Our Kitchen Sink Prep

[Kyle]

My wife spent the evening organizing and reorganizing her kitchen sink. At her request, I'm listing everything we have thus far (or will have in the near future). Thanks for browsing through it, and letting us know what we need to get that isn't listed below. The reason I'm listing it early is because we have some friends, who in the near future, will visit us in China. They have agreed to bring us any documents that may be lacking.

1. P1 Docs
2. P3 Docs
3. My I-864 including 2006-2008 tax returns
4. My father's I-864 including 2006-2008 tax returns.
5. P4 Docs
6. Wife's former passport
7. Wife's current passport
8. My passport
9. Lot's of photos from (2004-Present, arranged chronologically)
10. EOR Letter
11. Letter from my school stating that I've been a student from JUL 2007 - Present.
12. Three reference letters from different family members.
13. Three reference letters from different friends.
14. Three bank statements (one per year - last three years) showing my United States residence and my wife as a joint owner.
15. Copy of my portfolio which shows my wife as the sole beneficiary, as well as documenting my residence in America.
16. My wife's resume
17. Copies of my past teaching contracts (probably not needed)
18. DVD of our wedding (probably not needed)
19. Copies of all of our identification documents (my DL, Jingjing's national ID card, her Hukou, etc - Again probably not needed)

(Because we have no phone records and few emails since I've been living in China for the past six years and since we've seldom been separated)

20. Letter from my former employer stating my wife and I lived together on the campus grounds after getting married in OCT 2006 - JUL 2007 (my last year of teaching English).

21. Letter from the local residence bureau (government agency) stating that Jingjing and I have been living at our current residence from JUL 2007 to present - Certified and stamped.

---

My I-864 doesn't meet the 125% requirement, since I've been a student the past three years. My father though does meet, and exceeds by a comfortable margin, the 125% requirement.

They moved into their new house, which at the time, had an unfinished downstairs. Recently they have turned the downstairs into a separate apartment (84 sq meters), which we can use as a stepping stone until we get a place of our own. My father did mention all of this in the letter written on our behalf which was preloaded with our I-130.

Knowing all of this, and I do apologize for the information overload, what do you see as things that can be improved upon?

Thank you, CFL for your help. I believe the help and overall attitude of the people here is by far exemplary. I do not believe it is coincidence that when you look at the CFL timelines, you see mostly pink.

[dnoblett]

I have no doubt that you will have any issues, you have SOLID evidence of a bonifide marital relationship.

[Jaseball]

Yeah, you never know, but being so prepared is really the best you can do and to have more evidence is far better than not having something.

[david_dawei]

you want it organized for easy retrieval; I put these two versions in the FAQ:

 

Organizing the documents:

 

Three folder approach:

(The description of contents written on the outside in English and Chinese)

 

1) photos taped to sheet of paper with date above each picture. About 12 pictures, four from each of three trips.

2) Financials all in one folder. If anything was asked, she was to give the entire folder so she did not pull out the wrong item. [i saw another member (whose interview is later) had a folder the same way but with tabs at the bottom to show name of financial. I would do it over like this. ]

3) Communication. A few emails, all phone logs, one IM chatting in a day.

 

Then we had two extra envelopes with lots of extras for odd request or for overcome evidence.

 

Four folder approach:

(The description of contents written on the outside in English and Chinese)

 

1 - 1st folder, Proof for Interview (morning check-in), contained the medical envelope, our passports, and her P4 letter.

2 - 2nd folder, Relationship Evidence, contained our two best pictures(one of just us, the other with family) on the top so could easily be seen by VO, sample emails, MSN chat logs, postmarked letter, and a CD containing all of the chats and emails.

3 - 3rd folder, Financial Documents.

4 - 4th folder, Extra Relationship Evidence, contained itineraries, boarding passes, ticket stubs from traveling China, etc.

[Kyle]

you want it organized for easy retrieval; I put these two versions in the FAQ:

 

Organizing the documents:

 

Three folder approach:

(The description of contents written on the outside in English and Chinese)

 

1) photos taped to sheet of paper with date above each picture. About 12 pictures, four from each of three trips.

2) Financials all in one folder. If anything was asked, she was to give the entire folder so she did not pull out the wrong item. [i saw another member (whose interview is later) had a folder the same way but with tabs at the bottom to show name of financial. I would do it over like this. ]

3) Communication. A few emails, all phone logs, one IM chatting in a day.

 

Then we had two extra envelopes with lots of extras for odd request or for overcome evidence.

 

Four folder approach:

(The description of contents written on the outside in English and Chinese)

 

1 - 1st folder, Proof for Interview (morning check-in), contained the medical envelope, our passports, and her P4 letter.

2 - 2nd folder, Relationship Evidence, contained our two best pictures(one of just us, the other with family) on the top so could easily be seen by VO, sample emails, MSN chat logs, postmarked letter, and a CD containing all of the chats and emails.

3 - 3rd folder, Financial Documents.

4 - 4th folder, Extra Relationship Evidence, contained itineraries, boarding passes, ticket stubs from traveling China, etc.

 

I remember reading this. Thanks David, for bringing it back to my attention.