Utterly confused about the first step for DCF

[dnoblett]

Looks fine by me, not overly long and provides details to how met, and how relationship developed.

 

A note about red-flags, the EOR is meant to expose any red-flags, the resoning is if USCIS sees them and approves the petition, the consulate would not use them as a reason to deny.

 

A few common red-flags.

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;
2. A marriage ceremony arranged only a short time after petitioner arrives in the beneficiary’s country and they meet for the first time;
3. No common language;
4. Petitioner resides with family members of the beneficiary in the US;
5. Petitioner is employed by or has a business relationship with a relative of beneficiary;
6. Petitioner submits phone records that show he uses a residential phone number that is listed in the name of another person.
7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.
8. There is little or no documentary evidence of the relationship prior to the actual engagement.
9. Long gaps of time between the petitioner & beneficiary being together in person.
10. Failure to disclose previous marriages;
11. Failure to disclose previous petitions filed on behalf of other beneficiaries

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2006,0323-ellis.shtm

 

Sounds like you do not have any of these.

[mekluger]

Looks fine by me, not overly long and provides details to how met, and how relationship developed.

 

A note about red-flags, the EOR is meant to expose any red-flags, the resoning is if USCIS sees them and approves the petition, the consulate would not use them as a reason to deny.

 

A few common red-flags.

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;
2. A marriage ceremony arranged only a short time after petitioner arrives in the beneficiary’s country and they meet for the first time;
3. No common language;
4. Petitioner resides with family members of the beneficiary in the US;
5. Petitioner is employed by or has a business relationship with a relative of beneficiary;
6. Petitioner submits phone records that show he uses a residential phone number that is listed in the name of another person.
7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.
8. There is little or no documentary evidence of the relationship prior to the actual engagement.
9. Long gaps of time between the petitioner & beneficiary being together in person.
10. Failure to disclose previous marriages;
11. Failure to disclose previous petitions filed on behalf of other beneficiaries

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2006,0323-ellis.shtm

 

Sounds like you do not have any of these.

Thanks you very much for your input, Dan.

 

Another question about adding additional information to the I-130 and G-325A where certain questions do not provide enough space...am I required to use another blank form and just fill in with the additional information OR use a blank form and fill in everything OR use a blank sheet of paper (I'm obviously going to type everything)?

[Randy W]

Looks fine by me, not overly long and provides details to how met, and how relationship developed.

 

A note about red-flags, the EOR is meant to expose any red-flags, the resoning is if USCIS sees them and approves the petition, the consulate would not use them as a reason to deny.

 

A few common red-flags.

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;
2. A marriage ceremony arranged only a short time after petitioner arrives in the beneficiary’s country and they meet for the first time;
3. No common language;
4. Petitioner resides with family members of the beneficiary in the US;
5. Petitioner is employed by or has a business relationship with a relative of beneficiary;
6. Petitioner submits phone records that show he uses a residential phone number that is listed in the name of another person.
7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.
8. There is little or no documentary evidence of the relationship prior to the actual engagement.
9. Long gaps of time between the petitioner & beneficiary being together in person.
10. Failure to disclose previous marriages;
11. Failure to disclose previous petitions filed on behalf of other beneficiaries

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2006,0323-ellis.shtm

 

Sounds like you do not have any of these.

 

A note about the "red flag" issue - be careful what you expose. It is NOT a time for "True Confessions". If the Visa Officer at Guangzhou decides that your relationship is NOT "bona-fide" (at his discretion alone), then he is REQUIRED BY LAW to deny your visa - it doesn't matter if the USCIS or even the Pope himself has absolved you of your sins.

 

ANY of these red flags listed above, when brought to his attention, could be cause for the VO to take a closer look at your relationship and find reasons for denial

[dnoblett]

Yes, what Randy said, if there is a possible red flag issue, what is meant is to provide a good explanation for it.

 

As for mor space use a separate blank paper, on it note who, form and line that it is for, and the additional info.

[lhp]

@danb: We are not beneficiaries on any policies, nor do we have any substantial evidence of co-mingling of finances. We live together in housing provided by my work unit, but there's no proof of that. The weather in Xi'an, unfortunately, is abysmal. The AQI is off the charts; it's been in the 500-700 range for several days.

 

My wife and I also lived in housing provided by my employer. I wrote a letter in English stating that my wife and I had begun living in that apartment since X date, and then had my employer stamp the letter. That was evidence enough for us.

 

I also added my wife's name to the beneficiaries of my Roth IRA account with Vanguard. I printed that page out and included it in the packet. If you've got any sort of accounts in the US on which you can add a beneficiary in the case of your own death, you might add your husband.

 

mekluger, on 04 Jan 2014 - 5:22 PM, said:

Second, I'm asking about my husband. For me, I am aware the residency visa is proof of residency. He lives with me and for the I-130 I have put his address as my address. Is it better to put his hukou address or his job's address? We don't have any proof that we reside together and furthermore I don't think I would be able to obtain any as we live together in housing provided by the university I work for (unbeknownst to them).

 

 

They almost certainly do know he's living there…my experience working/living in Chinese universities is that they keep quite a close eye on us, even if they don't say anything.

As I do some further digging around in CFL, I've noticed that with some I-130 petitions an Evolution of Relationship letter is needed. Is this in every case?

 

We didn't include such a letter with our DCF. We'd been married for ~1.5 years at that point (and had known each other for 2.5), and had a pretty good photo trail of it all, both in China and in the US. At that point my wife had been to the US two or three times and my mother had been over for our Chinese wedding, so we had a number of photos of the two of us with our families both in the US and in China. You may not really need the letter, but since you wrote it it can't hurt.

Edited January 8, 2014 by lhp (see edit history)

[mekluger]

 

Looks fine by me, not overly long and provides details to how met, and how relationship developed.

 

A note about red-flags, the EOR is meant to expose any red-flags, the resoning is if USCIS sees them and approves the petition, the consulate would not use them as a reason to deny.

 

A few common red-flags.

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;
2. A marriage ceremony arranged only a short time after petitioner arrives in the beneficiary’s country and they meet for the first time;
3. No common language;
4. Petitioner resides with family members of the beneficiary in the US;
5. Petitioner is employed by or has a business relationship with a relative of beneficiary;
6. Petitioner submits phone records that show he uses a residential phone number that is listed in the name of another person.
7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.
8. There is little or no documentary evidence of the relationship prior to the actual engagement.
9. Long gaps of time between the petitioner & beneficiary being together in person.
10. Failure to disclose previous marriages;
11. Failure to disclose previous petitions filed on behalf of other beneficiaries

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2006,0323-ellis.shtm

 

Sounds like you do not have any of these.

 

A note about the "red flag" issue - be careful what you expose. It is NOT a time for "True Confessions". If the Visa Officer at Guangzhou decides that your relationship is NOT "bona-fide" (at his discretion alone), then he is REQUIRED BY LAW to deny your visa - it doesn't matter if the USCIS or even the Pope himself has absolved you of your sins.

 

ANY of these red flags listed above, when brought to his attention, could be cause for the VO to take a closer look at your relationship and find reasons for denial

 

Although my case does seem straightforward enough, we got engaged in June and then married in September. Do you think that warrants explanation?

[mekluger]

 

@danb: We are not beneficiaries on any policies, nor do we have any substantial evidence of co-mingling of finances. We live together in housing provided by my work unit, but there's no proof of that. The weather in Xi'an, unfortunately, is abysmal. The AQI is off the charts; it's been in the 500-700 range for several days.

 

My wife and I also lived in housing provided by my employer. I wrote a letter in English stating that my wife and I had begun living in that apartment since X date, and then had my employer stamp the letter. That was evidence enough for us.

 

I also added my wife's name to the beneficiaries of my Roth IRA account with Vanguard. I printed that page out and included it in the packet. If you've got any sort of accounts in the US on which you can add a beneficiary in the case of your own death, you might add your husband.

 

mekluger, on 04 Jan 2014 - 5:22 PM, said:

Second, I'm asking about my husband. For me, I am aware the residency visa is proof of residency. He lives with me and for the I-130 I have put his address as my address. Is it better to put his hukou address or his job's address? We don't have any proof that we reside together and furthermore I don't think I would be able to obtain any as we live together in housing provided by the university I work for (unbeknownst to them).

 

 

They almost certainly do know he's living there…my experience working/living in Chinese universities is that they keep quite a close eye on us, even if they don't say anything.

As I do some further digging around in CFL, I've noticed that with some I-130 petitions an Evolution of Relationship letter is needed. Is this in every case?

 

We didn't include such a letter with our DCF. We'd been married for ~1.5 years at that point (and had known each other for 2.5), and had a pretty good photo trail of it all, both in China and in the US. At that point my wife had been to the US two or three times and my mother had been over for our Chinese wedding, so we had a number of photos of the two of us with our families both in the US and in China. You may not really need the letter, but since you wrote it it can't hurt.

 

As for the letter in English your wrote up and your university employer signed or stamped, did you do this with the I-130 petition or for the interview? Several responses in this post and on other posts on the forum suggested that I do not need to initially provide proof that we live together.

 

I definitely think you're right that they are aware, it's just instinctive to not say anything about it. And since we are already married, what could they really say or do about it? I just don't seem to have the best relationship with the Foreign Affairs Office (and I think it has something to do with being much younger than most of the other foreign teachers and feeling as though I am not taken as seriously).

 

Lastly, I want to include the letter because although we've been together for over three years, we only got engaged in June, and then married in September. Our ceremony will take place early next month.

[mekluger]

Yes, what Randy said, if there is a possible red flag issue, what is meant is to provide a good explanation for it.

 

As for mor space use a separate blank paper, on it note who, form and line that it is for, and the additional info.

Got it, thanks very much, especially in regards to the additional info question.

[Randy W]

The engagement is unlikely to be any kind of a flag at all, e specially considering your long history together.

[mekluger]

The engagement is unlikely to be any kind of a flag at all, e specially considering your long history together.

So Randy, do you think it wise not to include the letter in the petition, and only have it ready come interview time (if asked for it?). If any other CFL members have any thoughts regarding this particular point of contention, please chime in.

[Randy W]

 

The engagement is unlikely to be any kind of a flag at all, e specially considering your long history together.

So Randy, do you think it wise not to include the letter in the petition, and only have it ready come interview time (if asked for it?). If any other CFL members have any thoughts regarding this particular point of contention, please chime in.

 

 

The way I characterize the Evolution of Relationship letter is as a means of painting a rosy picture of a loving relationship, NOT as a means of absolving any sins. I didn't mean to come as across as advocating that you NOT submit one.

 

Yours does that. It's excellent relationship evidence. By all means, include it. My point is more that you don't HAVE any red flags, and that the "short engagement" is unlikely to concern anyone.

[mekluger]

 

 

The engagement is unlikely to be any kind of a flag at all, e specially considering your long history together.

So Randy, do you think it wise not to include the letter in the petition, and only have it ready come interview time (if asked for it?). If any other CFL members have any thoughts regarding this particular point of contention, please chime in.

 

 

The way I characterize the Evolution of Relationship letter is as a means of painting a rosy picture of a loving relationship, NOT as a means of absolving any sins. I didn't mean to come as across as advocating that you NOT submit one.

 

Yours does that. It's excellent relationship evidence. By all means, include it. My point is more that you don't HAVE any red flags, and that the "short engagement" is unlikely to concern anyone.

 

Thanks very much for clarifying, Randy, and I certainly agree that perhaps it would have been clearer if I had mentioned that I wanted to submit it more as evidence which helps to support the legitimacy (to some extent) of the relationship affidavits we have.

[mekluger]

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but if I am doing DCF do I need to submit a copy of my birth certificate and my passport OR is just my passport sufficient? Do I need all pages of my passport?

[Randy W]

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but if I am doing DCF do I need to submit a copy of my birth certificate and my passport OR is just my passport sufficient? Do I need all pages of my passport?

 

Just the identity page will do fine

[dnoblett]

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but if I am doing DCF do I need to submit a copy of my birth certificate and my passport OR is just my passport sufficient? Do I need all pages of my passport?

US Citizen Birth cert OR compleate copy of passport is used to show US Citizenship, you can use either but not required to show both.

 

The I-130 instructions state a copy of your US Passport, this tends to include all pages as well as the cover a literal copy. The instructions only indicates "BIO" page for US Permanent Residents (Green-Card Holders). In this case I would send a copy of all pages.