Rete

When the US Marriage-based Visa forum was first started back in 1998, people swore up and down that because they had to work so hard to get their loved ones into the US either on K-1 Fiancee Visas and then adjust status to permanent resident after marriage in the US or on Immediate Relative Visas, that their marriages were grounded in love and honed to withstand adversity since their travel on the road to residency was long, difficult and expensive.

After 13 years, the above does not mean diddly in the longevity and flexibility of a marriage and/or relationship. It appears from recent posts that more and more marriages are breaking down before the couple celebrates their first year wedding anniversary. Both USC and Foreign Spouse enter the relationship with starry eyes, lusty libios and fairy tale dreams which cannot withstand the onslaught of the daily grind of work, finances, personal habits of the other spouse, family interference, substance, mental or physical abuse or just plain boredom.

I caution each and every foreign spouse to be proactive.

1. Keep copies of every thing you send to the USCIS. Keep one copy for you personally and one copy for your collective files. You never know when the marriage will go south and you might not have the opportunity to take those documents from the house from the collective files.

2. Keep copies of joint insurances, joint credit cards, joint vehicle ownership, etc.

3. Take lots and lots of photos of the two of you together at various family functions and vacations along with travel receipts.

In other words --- protect yourself and keep a comprehensive file of all your paperwork separate from the marital files so that if your marriage fails, you have supportive paperwork to submit for your I-751 waiver.

Sounds cold? Perhaps. But it is realistic as not all marriages end on a friendly note.

Noorah101

Agreed. Also, keep a separate bank account and credit card, in your name only, so that you won't have to rely on your spouse for money.

Rene

jeffreyhy

You make a significant observation. I would add that people today are still believing that surviving the alleged trials of the immigration process means that they will likewise survive the trials of marriage, even as they read the posts of those who have gone before and have found out that it's not necessarily true.
One doesn't really know another person until they've lived with them for a while. And even then, people change as they deal with the circumstances of life. Sometimes they grow together, sometimes they grow apart. Great advice. Regards, JEff

S Folinsky

The material noted by Rete is also required for a joint I-751. It might behoove the foreign spouse to set up a Google account to save electronic images of the material in the "cloud."