    5. Wedding invitations addressed to us both;
                    6. Affidavits from friends and neighbors.


                    Thank you so much!

                    In your RFE response provide:

                    1. a letter signed and dated by each of you stating that you have no children and do not plan to have children.

                    2. They want evidence you live together, so provide copies of mail addressed to each of you or better yet both of you is good evidence. Do you have Informed Delivery (every alien should have it).

                    3. a letter signed and dated by both of you stating what you just wrote about why you largely keep separate finances.


                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi,
                      one thing you could do as well is make a letter about your renting situation, and have your landlord notarize it. That’s what I did with mine and I didn’t get any RFE and was approved for my 10 yr gc.
                      Getting letter to be notarized is fast and easy.
                      Goodluck!
                      B2; AoS; Same-Sex Marriage:USC
                      FO SanFrancisco

                      3/30/18 PD
                      4/20/18 Received 4 letters
                      5/04/18 Walk In Biometrics
                      5/14/18 Status update-CaseTracker, "Ready to be scheduled for interview"
                      9/08/18 New card being produced-CaseTracker
                      9/11/18 EAD/AP approved-uscis.gov
                      9/12/18 Received tracking number for EAD/AP card
                      9/14/18 Received EAD/AP
                      9/17/18 Received Social Sec card
                      2/17/19 Traveled abroad
                      3/04/19 Paroled back in country using EAD/AP
                      3/11/19 Submitted renewal of EAD/AP

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by SweCA2019 View Post

                        Thank you again, I took all your advice and sent everything you advised about. Took USCIS about two weeks to get back to me with the approval! Very excited to be done with this process!
                        AHHHHH so happy for you!!! thats great news!! I always hate those RFE but once you realize what they actually want to tick off their checklist you always kick yourself for not sending them in the first place!! Glad it worked out and thank you so much for updating as well!! It will definitely help ease the fears of others who are also facing the same problem!!!

                        If you need any help with N400 (if you want to be a citizen) then don't hesitate to ask!! all the best!

                        Comment

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