I-751 Proceedings Anxiety Attack

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andr0s

Registered Users (C)
Hello, everyone.

I submitted my I-751 in February of this year, along with all the possible 'proof of relationship' me and my wife could produce - unfortunately, some of things INS loves, like joint mortgage, are among the things we simply don't have. So, today i received the 'Send us more docummentation proving your marriage is real' letter from INS - but we're quite short on such documents.

Thus, I'm fealing more than a little uneasy. Can anyone advise what are hardships and issues I might expect ahead, and how best to solve them? How often are petitions for removal of conditional status denied?

Thank you!
 
andr0s said:
Hello, everyone.

I submitted my I-751 in February of this year, along with all the possible 'proof of relationship' me and my wife could produce - unfortunately, some of things INS loves, like joint mortgage, are among the things we simply don't have. So, today i received the 'Send us more docummentation proving your marriage is real' letter from INS - but we're quite short on such documents.

Thus, I'm fealing more than a little uneasy. Can anyone advise what are hardships and issues I might expect ahead, and how best to solve them? How often are petitions for removal of conditional status denied?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

If you don't own a house there's no mortgage.
Just tell them.
 
We -do- own a condo - but since my wife applied for loans etc before we were married, it is all in her name, and I am under impression that INS doesn't regard 'last minute ammendments' in a kind light so adding me now might do more harm than good?
 
andr0s said:
We -do- own a condo - but since my wife applied for loans etc before we were married, it is all in her name, and I am under impression that INS doesn't regard 'last minute ammendments' in a kind light so adding me now might do more harm than good?
Click to expand...

Maybe she could put you on the title....
Otherwise schedule an infopass and go talk to them about it...
 
I really dont think you need to have a house to prove you are in a real marriage. I live in New York and very few people here own houses and have got the GC condition removed. There have been a thread a couple of days back on the evidence for GC condition removal , look at it and see if you submitted evidence like him.
 
This is what he submitted:

- Form I-751
- My affidavit (basically explaining all the events right from the time we started dating till divorce)
- List of Exhibits

Exhibits:
Copy of front and back of Conditional GC
Wedding invitation from my side
Wedding invitation from her side
Marriage License
Marriage Certificate
Wedding Pictures
Ticket stubs from rides/events/concerts/movies we went to
Residential Leases
Jointly filed Federal and state tax returns
Monthly Statements from joint bank accounts
Proof of Auto insurance with names of both on it
Proof of medical insurance with names of both on it
401k enrollement form which designates her as the beneficiary
Letter from marriage counselor that we attended counseling
Final divorce decree
Affadavit from two people who knew my situation
 
Our house is in my name only as is the mortgage. I bought the house before we even met and it is still in my name. My wife has about $50,000 of stock she got from her previous emplyer as ztock options, still in her name today. I don't think the USCIS (not INS ) expects that every single asset between a maried couple will be in both names..at least I hope not :).

At the same time having no joint assets will also raise a flag.

This is what I have that I'm assuming will be enough: joint bank account, joint car loan, joint water and gas bills, about 10,000 photos of us over the past 3.5 years including wedding, engagement, honeymoon (my wife is a big photography buff and our entire life together has more or less been captured on film), wedding bills, proof of travel together internationally (passport stamps).
 
My interview will probably be sometimes in the next Fall and that's what we're gonna have.

- Joint bank account statements (I still have to receive the first one since I put her name on my account just last month)
- Joint Amex statements (same as bank)
- Electricity bills (just got our first joint one with last name mispelled-no big deal)
- My 401k and life insurance with her as solely beneficiary.
- Million of pictures, including wedding ones.
- Boarding passes from our several trips to Caribbean, South America, Europe (also to see my family in Italy) and Oceania (honeymoon).

Her name is not on the lease since we got the apartment back in Dec 05 when we weren't married. She is a student with no income so they couldn't run a credit check on her. She'll be on the lease starting next December when we'll renew it.

We have a car but it's under her dad's name.

I think USCIS decides on each case with different criteria. If a red flag is raised, then they'll probably go further into assets.
If your marriage looks good from miles, then they'll just ask you some bills and a couple of pics to put in their file, just because the procedure says so.
Just my 2 cents though.
 
andr0s said:
Hello, everyone.

I submitted my I-751 in February of this year, along with all the possible 'proof of relationship' me and my wife could produce - unfortunately, some of things INS loves, like joint mortgage, are among the things we simply don't have. So, today i received the 'Send us more docummentation proving your marriage is real' letter from INS - but we're quite short on such documents.

Thus, I'm fealing more than a little uneasy. Can anyone advise what are hardships and issues I might expect ahead, and how best to solve them? How often are petitions for removal of conditional status denied?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Andr0s, the letter you received is the standard one everyone's getting no matter how much evidence they submitted. If you have nothing to add to the package you've already sent, don't send them anything. When I was applying all I gave them was copies of joint bank account and of tax returns. And I was approved without interview. Oh yeah, you can send them some photos of you guys together and may be airline tickets of you had a trip together. It is very unlikely that you gonna have any problems with I-751 because of “not enough evidence”. The thing is I-751 is not a priority application like the one for adjustment of status, it's more like a formality. The worst they can do is to ask you for an interview, but chances of that happening are low to non-existent. What did you send them anyway?
 
Here's an article I ran across while ago that I thought I'd share.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/14989631.htm


These theree quotes are interesting (to me anyway ;) )

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Miami interviews about 1,800 couples a week, or about 93,000 a year. Of those, a ''large percentage'' are proved fraudulent, said USCIS Miami spokeswoman Ana Santiago.

and


Like pigs sniffing out precious truffles, most adjudicators can tell instantly whether a marriage is fake, says Craig Scott, a Miami immigration attorney. ''There's a vibe factor involved. Most people get a sense of you before you open your mouth, when you walk into the room,'' he said.

and most specific to put everyone's nerves at ease:

So long as a couple's paperwork is in order and their criminal and credit records are clean, said Scott, nearly all genuine marriages sail through without problems.


Which is what I assumed myself. Any officer who's been doing this for a while can probably spot a sham marriage a mile away regardless of whose name is on the lease. So if you're really married, you're really a couple, you're really in love, etc , etc there is nothing to worry about.
 
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Miami interviews about 1,800 couples a week, or about 93,000 a year. Of those, a ''large percentage'' are proved fraudulent, said USCIS Miami spokeswoman Ana Santiago.

Like pigs sniffing out precious truffles, most adjudicators can tell instantly whether a marriage is fake, says Craig Scott, a Miami immigration attorney. ''There's a vibe factor involved. Most people get a sense of you before you open your mouth, when you walk into the room,'' he said.
So long as a couple's paperwork is in order and their criminal and credit records are clean, said Scott, nearly all genuine marriages sail through without problems.

This is a great post eddie_d! I think everyone who is in a good faith marriage has very little to be afraid of.
 
pvkby said:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Miami interviews about 1,800 couples a week, or about 93,000 a year. Of those, a ''large percentage'' are proved fraudulent, said USCIS Miami spokeswoman Ana Santiago.

Like pigs sniffing out precious truffles, most adjudicators can tell instantly whether a marriage is fake, says Craig Scott, a Miami immigration attorney. ''There's a vibe factor involved. Most people get a sense of you before you open your mouth, when you walk into the room,'' he said.
So long as a couple's paperwork is in order and their criminal and credit records are clean, said Scott, nearly all genuine marriages sail through without problems.

This is a great post eddie_d! I think everyone who is in a good faith marriage has very little to be afraid of.
Click to expand...

I agree.
My wife still freaks out everytime I bring up the subject. She said that our case will be a piece of cake and she doesn't even like to talk about it.
She had to go through immigration herself....well, she got her GC thru her parents when she was 11, but she filled her own N-400 when she was 18. Soon after we got engaged last summer her parents wanted us to get married in city hall so I could get my paperworks done sooner and get a fancy job in Wall St (they're russian :D ).
Thank God we declined (I was freaking out even more than her at the thought). I even got a very good job on H1B by switching employer.
Unfortunately we have to go through this because many people do it fraudolently. It's like paying insane car insurance because everybody commits insurance fraud in your town....
 
Wow, thanks everyone... really helpful answers!

However, me being paranoid, a side question...

Does anyone have experiences with 'backup solutions' ? i.e. if my I-751 is denied, how much time do I have to leave country, and would INS look favorably on i.e. my employer sponsoring me for Green Card? would they automatically shoot it down on grounds on previos denied visa, or consider the I-751 as a 'con' in the case, or just disregard it?

again, thank you everyone! If I stay around, y'all are free to look me up in Boulder, CO, for some good Mediterranean cusine and local beer.
 
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