Removal of conditions through extreme hardship (I-751)

[bledgeway1]

I am currently in the process to have the conditions removed on my 2 year green card. The original filing method was spouse sponsored. However, the marriage broke down and we sat down with an immigration lawyer to discuss different options for filing the removal of conditions because a divorce was imminent. As we have a 5 year old daughter, I was told that filing using a hardship waiver/exemption was the best and most logical step. I filed 18 months ago. Two days ago (15th Spet 2018) I received a response citing insufficient evidence that the marriage was entered into in good faith and insufficient evidence that deportation would result in extreme hardship to myself or my child.

In order to receive the conditional 2 year green card, we already had to submit evidence that the marriage was entered into in good faith, and we endured a stern and thorough interview process. Our problem is that we don't have a great deal of solid evidence to support this - we were married in a courthouse due to me having just finished college (we had been together 4 years prior to marriage) - we decided to put off the ceremony until we had the finances to include both families and do it as we wanted, so there is no picture/video evidence which would strengthen our case. We've also never had joint ownership of any house or a joint tenancy agreement on any apartment. This is due to me having no credit history in the US at the time. When we tried to buy a house together the mortgage company would only lend the money to purchase if I agreed and signed documents stating I had no ownership or equity in the house. In fact, getting financed on anything has been a constant stumbling block during my time here - nobody will finance me at a fair rate (I'm paying 13% interest on a car loan).....but this is another story.

The only "joint" things we have are a tax return we filed together. We also have copies of state licenses which show the same address - and my ex wife has me listed on a life insurance policy she took out through her old job.

Regarding the lack of proof for extreme hardship - we have a court ordered consent judgement and joint stipulation. It outlines that we both have 50/50 custody of our daughter and neither parent has more rights than the other. We have a schedule whereby we each have her 3.5 days out of the week. All education, health and other decisions are made together. All finances and costs are split equally. We have documentation showing this. I don't understand how they can view deporting me as being anything other than extreme hardship. Psychologically it would break us both. I'm worried they view the court documents merely as an attempt by me to flout the law and they believe I'm nothing more than an absent father who supports financially from time to time - nothing could be further from the truth. All of the dealings between my ex-wife and myself are civil and amicable. The needs of our child are put first.

In their letter to me they do outline several additional ways to show extra evidence. Here are some which are relevant to my case:

- Potential effects of your deportation on your children and their dependence on your support, such as education, lack of familiarity with your home country, language issues, financial and health requirements
- Major disruption in your family life
- Potential psychological impact of deportation on yourself and your children

We are in the process of scheduling a therapist to interview our daughter and give a detailed professional assessment which we can then submit. As far as major disruption to family life goes, my life is based here. The 2 bed apartment I rent for my and my daughter, my car note, all other bills and commitments are all here.

If there is anybody who has constructive advice or has been in a similar situation I'd appreciate anything you think would help the situation. Is there something obvious that I'm overlooking?

Thanks for reading.

[newacct]

I am currently in the process to have the conditions removed on my 2 year green card. The original filing method was spouse sponsored. However, the marriage broke down and we sat down with an immigration lawyer to discuss different options for filing the removal of conditions because a divorce was imminent. As we have a 5 year old daughter, I was told that filing using a hardship waiver/exemption was the best and most logical step. I filed 18 months ago. Two days ago (15th Spet 2018) I received a response citing insufficient evidence that the marriage was entered into in good faith and insufficient evidence that deportation would result in extreme hardship to myself or my child.

In order to receive the conditional 2 year green card, we already had to submit evidence that the marriage was entered into in good faith, and we endured a stern and thorough interview process. Our problem is that we don't have a great deal of solid evidence to support this - we were married in a courthouse due to me having just finished college (we had been together 4 years prior to marriage) - we decided to put off the ceremony until we had the finances to include both families and do it as we wanted, so there is no picture/video evidence which would strengthen our case. We've also never had joint ownership of any house or a joint tenancy agreement on any apartment. This is due to me having no credit history in the US at the time. When we tried to buy a house together the mortgage company would only lend the money to purchase if I agreed and signed documents stating I had no ownership or equity in the house. In fact, getting financed on anything has been a constant stumbling block during my time here - nobody will finance me at a fair rate (I'm paying 13% interest on a car loan).....but this is another story.

The only "joint" things we have are a tax return we filed together. We also have copies of state licenses which show the same address - and my ex wife has me listed on a life insurance policy she took out through her old job.

Regarding the lack of proof for extreme hardship - we have a court ordered consent judgement and joint stipulation. It outlines that we both have 50/50 custody of our daughter and neither parent has more rights than the other. We have a schedule whereby we each have her 3.5 days out of the week. All education, health and other decisions are made together. All finances and costs are split equally. We have documentation showing this. I don't understand how they can view deporting me as being anything other than extreme hardship. Psychologically it would break us both. I'm worried they view the court documents merely as an attempt by me to flout the law and they believe I'm nothing more than an absent father who supports financially from time to time - nothing could be further from the truth. All of the dealings between my ex-wife and myself are civil and amicable. The needs of our child are put first.

In their letter to me they do outline several additional ways to show extra evidence. Here are some which are relevant to my case:

- Potential effects of your deportation on your children and their dependence on your support, such as education, lack of familiarity with your home country, language issues, financial and health requirements
- Major disruption in your family life
- Potential psychological impact of deportation on yourself and your children

We are in the process of scheduling a therapist to interview our daughter and give a detailed professional assessment which we can then submit. As far as major disruption to family life goes, my life is based here. The 2 bed apartment I rent for my and my daughter, my car note, all other bills and commitments are all here.

If there is anybody who has constructive advice or has been in a similar situation I'd appreciate anything you think would help the situation. Is there something obvious that I'm overlooking?

Thanks for reading.

Why didn't you file Removal of Conditions on the basis of divorce? You don't need to show hardship when you file on that basis.

[bledgeway1]

Why didn't you file Removal of Conditions on the basis of divorce? You don't need to show hardship when you file on that basis.

You can select multiple options as to why you are seeking a waiver from having to file a joint petition.

I checked both 1.d "My marriage was entered in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment" & 1.g "The termination of my status and removal from the United States would result in an extreme hardship"

I just followed the legal advice I was given.

In the letter I just received from USCIS there is no indication this was improper. In fact, they are asking for more evidence regarding both.

[newacct]

You can select multiple options as to why you are seeking a waiver from having to file a joint petition.

I checked both 1.d "My marriage was entered in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment" & 1.g "The termination of my status and removal from the United States would result in an extreme hardship"

I just followed the legal advice I was given.

In the letter I just received from USCIS there is no indication this was improper. In fact, they are asking for more evidence regarding both.

Okay, so proving hardship is not absolutely necessary, because even without that you can remove conditions based on divorce.

As for evidence of bona fide marriage, the joint tax returns and life insurance are good. Did you guys have joint bank accounts? Did you have joint health insurance, auto insurance, etc. Did you put each other as beneficiaries on any bank accounts?

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

You can select multiple options as to why you are seeking a waiver from having to file a joint petition.

I checked both 1.d "My marriage was entered in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment" & 1.g "The termination of my status and removal from the United States would result in an extreme hardship"

I just followed the legal advice I was given.

In the letter I just received from USCIS there is no indication this was improper. In fact, they are asking for more evidence regarding both.

Correct. It's not improper. However, I second newacct on his recommendation. If you claim Divorce + Hardship, your application will be processed based on both claims. Simply put, you have to show evidence for divorce and evidence of hardship. You're almost setting yourself up for failure here. You just need to show that it ended with divorce. You can show evidence of bona fide marriage. You had a daughter together before you even got married - if I am understanding this correctly. So if you did, then I am having a really hard time comprehending how you do not have a paper trail stack. Children generate an infinite paper trail. Popping the child in itself isn't the ultimate evidence or even having your name on the birth certificate. It's the paper trail they generate that seals the deal.

I believe that you may switch your I-751 to just divorce and refile it. Look into that. You may need a different attorney. Was that "attorney" actually a licensed lawyer? Or was it a paralegal?
If you switch to divorce, you can then show evidence of bona fide marriage, evidence of the circumstances around the termination of the marriage - was there counseling? Text messages? Are you paying child support? Living arrangements? Proof that you see your daughter.

So if you limit your claim to just divorce, then all the evidence that you can generate will likely suffice. Hardship is REALLY hard to prove. If they are asking for proof of both, then they are questioning your marriage. Thus, the evidence you submitted must have been weak. Or maybe you did not show a continuum. Did you read the directions? You're supposed to submit "as many documents as you can to establish that your marriage was entered in good faith.

To be clear, if you submit weak evidence of bona fide marriage to support your claim that it ended in divorce, and weak evidence of hardship, it will be evaluated on the basis of both. TWO WEAK CLAIMS do not add up to ONE STRONG CLAIM. TWO WEAK CLAIMS are TWO WEAK CLAIMS

Here is what I am also having trouble understanding. I met my husband 06-2016, we married 08-2017 and filed 03-2018. Our AOS package weighed 13lbs. Packaging and forms maybe weighed 2 lbs, the rest was ALL evidence of bona fide marriage. No child - and we generated that much. Get on it, brother.

All the best,

USCFFS

[newacct]

Correct. It's not improper. However, I second newacct on his recommendation. If you claim Divorce + Hardship, your application will be processed based on both claims. Simply put, you have to show evidence for divorce and evidence of hardship. You're almost setting yourself up for failure here. You just need to show that it ended with divorce. You can show evidence of bona fide marriage. You had a daughter together before you even got married - if I am understanding this correctly. So if you did, then I am having a really hard time comprehending how you do not have a paper trail stack. Children generate an infinite paper trail. Popping the child in itself isn't the ultimate evidence or even having your name on the birth certificate. It's the paper trail they generate that seals the deal.

I believe that you may switch your I-751 to just divorce and refile it. Look into that. You may need a different attorney. Was that "attorney" actually a licensed lawyer? Or was it a paralegal?
If you switch to divorce, you can then show evidence of bona fide marriage, evidence of the circumstances around the termination of the marriage - was there counseling? Text messages? Are you paying child support? Living arrangements? Proof that you see your daughter.

So if you limit your claim to just divorce, then all the evidence that you can generate will likely suffice. Hardship is REALLY hard to prove. If they are asking for proof of both, then they are questioning your marriage. Thus, the evidence you submitted must have been weak. Or maybe you did not show a continuum. Did you read the directions? You're supposed to submit "as many documents as you can to establish that your marriage was entered in good faith.

Here is what I am also having trouble understanding. I met my husband 06-2016, we married 08-2017 and filed 03-2018. Our AOS package weighed 13lbs. Packaging and forms maybe weighed 2 lbs, the rest was ALL evidence of bona fide marriage. No child - and we generated that much. Get on it, brother.

All the best,

USCFFS

I don't think they need to switch. If the fail to prove hardship, it won't affect their claim based on divorce. They just need to succeed on one basis.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

I don't think they need to switch. If the fail to prove hardship, it won't affect their claim based on divorce. They just need to succeed on one basis.

Thank you for clarifying that. Claiming hardship does clutter his application. It's distracting. They could all 3 do counseling to ensure that the child is not harmed during the transition, and present that as evidence of bona fide marriage. But if you move that evidence and showcase it on the "extreme hardship" arena, I think he's going to fall short.

This is what I was referring to. https://immigrationworkvisa.wordpres...tions-allowed/

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Here is a great example of what level of evidence is expected for the I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence- petition, and how you should stage it. Date on the cover letter is 12-04-15.
I used this Table of Contents to format my table of contents for AOS. I figured that if this level of evidence is required for removal of conditions, then it makes sense to use this format to present a solid stack of evidence for Adjustment of Status.

[bledgeway1]

Okay, so proving hardship is not absolutely necessary, because even without that you can remove conditions based on divorce.

As for evidence of bona fide marriage, the joint tax returns and life insurance are good. Did you guys have joint bank accounts? Did you have joint health insurance, auto insurance, etc. Did you put each other as beneficiaries on any bank accounts?

Good to know that conditions can be removed whilst only proving one claim, thanks. The legal advice we received never expressed in strong terms that a hardship waiver would be very difficult to prove. With the final divorce judgement, joint stipulation containing custody agreement and the binding consent judgement signed by the judge, we were informed that would provide the backbone of our application.

We never had a joint bank account - nor are we beneficiaries on each others accounts. We filed a joint tax return, she was the beneficiary on a life insurance policy, there was joint health insurance through her job. There was a point where I was listed on her car insurance policy but this was quite a while before marriage and wouldn't be relevant would it? There is also an AT&T cell phone family plan. Her mum was the account holder and myself, my ex-wife and her brother were all listed on there. That's something I'll be getting a hold of and submitting.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Good to know that conditions can be removed whilst only proving one claim, thanks. The legal advice we received never expressed in strong terms that a hardship waiver would be very difficult to prove. With the final divorce judgement, joint stipulation containing custody agreement and the binding consent judgement signed by the judge, we were informed that would provide the backbone of our application.

We never had a joint bank account - nor are we beneficiaries on each others accounts. We filed a joint tax return, she was the beneficiary on a life insurance policy, there was joint health insurance through her job. There was a point where I was listed on her car insurance policy but this was quite a while before marriage and wouldn't be relevant would it? There is also an AT&T cell phone family plan. Her mum was the account holder and myself, my ex-wife and her brother were all listed on there. That's something I'll be getting a hold of and submitting.

I realize you are not responding to me. That is fine. It's your case. An AT&T family plan is not going to save the day the day here. You said you went through a stringent interview process for AOS. They suspected fraud. It's almost impossible to not have a paper trail or digital footprint these days. Look through the screenshots below. You might find those useful.

You may also peruse this thread. https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...interview-tips People are submitting heavy and concrete evidence of bona fide marriage for AOS. The bar gets raised every time.

[bledgeway1]

I realize you are not responding to me. That is fine. It's your case. An AT&T family plan is not going to save the day the day here. You said you went through a stringent interview process for AOS. They suspected fraud. It's almost impossible to not have a paper trail or digital footprint these days. Look through the screenshots below. You might find those useful.

You may also peruse this thread. https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...interview-tips People are submitting heavy and concrete evidence of bona fide marriage for AOS. The bar gets raised every time.

I actually just spent the last hour replying to your first lengthy post - and for some reason the system logged me out and I lost some content. Auto-save has recovered half of it so I will have to finish and then work my way through. I'm trying to reply to all posts. Thanks

[bledgeway1]

Correct. It's not improper. However, I second newacct on his recommendation. If you claim Divorce + Hardship, your application will be processed based on both claims. Simply put, you have to show evidence for divorce and evidence of hardship. You're almost setting yourself up for failure here. You just need to show that it ended with divorce. You can show evidence of bona fide marriage. You had a daughter together before you even got married - if I am understanding this correctly. So if you did, then I am having a really hard time comprehending how you do not have a paper trail stack. Children generate an infinite paper trail. Popping the child in itself isn't the ultimate evidence or even having your name on the birth certificate. It's the paper trail they generate that seals the deal.

I believe that you may switch your I-751 to just divorce and refile it. Look into that. You may need a different attorney. Was that "attorney" actually a licensed lawyer? Or was it a paralegal?
If you switch to divorce, you can then show evidence of bona fide marriage, evidence of the circumstances around the termination of the marriage - was there counseling? Text messages? Are you paying child support? Living arrangements? Proof that you see your daughter.

So if you limit your claim to just divorce, then all the evidence that you can generate will likely suffice. Hardship is REALLY hard to prove. If they are asking for proof of both, then they are questioning your marriage. Thus, the evidence you submitted must have been weak. Or maybe you did not show a continuum. Did you read the directions? You're supposed to submit "as many documents as you can to establish that your marriage was entered in good faith.

To be clear, if you submit weak evidence of bona fide marriage to support your claim that it ended in divorce, and weak evidence of hardship, it will be evaluated on the basis of both. TWO WEAK CLAIMS do not add up to ONE STRONG CLAIM. TWO WEAK CLAIMS are TWO WEAK CLAIMS

Here is what I am also having trouble understanding. I met my husband 06-2016, we married 08-2017 and filed 03-2018. Our AOS package weighed 13lbs. Packaging and forms maybe weighed 2 lbs, the rest was ALL evidence of bona fide marriage. No child - and we generated that much. Get on it, brother.

All the best,

USCFFS

That's correct, our daughter was born Nov 2012 & we married in Aug 2014. Could you please clarify regarding the paper trail stack comment?

We used a licensed attorney's office in the city we live in. We didn't speak to the woman whose name is above the door - but it was a professional lawyer on her staff nonetheless.

We didn't receive marriage counseling.

As per the court documents:

Our daughter resides at two addresses. It is an equal 50/50 split regarding time spent with each parent. No parent has dominance over the other.
We pay for half of everything relating to our daughter (school/clothing/extra-curricular) - and proving the flow of money and money transfers between myself and my ex-wife is simple.

What kind of proof would be needed to show that I see my daughter? Pictures of both her rooms at each residence? Videos of her living at both places? Statements from school and sports clubs that both parents participate/pickup/dropoff equally? Flight itineraries from the times I have taken her back to the UK?

Regarding the proof of hardship - my problem is this.....A judge signed these court documents, they are law. If I was to be removed from the US how can these documents be executed? If my status is terminated then surely I'm not legally bound by US law....so if financially I stopped contributing how could my ex-wife be expected to cover all of that. What about the fact that for nearly 6 years of my daughters life I have been there the whole time. Psychologically, what would that do to her? Like my original post stated, we'll be getting a professional assessment undertaken to submit as evidence.

Regarding the following of directions and submitting marriage evidence - I may have overlooked some of the documents that I should have filed. Fortunately I am still being given time to submit extra evidence. When we originally filed for the 2 year conditional GC, the evidence we submitted along with the interview eventually led to permanent resident status being issued - so in that instance are they saying we passed the evidence threshold of a good faith marriage and now they are having doubts? Or is it simply a case of re-filing the same evidence along with the divorce judgement? If they suspected anything fraudulent surely there would have been problems at the first step.

Thanks for the replies.

[bledgeway1]

Here is a great example of what level of evidence is expected for the I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence- petition, and how you should stage it. Date on the cover letter is 12-04-15.
I used this Table of Contents to format my table of contents for AOS. I figured that if this level of evidence is required for removal of conditions, then it makes sense to use this format to present a solid stack of evidence for Adjustment of Status.

Like most of the more solid evidence, it all links back to money which is problematic for me. Financially, I had nothing behind me. I graduated college in Dec 2013. We knew we were moving in 4 months from AL to LA for my ex-wife's job, so we arrive there in Apr 2014 and I've gone from an F-1 visa to an OPT. I apply and interview for jobs all over the place and receive the same response - we want to hire you, but we don't sponsor foreign workers. I took a low-grade job at a consumer finance company to stay compliant with my OPT. We married August 2014. There weren't any finances to co-mingle because I had none. I was basically at the start of my working career in the US, and she was in a steady career earning good money. Until I got up and running, she paid the bills and leases were in her name. For most people it is conventional and their circumstances mesh together - it wasn't the case for me and unfortunately I can't file the application in hindsight and I can't submit evidence that isn't there.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Like most of the more solid evidence, it all links back to money which is problematic for me. Financially, I had nothing behind me. I graduated college in Dec 2013. We knew we were moving in 4 months from AL to LA for my ex-wife's job, so we arrive there in Apr 2014 and I've gone from an F-1 visa to an OPT. I apply and interview for jobs all over the place and receive the same response - we want to hire you, but we don't sponsor foreign workers. I took a low-grade job at a consumer finance company to stay compliant with my OPT. We married August 2014. There weren't any finances to co-mingle because I had none. I was basically at the start of my working career in the US, and she was in a steady career earning good money. Until I got up and running, she paid the bills and leases were in her name. For most people it is conventional and their circumstances mesh together - it wasn't the case for me and unfortunately I can't file the application in hindsight and I can't submit evidence that isn't there.

My day just ended. I will respond later today - the 19th. I think I may have some ideas you can implement. In the mean time, read through the link i posted in response to newacct, and figure out if you Can just send them a new I-751 based on divorce only.
It?s all in the wording. You write well and communicate clearly. It?s all in how you stage the evidence.
Best,

USCFFS

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

That's correct, our daughter was born Nov 2012 & we married in Aug 2014. Could you please clarify regarding the paper trail stack comment?

We used a licensed attorney's office in the city we live in. We didn't speak to the woman whose name is above the door - but it was a professional lawyer on her staff nonetheless.

We didn't receive marriage counseling.

As per the court documents:

Our daughter resides at two addresses. It is an equal 50/50 split regarding time spent with each parent. No parent has dominance over the other.
We pay for half of everything relating to our daughter (school/clothing/extra-curricular) - and proving the flow of money and money transfers between myself and my ex-wife is simple.

What kind of proof would be needed to show that I see my daughter? Pictures of both her rooms at each residence? Videos of her living at both places? Statements from school and sports clubs that both parents participate/pickup/dropoff equally? Flight itineraries from the times I have taken her back to the UK?

Regarding the proof of hardship - my problem is this.....A judge signed these court documents, they are law. If I was to be removed from the US how can these documents be executed? If my status is terminated then surely I'm not legally bound by US law....so if financially I stopped contributing how could my ex-wife be expected to cover all of that. What about the fact that for nearly 6 years of my daughters life I have been there the whole time. Psychologically, what would that do to her? Like my original post stated, we'll be getting a professional assessment undertaken to submit as evidence.

Regarding the following of directions and submitting marriage evidence - I may have overlooked some of the documents that I should have filed. Fortunately I am still being given time to submit extra evidence. When we originally filed for the 2 year conditional GC, the evidence we submitted along with the interview eventually led to permanent resident status being issued - so in that instance are they saying we passed the evidence threshold of a good faith marriage and now they are having doubts? Or is it simply a case of re-filing the same evidence along with the divorce judgement? If they suspected anything fraudulent surely there would have been problems at the first step.

Thanks for the replies.

Here are my thoughts:

- You can refile the I-751. Figure out if you can just send a new one in response to the RFE.

- Select that you are removing conditions on the basis of divorce only.

- Read the I-751 instructions through and based on the list of examples of evidence of bona fide marriage, decide which ones you can get.

- Commingling of finances - I realize that without an income there's no commingling, at first glance. However, living off one paycheck is, in fact, commingling. I have covered everything husband has needed since before he moved into my place in 11-2016. My paycheck even gets deposited into his personal checking. Then, we move money from that account to the joint checking account to pay bills, savings, etc. So try to find bank statements, receipts, whatever you can since the day you met. At this point, you might as well overload them with evidence.

- Look at 4EVER's Table of Contents and organize your evidence following that main format. The evidence is sorted into a few main categories. Follow that format. Use full sentence.

- Get ideas from the screenshots of the I-751 Table of contents I posted earlier. That's what a solid I-751 filing looks like. No gaps. Every month is accounted for. If you cannot generate X Y Z, then you state why. You want to show a continuum.

- While you need to focus on the here and now, it is important for readers to grasp what may have gone wrong. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being open to discussing your experience. I think that your AOS application may have fallen short and set you up for failure. See, you were required to show evidence of bona fide marriage. However, that does not mean that you should only include evidence since the date the of your marriage. You were here on F-1 and adjusted status. You needed to have included evidence since the date you met your wife.
Your AOS case should have been a straightforward approval on the spot. Yes, you didn't have the finances to generate a lot of evidence. However, if you look at the experiences on this thread, you will see that a lot of these folks did not have a job, EAD/AP, no savings, yet they got creative and focused on showing they live together and intend to build a life together. There are folks who even submitted an affidavit stating how they met, how they've lived and their future plans. https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...interview-tips

My guess is that you sent a bare bones AOS filing. Attorneys are still notorious for telling clients that they only need to send the marriage certificate. Sure enough, a lot of such filings turn into rough interviews and being referred to the Fraud Investigation unit.

Assuming that USCIS already had the little evidence of bona fide marriage that you either submitted with your AOS filing OR brought to the interview was a big mistake. Adjustment of status and I-751s are not even adjudicated at the same Service Center. So people need to stop assuming this. That leads to incomplete submissions. Even if you had submitted X Y Z, the I-751 instructions state you must submit as many documents as you can to establish the bona fide nature of your marriage since the date of your marriage until the present date, so if X Y or Z fall within that time frame, you submit it again. Redundant? yes. But that's how they want it.

This is not written anywhere but I have read that it is common practice to approve I-751s that are filed with evidence that children were born as a result of the union. It's not too late to get that free pass.

- You will need to fill in any gaps by explaining them on a notarized affidavit. You will need a notarized affidavit from your wife attesting your marriage was bona fide, and providing details on how you are coparenting, how you've always been present. She should address the fact that you were unemployed and explain that. All of that needs to come from the US citizen. She should corroborate and fill in any gaps.
Stay away from the hardship, because you would not be sent back to a country at war, there's no language barrier. That just isn't a strong claim. Just let that go, and use the evidence that you were using for hardship to strengthen your I-751 on the basis of divorce.

- Instead of having your daughter interviewed by the psychologist, simply have a joint sessions as co-parents and with your daughter to make sure that she understands that the divorce is not her fault, that you two still love her, that she transitions through the divorce and your co-parenting in a healthy way. Have the psychologist issue a notarized statement attesting to the bona fide nature of your marriage, and the intent behind the sessions, how many sessions and when exactly they took place. That will be more helpful than embarking on the extreme hardship waiver.

- You mentioned videos. It sounded like surveillance footage. Sure, the more you show, the better. They're not going to accept or watch videos. You will just have to take screenshots.

- iphone location. Go to settings and look for iphone significant locations. If you don't know what I mean by that, then google it.

- Since your daughter was born before you got married, then it would be fair for you to include evidence from before you got married that relates to your relationship with your child, and your ex-wife and you as parents.

- Text conversations. You can download iphone text messages and SMS with iExplorer from macroplant. It's worth it. It would take too long to take screenshots.

- Medical records should list you as your daughter's father. have you ever had to take her to the doctor? That's evidence.

You have evidence everywhere. That's what I meant by the paper trail. Look through those resources I suggested and see what you can come up with.
Enlist your in-laws to give you notarized affidavits attesting to your marriage, and corroborating your affidavit.

You should include an affidavit of residence to account for all that time that you were living with your ex-wife and were not on the lease. Your wife should also mention that on her affidavit, and be specific with the dates. Then you can show mailings that depict those addresses. Tie it to the addresses displayed on your driver's license.

- Advance health care directives and financial power of attorney. You want those notarized also. That's evidence. Who gets to make medical decisions for your daughter in your absence? Same for your wife.

You should also be listed on your daughter's school records. You didn't capitalize on all the evidence that you have access to. Just get organized. You can do this.

All the best,

USCFFS