Topper

Hi,

Based on my research here and other forums, we are in the process of gathering documents to send in with our joint I-751 petition and would appreciate clarification on some questions. I have listed below the documents I currently plan to send along with my questions where applicable:

1. Joint I-751 form filled out and signed by my USC wife and myself along with cover letter.

2 Copy of green card (front and back) along with Chech to DHS.

3. Photos since our marriage and with family/friends - We plan on sending 1 or 2 pictures each from our wedding, trip my wife and I made to Lake Tahoe soon after our wedding, trips we made together to attend my brother's wedding overseas, my brother-in-law's graduation in Michigan, Las Vegas/Grand Canyon trip this past spring, trip to Canada/Banff National Park with my parents this past summer. We plan on including notes on the back of each picture as well. In short, we plan to include a total of ~10-15 pictures from our wedding through now - is that enough (or too much or too little)?

4. For mortgage papers, should we include a copy of the HUD settlement statement or does USCIS expect some other mortgage related paperwork for I-751? We also plan to include a copy of our apartment lease renewal paperwork showing both our names (this was before we moved in to our current house).

5. Randomly selected joint assets documents including bank statments, utility bills from our marriage through now showing and showing both our names. Additioanlly, would it help to include official letters from our banks saying we have a joint account opened on xxx date and with yyy amount deposit?

6. Life Insurance documents for both of us showing the spouse as the beneficiary.

7. Joint Tax returns - Per information in various posts, we currently plan to send copies of our joint tax returns. Should we include copies of just the IRS forms (e.g. 1044, Schedule C etc) sufficient or do we also need to include copies of our W-2s as well?

8. We had included a copy of our marriage certificate for the adjustment of status petition. Should we include this with the I-751 as well?

9. Letters of affidavit from couple of our relatives (both naturalized citizens). Do these letters need to be notarized?

10. After my GC was approved in 2006, we moved from our apartment to the house we live in. I had filed an AR-11 and my wife had filed the I-865 (sponsor change of address) form. Do copies of these need to be included in the I-751 petition?

Any other documents you can suggest that might help with the petition?

Appreciate any input,

-Topper

Noorah101

If I recall correctly, we sent about 8 pictures, and we were approved.

We sent a few monthly mortgage statements showing both our names, plus a copy of the deed showing both our names.

I would say probably not necessary.

If you send photocopies of the actual tax return, then also send W-2's. If you use IRS-provided tax transcripts, you don't need to include W-2's.

I believe we did, just to be on the safe side.

I don't think they need to be notarized, and in fact they aren't even necessary if you have enough other evidence, which it sounds to me like you do.

No.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Bob

Sounds like a good list...though I wouldn't bother with the letters.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=493621

That's from my list of stuff I sent in. Got biometrics appointment in a week.

RobertoSantos

Hi everybody, I'm new here. My green card expires on Abril 5, I'm planning to send the package at the end of January, so that I can have time to gather more evidence of my marriage. Is it still enoug time? Thanks

Noorah101

Hi Roberto,

As long as you file the I-751 within the 90 days just before the expiration of your 2-year green card, you will be fine.

Best Wishes,
Rene

RobertoSantos

Thanks, Rene. I don't think I have enough evidence, please, tell me what you think:

Lease agreement, some lease receipts, bank statements (but not many transactions) copies of our bank cards (debit, as we don't have a credit card), some utilities bills, filed income tax 2006 & 07 , 2 letters of people whom know us, and a couple of photos.

It's a very hard time for us right now, financially speaking, so we don't have any kind of insurance, we don't even have a car right now.

Noorah101

Sounds OK to me, just send everything you have. If USCIS wants more, they will ask for it, and maybe by that time you'll have more. If not, they might conduct an interview where you can explain your situation. You won't be denied for lack of evidence, you'll just might be subject to an interview. Not a big deal.

Rene

Topper

Rene and Bob - thanks for the responses!

Per responses in this post and elsewhere, I called the IRS toll free number and requested tax transcripts for our jointly filed tax returns for 2004 through 2006 with the W2 information. Since my wife was not around when I requested the transcripts over the phone from my office, I was told that the transcripts would only include my W2 information even though it would show that it was filed jointly with my wife. However, when the tax transcripts came in today, they only show my W2/salary information and nowhere does it show that it was filed jointly with my wife.

Did I request the wrong information from the IRS or did the IRS representative make a mistake and send out the wrong information? Would appreciate any suggestions/help on how I can request the correct transcripts? Would it help if my wife and I fill out this form and re-submit the tax transcript request? Would appreciate any help for filing out the answers to qs 6 through 8.

For the mortgage paperwork for our house, our mortgage company stopped sending paper mortgage statements. So we dont have any paper mortgage statements. So I called and asked them to send paper statements of previous months. What I received was a letter addressed to my wife and I and which reads (on page 1):

Dear Homeowner:

Enclosed is a loan history that provides a detailed outline of transactions for the above-referenced account number. Please note that this history provides pertinent information on payments received, tax and insurance payments....etc etc...

On the second page of this letter they have a table with each row of the table showing (Date, Description, Payment/Mo, Principal Balance, Interest, Escrow Balance, Optional, Buydown, Late Charges, Unapplied Total, Total Payment) for each month's payment we made. Should I send a copy of this letter from the mortgage lender with my I-751?

I was hoping the IRS transcripts and the copies of the mortgage statements would be among the primary/corroborating documents we could use for the I-751 application. However, both these are different from what I was expecting, especially the transcripts that don't show any information that it was filed jointly but only lists my W2, 1099's, etc. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
-Topper

Noorah101

Hi Topper,

I don't know about the transcripts. I just photocopied our tax returns and W-2's.

As for the mortgage statement, as long as it shows both your names on it, that's a good document to use.

Rene

Topper

Rene - Thanks again for the reply! We had filed taxes electronically for the past two years, which is one of the reasons why we plan to send official tax transcripts for the past two years.

Also, I had actually "fine-tuned" the list of documents in the first post based on Bob's list from the link earlier in this thread (Bob - Thanks for your list). Good to see that the Vermont Service Center is pretty quick in atleast the initial processing and that Bob already has his biometric appt. Any idea how soon we can expect the NOA/extension letter from NSC?

One other question that came to my mind after going through Bob's list was they included copies of their ultrasound/baby scan appointments (Congratulations, Bob! ). I understand birth certificate of a child is considered a very strong evidence for the I-751. However, it sounds like proof of pregnancy may not be considered as strong an evidence based on this post by Rete.

So my question is: Is it true that the USCIS considers a child's birth a strong evidence to approve the I-751 whereas pregnancy related documents (such as test results, ultrasounds) may not be considered as strong and could trigger additional documentation?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for any input,
-Topper

Bob

A birth is pretty solid and birth cert will have your names on it. Pregnancy scans will only be useful if it is in both your names, such as our appointment letters and references to the insurance

I wouldn't worry to much about it though, it's better to have more than not enough, plus they can always ask for more evidence.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Do not focus on the specifics of the documentation -- focus, instead on the GENERAL picture: do you look like a married couple. Every case is different.

Topper

Bob and Folinskyinla - Thanks for the clarification - the point is whether ALL the documents together prove we are a genuinely married couple. And its possible the individual that was asked for DNA testing may not have much other strong/corroborating documents for their case.

Alright, so based on responses so far in this post, here's an updated list of documents I have collected and plan to send:
Completed I-751 petition form with check and photocopy of GC
Supporting documents include (unless specified, documents listed show both our names):
a) Copies of two letters from OB/GYN: first one after blood test to confirm pregnancy and a second letter after first ultrasound (less than 10 weeks into pregnancy) along with copy of photos from the ultrasound. Both letters have both our names
b) Documents for current residence:
+ Warranty deed for current residence
+ Copies of two mortgage statements
+ Copy of most recent property tax statement
+ Two most recent copies of homeowners insurance
c) Documents for previous residence:
+ Copy of lease renewal documents
+ Copy of renters insurance
d) Original tax transcripts from IRS for jointly filed tax returns for years 2004, 2005 and 2006
e) Copies of bank statements - We have joint checking and savings accounts from Credit union (2 statements) as well as Wells Fargo (2 statements)
f) Copies of utility bills: These include the combined electric + water bill in both names at current residence and previous residence, phone bill in wife’s name at current residence and gas bill in my name at current residence
g) Photocopy of two credit cards in both names and same account
h) Copies of Drivers licenses - Drivers license shows that my wife's middle name is my first name and we have the same last name
i) (2) Dental Statements showing my wife as the primary insured and me as the dependant
j) Copy of AAA membership renewal notice showing both our names.
k) Several (12) photographs of trips together and with relatives
l) Copy of our marriage certificate

Anything I should add (or delete)? I was debating whether or not I should include the pregnancy related results/letters because it was too early in the pregnancy and we only had results/letter from blood test. But last week we went for the ultrasound and based on Folinskyinla's response, I am thinking both letters should help with the "big picture". Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I plan to mail the packet tomorrow by Priority or Certified Mail with delivery confirmation (Conditional PR expires Feb 14).

Thoughts?
Thanks again for continued support/responses to Rene, Bob and Folinskyinla.
-Topper

Bob

Sounds good...though you want to show continued marriage and residing together for the last two years, so perhaps just a couple more random months of bank and utility statements. Don't need to have one for each month, but perhaps alternate between 3 utilities every other month so that you have a few statements covering the whole period.

It might be over kill, but it'll certainly fill any holes and only takes a couple of minutes to photocopy

AlanR

3. Photos since our marriage and with family/friends - We plan on sending 1 or 2 pictures each from our wedding, trip my wife and I made to Lake Tahoe soon after our wedding, trips we made together to attend my brother's wedding overseas, my brother-in-law's graduation in Michigan, Las Vegas/Grand Canyon trip this past spring, trip to Canada/Banff National Park with my parents this past summer. We plan on including notes on the back of each picture as well. In short, we plan to include a total of ~10-15 pictures from our wedding through now - is that enough (or too much or too little)?

We sent 1 photograph only of us together - and were approved no problem