Interview worries; genuinely married couple without typical proof?

ilovethe80s said:
No kidding. My husband and I were living together for 10 years before we even got married. And we were married for 5 years when we were interviewed, so total of 15 years as a couple. It isn't a stretch to say that some of the questions we had to prepare for were like digging up ancient history! :)
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Ha, wow! I bet it was near-impossible to remember the little details. At least you hopefully had pictures going waaaaay back to back up your story, and the east of 15 years as a couple :) By 4 years (my DH and I) at least we can still remember most stuff, but he's a computer genius and I'm a sentimental people-person, so, as you might guess, what each of us is interested in remembering varies quite a bit... :D

In other news, I discovered his t-mobile phone records and have proof of contact between us for nearly every single day from August 08 to present, which I am THRILLED about. Now if only they weren't such a pain to print out...
 
ajde said:
Ha, wow! I bet it was near-impossible to remember the little details. At least you hopefully had pictures going waaaaay back to back up your story, and the east of 15 years as a couple :) By 4 years (my DH and I) at least we can still remember most stuff, but he's a computer genius and I'm a sentimental people-person, so, as you might guess, what each of us is interested in remembering varies quite a bit... :D

In other news, I discovered his t-mobile phone records and have proof of contact between us for nearly every single day from August 08 to present, which I am THRILLED about. Now if only they weren't such a pain to print out...
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Yes, I think you're right. It was probably obvious that we were comfortable with each other, the officer just asked my husband when I was born, and I was asked when he was born. That was it :) (the rest of the questions were about my prior employment-based I-485, which is another story).

Of course, it didn't hurt that our joint documents were pretty strong (e.g., we opened a joint bank account before we got married, and still have that bank account; we bought a home together before we got married, etc. etc.)

There were only 2 issues I was sorta worried about -- I didn't take my husband's last name until during the interview, when I asked the officer to change the name on the form (for the green card). And we don't have kids nor are we planning on having any. But no questions were asked about these "issues."

I wish you all the best! Let us know how your interview goes :)
 
ilovethe80s said:
There were only 2 issues I was sorta worried about -- I didn't take my husband's last name until during the interview, when I asked the officer to change the name on the form (for the green card). And we don't have kids nor are we planning on having any. But no questions were asked about these "issues."
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I should hope not, these "issues" should not be at all, since changing your name or having children has nothing to do with the legitimacy of a marriage. I suppose it is fair enough to consider them evidence but to ask for it would be totally inappropriate since it is not the government's place to tell someone what their name should be or that they should have children. We're not changing our names and children are not in the picture for years if ever.
 
Photos are a huge plus in the interview. At my interview a couple of weeks ago, the IO went through my entire wedding album and was asking "who is this? Who's that? That's a nice picture" etc etc and showing a lot of interest and generating friendly chatter about our wedding and such. The IO was quite interested in our albums (we also showed him an album of various trips / events we went together such as concerts, hockey / football games).

My interview experience is in the April 2009 filers thread on the 2nd or 3rd page if you want to have a gander at it for informative purposes. Just relax and have faith. So long as you have a legitimate marriage and can prove it (which, by the looks of your evidence you should be able to prove it easily) you should be alright.

CJ
 
aosing said:
I should hope not, these "issues" should not be at all, since changing your name or having children has nothing to do with the legitimacy of a marriage. I suppose it is fair enough to consider them evidence but to ask for it would be totally inappropriate since it is not the government's place to tell someone what their name should be or that they should have children. We're not changing our names and children are not in the picture for years if ever.
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Agree, but just the same, they were on my mind just before the interview. After all, both husband and I had never had this kind of interview prior, no one is ever sure what will be asked or focused on.
 
Well, it's been a while but happily I can say that we got the green card.

We had our interview - after all that prep, the photo albums, everything, we came in for the interview and a petite woman began to quiz us. Strangely, she thought that I, a really normal-looking (Americans come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but it seems pretty obvious that I am one) woman with no accent and a really normal American name, was the immigrant, versus my husband, who has an unusual name, thick accent and would in general seem to be the more likely immigrant. That definitely threw us off, since we had to clarify who was petitioning for whom.

Then she asked us for our proof - she didn't like that we had no insurance together (other than rental), that we hadn't filed taxes together (what the heck?? we couldn't, he didn't even have a number and my dad is paying for my college so he's still claiming me as a dependent), etc... And she didn't ask a single personal question - other than "Where did you meet?" and "What was the date of your wedding?". Not one question, she didn't care about our photographs, phone records... She did, however, greatly care about the sponsorship of my sister and brother-in-law, who are sponsoring us financially, and that was all in order so she was fine with it. Finally, she notified my husband he needed another health check-up form because the one he'd turned in had already expired, but if we sent that in, we'd hear from them soon enough.

We did the exam that day, had them send in the necessary paperwork, and two weeks later, we got an email confirmation that we'd be receiving the green card. A week after that, we got the actual physical card. We took a trip to Japan (his first trip out of the country in 12 years!) with no issues whatsoever, and were able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

Thanks for all your help, everybody - this experience is a hard one, but I really appreciate everyone taking the time to try to help me be as prepared as I was for our interview. It was worth it in the end.
 
Even I have the same problem of lacking of docs. I am here on F1 and I got married last year in Dec in India. I have full album of our marraige. THe problem here is we only have joint bank account and car insurance on our names. We dont have a solid job so we live as a paying guest so we dont have any utility bills or lease agreement. WE have our CC statements on our present address ane we are living here at this present address from almost a year now. Will Online statements copy work or I have to get paper statements? I just got my FP done recently so I have some time for me to collect all the proofs.:confused:
Please guide.
 
hii19 said:
We dont have a solid job so we live as a paying guest so we don't have any utility bills or lease agreement.
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Do you have any sort of agreement with your owners? No written agreement of any sort?

- Photos with friends and family taken over the last year
- Credit card statements (if you have both your names)/Bank statements
- Do you guys have jointly owned stuff (car, for example?)
- Security locker at bank for valuables?
- You could get a statement from friends/family
- Joint/shared cell phone plan?

We are also going through the same process. We sent all the above documents plus we had our lease agreements and birth certificate of our daughter (with both our names on it), insurance cards (car, medical). Another idea maybe to get life insurance and put each other as beneficiaries. These are fairly easy to do.

I think you are pretty good in terms of the documentation requirements, but I am not an expert on this as I am going through this right now. I have had several friends and family do this over the last several years.
 
I wouldnt worry.
Print up some bank statements-it should have both your names on it-they cant tell who s doing what on the account so it doesnt matter if he s used it much.

Get some letters from your doctor,building manager/landlord,neighbors, stating that they know you are genuine married couple.And get it notarized.

Dont sweat it.It aint a big deal.
 
Please help review my situation

I am recently married to my dream girl. I am a foreign born national who came in through a tourist visa two years ago and my wife is an American Citizen. Since we are poor, we did not have a grand wedding. We married at the city hall and did not hold a reception.
Our main issue is that we do not have a proof of residence together. We are living in a sublet apartment and we do not have any bills on our names.
Also, since her parents did not approve of our marriage, we do not have any pictures or any proof of interactions with them. I also do not have any relatives in the US so she hasn't met any.
I am applying for my green card soon, and I do not know what to do. We are truly in love and can not even think of separating. Please help us.
God bless you all.
 
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