Evergreen

Hello all! I have been reading here for a while and your posts have been most
helpful, and often encouraging. I have a couple questions I hope someone can advise
me on. I am planning on mailing out my I129 in a few days. I used the forms from the
INS website and think I pretty much have it covered, having the I129, the biography,
photos, and such.

1) About this cover letter.... Is there anything in particular I should say? I was
thinking just a brief explanation of how we met, mentioning time spend together,
and our intentions to marry. Is this sufficient?

2) RE: Evidence The form I got from the INS website is a little vague as far as
this. It looks like I should send some sort of evidence (I129 instructions, 5C)
of the relationship. I was thinking I'd send a copy of my past overseas flight
itinerary and a couple pictures of the two of us together (conveniently we are
hugging in these pictures). Then I thought I saw something about needing evidence
later for the next step of the process....I don't want to be sending the INS all
my good pictures of the two of us together. Can anyone give me any input in
regards to this?

3) How particular are they with the little 3/4 frontal photos? Meaning, will they
accept a matte (sp?) instead of glossy picture? And what if the face is a little
more to the front than the side? The right ear is still visible, but....

Any input will be much appreciated! And now I think I'll go read some more posts....

James

mothergoose

http://www.alixtcat.50megs.com/forms/step1.htm very helpful

Rete

First and Foremost:

DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS OF ANYTHING TO INS


INS is very fussy about the photos. They should be as requested on the INS sheet. Not full frontal but a slight side view (left ear showing?), no jewelry, no glasses.

As for evidence, send copies only of the photographs, boarding passes, travel itineraries, hotel bills, passport stamps. Some people have included copies of phone bills, emails. You can do that if you wish. I didn't and was approved. You don't have to prove the relationship at time but are to prove having met during the last two years in person.

Keep your cover letter brief and to the point. Don't get all elaborate about this undying love you have for each other. List what is enclosed, how you met, length of relationship. A separate letter will be your letter of intent which is that you are planning on marrying the foreign fiancee and give the wherewithals of the wedding if it is planned.

Rita

Harry

James,
Well, here's what we sent...note: we have not been approved yet, but I'm pretty confident we have all bases covered.

cover letter: We basically took the sample cover letter on
http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm
and re-worded it to work for us.

evidence of having met: We sent photos of us together (4), passport stamps showing my entry into the US, plane tickets, boarding passes

evidence of relationship: engagement ring receipt, my sweeties phone bills, used phone cards (stack about 1 1/2" thick), phone bills from my work showing lots of calls to phone card access # and a handful of calls directly to sweeties number, printouts of 9 of our more "decent" emails, printouts from the listings in our inboxes showing emails being received daily or more.

We also included a short summary of contents in front of both of these sections so they can know at a glance what is what.

Yeah, we were pretty thorough...but we figured a couple hours worth of extra hassle could potentially save us the long delay of an RFE, not to mention giving us at least some peace of mind (relatively speaking) that we've got everything covered.

#3: we just printed out form M-378 and went down to Walgreens and stood there uncomfortably in front of the camera! They did a pretty good job, and we couldn't find anything about the photos that didn't match the INS specs. Including a few extras we took for Wendy's passport application, the bill was $109 though...ouch!

As Rete mentioned, everything was a photocopy, except the photos of us together, which we had extra copies of anyway.

Anyway, best of luck with your petition, and I hope the wait isn't too endless for you!

-Harry (UK) Gwendolyn (TX)

I-129F sent to TSC: 10/09/01
check cleared: 11/09/01
NOA 1: rec'd - 11/15, dated - 11/5

Don

Rete <[email protected]>
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aka your right ear, gloss is requested, gloss it should be.

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jeffreyhy

Harry,

None of which is asked for, or is necessary for, the I-129f petition. And more than is required for the K1 visa interview. But you are already prepared for that portion of the interview, so that's out of the way well in advance and your efforts weren't a total waste of time and effort. On your part. But ...

Isn't the Texas Service Center slow enough as it is, without some poor examiner having to spend time looking through a 1-1/2 inch stack of phone cards to be sure there's nothing he needs in there before tossing them in the garbage?

Regards, JEff

ms_bhon

Are great. What we sent in lieu of a copy of phone bills or the actual phone cards was a one page xerox of about 8 spent phone cards, along with copies of plane tickets/boarding passes, passport stamps, some photos of us together, etc. etc.
Sending the actual phone cards is a waste of time and postage as is your real ticket stubs, etc.. Just give them to your fiance to hold onto for their interview.

We were approved and were married on June 15th of this year.
Good luck to you.

Harry

I see what your saying, but since statements aren't available from the phone card I use, I sent the cards themselves...wish I'd thought of photocopying the phonecards, though! Everything else we did send copies of. As for the "overkill", my attitude is still that it is best to send them a petition that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have a genuine relationship and have met in the past 2 years. I mean, how much extra are you looking at it if you get an RFE? Anything from 2 weeks to several months...that definately seems worth erring on the side of caution for. As far as instructions go, there are plenty of things that are not in the instructions that not sending can cause delays. For example, foreign fiance's birth certificate. Nowhere in the instructions does it mention this, but apparently people have gotten RFE's for not sending this in some cases. I just wanted to be absolutely sure they had everything they needed - waiting God knows how long is bad enough as it is without risking further delays, no matter how small the risk.

-Harry

Evergreen

Shoot, I don't even have the cards--I buy them off the internet so all I get is a
phone number and a PIN. I probably have a couple around that I printed out. Would
have more, but I didn't think to keep them. Didn't imagine myself in quite this
situation I guess.

Thank you all for the help and suggestions!!!

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jeffreyhy

Harry,

In the approximately 2 years I have been reading this and other visa-related groups, I have never seen anyone report that they received an RFE for insufficient proof of relationship with their I-129f petition. Insufficient proof of having met within the last 2 years, yes, but relationship, no.

On the other hand, I have seen a few cases where people wanted to be absolutely sure they proved their relationship beyond a shadow of a doubt. So they sent a load of stuff, all of which made perfect sense to them. Trouble was, something in it didn't make sense to the INS, so the petitioners got RFEs.

If you want to reduce the risk of an RFE, don't provide a lot of information that the INS didn't ask for and doesn't want.

I do agree with what you're saying about providing the fiance(e)'s birth certificate even though it is not asked for in the I-129f instructions. Recent anecdotal evidence clearly indicates that this is a wise move. The same cannot be said for proof of relationship, however. Petions are being approved even without the simple statements of intent from both parties that is required by the instructions on the latest version of the form. (This does not mean that I advocate not sending such statements, even when using older versions of the form. I think that people should send the statements if they are aware of the new requirement no matter which version of the form they submit. However, I also think that failure to include the statements when using an older version of the form is not necessarily cause for panic.)

With regard to the 1-1/2 inch stack of phone cards that you no longer have to send to your fiancee for her visa interview at the consulate in her country, at least you saved youself a few cents in shipping costs. No need to be concerned, however, as the cards aren't necessary in your case. You have more than adequate documentation of your relationship without them.

Regards, JEff

jeffreyhy

Evergreen,

Don't worry about no phone cards or no phone bills. I used phone cards bought off the internet to call my fiancee as you did. There are plenty of things that can be used to document a relationship, and it's not necessary that your fiancee produce so much evidence that she'll need to rent a truck to haul it all to her interview.

Regards, JEff

Harry

Jeffrey,
Most of the info we got about assembling the package came from Doc steen/Alvena's site, and Jonathan's site, as well as the instructions themselves, and the INS package assembling tips from their website. So basically, how I understood it, evidence of relationship was not specifically requested but highly recommended. Then we read this,
http://alixtcat.50megs.com/forms/supplins.htm
and not sending evidence of relationship became a non-option. Not saying that you are wrong about whether it is needed, strictly speaking, but there is evidence out there that it is at the very least considered useful.

One interesting thing about the whole how much-how little to send debate: the INS has some sample refusals on their website for various types of visas. The I-129F ones invariably were for not having met. In one case, the refusal was reversed when the guys lawyer produced a single airplane ticket to the guys fiancee's country. It seems you can get approved on minimal evidence of any type, but then again, who wants to cut it that close? Not sleeping for 5 or 6 months would suck!!!

About the cases you mentioned where folks sent too much, confused the INS, and got RFE's, I think the moral of that story is organization. Whatever you send, make sure you organize it real well, and make sure the officer knows what is what at a glance. We used tabs along the side of the petition, and as mentioned for the proof of relationship/having met, we included a little summary page before it.

Oh by the way, I'm the UK citizen, my sweetie is the USC. We did the petition together.

Regards,

-Harry

jeffreyhy

Harry,

Isn't that what I said? Proof of the relationship is not the issue with the I-129f petition.

Regards, JEff

Harry

Jeff,
Check the link, if you're interested:
http://alixtcat.50megs.com/forms/supplins.htm

That's straight from the horses mouth, supplemental instructions given by the INS to prospective K1 applicants. Seems that while not strictly neccesary, proof of relationship is considered pertinant.

Regards,

-Harry