Should we send extra docs for an RFE after AOS interview?

[poohcho]

My husband and I just had our AOS interview yesterday. My husband is the petitioner for my family-based green card, and he is an American citizen. The interview went okay, not spectacularly well (he got nervous and got some details wrong like the year we first met, which month he proposed in, etc). At the end the officer issued an RFE. He asked for my original I20s (I had only brought copies), and he also asked for plane tickets from trips abroad we had taken together. This came up during the interview since we are recently married, we didn't have that many documents in our joined names yet. We had a lease for our apartment, joint car insurance and we had brought some pictures to show him from our wedding and trips. He asked if we had the plane tickets for those trips with us (we didn't, but we can print them as they are e-tickets). He also asked if we had bought the tickets together, and we said yes.

When we got home, I found all of of my original I20s, and we got one of the plane tickets for a vacation together in the Caribbean. The second trip though it turned out we had bought our tickets separately (this was to visit my parents back in Europe so I went a week early as my husband could only get off work for a week and I wanted to spend more time with my family). The return flight does show us with seat confirmations next to each other but the tickets turns out were bought separately.

Now at this stage, would it help or hurt our case to send extra documents with the RFE? Here are some things we can send:
- Updated driver licenses copies (This came up during the interview that we had not yet updated the address on our DL to our joint address, but we can go do it next week)
- cards sent to both of us congratulating us on our wedding
- copy of our wedding invitation (also something the officer asked during the interview but we didn't have it with us at the time)
- joint health insurance - I am adding my husband to my health insurance as of 9/1, after the AOS interview, because the insurance coverage from his employer will end on 8/31.
-more pictures of the two of us together

The officer did say that it will be probably another officer who reviews the RFE, not himself, but he will leave notes for them. We are just wondering at this stage if we should include those extra documents that he did not specifically ask for. However, when he gave us the form for the RFE the checkbox he checked off was a pretty generic one, asking for more bona fide documentation of our marriage e.g. financial documentation, mail sent to both us, etc. We don't yet have joint mortgage, furniture or bank accounts (we've only been married for 2 months) but we can open one if that will help...

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Jackolantern]

Let your case be a warning to other couples, showing that even the most genuine couple needs to spend time thoroughly preparing for the interview. If he had answered those questions correctly, and you had licenses with the same address, you probably would be celebrating an approval right now.

Do you have the actual boarding passes from those trips? Those would be more convincing that printouts of e-Tickets.

Send the updated driver's license copies and wedding invitation, since that is something that was specifically brought up.

But for the rest, don't send stuff that looks like it could have been contrived after the interview. So don't bother with the congratulations cards, unless you also have the envelope they were in, and they show a postmark in the past, and the name on the return address of the envelope matches the person's name on the inside of the card. And the health insurance dated after the interview would look lame.

You already showed pictures, so don't send any more unless they're really compelling. Like the two of you standing together with the Eiffel Tower or Niagara Falls behind you. Or years-old pictures showing the two of you visibly younger. Basically, something that is hard to fake, and something that fake couples are very unlikely to do.

 

[poohcho]

Thanks for your response. I know we should have reviewed our answers better, but when I asked my husband to go over things before the interview, his response was "why do we need to rehearse our stories; it's not like we are making stuff up." I have to say that he abhors bureaucracy.

As for the driver's license, that simply didn't even occur to us since we had both brought our passports as IDs to the interview and we rarely drive the car since we live in the city and take the subway. I guess we know better now... We did prepare a lot of financial documentation because my husband is just starting a new job so we both obtained verifications from our employers, paystubs, etc but we didn't get asked about that at all.

We did show the immigration officer photos of the two of us from our vacations - such as us in front of an old castle, us ziplining through the rain forest, etc. In my opinion not the kind of pictures fake couples would have. That's when he asked for the tickets, which we didn't have but we showed him the stamps from our passports. I couldn't tell if he was actually questioning our relationship, or if he just wanted more paperwork. I have to say that the officer was very young, he seemed to be barely out of college so perhaps he felt he needed to be better able to justify his decision to his superiors. We asked him if he thinks that a second interview is needed, and his response was that probably not, but the decision will be made by the person reviewing the RFE.

I am wondering also about getting some affidavits from friends who've known us for years, would that be needed at this step? I guess from what I read online, I expected that this type of questions would come up when removing the conditions from a green card, not when applying for the first time.

 

[Jackolantern]

Thanks for your response. I know we should have reviewed our answers better, but when I asked my husband to go over things before the interview, his response was "why do we need to rehearse our stories; it's not like we are making stuff up."

Unfortunately that's not an uncommon attitude with born citizens (or those who became citizens as children) who have never dealt with any US immigration processes. They don't understand that it's not just about being legitimate, it's about how well you can put on a song and dance to convince the sometimes anal immigration authorities.

I am wondering also about getting some affidavits from friends who've known us for years, would that be needed at this step? I guess from what I read online, I expected that this type of questions would come up when removing the conditions from a green card, not when applying for the first time.

Don't bother with those. Those are among the least credible forms of evidence. Those are last resorts to use if you don't have the other stuff.

 

[Al Southner]

Thanks for your response. I know we should have reviewed our answers better, but when I asked my husband to go over things before the interview, his response was "why do we need to rehearse our stories; it's not like we are making stuff up." I have to say that he abhors bureaucracy.

I don't know anyone who like bureaucracy, but the thought of being unprepared for something so important, it makes me nervous. Remember, he is a USC, you are the one seeking a benefit from his country's one of the worst agencies in the entire federal system, and it is incumbent on you to put your foot down and make him take this seriously. As Jack said, if he had gotten some of those details correctly, you will be celebrating and parting like it is 1984.

Just prepare those documents which USCIS requested and either take them physically to your DO, ask to hand them over to the officer who conducted the interview. Some of the document you want to submit will make the case looks more suspicious, because it will appear contrived after the interview. Let this be a warning to all, unless you fully prepare like this is a bar exam, you likely to be grilled and found suspicious and unconvincing.