Comprehensive List of Documents proving marriage

[SakshiSrivastav]

All,

I am going to be applying for I-130 and below is a list of documents I am planning to attach. Please let me know of any other ideas.

Below is what I have -
1 - Bank Statement
2 - Joint Tax Returns
3 - Void Checks (having name of both)
4 - Marriage Certificate
5 - Pictures
6 - Wedding Invitation Card
7 - Car Title
8 - Common Air Travel Boarding pass
9 - Medical Insurance ID Cards
10-Costco Membership Cards having same membership number
11-Receipts of Engagement Rings
12-Car Insurance ID cards

Below is what i don't have
1 - Common house lease
2 - Spouse name on phone bill (its an extra line added to my name)
3 - 401k & IRA - My spouse is a beneficiary but how can i prove it?
4 - Credit Card statements - We don't have any joint account. Will it help if we apply for one right now?

FYI - My driving license is from VA and my spouse driving license if from FL. We want to keep it that way for some reasons. I hope its not a problem.

What i want from the forum is to get ideas on what else i can do or what other documents i can procure.

Thanks,
-S

 

[NeShawn]

All,

I am going to be applying for I-130 and below is a list of documents I am planning to attach. Please let me know of any other ideas.

Below is what I have -
1 - Bank Statement
2 - Joint Tax Returns
3 - Void Checks (having name of both)
4 - Marriage Certificate
5 - Pictures
6 - Wedding Invitation Card
7 - Car Title
8 - Common Air Travel Boarding pass
9 - Medical Insurance ID Cards
10-Costco Membership Cards having same membership number
11-Receipts of Engagement Rings
12-Car Insurance ID cards

Below is what i don't have
1 - Common house lease
2 - Spouse name on phone bill (its an extra line added to my name)
3 - 401k & IRA - My spouse is a beneficiary but how can i prove it?
4 - Credit Card statements - We don't have any joint account. Will it help if we apply for one right now?

FYI - My driving license is from VA and my spouse driving license if from FL. We want to keep it that way for some reasons. I hope its not a problem.

What i want from the forum is to get ideas on what else i can do or what other documents i can procure.

Thanks,

You really need a joint lease agreement. You do have a lot of good documents but is there some reason no joint lease. You say that you don't want to change driving license for your reasons. As long as you have documents with same addresses so they kjnow that you do l physically live together as husband and wife.

 

[ttinatl]

You really need a joint lease agreement.

Hey NeShawn (and others), is it really that important to have a lease together? Here's my deal:

My wife (well, girlfriend at the time) moved in with me right when I moved to Atlanta from another town in the US. It was a little crazy, because we had known each other for only two months before that (in a long-distance relationship with a couple of visits to each other), but we both wanted to live together right away.

In the beginning, we obviously didn't know how it was going to work out, so we didn't even think about the lease thing. Then (end of 2005/beginning of 2006), my wife (well, girlfriend) slowly transferred all her bills and stuff to my address (and we have a bunch of those to prove that), but still no lease agreement. When it came to renewing my lease, we thought about putting her name on it, but first of all, we weren't married then yet, and secondly, due to her credit being rather bad, we were afraid that her application would be rejected. Then (August 2006), we got married and still didn't think it was all that important.

Finally, let me point out that we're looking for a house together now, so does it even make sense to worry about the lease now? It's April and our interview will be (hopefully) in a month or two. Wouldn't that look weird? After all this time living together, we're adding her to the lease NOW?

On top of that, I have to add that we have a bunch of other documents that should be (I hope) enough to prove that our marriage is bona fide:
* copies of our emails in the beginning of our relationship,
* phone statements with HOURS of talking to each other every day,
* probably about 200 pictures together (including our trip to my home country last year),
* joint tax returns for last year,
* joint checking account (unfortunately, without her direct deposit, as she is a student and makes very little money that she keeps to herself),
* joint savings accounts,
* my health and dental insurance with her covered as my spouse,
* our common auto insurance (but two separate titles for cars),
* common Sam's Club membership (from late 2005--showing that she was a member of my household even before we got married),
* her state-issued driver's license with a new last name and my address,
* and maybe a few more things...

What do you think? If we explain the lease situation, as I did above, would that work?

 

[pianoplayer]

Hey NeShawn (and others), is it really that important to have a lease together? Here's my deal:

My wife (well, girlfriend at the time) moved in with me right when I moved to Atlanta from another town in the US. It was a little crazy, because we had known each other for only two months before that (in a long-distance relationship with a couple of visits to each other), but we both wanted to live together right away.

In the beginning, we obviously didn't know how it was going to work out, so we didn't even think about the lease thing. Then (end of 2005/beginning of 2006), my wife (well, girlfriend) slowly transferred all her bills and stuff to my address (and we have a bunch of those to prove that), but still no lease agreement. When it came to renewing my lease, we thought about putting her name on it, but first of all, we weren't married then yet, and secondly, due to her credit being rather bad, we were afraid that her application would be rejected. Then (August 2006), we got married and still didn't think it was all that important.

Finally, let me point out that we're looking for a house together now, so does it even make sense to worry about the lease now? It's April and our interview will be (hopefully) in a month or two. Wouldn't that look weird? After all this time living together, we're adding her to the lease NOW?

On top of that, I have to add that we have a bunch of other documents that should be (I hope) enough to prove that our marriage is bona fide:
* copies of our emails in the beginning of our relationship,
* phone statements with HOURS of talking to each other every day,
* probably about 200 pictures together (including our trip to my home country last year),
* joint tax returns for last year,
* joint checking account (unfortunately, without her direct deposit, as she is a student and makes very little money that she keeps to herself),
* joint savings accounts,
* my health and dental insurance with her covered as my spouse,
* our common auto insurance (but two separate titles for cars),
* common Sam's Club membership (from late 2005--showing that she was a member of my household even before we got married),
* her state-issued driver's license with a new last name and my address,
* and maybe a few more things...

What do you think? If we explain the lease situation, as I did above, would that work?

Hi:

You don't need a joint lease per se. It is only one type of evidence. Provided that you have strong evidence otherwise, it is not essential. If you get asked, merely explain as you did here.

Best wishes.

 

[ttinatl]

Hi:

You don't need a joint lease per se. It is only one type of evidence. Provided that you have strong evidence otherwise, it is not essential. If you get asked, merely explain as you did here.

Best wishes.

Hey pianoplayer!

Thank you very much for your reply and for the wishes!

I hope that will work, as you said. It's the truth, so it should be OK, but I guess I'm just getting paranoid...

By the way, we transferred my cell phone onto my wife's name yesterday and we're switching to one of those family plans. Not only is it going to save us some money, but could be another piece of evidence.

I'm also working on setting up my wife as my primary beneficiary for some small investments that I have, but I haven't thought of doing that before (I thought it was automatic that a spouse gets the money). One more thing in the file...

 

[SakshiSrivastav]

Hey pianoplayer!

Thank you very much for your reply and for the wishes!

I hope that will work, as you said. It's the truth, so it should be OK, but I guess I'm just getting paranoid...

By the way, we transferred my cell phone onto my wife's name yesterday and we're switching to one of those family plans. Not only is it going to save us some money, but could be another piece of evidence.

I'm also working on setting up my wife as my primary beneficiary for some small investments that I have, but I haven't thought of doing that before (I thought it was automatic that a spouse gets the money). One more thing in the file...

How would you show her as a beneficiary? I mean what document will you use? I am struggling to find that out. I want it for 401k, IRAs, etc.

 

[ttinatl]

How would you show her as a beneficiary? I mean what document will you use? I am struggling to find that out. I want it for 401k, IRAs, etc.

Well, I'm just about to do it, so I don't really know yet, but have you tried to request some kind of statement on that subject from your financial institution? I have already submitted my request with TIAA-CREF (retirement) and am expecting to receive some kind of confirmation via mail soon--they always send me something, even if I just change my password on-line.

As for my other investments, I'm sending the request tomorrow (it has to be on paper), so we'll see. If I don't get anything within a couple of weeks, I will request some kind of letter from them. I suggest you try the same. Worked for me with my insurance companies, etc. Just call them and tell them what you need. They will be usually happy to send you some kind of confirmation of your benefits/beneficiaries.

You can also always print it out off of the internet, if you have an on-line access to your account. I don't know how well it works with IOs, but almost everything is electronic nowadays (e.g., paychecks, bank and credit card statements, etc.) and they have to realize that, so I hope it will be OK.

Hope that helps...

 

[Addie_Goodvibes]

All,

I am going to be applying for I-130 and below is a list of documents I am planning to attach. Please let me know of any other ideas.

Below is what I have -
1 - Bank Statement
2 - Joint Tax Returns
3 - Void Checks (having name of both)
4 - Marriage Certificate
5 - Pictures
6 - Wedding Invitation Card
7 - Car Title
8 - Common Air Travel Boarding pass
9 - Medical Insurance ID Cards
10-Costco Membership Cards having same membership number
11-Receipts of Engagement Rings
12-Car Insurance ID cards

Below is what i don't have
1 - Common house lease
2 - Spouse name on phone bill (its an extra line added to my name)
3 - 401k & IRA - My spouse is a beneficiary but how can i prove it?
4 - Credit Card statements - We don't have any joint account. Will it help if we apply for one right now?

FYI - My driving license is from VA and my spouse driving license if from FL. We want to keep it that way for some reasons. I hope its not a problem.

What i want from the forum is to get ideas on what else i can do or what other documents i can procure.

Thanks,
-S

It looks as though you have neough Evidence, there is not a mandatory need for joint lease or Credit Cards together as long as you can provide other evidence of Financial co-mingling and proof of living together.

Your Joint filed Tax returns and Check, & car title are valid significant proof.

For my wife I went a step further called the gas company and electric co. and had her name put on the account so her name appeared on the statements.

We actually put together a nice folder with all of our support evidence in it we included the following

Marriage Certificate USA
Japanese Registry of our Marriage w/ translation
Utility bills with both names ( electric, Gas, Phone & Cell)
Receipt for Wedding rings
Copies of several letters & Postcards& pictures dated as far as 13 years ago
Airline ticket stubs of travel between Japan & USA
Joint filed tax Returns
Insurance ( Auto & Health)
Photos of us together and with both sets of inlaws ( we included over 30 pictures)​

Well after we prepared the entire Support Evidence Folder, including a nice cover page, The IO barely looked at anything.

he did ask for My pay stubs and bank statements even though I had submitted them with the AOS package, so Always bring copies of everything you submitted, you may be asked to present them at the interview.

 

[ttinatl]

How would you show her as a beneficiary? I mean what document will you use? I am struggling to find that out. I want it for 401k, IRAs, etc.

Hey SakshiSrivastav, a little update for you...

As I had anticipated, I received a, what they call, "Confirmation of your beneficiary designations" from TIAA-CREF. It basically lists my accounts with them and my wife's info as the primary beneficiary. I'm sure you can request something like that from your financial institution(s).

Hope that helps.