4 ms·

So, ah, how would a person who is above-average prove they're in a "sufficiently committed" relationship?

by grecy 4y ago

vkou 4y ago
Letters, proof of cohabitation (bills, rent payments), use of joint financial accounts, photographs, chat logs, wills, written testimonies from friends/in-laws, a child or three, a five-hundred word life-story essay. Not everyone has all of these things as evidence to a sufficient extent, but most people will be able to provide enough of them to convince immigration. If they can't, if they are lucky, they may get a request for more evidence, instead of an outright rejection. IANAL.
soneil 4y ago
I had a family member go through this. Proof of travel, photos of trips, phone bills, so many phone bills, etc. But I can easily see how it'd go wrong. If you spend your visits impersonating rabbits, what proof do you have? If you spend more time on snapchat than the phone, what proof do you have? There's an old trope of "yes, I do have a girlfriend. you wouldn't know her, she's from another school." She lives in another city, she's from Canada, etc. How do you expect your friend to prove their claim? Now replace the playground with INS/USCIS. It ends up being a very vague question because there's no set limit of what level of evidence you need to reach, you just need to "satisfy" whoever opens that file.
pwinnski 4y ago
The first time I went through this, in the end it's possible that the only thing that mattered was my partner being several months pregnant at the time of her interview. The second time, I wrote a photo-story instead of just packing in a pile of 4x6 prints. "Here's us dating, here's us married, we took this trip here, this other trip there, here's my partner and her child with my parents and one of my siblings, here's me meeting her parents, here's our wedding, here's me and the kid, here's all of us at various events, here's us celebrating an anniversary," etc.
davchana 4y ago
At least few co mingled things, at the minimum mail to same address, joint tax returns, maybe some shared utilities bills, each person using their cards alternatively randomly while being together, some travel (local in city or far), some birthday anniversary stuff photos, few gifts like cards, flowers stuff, time & photos with each other's family, a detailed 4-10 pages of statement about relationship, how they met, when serious, who proposed, when wedding, who in wedding, wedding expenses bills, after wedding, stuff. Proof of communication , social media posts, chat screenshots. Not everything is required. Anything available should be submitted. I didn't had any joint bank statements, or utilities. I had 100s of photos.
- AstralStorm 4y ago
  You cannot do joint tax return when not recognized legally as married in the US, it's one of the benefits. And I'm not sure how marriage to a foreign national works in the US, but it might not grant this benefit. Same address (and checked by immigration official) means you already have a temporary visa. (Same address in another country does not count, easy to fake.) So they already let you in... Having paid some US bills would be a hardest one but it does not substantiate the marriage. All the other stuff? Trivial to fake. These days, even a lewd sex picture can be done without the act. The best one is pregnancy validated as one of the parents'. Kind of expensive. See where this is going? If they don't want to let you stay forever, they will find an excuse.
  - vkou 4y ago
    > You cannot do joint tax return when not recognized legally as married in the US, it's one of the benefits. And I'm not sure how marriage to a foreign national works in the US, but it might not grant this benefit. An American can get married to a foreign national, and the marriage will be recognized for tax purposes. --- Yes, you've listed all the various ways that a vindictive USCIS can screw someone applying for a spousal Visa. That's very clever and all, but is irrelevant for the vast majority of applicants. And the ones for whom it is relevant are going to benefit more from speaking to an immigration lawyer, than running over what-if-wargames in their head.
  - 4y ago

So, ah, how would a person who is above-average prove they're in a "sufficiently committed" relationship?

by grecy 4y ago

So, ah, how would a person who is above-average prove they're in a "sufficiently committed" relationship?

vkou 4y ago

Letters, proof of cohabitation (bills, rent payments), use of joint financial accounts, photographs, chat logs, wills, written testimonies from friends/in-laws, a child or three, a five-hundred word life-story essay. Not everyone has all of these things as evidence to a sufficient extent, but most people will be able to provide enough of them to convince immigration. If they can't, if they are lucky, they may get a request for more evidence, instead of an outright rejection. IANAL.

soneil 4y ago

I had a family member go through this. Proof of travel, photos of trips, phone bills, so many phone bills, etc. But I can easily see how it'd go wrong. If you spend your visits impersonating rabbits, what proof do you have? If you spend more time on snapchat than the phone, what proof do you have? There's an old trope of "yes, I do have a girlfriend. you wouldn't know her, she's from another school." She lives in another city, she's from Canada, etc. How do you expect your friend to prove their claim? Now replace the playground with INS/USCIS. It ends up being a very vague question because there's no set limit of what level of evidence you need to reach, you just need to "satisfy" whoever opens that file.

pwinnski 4y ago

The first time I went through this, in the end it's possible that the only thing that mattered was my partner being several months pregnant at the time of her interview. The second time, I wrote a photo-story instead of just packing in a pile of 4x6 prints. "Here's us dating, here's us married, we took this trip here, this other trip there, here's my partner and her child with my parents and one of my siblings, here's me meeting her parents, here's our wedding, here's me and the kid, here's all of us at various events, here's us celebrating an anniversary," etc.

davchana 4y ago

At least few co mingled things, at the minimum mail to same address, joint tax returns, maybe some shared utilities bills, each person using their cards alternatively randomly while being together, some travel (local in city or far), some birthday anniversary stuff photos, few gifts like cards, flowers stuff, time & photos with each other's family, a detailed 4-10 pages of statement about relationship, how they met, when serious, who proposed, when wedding, who in wedding, wedding expenses bills, after wedding, stuff. Proof of communication , social media posts, chat screenshots. Not everything is required. Anything available should be submitted. I didn't had any joint bank statements, or utilities. I had 100s of photos.

AstralStorm 4y ago
You cannot do joint tax return when not recognized legally as married in the US, it's one of the benefits. And I'm not sure how marriage to a foreign national works in the US, but it might not grant this benefit. Same address (and checked by immigration official) means you already have a temporary visa. (Same address in another country does not count, easy to fake.) So they already let you in... Having paid some US bills would be a hardest one but it does not substantiate the marriage. All the other stuff? Trivial to fake. These days, even a lewd sex picture can be done without the act. The best one is pregnancy validated as one of the parents'. Kind of expensive. See where this is going? If they don't want to let you stay forever, they will find an excuse.
- vkou 4y ago
  > You cannot do joint tax return when not recognized legally as married in the US, it's one of the benefits. And I'm not sure how marriage to a foreign national works in the US, but it might not grant this benefit. An American can get married to a foreign national, and the marriage will be recognized for tax purposes. --- Yes, you've listed all the various ways that a vindictive USCIS can screw someone applying for a spousal Visa. That's very clever and all, but is irrelevant for the vast majority of applicants. And the ones for whom it is relevant are going to benefit more from speaking to an immigration lawyer, than running over what-if-wargames in their head.
- 4y ago