neversay_never
Registered Users (C)
Hi All,
I know this is a long document but I think you should read. I have put the subject to depict and summarize the scenario, and if that interests you, you should probably read.
Subject : If you are married and start your green card application, and the difference between your marriage date and green card application is short (don’t know how short), you might want to read this. Also, start putting your wife name on every possible thing you have your name on (home or apt, current bills, insurance, bank statements etc etc)
Before I begin, I want to apologize if this bores you, but I guess by writing it in complete, you would understand what it is about and may be, it’s a way to take the frustration out of me.
Recently I was called for an interview in Omaha, Nebraska on my I-485 application. The officer was nice and received us with a warm welcome. When we entered the office the first thing we (me and wife) had to do is take an oath saying that we will the truth, and we did.
Then came the bad news, she said our case looks good and that we have to give more documentation that we (me and wife) are living together. I showed her the marriage certificate and that was not enough. She took copies of driver license which have the same address and that was not enough. She was looking more like ‘life insurance’, ‘medical bills’, ‘car insurance’ and so on.
Okay to begin with, Omaha, NE does only family based immigration. Lincoln, NE does employment based immigrations. Lincoln, NE wanted her to verify if we were still married and that my wife didn’t marry for the sake of just getting GC. Anyway in the appointment letter, they asked me documents like Affidavit of support, Tax filings for the last three years, employment letter and so on. The documents they asked and my purpose of visit was completely different.
The irony of the whole situation :
1. I don’t have a GC before marriage and I don’t know myself if I would get one. Given that why would my wife want to marry me just for the sake of green card.
2. My wife finger prints were cleared but mine were pending. So, she said even I had proof that we were living together, she couldn’t have approved that day. So, why did she even call for an interview when the finger prints were pending?
3. The appointment letter they sent no where stated that the purpose of interview (that they want to see the proof of living together)
4. The ultimate : I showed her tax filings of 2002 in which me and my wife have applied together. She had worked for a short period in 2002 and we showed how we jointly did our tax filings. That wasn’t enough proof. Can you believe that? My mind went blank when she said that wasn’t enough proof.
5. The funny part : All this should have happened as a RFE (request for evidence) through my lawyer. My lawyer didn’t get any notice about this or RFE (ofcourse only the appointment letter which throws you off completely). She is all pissed about it and I don’t blame her, for INS its like my lawyer doesn’t exist. For many times I got notices and my lawyer didn’t.
The good part of all this is, the officer gave her personal number and told me to call her if I have any doubts at all. She said (or I understood), that if I give her what she needs and the finger prints clears out, then I will get my cards in mail and she would post it right away, and that I probably don’t need to come again. We filled out a form (it was a white application), I think it is called I-89 (We had to sign and she took our index finger prints).
I was so optimistic that I would get my card that day, but, yet another hurdle to jump. Oh well, we’ll see…
After all this, me and my wife came home driving the long stretch of 315 miles and the first thing we did is, ransack our folders to find any clues that we could give them.
Now the frustration, luckily I have some documents to prove we were living together. How about somebody who doesn’t? Also, you are asking something(documents) which are not reqiured by law or not making things mandatory as a result of applying for GC. It’s a good thing we have forums like these, otherwise, we couldn’t have shared any experiences.
So, here are the documents I found and/or wanting to get. :
1. Car insurance (which states her name and my name on it, but it's the most recent one ie from jul 2003 thru jan 2004).
2. Medical bills (dating from 2002) which lists her as patient, but the mailing address is on my name). My Company recently changed insurance companies and on one of the most recent medical bill, it states that she is a spouse of me. Otherwise, most of them just state her as the patient mailed to me on my name. With the previous company my address came wrong on the bill, which I didn't notice until now. Instead of 2111, it was 211 but all other is same. Would this be a problem?
3. Credit card checks. I have a credit card company which mails me checks every year. I don't use them (luckily). It does state her name and my name on it. Also, I could send a xerox copy of my credit card and my wife's. Both have the same credit card number but different names, but don't know if this would help or prove that we are living together. Also, with our credit card company, we get a point for every dollar we spend (kinda rewards). Every three months they send a statement of how many points we accumulated for that time period. I was thinking of sending this too.
4. Bank statements. Every month I get bank statements with my name and my wife name on it. But the bank transaction itself doesn't tell who made the transaction. This only proves that the account is entitled to both of us. Would this work?
5. I am going to talk to My Company and get a copy of my health insurance which probably would state our names on that.
6. I also recently sent a document stating that I would want my wife as beneficiary in case anything happens to me. I will get a copy of that from My Company.
7. My apartment rental agreement which states her name and my name on it.
Can anybody think of anything else? Has it happened to anyone before? What kind of documents you had to give? All your help is much much appreciated.
To all those who just got married….beware, get your wife name on your life right away.
I know this is a long document but I think you should read. I have put the subject to depict and summarize the scenario, and if that interests you, you should probably read.
Subject : If you are married and start your green card application, and the difference between your marriage date and green card application is short (don’t know how short), you might want to read this. Also, start putting your wife name on every possible thing you have your name on (home or apt, current bills, insurance, bank statements etc etc)
Before I begin, I want to apologize if this bores you, but I guess by writing it in complete, you would understand what it is about and may be, it’s a way to take the frustration out of me.
Recently I was called for an interview in Omaha, Nebraska on my I-485 application. The officer was nice and received us with a warm welcome. When we entered the office the first thing we (me and wife) had to do is take an oath saying that we will the truth, and we did.
Then came the bad news, she said our case looks good and that we have to give more documentation that we (me and wife) are living together. I showed her the marriage certificate and that was not enough. She took copies of driver license which have the same address and that was not enough. She was looking more like ‘life insurance’, ‘medical bills’, ‘car insurance’ and so on.
Okay to begin with, Omaha, NE does only family based immigration. Lincoln, NE does employment based immigrations. Lincoln, NE wanted her to verify if we were still married and that my wife didn’t marry for the sake of just getting GC. Anyway in the appointment letter, they asked me documents like Affidavit of support, Tax filings for the last three years, employment letter and so on. The documents they asked and my purpose of visit was completely different.
The irony of the whole situation :
1. I don’t have a GC before marriage and I don’t know myself if I would get one. Given that why would my wife want to marry me just for the sake of green card.
2. My wife finger prints were cleared but mine were pending. So, she said even I had proof that we were living together, she couldn’t have approved that day. So, why did she even call for an interview when the finger prints were pending?
3. The appointment letter they sent no where stated that the purpose of interview (that they want to see the proof of living together)
4. The ultimate : I showed her tax filings of 2002 in which me and my wife have applied together. She had worked for a short period in 2002 and we showed how we jointly did our tax filings. That wasn’t enough proof. Can you believe that? My mind went blank when she said that wasn’t enough proof.
5. The funny part : All this should have happened as a RFE (request for evidence) through my lawyer. My lawyer didn’t get any notice about this or RFE (ofcourse only the appointment letter which throws you off completely). She is all pissed about it and I don’t blame her, for INS its like my lawyer doesn’t exist. For many times I got notices and my lawyer didn’t.
The good part of all this is, the officer gave her personal number and told me to call her if I have any doubts at all. She said (or I understood), that if I give her what she needs and the finger prints clears out, then I will get my cards in mail and she would post it right away, and that I probably don’t need to come again. We filled out a form (it was a white application), I think it is called I-89 (We had to sign and she took our index finger prints).
I was so optimistic that I would get my card that day, but, yet another hurdle to jump. Oh well, we’ll see…
After all this, me and my wife came home driving the long stretch of 315 miles and the first thing we did is, ransack our folders to find any clues that we could give them.
Now the frustration, luckily I have some documents to prove we were living together. How about somebody who doesn’t? Also, you are asking something(documents) which are not reqiured by law or not making things mandatory as a result of applying for GC. It’s a good thing we have forums like these, otherwise, we couldn’t have shared any experiences.
So, here are the documents I found and/or wanting to get. :
1. Car insurance (which states her name and my name on it, but it's the most recent one ie from jul 2003 thru jan 2004).
2. Medical bills (dating from 2002) which lists her as patient, but the mailing address is on my name). My Company recently changed insurance companies and on one of the most recent medical bill, it states that she is a spouse of me. Otherwise, most of them just state her as the patient mailed to me on my name. With the previous company my address came wrong on the bill, which I didn't notice until now. Instead of 2111, it was 211 but all other is same. Would this be a problem?
3. Credit card checks. I have a credit card company which mails me checks every year. I don't use them (luckily). It does state her name and my name on it. Also, I could send a xerox copy of my credit card and my wife's. Both have the same credit card number but different names, but don't know if this would help or prove that we are living together. Also, with our credit card company, we get a point for every dollar we spend (kinda rewards). Every three months they send a statement of how many points we accumulated for that time period. I was thinking of sending this too.
4. Bank statements. Every month I get bank statements with my name and my wife name on it. But the bank transaction itself doesn't tell who made the transaction. This only proves that the account is entitled to both of us. Would this work?
5. I am going to talk to My Company and get a copy of my health insurance which probably would state our names on that.
6. I also recently sent a document stating that I would want my wife as beneficiary in case anything happens to me. I will get a copy of that from My Company.
7. My apartment rental agreement which states her name and my name on it.
Can anybody think of anything else? Has it happened to anyone before? What kind of documents you had to give? All your help is much much appreciated.
To all those who just got married….beware, get your wife name on your life right away.
