Californianhaze

Hi,

I'm about to file for Removal of Conditions in January - I'm up to my eyes in
paperwork and the joy of putting all this stuff together, and have a couple of
questions - hope someone can help!

First - what is the deal with the Affidavits from friends? I've seen various
answers to this and am trying to get clarification. Do they have to be
notarized or are letters just written under penalty of perjury sufficient?
Should it just be a letter or in the form of a declaration on pleading paper?

Second thing. How much weight to the INS put on joint finances these days? My
husband and I have our apartment least in joint names, we file our taxes
together, I have an insurance policy with my husband as the beneficiary, but we
have our own careers and mostly for credit reasons, it has been better for us
to keep our bank accounts etc.... seperate. We can demonstrate that our
accounts are both registered under our marital address - that isn't a problem,
but we have very little in that department with both our names on it. Some of
our utilities are in his name, some are in mine. We just find it easier that
way. We also both have our own cars and things like medical insurance - well -
my husband gets his through is employer and so do I. I know that many couples
these days do have seperate finances - but the INS still seem to place a lot of
weight on them being joint - I just wondered if they are likely to kick up a
fuss on this - or will being able to prove that we do reside together (which we
do very happily) with clear evidence of the situation be enough?

Any advice on the above would be wonderful!

Thanks

M

L D Jones

Californianhaze wrote:
    >
    > Hi,
    >
    > I'm about to file for Removal of Conditions in January - I'm up to my eyes in
    > paperwork and the joy of putting all this stuff together, and have a couple of
    > questions - hope someone can help!
    >
    > First - what is the deal with the Affidavits from friends? I've seen various
    > answers to this and am trying to get clarification. Do they have to be
    > notarized or are letters just written under penalty of perjury sufficient?
    > Should it just be a letter or in the form of a declaration on pleading paper?

Not required to be notarized as far as I know. We're going to file 751
in January too.

    > Second thing. How much weight to the INS put on joint finances these days? My
    > husband and I have our apartment least in joint names, we file our taxes

Based on what I have read co-mingling finances is a very important
factor. I can't say whether you have enough information but if you don't
think you do send the affidavits (they are not required but can help in
what may be borderline cases).

I personally wasn't planning to send them any information about cars or
medical insurance. I have in mind that maybe 7-9 sheets of paper that
cover the entire length of the marriage and the form itself plus payment
should be enough, no covering letter and no affidavits. But don't use my
idea as a guide, of course! I'm going to try to submit as few pieces of
paper as possible.

trasmus

When we sent in our I-751 application, we didn't send in any joint bank information, nor joint tax info. Here's a list of the things I sent in, we got an approval without interview at the TSC, but each service center is different.
Lease Agreement.
A Copy of His Greencard.
A Copy of His I-551 Stamp.
A Copy of His Passport.
A Copy of His Social Security Card.
A Copy of His bank statement.
A Copy of His check stubs from various jobs.
A Copy of My new I.D. card showing my married name.
A Copy of My Social Security card showing my married name.
A Copy of My bank statement (we didn't have a joint bank account).
A letter from the insurance company, stating that we had applied for life insurance and listing each of us as the beneficiaries.
A Copy of our Marriage License.
Various letters sent to both of us at the same adddress over the past 2 years.
Bills in both of our names.
2 Letters from family members, stating that we are indeed a bonified married couple (not notorized).

Hope this helps,
trasmus